Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/January 18

January 18


 * 2005 – The world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, gets unveiled in an elaborate ceremony in France.


 * 2005 – A United States Air Force Cessna T-37B, 66-8003, Cider 21, of the 89th Flying Training Squadron, 80th Flying Training Wing collides in midair with a civilian Air Tractor AT-502B, registration number N8526M, during a training flight over an unpopulated area near Hollister, Oklahoma, USA; both aircraft spiral out of control, 2 aircrew in T-37 eject, 1 suffers minor injuries, pilot and sole occupant of N8526M is killed. The crash is attributed to the failure of both pilots to watch for conflicting air traffic during VFR flight, a rare example of a midair collision in daylight VFR conditions during cruise flight in uncongested airspace distant from an airport.


 * 1992 – The United States Marine Corps retires the F-4 Phantom II from front-line service


 * 1991 – Seven Coalition aircraft are lost, all to Iraqi ground fire.


 * 1991 – Eastern Air Lines is dissolved after 64 years of operation. Many of its remaining assets are parceled out to American and Continental.


 * 1988 – China Southwest Airlines Flight 4146, an Ilyushin Il-18, crashed while on approach to Chongqing Airport in China. All 108 passengers and crew on board were killed.


 * 1986 – STS-61-C Space Shuttle Columbia returns on earth, last shuttle mission before the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.


 * 1986 – Aerovias Guatemala Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III crashed in the jungle 8 km (5 mls) from Flores (Guatemala) after two missed approaches, killing all 87 occupants.


 * 1985 – A Chinese Antonov An-24 turbo-prop airplane crashed while making an emergency landing in the city of Jinan, located south of its original destination, Beijing. The flight originated in Shanghai and stopped in Nanjing before flying on to Beijing. Thirty-eight people were killed, including 32 mainland Chinese, 3 Hong Kongese, 2 America, and one Briton. One crew member and two passengers survived the crash.


 * 1982 – Death of Josef Mai, German WWI fighter ace and WWII instructor.


 * 1982 – 1982 Thunderbirds Indian Springs Diamond Crash: The worst accident in U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds Demonstration Team history involving show aircraft, when four Northrop T-38A Talons, Numbers 1-4, 68-8156, -8175, -8176 and -8184, crashed during pre-season training on Range 65 at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, Nevada (now Creech Air Force Base). While practicing the four-plane line abreast loop, the formation impacted the ground at high speed, instantly killing all four pilots: Major Norm Lowry, leader, Captain Willie Mays, Captain Pete Peterson and Captain Mark Melancon. The cause of the crash was officially listed by the USAF as the result of a mechanical problem with the #1 aircraft's control stick actuator. During formation flight, the wing and slot pilots visually cue off the #1 lead aircraft, completely disregarding their positions in relation to the ground. The crash of a team support Fairchild C-123 Provider on 10 October 1958 killed 19.


 * 1981 – Bell Helicopter delivers its 25,000th production helicopter.


 * 1979 – Death of Giovanni Ballestra, Italian Air Force pilot, not bailing out of his F-104 Starfighter on fire in order to avoid victims in a high denisity population zone.


 * 1978 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 274 made a 2 point landing at Miami International Airport (KIMA) when its nose wheel locked in the up position.


 * 1977 – Prime Minister of Yugoslavia Džemal Bijedić and six others are killed in the crash of a Learjet 25 near Kreševo, Yugoslavia.


 * 1973 – Results of the USAF A-X fly-off announced, with the Fairchild YA-10 selected over the Northrop YA-9.


 * 1972 – Ottawa banned the use of aircraft and large ships in the Gulf of St. Lawrence seal hunt.


 * 1972 – General Dynamics F-111E-CF, 68-018, c/n A1-127 / E-28,[326][327] tailcode 'JS',[328] out of RAF Upper Heyford, crashes on high ground in Scotland, both crew KWF.


 * 1969 – Soyuz 5 returns to earth.


 * 1969 – United Airlines Flight 266, a Boeing 727, en route from Los Angeles to Milwaukee loses all electrical power and crashes into Santa Monica Bay; six crew and 32 passengers are killed.


 * 1968 – (overnight) – A U. S. Navy UH-2A Seasprite piloted by Lieutenant junior grade Clyde Everett Lassen makes a daring rescue of downed fliers in North Vietnam. For his actions, Lassen will become the only U. S. Navy helicopter pilot to be awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War. THIS INCIDENT OCCURRED 19 JUNE 1969.


 * 1965 – Death of Charles Marie Joseph Leon Nuville, French WWI fighter ace and WWII officer.


 * 1960 – Capital Airlines Flight 20, a Vickers Viscount, flying from Washington National Airport to Norfolk International Airport crashes near Holdcroft, Virginia due to engine failure caused by icy conditions; all 50 on board are killed.


 * 1958 – Birth of Jeffrey Nels Williams, USAF test pilot and NASA astronaut.


 * 1957 – Three United States Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers make the world’s first round-the-world, non-stop flight by turbojet-powered aircraft. They complete the flight in 45 hours 19 min, at an average speed of 534 mph (859 km/h).


 * 1946 – A Dornier Do 335A-12 Pfeil (Arrow), AM223, ex-DP+UB, a twin piston engined "push-pull" aircraft, out of RAE Farnborough, suffers a rear-engine fire whilst in flight which severs the control runs and crashes into Cove School, Cove, Hampshire, killing 2 people, according to one source, and injuring six persons on the ground, with the pilot, Group Captain A. F. Hards DSO[disambiguation needed], KWF according another


 * 1944 – Death of Eugene Jules Emile Camplan, French WWI flying ace.


 * 1941 – A large German air raid strikes Malta’s airfields and other facilities.


 * 1938 – The RCAF accepted the first of 1,384 de Havilland Tiger Moth training aircraft.


 * 1935 – First flight of the Blohm & Voss Ha 137


 * 1930 – Death of Tommaso (Tomaso) Dal Molin, Italian pilot in the crash of his seaplane racer Savoia-Marchetti S.65 on Lake Garda.


 * 1920 – Death of Albert René Chabrier, French WWI flying ace.


 * 1918 – Birth of Frederick C. Bock, WWII pilot who took part in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945, flying the B-29 bomber 'The Great Artist'.


 * 1916 – First "official" flight of the Junkers J 1. (A brief hop had been taken in December 1915.)


 * 1916 – Birth of Giorgio Savoja (Savoia), Italian WWII fighter pilot.


 * 1913 – Birth of Wing Commander George Cecil Unwin DSO, DFM & Bar, British WWII fighter ace.


 * 1911 – Eugene Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania anchored in San Francisco Bay, marking the first time an aircraft landed on a ship.


 * 1909 – The first book to treat the work and accomplishments of the Wright brothers, Les Premiers Hommes-Oiseaux: Wilbur et Orville Wright, is written by François Peyrey (1873 – 1934) and published in France.


 * 1906 – The Zeppelin LZ2 is destroyed in high winds.


 * 1905 – The Wright brothers begin discussions with the United States Government about selling it an airplane.


 * 1893 – Birth of Douglas Evan Cameron, British WWI flying ace.


 * 1893 – Birth of Dr. Wolfgang Benjamin Klemperer, German prominent aviation and aerospace scientist and engineer, who ranks among the pioneers of early aviation.


 * 1891 – Birth of Herbert Wilhelm Franz Knappe, German WWI flying ace.


 * 1888 – Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer, is born (d. 1989). Sopwith with Fred Sigrist and others set up The Sopwith Aviation Company. The company produced key British World War I aircraft, most famously the Sopwith Camel.


 * 1882 – Birth of Gaston Caudron, French aviation pioneer and aircraft designer along with his brother René.