Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/April 1

April 1


 * 2011 – A Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II from Spangdahlem Air Base crashed near Laufeld, Germany. The pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Scott Hurrelbrink, ejected and was not seriously injured.


 * 2011 – Southwest Airlines Flight 812, the Boeing 737-3HR N632SW with 123 people on board, suffers an in-flight structural failure which opens a six-foot (1.8-meter)-long hole in its fuselage and triggers an explosive decompression and the deployment of oxygen masks. Only two people suffer minor injuries, and the airliner makes a successful emergency descent and landing at Yuma International Airport in Yuma, Arizona. Southwest Airlines grounds all 80 of its 737-300s for inspection.


 * 2011 – In the Libyan Civil War, a coalition airstrike attacking a Libyan government ground convoy in eastern Libya causes a truck carrying ammunition to explode, destroying two nearby houses. Seven civilians die and 25 are wounded.


 * 2011 – A Libyan rebel convoy near Brega fires into the air with an anti-aircraft gun, perhaps in celebration. A U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft believing it was under attack by Libyan government forces then returns fire, killing at least 13 people.


 * 2011 – Introduction: Denel Rooivalk


 * 2009 – A Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma (G-REDL) flying from the BP Miller Oil Platform located 168 nautical miles (270 km) north-east from Aberdeen, Scotland to the heliport at Aberdeen Airport crashes into the North Sea 11 nmi east of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. The Super Puma helicopter owned by Bond Offshore Helicopters made a brief mayday call at 12:54 pm BST and was then seen to crash 2 nmi from a supply vessel resulting in the death of 2 crew and 14 passengers. The cause of the accident was the catastrophic failure of the main rotor gearbox, which caused the main rotor to detach and severed the pylon and tail boom.


 * 2006 – AH-64D Apache from 4–4th Aviation Regiment shot down southwest of Baghdad, killing the two crewmen.


 * 2006 – F-14A Tomcat 158620 'NF-104' of VF-154 crashes; the pilots survive.


 * 2003 – AV-8B+(R) Harrier 165391 of HMM-263 crashes off USS Nassau; the pilot was rescued.


 * 2003 – S-3A Viking 160584 of VS-38 crashes off USS Constellation; two pilots survive.


 * 2001 – Hainan Island incident- An American Lockheed EP-3E Aries II surveillance plane, BuNo 156511, coded 'PR-32', of VQ-1, collided with a Chinese Shenyang J-8IID fighter jet, reported as 81192, and was forced to make an emergency landing at Lingshui air base on Hainan Island, China. The U.S. crew was detained for 10 days; the Chinese fighter pilot, Wang Wei, was reported missing and presumed dead. The Chinese refused to let the Orion be flown out, so it was dismantled and transported on chartered Antonov An-124-100 of Polyot.


 * 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.


 * 1978 – The Canadian Snowbirds aerobatic team officially becomes the 431 Air Demonstration Squadron.


 * 1976 – Lufthansa's first two Airbus A300B s enter service. They will fly between Frankfurt and Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart and London.


 * 1975 – Republic of Singapore Air Force is formed


 * 1972 – BOAC and British European Airways are merged to create British Airways


 * 1971 – Entered Service: Hawker Siddeley Trident 3 B with British European Airways


 * 1965 – Entered Service: NAMC YS-11 with Japan Domestic Airlines


 * 1965 – Tasman Empire Airways becomes Air New Zealand


 * 1965 – Tripartite Evaluation Squadron Hawker Siddeley Kestrel FGA.1, XS696, catches fire on take-off at RAF West Raynham and crashes.


 * 1964 – In an unusual accident, the Number Three deck elevator of the USS Randolph tears loose from the ship during night operations and plunges into the Atlantic off Cape Henry, Virginia, taking with it a Grumman S-2D Tracker, five crewman, and a tractor. Three crew are rescued by the USS Holder, but two are lost at sea.


 * 1961 – Venezuelan airline VIASA commences operations


 * 1956 – TWA Flight 400, a Martin 4-0-4, crashes on takeoff at Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, killing 22 of the 36 on board; 14 survive.


 * 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


 * 1954 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.


 * 1953 – The CF-100 entered Squadron service.


 * 1953 – British European Airways and Air France introduce "tourist class" fares


 * 1951 – U. S. Navy carrier-based jets are used as fighter-bombers for the first time as F9F Panthers of Fighter Squadron 191 (VF-191) aboard USS Princeton (CV-37) attack a railroad bridge near Songjin, Korea, with 100- and 250-pound (45- and 113-kg) bombs.


 * 1949 – Tip tank of Dow AFB-based Republic F-84B Thunderjet comes off during Lewiston, Maine parade flyover and hits Lewiston Public Works Garage.


 * 1949 – Entered Service: Boeing Stratocruiser with Pan American World Airways


 * 1948 – First flight of the Convair XF-92, America's first delta-winged airplane


 * 1947 – First flight of the Blackburn Firecrest


 * 1945 – The Nakajima Aircraft Company comes under the control of the Japanese government and is renamed the First Munitions Arsenal.


 * 1945 – Ohkas score hits on the USS West Virginia and three of her escorts.


 * 1944 – U. S. Navy Task Force 58 carrier aircraft strike Woleai. During the March 30-April 1 raids on the Palau Islands, Yap, and Woleai, Task Force 58 aircraft have sunk or badly damaged 36 Japanese ships totaling 130,000 tons, trapped 32 more in harbors with naval mining, and destroyed many Japanese aircraft in exchange for the loss of 25 U. S. planes.


 * 1943 – The Imperial Japanese Navy begins the I Operation, a land-based air offensive over the Solomon Islands and New Guinea, with a fighter sweep by 58 Japanese Mitsubishi A6 M Zeroes from Rabaul down New Georgia Sound toward Guadalcanal. Over the Russell Islands, 41 U. S. F4 F Wildcats, F4U Corsairs, and P-38 Lightnings intercept them. The Japanese lose 18 Zeros in exchange for six American fighters.


 * 1943 – (1-2 ) U. S. Army Fifth Air Force bombers attack a Japanese convoy bound for Kavieng, sinking a merchant ship and damaging the heavy cruiser Aoba and a destroyer. Aoba is never again capable of steaming at maximum speed.


 * 1942 – At Malta's submarine base, German aircraft sink the British submarine HMS Pandora, damage the submarine HMS P36 beyond repair, and badly damage the submarine HMS Unbeaten.


 * 1940 – First flight of the Grumman XF5F Skyrocket


 * 1939 – First flight of the Mitsubishi A6M Zero (Allied reporting name “Zeke”).


 * 1939 – During a promotional sales tour of Europe, the Seversky 2PA-202 is wrecked after a demonstration in England.


 * 1938 – Nationalist leader Francisco Franco announces that the Spanish Civil War has ended in a complete Nationalist victory. During the 32½-month war, the Nationalists have used about 1,300 aircraft and the Republicans about 1,500; about 10,000 people have died in air attacks. Early Republican numerical air superiority had been challenged almost immediately by the technical superiority of Italian Fiat CR.32 fighters and Savoia-Marchetti SM.81, and German Junkers Ju 52 bomber-transports; Soviet Polikarpov I-15 and I-16 fighters had given the Republicans air superiority in the winter of 1936-1937, but the Nationalists had achieved lasting air superiority after German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters and Heinkel He 111 bombers and Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers had arrived in 1937. Germany has sent about 600 aircraft to Spain, Italy about 660, the Soviet Union 1,000, and other countries (principally France) about 350. The German, Italian, and Soviet air forces have learned a great deal about the employment of modern aircraft in warfare through their involvement, and the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion in particular has used the conflict to test new aircraft and revolutionary new air warfare concepts.


 * 1937 – No. 3 Repair Depot authorized to form at Vancouver.


 * 1935 – First flight of the North American T-6 Texan


 * 1935 – Swissair begins services between Zürich and London


 * 1933 – The Indian Air Force is formed


 * 1928 – The Imperial Japanese Navy forms its first seagoing aircraft carrier organization, the First Carrier Division.


 * 1926 – Italian airline Società Italiana Servizi Aerei begins operations linking Trieste, Venice, Pavia, and Turin with CANT 10 flying boats.


 * 1924 – Most of the aviation work that had been done in British Columbia up to 1924 was done in conjunction with the Air Board, then the Canadian Air Force and finally the Royal Canadian Air Force which came into being. The RCAF withdrew from patrol duties despite its success in this role. A few of the people who had been flying for the military until this time decided to strike out on their own. They wanted to form independent companies, and still make a living doing what they enjoyed most – Flying. Don McLaren was one such person and he formed a company called Pacific Airways, in February 1925


 * 1924 – The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.


 * 1924 – Britain's Fleet Air Arm is established


 * 1924 – Imperial Airways is formed, with the backing of the British government.


 * 1923 – The Royal Air Force abandons the squadron as the basic organizational unit for those of its aircraft operating from Royal Navy ships, reorganizing them into six-plane flights.


 * 1921 – French pilot Adrienne Bollard takes off from Mendoza, Argentina in a Cauldron biplane to become the first woman to fly over the Andes. She completes the historic Andean crossing to the Chilean capital, Santiago in 10 hours.


 * 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.


 * 1916 – US Coast Guard Third Lieutenant Elmer F. Stone begins flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Pensacola, Florida. He is the first US Coast Guard aviator.


 * 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.


 * 1916 – 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.


 * 1911 – First flight of the Avro Type D


 * 1904 – Captain Ferdinand Ferber makes a failed attempt to fly an Archdeacon glider at Berck sur Mer, Picardy.