Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/June 17

June 17


 * 2009 – A Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24MR Fencer crashes on landing at the Monchegorsk Airforce Base, Murmansk Oblast, Russia. The aircraft from the 98th Separate Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment suffered a heavy landing forcing the 2 crew to eject safely.


 * 2002 – C-130 Hercules airtanker crashes: Two large airtankers – A C-130 Hercules and a PB4Y-2 Privateer – crashed about a month apart while performing aerial firefighting operations.


 * 2000 – CityFlyer Express Flight 8106 was a BAe 146 aircraft hijacked on a flight from Zürich Airport to London Gatwick Airport. After the aircraft landed at Gatwick, the hijacker was arrested without any injuries to the occupants.


 * 1998 – Kamov Ka-50, Hokum, crash at Army Aviation Combat Training Centre, Torzhok, kills Gen. Boris Vorobyov.


 * 1991 – Alaska Airlines commences services to the Soviet Union


 * 1989 – Stanley David Griggs, Astronaut (STS 51-D), dies plane crash at 59.


 * 1986 – Last flight ever by a Boeing B-47 Stratojet when B-47E-25-DT, 52-0166, was restored to flight status for a one-time-only ferry move from Naval Weapons Center China Lake, California to Castle Air Force Base, California for museum display.


 * 1986 – Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, 63-7983, c/n 18600, 305th Air Refuelling Wing, Det. 1, TDY, hits the runway at Howard AB, Panama, becomes airborne again and then crashes into a hill in the jungle.


 * 1985 – Launch: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-51-G at 11:33:00 UTC. Mission highlights: Multiple comsat deployments. Flight of first member of royalty, Saudi, Muslim, and Arab in space, Sultan Salman Al Saud.


 * 1983 – First flight of the Robin ATL


 * 1981 – Two Indonesian Air Force BAe Hawk T.53s collide over Indonesia.


 * 1979 – Air New England Flight 248, a De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, crashes near Camp Greenough, Massachusetts while on approach to Barnstable Municipal Airport, killing the pilot.


 * 1970 – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7970, Item 2021, collides with KC-135Q tanker 20 miles E of El Paso, Texas. Pilot Buddy Brown and RSO Mort Jarvis eject safely. Tanker limps back to Beale Air Force Base, California.


 * 1969 – Black Panther Party member William Lee Brent hijacks Trans World Airlines Flight 154 and forces it to take him to Havana, Cuba. He will reside in Cuba until his death in 2006.


 * 1967 – The Vietnam War‘s heaviest air attacks in nine months are American strikes targeting railroads near Hanoi.


 * 1965 – US Navy fighters from VF-21 shoot down two North Vietnamese Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17s


 * 1961 – First flight of the HAL HF-24 Marut


 * 1959 – First flight of the Dassault Mirage IV. The first European supersonic jet bomber, is made in France. This high-performance combat aircraft flies at Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound).


 * 1955 – First flight of the Tupolev Tu-104


 * 1955 – First flight of the Bensen B-7


 * 1953 – An McDonnell F2H-3 Banshee of VC-4 Det. 6 (?), landing aboard the USS Coral Sea, CVA-43, during Mediterranean cruise, misses all arresting wires, then bounces completely over the nylon Davis safety barrier. Aircraft shears port undercarriage leg off on a starter tractor and then crashes into a pair of Douglas AD Skyraiders spotted on the forward flight deck before continuing over the bow. Pilot Lt. (jg) Robert E. Berger, of Denver, Colorado, killed in the accident, posthumously receives the Navy and Marine Corps Medal which is presented to his widow in a ceremony at the Naval training center of the Denver Federal Center.


 * 1952 – Entered Service: Airship ZPN-1 with the US Navy


 * 1948 – United Airlines Flight 624, a Douglas DC-6, crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania after errors in attempting to extinguish what was believed to have been an onboard fire; all 43 on board die.


 * 1947 – Pan Am begins a New York to San Francisco service flying west-to-east around almost the entire globe.


 * 1947 – First round-the-world civil air service leaves New York City.


 * 1945 – 457 B-29 Superfortresses drop 3,195 tons (2,898,485 kg) of bombs on Ōmuta and other cities in Japan.


 * 1944 – Japanese aircraft attack American warships off Saipan, damaging the escort aircraft carrier USS Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70).


 * 1944 – 35 carrier aircraft of Task Group 58.4 strike the Japanese airfield on Pagan Island, finding no aircraft but damaging several buildings.


 * 1942 – U. S. Army Air Forces conduct a test at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, successfully picking up gliders from the ground by an airplane flying at more than 100 mph.


 * 1941 – The RCAF formed the 409 (Night Fighter) Squadron with Defiant NFI aircraft.


 * 1941 – The Royal Navy commissions its first escort aircraft carrier, HMS Empire Audacity. She later will be renamed HMS Audacity and become the world’s first escort carrier to deploy in combat.


 * 1940 – A detachment of five Douglas B-18 Digby’s from No. 10 (BR) Squadron at Dartmouth, commenced operation from Gander Airport. This was the first RCAF Operation in Newfoundland.


 * 1940 – German aircraft bomb the British ocean liner RMS Lancastria in Quiberon Bay after she has taken aboard 5,800 Allied troops for evacuation from France to the United Kingdom. She catches fire and sinks in 15 min, with the loss of 3,000 lives.


 * 1929 – An Imperial Airways Handley Page W.10 ditches in the English Channel due to engine failure, killing 7 of 13 on board.


 * 1928 – Amelia Earhart becomes first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. During this flight, she accompanied pilot Wilmer Stultz and copilot/mechanic Louis Gordon, nominally as a passenger, but with the added duty of keeping the flight log.


 * 1917 – In daylight, 21 German Gotha bombers make Germany‘s second heavier-than-air bombing attack on England. Seven bombers attack small towns in Kent and Essex and 14 attack London. The bombers kill 162 people and injure 432.


 * 1916 – Royal Aircraft Factory R. E.8.


 * 1916 – The first French ace, Jean Navarre, is shot down and wounded, ending his combat career with 12 confirmed kills.


 * 1910 – Romanian engineer and inventor Aurel Vlaicu flies his first airplane, Vlaicu I