Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/January 20

January 20


 * 2013 – A Syrian Air Force strike against rebel-held areas in al-Barika reportedly kllls seven people.


 * 2013 – Islamist rebel forces withdraw from Diabaly, Mali, to avoid further airstrikes after days of bombing by French aircraft. French aircraft have flown 140 bombing sorties since the French intervention in Mali began.


 * 2012 – Launch of WGS-4, (Wideband Global SATCOM system) American high capacity satellite communications system.


 * 2011 – Launch of USA-224, also known as NRO Launch 49 (NRO L-49), American reconnaissance satellite.


 * 2011 – Launch of Elektro-L No.1, also known as Geostationary Operational Meteorological Satellite No.2 or GOMS No.2, Russian geostationary weather satellite.


 * 2011 – A Ecuadorian Air Force De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter FAE449 crashed near Tena, Ecuador, killing all six on board.5]


 * 2009 – Two Spanish Air Force Dassault Mirage F1 on a training flight, collide in midair. The three pilots were found dead in the debris of the airplanes.


 * 2009 – The Dominican Civil Aviation Institute suspends Caribair from operating for "operational irregularities".


 * 2007 – A US AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed near Najaf. One soldier killed.


 * 2007 – A UH-60 Black Hawk from C Company, 1–131 Aviation Regiment shot down by a combination of several heavy machine guns and a shoulder-fired missile north-east of Baghdad. All 12 crew and passengers on board are killed in the incident.


 * 1997 – A new balloon absolute distance record of 16,722 km (10,363 miles) is set by Steve Fossett, during his unsuccessful non-stop, round the world flight, which he is forced to abandon in India.


 * 1996 – STS-72, Space shuttle mission, recovers in space the Japanese spacecraft 'Space Flyer Unit' and lands back on earth.


 * 1992 – Air Inter Flight 148, an Airbus A320, crashes in the Vosges Mountains on approach to Strasbourg, France, killing 87 of 96 people on board.


 * 1991 – Five Coalition aircraft are lost in combat – All to Iraqi ground fire – And two to non-combat causes.


 * 1990 – North American Airlines began operations.


 * 1988 – Death of Robert Miles Todd, American WWI flying ace.


 * 1980 – Death of André Dubonnet, French WWI flying ace, WWII fighter pilot, athlete, racecar driver, and inventor.


 * 1977 – AA USCG Sikorsky HH-52A Seaguard, 1448, strikes three electrical transmission wires and crashes into the ice-filled Illinois River. The crew had been performing an aerial ice patrol along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. The names of the personnel killed in the incident were: LTJG Frederick William Caesar III USN, LTJG John Francis Taylor (CG Aviator #1620), AT2 John B. Johnson, Mr. Bill Simpson (Civilian). The Air Station the aircraft and/or crew were assigned to was AIRSTA Chicago.


 * 1977 – Death of Ernest Archibald "Ernie" McNab, Canadian WWII fighter pilot, first scoring pilot for the RCAF in WWII.


 * 1975 – Death of Howard Burdick, American WWI flying ace.


 * 1975 –terrorists hijack an Air France Boeing 707 and have it flown to Baghdad


 * 1974 – First 'accidental' flight of the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, US multirole jet fighter aircraft, during a high-speed taxi test. While gathering speed, a roll-control oscillation caused a fin of the port-side wingtip-mounted missile and then the starboard stabilator to scrape the ground, and the aircraft then began to veer off the runway. The GD test pilot, Phil Oestricher, decided to lift off to avoid crashing the machine, and safely landed it six minutes later.


 * 1971 – Entered Service: McDonell Douglas RF-4E Phantom II with Luftwaffe.


 * 1971 – First flight of the Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye, an American all-weather, aircraft carrier-capable tactical airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft, evolution of the E-2A and E-2B.


 * 1969 – Death of Arthur Eyguem De Montaigne 'Jacko' Jarvis, Canadian WWI flying ace.


 * 1965 – Death of Ludwig "Lutz" Beckmann, German WWI flying ace.


 * 1965 – Death of Friedrich Hefty, Austro-Hungarian WWI flying ace.


 * 1959 – First flight of the Vickers Vanguard


 * 1952 – Death of Ronald Malcolm Fletcher, British WWI observer/gunner ace in two-seater fighters in conjunction with his pilot, Lt. S. F. H. Thompson.


 * 1948 – Birth of Jerry Lynn Ross, USAF pilot and NASA astronaut.


 * 1943 – A RCAF Wellington Bomber (BR 432) from 429 Squadron, stationed at East-Moor, UK, went down in the Zuider Zee. Wreckage was recovered 29 years later in May 1972.


 * 1941 – The Brazilian Air Force is created by the amalgamation of the Brazilian Army and Brazilian Navy air arms.


 * 1941 – Death of Frederick Erastus Humphreys, American aviator, one of the original three military pilots trained by the Wright brothers and the first to fly solo.


 * 1940 – The Brazilian Air Force, originally founded in 1908 as the Brazilian Army Balloon Corp, adopts its current title, Fôrça Aeréa Brasileira.


 * 1940 – First flight of the Arsenal VG-34, a French light fighter aircraft prototype developed from the VG-33.


 * 1938 – First flight of the Latécoère 523, a 6 engine high wing monoplane reconnaissance Flying boat for the French Navy, Based on the 521, variant of the 522


 * 1938 – A Flight Refuelling Ltd Armstrong Whitworth AW.23 refuels an Imperial Airways Short Empire over Southampton Water


 * 1936 – Italian troops take the Ethiopian town of Negele Boran without firing a shot. Its inhabitants have all fled after Italian aircraft drop 40 tons (36,288 kg) of bombs on the town during the Battle of Genale Doria.


 * 1934 – First flight of the Boeing P-29 (originated as the Model 264), a US Fighter prototype, fully-cantilever wings, wing flaps, enclosed "greenhouse" canopy, and retractable undercarriage.


 * 1933 – The sole prototype Consolidated XA-11 attack plane, 32-322, crashes due to structural failure, killing Lieut. Irvin A. Woodring.


 * 1932 –Imperial Airways weekly airmail service is extended through Africa as far as Cape Town


 * 1930 – Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr., American pilot and astronaut, is born. Aldrin was the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 11, the first lunar landing. He was the second person to have set foot on the Moon, after Mission Commander Neil Armstrong.


 * 1928 – Introduction: Boeing F2 B


 * 1928 – Death of George Augustine Taylor, Australian artist, journalist, and aviation pioneer, first person in Australia to fly in a heavier-than-air craft.


 * 1923 – After suffering an engine failure in flight, the Cierva C.4 autogyro uses autorotation to land without damage.


 * 1920 – Birth of Ferruccio Serafini, WWII Italian fighter ace.


 * 1916 – The first airship raid on Britain. Zeppelins of the Imperial German Navy Airship Division dropped bombs on Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn, Norfolk, killing 5 people. The RFC flew its first ever night sorties against the raiders, but two aircraft failed to intercept.


 * 1913 – Attempting to establish a new women’s altitude record, Bernetta Miller is covered with oil and temporarily blinded when her oil flow indicator smashes. She makes a safe emergency landing in New York.


 * 1913 – Birth of Gheorghe Popescu-Ciocanel, Romanian WWII fighter ace.


 * 1896 – Birth of James Dudley Beane, American WWI flying ace.


 * 1893 – Birth of Howard John Thomas Saint, Welsch WWI flying ace.


 * 1892 – Birth of Ludwig Hanstein, German WWI fighter ace.


 * 1890 – Birth of Arthur Whitehair "Wiggy" Vigers, British WWI fighter ace, 3d ranking of the aces who flew the Sopwith Dolphin.


 * 1890 – Birth of Pierre Henri Edmond Dufaur de Gavardie, French WWI flying ace.


 * 1889 – Birth of Allan Haines Loughead, later changed to Allan Haines Lockheed, American aviation pioneer and engineer. He formed the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company along with his brother, Malcolm Loughead, that became Lockheed Corporation.


 * 1889 – Birth of Alfred Mohr, German WWI flying ace.


 * 1888 – Birth of Jens Tryggve Herman Gran DSC, MC, Norwegian aviator, explorer and author, first pilot to cross the North Sea.