Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/April 6

April 6


 * 2013 – A Syrian Air Force strike against anti-government Kurdish militia forces in Aleppo, Syria, kills at least 15 people, nine of them children.


 * 2012 – A McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet of the United States Navy crashed on take-off from Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Both crew ejected. The aircraft crashed into a block of apartment complexes. No ground injuries were reported. However, another report states that the pilot and one individual on the ground suffered unspecified injuries of unknown severity. CNN U.S. News confirmed that the crew had ejected, but their condition is not specified.


 * 2011 – An VFA-122 Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet from Naval Air Station Lemoore crashed just outside the base, killing its two crewmembers.


 * 2009 – An Indonesian Air Force Fokker F27 crashed in Bandung, Indonesia killing all 24 occupants on board. The cause of the incident was said to be heavy rain. The plane reportedly crashed into a hangar during its landing procedure and killed all on board. The casualties include: 6 crew, an instructor and 17 special forces trainee personnel.


 * 2003 – UH-60 Black Hawk 93-26522 from B Company, 4–101st Aviation Regiment crashes inside Iraq, crew survive.


 * 1994 – A surface-to-air missile shoots down the presidential jet of Rwanda, a Dassault Falcon 50, as it prepares to land at Kigali International Airport at Kigali, Rwanda, killing all 12 aboard, including President of Rwanda Juvénal Habyarimana and President of Burundi Cyprien Ntaryamira. Their assassination will spark the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.


 * 1993 – China Eastern Airlines Flight 583, a McDonnell-Douglas MD-11, makes an emergency landing at Shemya Air Force Base after the slats were accidentally deployed in mid-air near the Aleutian Islands; all on board initially survive, but two die later.


 * 1991 – Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force Grumman F-14A Tomcat crashed at unknown location, killing unidentified pilot, and RIO Lt. Col. Gholamreza Khorshidi.


 * 1984 – Launch: Space shuttle Challenger STS-41-C at 13:58:00 UTC. Mission highlights: Solar Max servicing (first satellite rescue by astronauts), LDEF deployment.


 * 1967 – Trans World Airlines (TWA) becomes the first American airline to have a fleet composed entirely of jet aircraft.


 * 1966 – Two Hurlburt Field pilots are killed shortly before 1200 hrs. when their North American T-28 Trojan fails to pull out of a dive during a routine dive-bombing and gunnery-training mission on Range 77 at Eglin AFB, Florida, about eight miles from the field. The wreckage is located in such a remotely wooded area that it takes more than an hour before news of the accident can be released that it had taken place. KWF are pilot Capt. Dennis L. Anderson, 30, of Guernsey, Wyoming, from the 3646th Pilot Training Wing, and co-pilot Capt. Hubert L. Blake, 28, of Garland, Texas from 3651st Pilot Training Squadron. Both were TDY to the 4410th Combat Crew Training Wing. Cause of the crash is investigated, and in the meantime, all Tactical Air Warfare Center T-28s are grounded as a precautionary measure.


 * 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)


 * 1962 – The RCAF retired the last Canso flying boat (162 Squadron) at Downsview, Ontario.


 * 1958 – Capital Airlines Flight 67, a Vickers 745D Viscount, crashes at Tri-City Airport (now MBS International Airport) near Freeland, Michigan, killing all 47 passengers and crew; an undiscovered ice buildup on the wing and windy conditions are possible causes.


 * 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).


 * 1949 – A Sikorsky S-51 completes a record helicopter flight of 3,750 miles from Elizabeth, New Jersey to Port Angeles, Washington.


 * 1945 – (6-7) The Japanese begin Operation Ten-Go with the first and largest of ten major Kikusui (“Floating Chrysanthemum”) kamikaze attacks against Allied naval forces off Okinawa, committing 355 kamikazes and 341 bombers. On the first day, they sink two destroyers, a destroyer-minelayer, a tank landing ship, and two civilian ammunition ships and badly damage eight destroyers, a destroyer escort, and a minelayer. The Americans claim 357 Japanese planes destroyed. On the second day, the Japanese damage the battleship USS Maryland (BB-46), a destroyer, and a destroyer escort.


 * 1938 – First flight of the Bell P-39 Airacobra


 * 1937 – (6-9) Masaaki Iinuma (pilot) and Kenji Tsukagoshi (flight mechanic and navigator) fly the Mitsubishi Ki-15 J-BAAI Kamikaze 15,366 km (9,542 statute miles) from Tachikawa, Japan, to Croydon Airport in London in a record 94 hours 17 min 56 seconds, of which 51 hours 17 min 23 seconds is spent in the air at an average speed of 162 km/hr (101.2 mph). It is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.


 * 1930 – Flying the Wright XF3 W-1 Apache, United States Navy Lieutenant Apollo Soucek sets a world altitude record, climbing to 43,166 feet (12,157 m).


 * 1926 – Varney Speed Lines begins operations in the US. It will later become Continental Airlines


 * 1924 – (Apr 6 – Sep 28) The first successful flight around the world starts as four United States Army Air Service Douglas World Cruisers leave from Seattle, Washington. Of the four, only two complete the circumnavigation (two were lost to crashes) as they each fly 27,553 miles (44,340 km) in 175 days, and return to Seattle on September 28. The actual flying time is 371 hours, 11 min, and the successful pilots were Lt. Lowell H. Smith and Lt. Erik Nelson with a total of 58 stops.


 * 1917 – The United States enters World War I, declaring war on Germany.


 * 1909 – The first machine wholly designed by Anglo-French air pioneer Henry Farman takes to the air at Bouy, France. Called either the Henry Farman III or, because it represents a new departure, the HF1, the biplane is the first aircraft to incorporate practical ailerons attached to the trailing edges of the wings.


 * 1907 – Horatio Phillips achieves the first, limited, powered heavier-than-air flight in the United Kingdom when his multiplane makes a 500 ft (150 m) hop.
 * 1890 – Anthony Herman Gerald Fokker, Dutch pioneer airman and aircraft manufacturer, is born in Kediri, Java. His Fokker D.VII was one of the finest all-around fighters of the WWI. He became a naturalized U. S. citizen and his Fokker T-2 made the first non-stop flight across the U. S. In 1926, the North Pole was over flown in a Fokker trimotor airplane.