Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/February 2

February 2


 * 2013 – French aircraft pound Islamist targets in Kidal and Tessalit in the far northern part of Mali.


 * 2013 – (Overnight) French aircraft pound Islamist targets in Kidal and Tessalit in the far northern part of Mali.


 * 2011 – An Indian Army HAL Cheetah helicopter crashed at Nashik, western India, killing both crew.


 * 2007 – A HAL Dhruv helicopter, part of the Saarang Helicopter Aerobatics team, loses altitude and crashes while practicing for the Aero India-2007 at the Yelahanka Air Base near Bangalore, India. The pilot is severely injured, and the co-pilot is killed. The Saarang team continue their planned performance for the airshow.


 * 2007 – AH-64D Apache 02-5337 from A Company, 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division shot down by a combination of gunfire and a shoulder-fired missile, near Taji, killing the two pilots.


 * 2001 – First flight of the Prototype General Atomics RQ-1 Predator B, later redesignated MQ-9 Reaper.


 * 1998 – Cebu Pacific Flight 387, a McDonnell-Douglas DC-9, crashes into a mountain near Mount Sumagaya in Misamis Oriental in the Philippines. The plane is flying an unfamiliar route not well documented in maps following an unscheduled stop in Leyte to drop off two mechanics. All 104 passengers and crew members are killed.


 * 1996 – An Grumman F-14A Tomcat crashes in the northern Persian Gulf. The U.S. Navy announces a three-day stand down for F-14 operations. The safety standdown will allow the service "to assess all aspects of operations and procedures", a Navy spokeswoman said. She said the review will "assess available information to determine if any procedural or other modifications to F-14 operations are warranted."[337]


 * 1991 – Coalition aircraft attack Iraqi Navy vessels at the Al Kalia naval facility, hitting a missile boat with two laser-guided bombs and straddling another with twelve 500-pound (227-kg) bombs; helicopters from the American guided-missile frigate USS Nicholas (FFG-47) engage four Iraqi patrol boats near Maradim Island, destroying one and damaging two; and U.S. Navy A-6 Es destroy an Iraqi patrol boat in Kuwait Harbor with two laser-guided bombs. The Coalition claims to have sunk or damaged 83 Iraqi Navy vessels thus far in the Gulf War, with Coalition aircraft inflicting most of the losses. Iraqi antiaircraft artillery shoots down a U.S. Navy A-6E Intruder near Kuwait City, Kuwait, an Iraqi short-range surface-to-air missile downs a U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II, and a U.S. Marine Corps AH-1 J SeaCobra crashes due to non-combat causes while returning from an armed escort mission.


 * 1989 – The first prototype JAS 39 Gripen crashed on its sixth flight when landing in Linköping as a result of pilot-induced oscillation. The accident was filmed in a now famous recording by a crew from Sveriges Television's Aktuellt. The pilot remained in the tumbling aircraft, and escaped miraculously with just a fractured arm.


 * 1987 – After racking up an unmanageable amount of debt in only four years of existence, Newark-based PEOPLExpress Airlines ceases operations and merges with Continental.


 * 1971 – Two USAF crew are found dead in the escape module after their General Dynamics F-111 crashes near Mandeville, Louisiana three weeks earlier. A parachute was found hanging from a nearby tree, but it did not deploy in time to save the airmen.


 * 1970 – An Convair F-106A-100-CO Delta Dart, 58-0787, of the 71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, out of Malmstrom AFB, (the Cornfield Bomber), piloted by Capt. Gary Faust, enters a flat spin during air combat maneuvering (ACM) over Montana. Faust follows procedures and ejects from the aircraft. The resulting change of balance causes the aircraft to stabilize, and it lands wheels up in a snow-covered field, suffering almost no damage. The aircraft is then sent back to base by rail, repaired and returned to service. Preserved initially at Griffiss AFB, New York, it is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.


 * 1968 – The personnel and organization of the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and the Royal Canadian Air Force were unified into a single organization, the Canadian Armed Forces.


 * 1966 – Pakistan International Airlines Flight 17, a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter, crashes near Faridpur, Bangladesh, Pakistan; of the 23 on board, only a passenger survives.


 * 1964 – NASA space probe Ranger 6 impacted the Moon on the eastern edge of Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility).The orientation of the spacecraft to the surface during descent was correct, but no video signal was received and no camera data obtained.


 * 1962 – At Halls Beach N.W.T. a 412 Squadron North Star 17520 lost power to three engines in quick succession just after takeoff. The pilot turned back and lined up to land and the fourth engine began to lose power. A wheels – up landing was made safely in the snow to the right of the runway. All on board were safe.


 * 1961 – The first commercial use of the de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou took place.


 * 1957 – Death of Antonio Lippi, Italian Aviator who flew with Italo Balbo on transatlantic flights.


 * 1954 – Japan Air Lines inaugurates its first international service: a twice-weekly route to San Francisco.


 * 1953 – In the 1953 Skyways Avro York disappearance, a plane with 39 on board disappears over the North Atlantic.


 * 1951 – First flight of the Douglas DC-6 B, extended version All-passenger variant of DC-6 A, without cargo door.


 * 1944 – First flight of the Republic XP-72, American prototype interceptor fighter developed as a progression of the P-47 Thunderbolt design.


 * 1941 – Eight Fairey Swordfish aircraft from the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal attack the dam at San Chiar d’Ula, Sardinia, with torpedoes, but inflict no visible damage on the dam.


 * 1938 – Two U.S. Navy Consolidated PBY-2 Catalinas, BuNo 0462 of VP-13 and BuNo 0463 of VP-11 collide in midair off San Clemente, California, killing 3 officers and 8 enlisted men, 11 of the 14 onboard.


 * 1938 – Death of Enrico Comani, Italian Aviator on a return trip from Brazil with a CANT Z.506 B floatplane. After engines failure, they Ditched in a rough sea. To avoid fire and explosion the crew jumped in the water. Only one member over 5 survived to sharks.


 * 1931 – Austrian Friedrich Schmiedl launches his V7 mail rocket with 100 letters aboard from Schoeckel bei Graz to Sankt Radegund, Austria, a distance of 2 km.


 * 1929 – The Boeing Airplane and Transport Corp. changes its name to United Aircraft and Transportation Corp. and by the end of the year had expanded its operations to include Chance Vought Corp., Hamilton Metalplane Division, Boeing Aircraft of Canada, Stout Airlines, Northrop Aircraft Corp., Stearman Aircraft Co., Sikorsky Aviation Corp., Standard Steel Propeller Co. and Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Co.


 * 1925 – A Breguet 19 flown by Captain Ludovic Arrachart and Captain Henri Lemaître takes off from Paris to Villa Cisneros (Sahara) for a new distance record flight in straight line.


 * 1919 – Death of Leslie Jacob "Rummy" Rummell, American WWI flying ace.


 * 1918 – The first operational squadrons of the American Expeditionary Force are formed in France.


 * 1916 – Zeppelin LZ54 (L19), damaged and with 3 engines over 4 failing, came under Dutch fire. It sank in the North Sea, drowning all crew members.


 * 1916 – The only Imperial Russian Navy seaplane carrier to see service in the Baltic Sea during World War I, Orlitza, is commissioned.


 * 1914 – Birth of Nicolas Roland Payen, French engineer and first designer of the Delta wing. Builder of the world's smallest jet aircraft (Pa-49).


 * 1904 – Birth of Valery Pavlovich Chkalov, Russian aircraft test pilot.


 * 1898 – Birth of Richard Pearman Minifie, Australian WWI fighter ace who also served as a squadron leader in the Air Training Corps of the RAAF during WWII.


 * 1897 – Birth of Jeffery Batters Home-Hay, Canadian WWI flying ace, pioneering bush pilot, Commercial Pilot who served In the RCAF during WWII. He took part in the first Canadian transcontinental flight from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Vancouver.


 * 1897 – Birth of Lucien Marcel Gasser, French WWI flying ace.


 * 1896 – Birth of Ramón Franco y Bahamonde Salgado Pardo de Andrade, Galician pioneer of aviation, a political figure and brother of later dictator Francisco Franco.


 * 1872 – French navy-engineer Dupuy de Lome achieves 9 to 11 km/h with his muscle powered airship.