Portal:Aviation/Historical anniversaries/January in aviation/January 17

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January 17

• 1991 - US-led forces attack Iraq in a massive air assault after a United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from occupied Kuwait passes unheeded.

• 1966 - a B-52 Stratofortress collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker during aerial refueling near Palomares, Spain. Seven crewmembers are killed in the crash, and two of the B-52's nuclear weapons rupture, scattering radioactive material over the countryside. One bomb lands intact near the town, and another is lost at sea. It is later recovered intact 5 miles (8 km) offshore.

• 1948 - BOAC begins to replace flying boat routes with the Lockheed Constellation

• 1906 - Zeppelin LZ 2 (makes a forced landing and is destroyed in high winds the following day).

• 1902 - Gustave Whitehead reportedly flies a flying boat rebuilt from his Whitehead Aeroplane No. 21 of the previous year on an 11 km (7 mile) flight and lands safely.