Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/August 30

August 30


 * 2012 – Two Indian Air Force Mil Mi-17s collide during a training flight 12 km from the Jamnagar airbase, all nine on board the two helicopters died.


 * 2012 – Human Rights Watch alleges that in the previous three weeks Syrian government airstrikes and artillery fire have struck at least 10 bakeries in Aleppo as people lined up to collect bread, killing dozens, with one attack on 16 August alone killing 60 and injuring 70 people.


 * 2009 – A Belarusian Air Force Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker was lost during Radom Airshow 2009, Poland. The plane crashed near the Małęczyn village, outside the military air base the event took place on. No civilian was injured. There was no damage reported on the ground. The crew of two did not eject and were found dead by the rescue teams.


 * 2008 – 2008 Conviasa Boeing 737 crash: A Conviasa Boeing 737-291 Advanced (registered as YV-102 T) ferry flight from Maiquetia, Venezuela to Latacunga, Ecuador crashed into Illiniza Volcano. The aircraft had been stored at Caracas and was being ferried to a new owner. There were 3 crew on board, none of whom survived.


 * 2007 – Boeing B-52H Stratofortress, accidentally loaded with six W80-1 nuclear-armed AGM-129 advanced cruise missiles flies from Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana, where the unguarded aircraft sits on the tarmac for 10 hours undetected. Officers responsible for the security lapse at Minot are disciplined.


 * 1995 – Operation Deliberate Force is launched by NATO against Bosnian Serb forces. Two hundred sorties are flown during the first 24 hours, including the first combat missions flown by the Luftwaffe since World War II. Raids continued until September 14.


 * 1994 – Lockheed and Martin Marietta announce their intention to merge. They will form Lockheed-Martin the following year.


 * 1985 – First flight of the Bell D-292


 * 1984 – Cameroon Airlines Flight 786, a Boeing 737, with 109 passengers and 7 crew on board, suffers an uncontained engine failure during taxi for take-off at the Douala, Cameroon airport, starting a fire; two persons die as the plane burns to the ground.


 * 1984 – Launch: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-41-D at 12:41:50 UTC. Mission highlights: Multiple comsat deployments; first flight of Discovery, test of OAST-1 Solar Array.


 * 1984 – UA United States Navy North American T-2C Buckeye crashes into the Chesapeake Bay shortly after take-off from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, killing the student and seriously injuring the instructor.


 * 1983 – Launch: Space shuttle Challenger STS-8 at 06:32:00 UTC. Mission highlights: Comsat deployment, first flight of an African American in space, Guion Bluford; test of robot arm on heavy payloads with Payload Flight Test Article, First night landing.


 * 1982 – First flight of the Northrop F-20 Tigershark 82-0062


 * 1978 – In the LOT Flight 165 hijacking, two East German citizens hijack a Tupolev Tu-134, and force it to land at Tempelhof Airport; there are no casualties to the 63 passengers on board.


 * 1975 – Wien Air Alaska Flight 99, a Fairchild F-27, crashes into Seuvokuk Mountain, Alaska while on approach to Iliamna Airport, killing 10 of 32 on board.


 * 1974 – Maj Wendy Clay, a doctor, qualified as a pilot six years before the pilot classification is opened to all women.


 * 1969 – First flight of the Tupolev Tu-22M


 * 1967 – American aircraft bomb North Vietnamese road, railroad, and canal traffic in an attempt to isolate Haiphong.


 * 1967 – The Spanish Navy acquires the second aviation ship and first true aircraft carrier in its history when the United States loans the light aircraft carrier USS Cabot (CVL-28) to Spain under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program; Spain will purchase the ship outright in 1973. Renamed Dédalo (R01), she will serve in the Spanish Navy until 1989.


 * 1962 – First flight of the NAMC YS-11


 * 1956 – Sabre Mk.VI fighter aircraft of the No. 1 Overseas Ferry Unit, Royal Canadian Air Force, based in St. Hubert, Quebec, set a new record for the flight from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.


 * 1955 – Vought F7U-3 Cutlass, BuNo 129592, of VF-124, misses all the wires during a landing aboard USS Hancock, operating off of Hawaii, and hits the barrier. "Although reported to have suffered only slight damage, it was struck off charge and never flew again."


 * 1953 – Second prototype SNCASO SO.9000 Trident I -002 makes first and last flight, crashing and being a total write-off.


 * 1952 – First flight of the Avro Vulcan


 * 1952 – As a pair of Northrop F-89 Scorpions perform a flypast, Northrop F-89C-30-NO, 51-5781, disintegrates in flight during a display at the International Aviation Exposition at Detroit, Michigan, killing the Scorpion pilot, Major Donald E. Adams, the radar intercept officer, Captain Ed F. Kelly, and one spectator.


 * 1950 – The 1950 Mason-Dixon Line F-84 crash was an aircraft accident of a single Republic F-84 Thunderjet during a routine weather training mission of two jets. After passing southbound near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the F-84 C exploded in mid-air at tree height, left a large crater in a field, and scattered wreckage over 3 acres of the Hilbert cornfield near the Maryland intersection of the Harney and Bollinger School roads. Along with small parts of the aircraft, a few remains of the pilot were recovered; and the element leader in the lead F-84, 1st Lt. William L. Hall, reported “Alkire had not radioed of any difficulty before the explosion. ”


 * 1943 – A Qantas Empire Airways PBY Catalina flying boat on the “Double Sunrise Route” from Ceylon to Perth, Australia, completes the longest non-stop scheduled airline flight in history. From mooring buoy to mooring buoy, the flight takes 31 hours 51 min.


 * 1942 – One-off General Aircraft G.A.L.45 Owlet, DP240, ex-G-AGBK, a tandem, two-seat primary trainer with tricycle undercarriage, impressed by the RAF 1 May 1941 to train Douglas Boston pilots with tricycle techniques, of 605 Squadron at Ford, crashed this date near Arundel, Sussex.


 * 1933 – Air France, France’s national airline, is formed.


 * 1921 – Three Short aircraft of the naval aviation branch of the Chilean Army air corps carry out a successful mock raid from Valparaiso on Coquimbo. This will influence the eventual Chilean decision to separate naval aviation from army aviation.


 * 1914 – Paris is bombed by a German aircraft for the first time – An Etrich Taube flown by Lt Ferdinand von Hiddessen.


 * 1913 – American inventor Lawrence B. Sperry successfully demonstrates the first gyroscopic automatic stabilizing device for powered airplanes when Lt. Patrick N. L. Bellinger pilots a U. S. Navy flying boat designated C-2 and relinquishes full control to the autopilot.