Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/April 10

April 10


 * 2011 – NATO announces that its airstrikes in Libya under Operation Unified Protector have destroyed 11 Libyan government tanks near Ajdabiya and 14 near Misrata during the day. Libyan rebels announce that NATO airstrikes have helped them hold Ajdabiya and drive Gaddafi's forces out during the weekend's attack.


 * 2010 – A Polish Air Force Tupolev Tu-154M carrying the Polish President Lech Kaczyński and many other Polish officials crashes on approach to Smolensk, Russia.


 * 2010 – Jamaican airline Air Jamaica ceased operations. All services taken over by Caribbean Airlines.


 * 2009 – A Kenyan Airforce Harbin Y-12 crashes into a hillside on approaching an airstrip near Marsabit, Eastern Province, Kenya killing 14 personnel.


 * 1986 – Johan Åhling of Sweden introduces the "Mosquito", a foot-launched powered hang glider harness.


 * 1981 – First flight of the Aermacchi S-211


 * 1981 – Japan Air Lines carries its 10 millionth passenger


 * 1979 – First flight of the Westland 30


 * 1973 – First flight of the Boeing T-43


 * 1973 – Invicta International Airlines Flight 435, a Vickers Vanguard 952 from Bristol Lulsgate to Basle, flies into a hillside near Hochwald, Switzerland, somersaults and breaks up, killing 108 with 40 survivors.


 * 1972 – LCol Roy Windover awarded the Louis Bleriot medal by the FAI for reaching an altitude of 30,800 ft in a glider.


 * 1970 – The first of four Boeing 707‘s designated the CC 137 arrived at Trenton.


 * 1969 – The Royal Norwegian Air Force is the first European air service to take delivery of the Lockheed P-3 B Orion.


 * 1967 – Gates Rubber Company acquires a controlling interest in Lear Jet Industries.


 * 1965 – The U. S. Joint Chiefs of Staff submit a plan for Operation Rolling Thunder which includes a list of major fixed targets in North Vietnam in its section Alpha. It begins the U. S. Navy use of the term "Alpha strike", meaning a large attack by an aircraft carrier air wing.


 * 1963 – First flight of the EWR VJ 101, the world's first supersonic V/STOL aircraft


 * 1960 – BOAC re-opens its air routes to Cairo. They had been suspended at the time of the Suez Crisis.


 * 1958 – A USAF Boeing B-47E-90-BW Stratojet, 52-0470, c/n 450755, the first Block E-90-BW, of the 376th Bombardment Wing (Medium) out of Lockbourne AFB, Ohio, crashes near North Collins, New York, after disintegrating in flight at ~20,000 feet (6,100 m) altitude. It had been scheduled to rendezvous with a KC-97 Stratotanker of the 341st Air Refueling Squadron, out of Dow AFB, Maine, when it exploded. The tanker was about one mile ahead of the bomber when it went down. All four crew KWF. Dead are Maj. Harold L. Kelly, aircraft commander, 34, Eugene, Oregon; Lt. Col. John R. Glyer, pilot, 38, Wilmington, Delaware; 1st Lt. Richard Tellier, co-pilot, Pompano Beach, Florida; and 1st Lt. Albert Gene Moncla, navigator, 24, Shreveport, Louisiana.


 * 1959 – First flight of the Northrop T-38 Talon


 * 1958 – A Convair F-102 Delta Dagger crashes between two houses in Rio Linda, California. A witness said he thought the pilot dove the plane to miss houses in the area. Pilot was the only casualty.


 * 1953 – No. 1 Air Division now located at new HQ at Metz, France.


 * 1948 – Eglin AFB, Florida, suffers second accident in two days when Douglas A-26 Invader from Biggs AFB, El Paso, Texas, goes down in the Gulf of Mexico S of Destin, Florida. Two of three crew survive by parachuting from stricken bomber, TDY here for firing exercises over the Gulf. First Lieutenant John Kubo and T/Sgt. Joseph A. Riley (ages, hometowns not given) are rescued by Eglin crash boats. KWF is T/Sgt. John E. Brizendine, officially listed as missing.


 * 1945 – The Luftwaffe flies its final sortie over England (with an Arado Ar 234 on a reconnaissance mission)


 * 1942 – No. 132 (Fighter) Squadron was formed at Tofino, BC.


 * 1942 – The Japanese carrier raiding force departs the Indian Ocean, having destroyed an aircraft carrier, two heavy cruisers, two destroyers, three lesser warships, 23 merchant ships, and over 40 aircraft. No Japanese aircraft carrier will operate in the Indian Ocean again.


 * 1942 – (Overnight) The Royal Air Force introduces its new 8,000-lb (3,629-kg) “Super Cookie” bomb – Its largest bomb to date and second of its “blockbuster” bombs – Into service in a raid on Essen, Germany. Too big for the bomb bay of the Stirling and Wellington, it can be carried only by the Halifax and Lancaster


 * 1940 – German Dornier Do 17 s and Heinkel He 111 s attack British towns and shore facilities in the Scapa Flow area in the Orkney Islands. Defending Gloster Sea Gladiators of the Fleet Air Arm’s No. 804 Squadron shoot down one He 111.


 * 1940 – Sixteen Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Blackburn Skua dive bombers sink the German light cruiser Königsberg at Bergen, Norway. It is the first time in history that dive bombers sink a major warship. One Skua is lost.


 * 1933 – First flight of the Airspeed Courier


 * 1933 – Francesco Agello sets a new airspeed record of 682 km/h (424 mph) in the Italian Macchi M. C.72 seaplane.


 * 1931 – C. W. A. Scott breaks the record for the fastest solo flight from England to Australia. Flighing from April 1–10 in a time of 9 days 4 hr. 11 min.


 * 1930 – The English aviatrix and ornithologist Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford, and her personal pilot C. D. Barnard make a record-breaking flight in the Fokker F.VII Spider (G-EBTS) of 9,000 miles (14,493 km) from Lympne Airport in Lympne, England, to Cape Town, South Africa, in 100 flying hours over 10 days.


 * 1926 – Lindberg becomes chief pilot for Robertson Aircraft Corp, flying a Saint Louis to Chicago mail route.


 * 1926 – Three United States Army aircraft take photographs of an eruption of Mauna Loa volcano on the island of Hawaii, providing valuable scientific information.


 * 1923 – Daimler Airways begins the first scheduled service between London and Berlin (via Bremen and Hamburg).


 * 1837 – The earliest known aeronautical experiment in Canada is conducted by Canadian schoolteacher John Rae. He successfully launches a paper balloon able to carry weight. Its lift is provided by the heating of its blackened surface by the sun.