Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/January 23

January 23


 * 2013 – An American unmanned aerial vehicle attacks a ground vehicle in Al-Masna`Ah, Yemen, killing six Islamic militants, including two senior al-Qaeda commanders.


 * 2010 – A United States Navy Beechcraft T-34C Turbo-Mentor, an upgraded version of the T-34 Mentor, crash-landed in Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans. One pilot was rescued and the other was missing. The plane, on a routine nighttime instrument training mission, crashed about 1845 hrs. and was 1-nautical-mile (1.9 km) north of Lakefront Airport in New Orleans on an apparent approach to land. Coast Guard teams rescued the student pilot about 9 p.m. with mild hypothermia and moderate injuries from the 57 degree water. The pilot, Lt. Clinton Wermers, 33, from Mitchell, South Dakota, was presumed dead. He had been assigned to Naval Air Station Whiting Field since March 2007. A memorial service was held for Lt. Wermers on 1 February at Whiting Field.


 * 2008 – crashes: A Polish military airplane EADS CASA C-295, '019', c/n S-043, crashed in forested area near Polish city Miroslawiec killing all 20 people aboard - 16 Polish Air Force officers (incl. one general, Gen. Andrzej Andrzejewski, who survived an ejection from a Su-22M-4K on 18 August 2003, and six colonels) and 4 crew.
 * 2007 – First flight of the Lockheed Martin CATBird


 * 2007 – A Blackwater USA MD 530F helicopter is shot down by hostile fire in Baghdad. All of the 5 man crew are killed in the incident, likely executed after surviving the crash. The remaining survivor was also killed under unclear circumstances, when another Blackwater helicopter descended to the crash site.


 * 2004 – ESA announced the discovery of water ice in the South Polar ice cap, using data taken on January 18 with the OMEGA instrument of Mars Express.


 * 2004 – An OH-58D Kiowa (93-0950) from 3–17 Cavalry Regiment crashes just after take-off outside Mosul, killing both pilots.


 * 2003 – The final communication is made between Earth and Pioneer 10, a spacecraft intended to fly past Jupiter. It was launched in 1972, and its last trajectory would have the craft the first artificial object to leave the solar system.


 * 2001 – Yemenia Flight 448, a Boeing 727, is hijacked 15 minutes after takeoff from Sana'a International Airport; the crew makes an emergency landing at Djibouti; the hijacker is subdued with no casualties to the 101 on board.


 * 1998 – First flight of the AEA Explorer (sometimes called the Explorer Explorer), an Australian large single-engine utility aircraft.


 * 1993 – Indian Airlines B737 crashes at Aurangabad, 61 die


 * 1991 – Iraqi antiaircraft fire downs a U. S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon over Kuwait, and a United States Marine Corps AV-8 B Harrier II and a U. S. Army attack helicopter are lost to non-combat causes. U. S. Navy A-6E Intruders attack Iraqi ships, disabling a tanker, sinking a Winchester-class hovercraft refueling from the tanker, and sinking a Zhuk-class patrol boat.


 * 1990 – Mid-air collision between two Blue Angels McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 aircraft during a practice session at El Centro. One airplane, Angel Number 2, BuNo 161524, piloted by Capt. Chase Moseley (ejected) was destroyed and the other, Angel Number 1, badly damaged but managed to land safely. Both pilots survived unharmed.


 * 1982 – World Airways Flight 30, a McDonnell-Douglas DC-10, overshoots the runway at Boston, Massachusetts; two passengers were reported missing.


 * 1979 – Aeronautica Militare Italiana, Italian Air Force Lockheed C-130H Hercules MM62000, '46-14', c/n 4497, of the 46 Aerobrigata, jumped chocks during engine run-up, hit tree, written-off. Parts used to support c/n 4491, MM61995 damaged in hard landing, Pisa, January 1999. Hull at Milan-Malpensa, Italy, December 1979, 1989.


 * 1973 – Jordan Air crash at Kano, Nigeria kills 176 Muslim pilgrims.


 * 1972 – The United States suspects that SA-3 Goa surface-to-air missiles have become operational in North Vietnam.


 * 1970 – Launch of ITOS-1, NASA operational sun-synchronous meteorological spacecraft.


 * 1961 – Death of Redford Henry “Red” Mulock, first Canadian WWI flying ace and the first in the RNAS, High ranking RCAF post WWI before joining Canadian Airways.


 * 1960 – Birth of Patrick de Gayardon, French skydiver, skysurfer and BASE jumper.


 * 1957 – First Flight of the Nord 1500-02 Griffon II, 2nd experimental ramjet-powered fighter aircraft, evolution of the Griffon I.


 * 1953 – First peacetime award of DFC to member of the RCAF granted to F/L Ernie Glover for his Korean fighter exploits (3 Migs destroyed, 2 damaged).


 * 1951 – First flight of the Douglas F4D-1 (Skyray)


 * 1951 – Birth of Chesley Burnett “Sully” Sullenberger III, American airliner pilot, safety expert, and accident investigator, famous for having ditched an Airbus A320-214 in the Hudson River off Manhattan, New York City, saving the lives of all 155 people on the aircraft.


 * 1949 – Birth of Robert Donald Cabana, USMC test pilot and NASA astronaut.


 * 1948 – First flight of the de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover, an Australian Tri-Motor small transport aircraft, Developed from the de Havilland Dove.


 * 1946 – Death of Heinrich Bongartz Pour le Merite, Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Iron Cross, German WWI fighter ace. He also served as a night fighter commander in WWII.


 * 1944 – Off the Anzio beachhead, a raid by 55 German aircraft sinks the British destroyer HMS Janus with a torpedo and damages the destroyer HMS Jervis with a Fritz X radio-guided bomb.


 * 1943 – The pilot of a Japanese Nakajima A6 M2-N (Allied reporting name “Rufe”) floatplane fighter discovers that American forces have occupied Amchitka. Japanese aircraft from Kiska begin frequent raids against Amchitka that day and continue them for almost four weeks.


 * 1939 – First flight of the Douglas A-20 Havoc


 * 1939 – Sole prototype Douglas 7B twin-engine attack bomber, designed and built as a company project, suffers loss of vertical fin and rudder during demonstration flight over Mines Field (now Los Angeles International Airport, California), flat spins into parking lot of North American Aviation, burns. Another source states that the test pilot, in an attempt to impress the Gallic passenger, attempted a snap roll at low altitude with one engine feathered, resulting in the fatal spin. Douglas test pilot Johnny Cable bails out at 300 feet, chute unfurls but does not have time to deploy, killed on impact, flight engineer John Parks rides airframe in and dies, but 33-year old French Air Force Capt. Paul Chemidlin, riding in aft fuselage near top turret, survives with broken leg, severe back injuries, slight concussion. Presence of Frenchman, a representative of foreign purchasing mission, causes furor in Congress by isolationists over neutrality and export laws. Type will be developed as Douglas DB-7.


 * 1934 – First flight of the Berliner-Joyce XF3J


 * 1930 – Birth of William Reid Pogue, USAF test pilot and NASA Astronaut.


 * 1929 – Clennell Haggerston “Punch” Dickins delivered the first airmail to the Northwest Territories. A flight into the high Arctic, travelling through Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories, and into Aklavik on the Arctic Circle. A feat challenged further by the fact his compass did not work because of its proximity to the magnetic pole, forcing him to fly by sight.--Bikeal (talk) 19:50, 29 October 2012 (UTC)


 * 1925 – First flight of the Blériot 118, Twin seat twin engine high wing monoplane amphibian Fighter/trainer prototype.


 * 1918 – First American Expeditionary Force (AEF) balloon ascent is made at the Balloon School at Cuperly in France.


 * 1917 – Death of Hans Imelmann, German WWI flying ace, killed when gun fire from a B. E.2c struck his fuel tank Near Miraumont.


 * 1916 – Birth of Siegfried Schnell, German WWII flying ace.


 * 1911 – First flight of the Siemens-Schuckert I, German dirigible.


 * 1909 – First flight of the Blériot XI, light and sleek monoplane constructed of oak and poplar. The flying surfaces were covered with cloth. One of the most successful monoplanes designed and built before WWI.


 * 1899 – Birth of George Pearson Glen Kidston, British record-breaking aviator and motor racing driver.


 * 1898 – Birth of Ulrich Neckel, German WWI fighter ace.


 * 1897 – Birth of Ernst Zindel, German Engineer and designer of the Junkers Ju-52.


 * 1894 – Birth of Eric Landon Simonson, Australian WWI flying ace.