Portal:Aviation/Historical anniversaries/April in aviation
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| An archive of historical anniversaries that appeared on the Aviation Portal 2008 day arrangement |
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- 1993 - Queen Elizabeth II of England reviews 70 Royal Air Force aircraft on the ground in celebration of the air force's 75th anniversary. A mass flypast is cancelled due to poor weather.
- 1982 - Air France flies the Concorde over to Rio de Janeiro and Caracas, Venezuela for the last time.
- 1975 - Republic of Singapore Air Force is formed
- 1972 - BOAC and BEA are merged to creat British Airways
- 1965 - Tasman Empire Airways becomes Air New Zealand
- 1955 - post-World War II bans on powered flight in West Germany are lifted
- 1954 - Last operational flight by an RAF Spitfire, a photo-reconnaissance sortie against bandits in Malaya
- 1953 - BEA and Air France introduce "tourist class" fares
- 1945 - Ohkas score hits on the USS West Virginia and three of her escorts.
- 1933 - the Indian Air Force is formed
- 1926 - Italian airline Società Italiana Servizi Aerei begins operations linking Trieste, Venice, Pavia, and Turin with Cant 10 flying boats.
- 1924 - Imperial Airways is formed, with the backing of the British government.
- 1924 - Britain's Fleet Air Arm is established
- 1924 - The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.
- 1918 - the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service combine to form the Royal Air Force. The Women's Royal Air Force is formed at the same time.
- 1915 - French pilot Lt Roland Garros scores the first kill using a non-synchronised machine gun when he shoots down an Albatros observation plane from his Morane Saulnier Type L.
- 1915 - French ace Jean Navarre, with an observer Lt. Robert, score the first kill.
- 1911 - The first flying unit of the British Military, the Air Battalion Royal Engineers formed.
- 1904 - Captain Ferdinand Ferber makes a failed attempt to fly an Archdeacon glider at Berck sur Mer, Picardie.
- 1987 - a Royal Air Force Vickers VC-10 sets a new record time between the UK and Australia, landing in Perth after a flight of 16 hours 1 minute.
- 1986 - a bomb planted by a Palestinian terrorist group explodes aboard a TWA Boeing 727 on a flight between Rome and Athens. Four passengers are killed and nine more injured, but the aircraft lands safely.
- 1794 - establishment of the first airship company in the French Army who use a balloon named Entreprenant for reconnaissance of the Austrian forces at the Battle of Fleurus. Two companies of balloon observers are formed, but disband the following year.
- 1981 - Pan Am founder Juan Trippe dies in Los Angeles.
- 1953 - BOAC introduces a weekly service to Tokyo by de Havilland Comet jet airliner
- 1944 - German battleship Tirpitz is sunk by attacks by the Fleet Air Arm and RAF.
- 1933 - two British aircraft, the Westland PV-3 and Westland PV-6 make the first flight over Mount Everest
- 1904 - Gabriel Voisin successfully flies a modified Archdeacon glider at Berck sur Mer, Picardie. Voisin added a canard to the design. His longest flight on this day was 25 seconds.
- 2004 - Alaska Airlines discontinues service between San Francisco and Tucson.
- 1995 - Russian Air Force warplanes are deployed to support the mobilisation of troops into Chechnia
- 1976 - Howard Hughes dies aboard a Learjet, aged 70.
- 1965 - United Air Lines places orders for new aircraft worth $US 750 million - the largest airliner purchase at the time.
- 1965 - the BAC TSR.2 is cancelled in favour of the General Dynamics F-111 for the Royal Air Force (which is not, in the end, bought either)
- 1960 - the Short SC.1 makes its first transition from vertical to horizontal flight and back.
- 1957 - Olympic Airways is created by shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, from the ashes of bankrupt hellenic state airline T.A.E. (Technical and Aeronautical Exploitations).
- 1926 - Varney Speed Lines begins operations in the US. It will later become Continental Airlines
- 1922 - A Daimler Airways de Havilland DH.18 collides with a Cie des Cgrands Express Aériens Farman Goliath over France. A total of seven people - everyone aboard the two aircraft - is killed in the first mid-air collision of two airliners.
- 1950 - Soviet Lavochkin La-11 shoots down an American PB4Y Privateer over the Baltic Sea with all 10 crew lost.
- 1993 - USAF aircraft attack and destroy an Iraqi anti-aircraft battery
- 1940 - Germany invades Denmark and Norway, making extensive use of paratroops
- 1981 - Japan Air Lines carries its 10 millionth passenger
- 1960 - BOAC re-opens its air routes to Cairo. They had been suspended at the time of the Suez Crisis.
- 1945 - the Luftwaffe flies its final sortie over England (with an Arado Ar 234 on a reconnaissance mission)
- 1923 - Daimler Airways begins the first scheduled service between London and Berlin (via Bremen and Hamburg).
- 1957 - North American Aviation is issued a preliminary contract to build prototypes of the XF-108 long-range interceptor aircraft for the USAF.
- 1943 - Frank Piasecki flies the P-V Engineering Forum PV-2 helicopter to become the second successful helicopter to fly in the United States.
- 1934 - Renato Donati sets a new altitude record of 14,433 m (47,352 ft) in a Caproni Ca 113.
- 1989 - a British Airways Concorde loses a large piece of its rudder on a flight between Christchurch and Sydney
- 1996 - Seven year old pilot Jessica Dubroff dies during attempt to set record as the youngest person to fly across the United States.
- 1981 - the Space shuttle Columbia takes off. It marks the first time an American Space Shuttle flies operationally. It lands two days later.
- 1961 - Yuri Gagarin makes the first human spaceflight in Vostok 1, orbiting the Earth once, in 108 minutes.
- 1951 - 48 USAF B-29 Superfortresses attack the Sinuiju Railway Bridge on the Yalu River.
- 1945 - USS Mannert L. Abele is sunk by an Ohka
- 1937 - Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft at the British Thomson-Houston factory in Rugby, England.
- 1918 - the final Zeppelin raid on England is carried out.
- 1918 - Captain H.W. Woollett of No. 43 Squadron RAF scores six victories in two sorties, including five Albatros D.Vs.
- 1960 - the United Kingdom terminates ballistic missile research, preferring to simply purchase the US-developed Skybolt missile.
- 1945 - the US Navy puts its first radar-guided bomb into use, the SWOD-9 "Bat", dropped from Consolidated PB4Ys on Japanese shipping in Balikpapan Harbour.
- 1940 - the Royal Air Force begins deploying sea mines around Germany's coastal waters.
- 1935 - QANTAS and Imperial Airways provide regular connecting flights between Brisbane, Australia, and London
- 1928 - the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic from East to West is made by Hermann Köhl, Baron Gunther von Hunefeld, and Major James Fitzmaurice in a Junkers W.33 named the Bremen.
- 1925 - First scheduled airfreight service begins in the US
- 1994 - USAF F-15 Eagles shoot down two US Army UH-60 Blackhawks over Iraq, mis-identifying them as Iraqi Mil Mi-25s
- 1986 - US Navy jets attack Libya in Operation El Dorado Canyon
- 1966 - Pan Am places the first order for the forthcoming Boeing 747
- 1943 - Operation Flax is put into effect, the systematic targeting by Allied fighter pilots of Luftwaffe transport aircraft bound for North Africa
- 1941 - CAMCO signs an agreement with the Chinese government to equip and administer the American Volunteer Group in China.
- 1916 - RFC and RNAS aircraft deliver 13 tons of stores into Kut el Amara, Mesopotamia, while it was besieged by the Turks. This was the first time aircraft had been used for such a purpose.
- 1875 - the scientific flight of the montgolfiere "Zenith" up to 8,000 m ends in the death of two aeronauts and the deafness of Gaston Tissandier.
- 1994 - a Royal Navy Sea Harrier is shot down over Serbia by a SA-7 Grail. The pilot was later rescued
- 1941 - London comes under intense bomber attack, with nearly 900 tonnes of high explosive dropped on the city.
- 1935 - 16-17 - A Pan Am Sikorsky S-42 makes the first airline flight from the continental US to Hawaii.
- 1923 - 17 - Lt John MacReady and Lt Oakley Kelley establish a new endurance record, staying aloft for 36 hours 5 minutes in a Fokker T-2, covering a distance of 2,518 miles (4,052 km).
- 1922 - taking advantage of the Treaty of Rapallo, a flying school for German pilots is set up at Lipetsk. By 1933, 450 German military pilots will have trained here.
- 1914 - The Canadian Aviation Corps is formed.
- 1913 - First contest for the Schneider Trophy. Maurice Prévost wins in a Deperdussin monoplane, completing the 28 circuits of the 10 km (6.2 mile) course with an average speed of 73.63 km/h (45.75 mph)
- 1912 - Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly the English Channel.
- 1964 - Jerrie Mock arrives in Columbus, Ohio in a Cessna 180, completing a solo round-the-world flight and becoming the first woman to make such a journey.
- 1944 - Howard Hughes sets a new US transcontinental speed record, flying a Lockheed Constellation
- 1993 - USAF aircraft attack and destroy an Iraqi radar station
- 1986 - Marcel Dassault (real name, Marcel Bloch) dies at 94.
- 1980 - Air Zimbabwe is formed.
- 1978 - the Vickers Viscount becomes the first turboprop airliner to see 25 years in service
- 1967 - Aeroflot and Japan Air Lines jointly inaugurate a Moscow-Tokyo service
- 1943 - Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when T1-323, his Mitsubishi G4M, is ambushed by USAAF P-38 Lightnings over Bougainville
- 1942 - Col James Doolittle leads the first US attack on the Japanese mainland, leading a force of sixteen B-25 Mitchells flying from the USS Hornet against Tokyo in what comes to be known as the "Doolittle Raid".
- 1919 - CMA (Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes) commences a mail and freight service between Paris and Lille, using ex-military Breguet 14s.
- 1915 - Roland Garros is shot down and taken captive.
- 2000 - An Air Philippines Boeing 737-200 crashes near Davao International Airport, killing 131.
- 1932 - 19-28 - Charles Scott sets a new solo speed record between the UK and Darwin, taking 8 days 20 hours in a de Havilland Gipsy Moth
- 1978 - a Korean Airlines Boeing 707 makes a crash landing after being attacked by Soviet fighters over the Kola Peninsula. Two passengers are killed.
- 1949 - 20-21 - a Short Sunderland flies medical personnel and supplies to HMS Amethyst, shelled by Chinese Communist forces on the Yangtze River.
- 1938 - British Air Commodore Arthur Travers Harris makes a purchasing trip to the United States to select aircraft to expand the Royal Air Force. The Lockheed Hudson and North American Harvard are chosen.
- 1916 - the Escadrille Américanne, later to be known as Lafayette Escadrille, is established as an American volunteer unit in France, equipped with Nieuport 11s.
- 1914 - Three US Navy aircraft depart Pensacola on board the USS Mississippi in support of troops at Vera Cruz, Mexico. They will fly reconnaissance missions until May 12.
- 1914 - Howard Pixton wins the Schneider Trophy at Monaco. Pixton averages 139.66 km/h (86.78 mph) over the course in a Sopwith Schneider
- 1918 - Manfred von Richthofen, a living legend called the "Red Baron" and "ace of aces" is shot down and killed. By the time of his death, he had claimed 80 victories. Credit for his kill is given to Canadian Cpt Roy Brown, but this is disputed by others who claim that he was killed by ground fire from Australian troops.
- 1985 - Pan Am reaches a deal with United Airlines, which buys Pan Am's Pacific Ocean routes for $US 750 million.
- 1958 - The prototype for the Boeing Vertol 107-II makes its first flight in Philadelphia. The Vertol 107 and its military cousin the CH-46 Sea Knight continue to serve around the globe.
- 1942 - the USAAF forms China Ferry Command to support the Allied war effort in the China Burma India Theater.
- 1912 - Englishman Denys Corbett Wilson makes the first aeroplane crossing from Britain to Ireland.
- 1988 - Kanellos Kanellopoulos recreates the mythical flight of Daedalus by flying a pedal-powered aircraft, the MIT Daedalus from Crete to Santorini, covering the 119 km (74 miles) in 3 hours 54 minutes
- 1919 - The North Sea Aerial Navigation Company begins a passenger run between Leeds and Houndslow in ex-military Blackburn RT.1s
- 1918 - Lt Paul Baer shoots down his fifth aircraft, becoming the first ace of the American Expeditionary Force
- 2001 - The unmanned aircraft Global Hawk flies automatically from Edwards Air Force Base in the US to Australia non-stop and unrefuelled. This is the longest point-to-point flight ever undertaken by an unmanned aircraft, the first pilotless aircraft to cross the Pacific Ocean, and took 23 hours and 23 minutes.
- 1992 - a USAF C-130 Hercules carrying out an anti-narcotics mission over Peru is attacked by Peruvian Air Force Sukhoi Su-22s.
- 1985 - LOT Polish Airlines inaugurates flights to JFK International Airport in New York.
- 1980 - helicopters from USS Nimitz participate in the abortive Operation Eagle Claw, a plan to rescue US hostages from Iran
- 1957 - Wes Lemmatta establishes Columbia Helicopters in Portland, Oregon. Columbia Helicopters is now the largest heavy lift helicopter company in the world operating Boeing Vertol 107-II and Boeing 234 Chinook tandem rotor helicopters.
- 1953 - EB-29 and two EF-84B flying as part of Project Tom-Tom crash with no survivors.
- 1940 - 24-28 - aircraft carrier HMS Glorious evacuates the Gloster Gladiators of No. 263 Squadron RAF from Norway
- 1929 - 24-26 - Sqn Ldr A. G. Jones-Wiliams and Flt Lt N. H. Jenkins make the first non-stop flight from England to India using a Fairey Long-Range Monoplane
- 1972 - Hans-Werner Grosse sets a new sailplane distance record of 1,460 km (908 miles) in a Schleicher ASW 12
- 1948 - a North American YP-86 becomes the first jet-powered aircraft to exceed Mach 1.
- 1918 - Belgium's top-scoring ace, Willy Coppens, claims his first victory.
- 1937 - Luftwaffe bombers of Legion Condor attack Guernica
- 1915 - 2nd Lt William Rhodes-Moorhouse is the first airman to receive the Victoria Cross (posthumous).
- 2005 - The first Airbus A380, registration F-WWOW, makes its maiden flight from Toulouse, France.
- 1972 - US Air Force F-4 Phantoms destroy the Thanh Hoa bridge with laser-guided bombs.
- 1932 - Imperial Airways commences a regular passenger service to Cape Town.
- 1913 - Robert G. Fowler makes first flight across the Isthmus of Panama. Technically this is the first flight from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
- 1905 - Sapper Moreton of the British Army's balloon section is lifted 2,600 ft (792 m) by a kite at Aldershot under the supervision of the kite's designer, Samuel Cody
- 1986 - Pan Am returns to the Soviet Union, using a Boeing 747 from JFK International Airport in New York.
- 1967 - Douglas Aircraft Company and McDonnell Aircraft Corporation ar officially merged to form McDonnell Douglas.
- 1939 - Vladimir Kokkinaki and Mikhail Godienko attempt a non-stop flight from the Soviet Union to New York but are forced down on Miscou Island in bad weather the next day.
- 1984 - TWA starts services to ten new cities in one day, the largest single day expansion in the carrier's history.
- 1933 - the Reichsluftfahrtministerium ("Reich Aviation Ministry") is formed by the Nazi government.
- 1975 - the US Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps evacuate 7,000 US and South Vietnamese officials from Saigon
- 1937 - Nationalist Spanish battleship España sunk by air attack by Republican forces.
- 1926 - Bessie Coleman, the first licensed African-American female pilot was killed along with mechanic William Wills, who was piloting the plane, after they crashed as a result of a wrench that Wills had accidentally left loose and that got stuck in the control gears.
- 1902 - The St Louis Aeronautical Exposition opens in Missouri. A highlight is Octave Chanute launching a replica of his 1896 glider.
