Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/December 23

December 23


 * 2012 – Over a period of 17 minutes, three waves of Syrian Air Force aircraft attack the only bakery operating in Halfaya, Syria, where hundreds of people had gathered to buy the first fresh bread available in the area for days, killing dozens. Opposition groups estimate the number of dead at anywhere from fewer than 100 to as many as 300 people.


 * 2009 – Thai Air Force Northrop F-5E (211 Sq. coded 21118/91681) fighter aircraft crashed in Thailand. Pilot Chatchawan Rassamee died.


 * 2005 – Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 217, an Antonov An-140, crashes 5 minutes after takeoff from Baku Airport due to instrument failure; all 23 on board die.


 * 2002 – A MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25, making it the first time in history that an aircraft and an unmanned drone had engaged in combat.


 * 1990 – First flight of the Boeing VC-25(No. 29000)


 * 1986 – Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the first aircraft to fly non-stop, non-refueled around the world.


 * 1982 – First flight of the Short C-23 Sherpa


 * 1979 – Turkish Airlines Fokker F28 crashes into a hillside near Kuyumcuköy, Ankara, Turkey while on approach to Esenboğa Airport; of the 45 on board, only 4 survive.


 * 1978 – Alitalia Flight 4128, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32, crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea when on approach to Palermo International Airport in Palermo, Italy. 108 of the 129 passengers and crew on board are killed.


 * 1975 – LTV A-7D Corsair II, 67-14586, c/n D.005, while assigned to Eglin AFB, Florida's 3246th Test Wing, Air Development & Test Center for mission support, suffers engine failure on take-off from Tallahassee Municipal Airport, Florida and makes forced landing, coming down largely intact. Airframe is hauled back to Eglin AFB on a truck, where it is either scrapped or becomes a target hulk.
 * 1975 – General Dynamics FB-111A-CF, 68-290, c/n B1-62, crashes in the area of the Ashland forest in Maine, ~45 minutes after take-off from Loring AFB, Maine.


 * 1974 – First flight of the Rockwell B-1 Lancer


 * 1973 – First flight of the Aero Boero 260AG


 * 1972 – Braathens SAFE Flight 239, a Fokker F-28, crashes in Asker upon landing at Fornebu airport, Oslo, Norway, killing 40 of 45 people on board.


 * 1972 – Andrei Tupolev dies, aged 86


 * 1966 – First flight of the Dassault Mirage F1


 * 1961 – In Operation Chopper, U. S. Army helicopters airlift 1,000 South Vietnamese paratroopers to attack a suspected Viet Cong headquarters in South Vietnam 10 miles (16 km) west of Saigon.


 * 1950 – AU.S. Navy Lockheed P2V-3W Neptune, BuNo 124357, of VP-931, NAS Whidbey Island, crashes on McCreight Mountain, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Wreckage found 21 September 1961, according to Joe Baugher. Pilot Lt. Lalonde M. Pinne and ten crew KWF. Another source cites crash date of 18 December 1950. Yet another source lists discovery date as 21 October 1951, found by a Canadian aircraft that was off-course.


 * 1943 – American aircraft based at Tarawa strike Nauru.


 * 1943 – (23-25) Air Solomons (AirSols) aircraft strike Rabaul heavily, U. S. Navy carrier aircraft strike Kavieng on New Ireland, and Fifth Air Force aircraft attack Japanese positions at Cape Gloucester and Cape Hoskins on New Britain.


 * 1941 – First flight of the Douglas C-47 Skytrain


 * 1940 – The first U. S. all-cargo air service is inaugurated by United Air Lines when at 11:30 P. M. a flight leaves New York for Chicago, where it arrives at 3:40 A. M. local time the following morning after stopping in Cleveland.


 * 1940 – Eddie August Schneider dies in crash when his plane is clipped by a U. S. Navy bomber at Floyd Bennett Field.


 * 1939 – Anthony Fokker, pioneer in aviation and a Dutch-American aircraft manufacturer dies in New York, aged 49


 * 1938 – First flight of the Blackburn Roc


 * 1929 – Trans-Canada (McKee) Trophy was awarded to ‘Wop’ May for his flight carrying a diphtheria anti-toxin from Edmonton to Fort Vermillion, Alberta.


 * 1910 – Lt Theodore Ellyson of the United States Navy is assigned to flight training with the Curtiss company, making him the first naval aviator.