Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/April 9

April 9


 * 2010 – A U.S. Air Force Bell Boeing CV-22 Osprey crashed near Qalat, Zabul Province, killing 4.


 * 2009 – Aviastar Mandiri BAe 146-300 PK-BRD crashes into Gunung Pike on approach to Wamena Airport, Indonesia, killing all six people on board.


 * 2002 – A Portuguese Air Force 552 Squadron Alouette III crashes, killing the three crewman.


 * 1997 – The first production F/A-22 was unveiled at a roll out ceremony hosted by Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Pratt & Whitney.


 * 1994 – The Boeing 777 twinjet, the newest member of the Boeing jet family, rolls out.


 * 1994 – Launch: Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-59 at 7:05 am EDT. Mission highlights: Shuttle Radar Laboratory-1.


 * 1993 – USAF aircraft attack and destroy an Iraqi anti-aircraft battery


 * 1990 – Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight 2254 operated under 14 CFR 135 by Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia N217AS from Muscle Shoals, Alabama to Atlanta, Georgia with an intermediate stop at the Northeast Alabama Regional Airport in Gadsden, Alabama collided in mid-air with Civil Air Patrol Cessna 172 N99501 on April 9, 1990 over Gadsden. Following departure from Northeast Alabama Regional Airport Runway 24, the ASA flight turned left toward the east along its intended flight path to Atlanta at an assigned altitude of 5,000 feet. The Cessna 172 was west bound at the same altitude, facing the setting sun. During the head-on collision at 6:05 p. m. Central Daylight Time, the right horizontal stabilizer of the Embraer was torn from the aircraft. Though significantly damaged, the ASA flight managed to return to Northeast Alabama Regional Airport with no injuries to occupants, the Cessna 172 crashed into a field, resulting in fatal injuries to both occupants. An eyewitness to the event did not report any evasive maneuvers by either aircraft prior to the collision.


 * 1983 – Landing: Space shuttle Challenger STS-6 at 18:53:42 UTC. Mission highlights: TDRS deployment; first flight of Challenger; first space shuttle extra-vehicular activity.


 * 1976 – Air France opens its second supersonic service, from Paris to Caracas, Venezuela; the Concorde takes six hours, including a stop at the Azores.


 * 1971 – The last major airmobile operation of the Vietnam war, Operation Lam Son 719, ends after North Vietnamese Army forces drive all South Vietnamese forces out of Laos with heavy casualties. Facing the heaviest antiaircraft artillery fire of the war, American helicopter crews have suffered casualties of 176 killed, 1,942 wounded, and 42 missing, with 107 helicopters destroyed and 600 damaged. The operation has demonstrated a need for the U. S. Army to develop a specialized antitank attack helicopter.


 * 1969 – The first United Kingdom assembled supersonic transport, Concorde 002, makes its first successful flight in England.


 * 1967 – First flight of the Boeing 737


 * 1965 – U. S. Navy F-4 Phantom IIs of Fighter Squadron 96 (VF-96) clash with Chinese MiG-17 fighters over the South China Sea south of Hainan. One F-4 B is shot down, but VF-96 claims one MiG-17 destroyed.


 * 1965 – Entered Service: BAC One-Eleven with British United Airways


 * 1964 – Official retirement of the Lancaster at Downsview, Ontario.


 * 1964 – First flight of the de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo


 * 1960 – The giant Tupolev Tu-114 Rossiya sets a new world speed record for propeller-driven airplanes of 545.07 mph. It was carrying a 55,116-pound payload at the time and flew around an official 3,107-mile closed circuit in the USSR.


 * 1959 – Mercury program – NASA announces the selection of the United States’ first seven astronauts, which the news media quickly dub the “Mercury Seven”.


 * 1958 – Entered Service: Handley Page Victor with No. 10 Squadron RAF at RAF Cottesmore


 * 1948 – A six-month fatality-free period at Eglin AFB, Florida, (the longest since the base opened) ends when Capt. William Robbins, 26, is killed in the crash of a North American P-51D-30-NA Mustang, 44-74913, in a wooded area N of Crestview, Florida. The pilot in the Friday morning accident was father of three and was well known for his involvement with the Boy Scouts of America. A resident of Cinco Bayou, Florida, Robbins is buried in his hometown of Tampa, Florida on 11 April.


 * 1945 – Over 300 Royal Air Force bombers raid the dockyard at Kiel, Germany. They capsize the German “pocket battleship” Admiral Scheer with a direct hit and several near misses.


 * 1945 – The United Kingdom transfers the escort aircraft carrier HMS Biter to France, which immediately commissions her into the French Navy as Dixmude. Dixmude is France’s first aircraft carrier since the demilitarization of Béarn in 1942.


 * 1944 – B-24D Liberator #42-41128 crashes south-west of Mojave while on a routine training mission to simulate a long range bombing mission. All ten crew members die in the crash.


 * 1944 – Royal Air Force Fairey Albacore, X9117, of 415 Squadron, engaged in a fighter affiliation exercise, crashes near Bosham, Hants. while making a low turn. All four crew KWF.


 * 1943 – Lockheed P-38G-10-LO Lightning, 42-12937, flown by Col. Ben Kelsey, gets into inverted spin during dive flap test, loses one wing and entire tail section. Kelsey bails out, suffers broken ankle, while P-38 hits flat on hillside near Calabasas, California.


 * 1942 – No. 421 (Fighter) Squadron was formed in England.


 * 1942 – 129 aircraft from the Japanese aircraft carriers Akagi, Hiryū, Sōryū, Shōkaku, and Zuikaku strike Trincomalee, Ceylon. A second wave sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes that afternoon off Batticaloa, Ceylon. Hermes becomes the first aircraft carrier ever to be sunk by aircraft.


 * 1941 – The United States Army re-designates the Northeast Air District as the First Air Force. It is responsible for the northeastern United States.


 * 1940 – Germany invades Denmark and Norway, making extensive use of paratroops


 * 1937 – The Kamikaze, a Mitsubishi Ki-15 aircraft, arrives at Croydon Airport in London – It is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.


 * 1929 – The French airline Air Union starts to operate a nightly service from Paris to London.


 * 1919 – Second of only two Bristol M.R.1 metal-covered, two-seat biplanes built, A5178, powered by 180 hp Wolseley Viper engine, flown by Capt. Frank Barnwell, strikes pine tree on approach to RAE Farnborough's North Gate and is written off.


 * 1899 – James Smith McDonnell, an aviation pioneer and founder of McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, was born (d. 1980).