Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/June 2

June 2


 * 2012 – Allied Air Flight 111, a Boeing 727 cargo plane, overruns the runway on landing at Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana, and strikes a crowded minibus and a bicyclist on a nearby road. All four people on the plane survive, but the bicyclist and all 11 people on the minibus die.


 * 2011 – NATO air attacks in Libya destroy ammunition and vehicle depots, a surface-to-air missile launcher, and a radar installation in Tripoli.


 * 2009 – Deceased: British Air Vice-Marshal John Ernsting, 81.


 * 2009 – 8Q-MAG, a DHC-6 Twin Otter operated by Maldavian Air Taxi is destroyed when it crashes into the sea at the Haliveli Atoll, Maldives. All seven people on board survive.


 * 2009 – A Royal Jordanian Air Force Slingsby T-67 Firefly while on a routine training flight being flown by a cadet pilot and instructor, crashes near the Al-Hassan Industrial Estate, Irbid, Jordan. The pilot, due to a technical fault, was unable to recover from a spin leaving 1 crew dead and 1 injured.


 * 2008 – Aeroméxico Travel, operated by Aeromexico, commenced operations.


 * 2002 – n Angolan Armed Forces Mil Mi-17 helicopter crashes in poor weather killing 20 of the 25 on board. Among those on board were top military officials that were going to attend a disarmament ceremony by UNITA rebels.


 * 1998 – Launch: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-91 at 18:06:24 EDT. Mission highlights: Last Shuttle-Mir docking.


 * 1995 – A U. S. Air Force F-16 C was shot down by a Bosnian Serb surface-to-air missile while on a NATO air patrol in northern Bosnia; the pilot, Capt. Scott F. O’Grady, was rescued six days later.


 * 1994 – 1994 Scotland RAF Chinook crash: A Royal Air Force Boeing Chinook HC.2 helicopter, ZD576, 'G', of Odiham Wing, crashes near Campbeltown, Scotland, killing 29 crew and passengers, including several top officials of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.


 * 1986 – The greatest distance achieved by a hang-glider is made by American Randy Haney who flies an unpowered hang-glider 199.75 miles (321.47 km) from his takeoff point.


 * 1984 – Flight readiness firing of Discovery’s main engines.


 * 1983 – Air Canada Flight 797, a McDonnell-Douglas DC-9, catches fire during flight over Kentucky; 23 of 46 passengers die from smoke inhalation even after the crew successfully lands the aircraft in Cincinnati, Ohio.


 * 1982 – A Royal Air Force Avro Vulcan B.2 XM597 on Operation Black Buck during the Falklands War is forced to divert to Brazil after breaking a refuelling-probe. The aircraft was interned at the Brazilian air force base, Aérea de Santa Cruz, Rio de Janeiro and was allowed to leave nine days later due to the arrival of Pope John Paul II on a pastoral visit to Brazil.


 * 1972 – First flight of the Aérospatiale SA 360 Dauphin


 * 1965 – First flight of the Aerotec Uirapuru


 * 1958 – First flight of the Vought XF8U-3 Crusader III, the “Super Crusader”


 * 1957 – Cpt Joseph Kittinger sets a new balloon altitude record of 96,000 ft (29,261 m)


 * 1954 – Yugoslavian Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s attack a Belgian Douglas DC-3, which lands in Austria


 * 1948 – Entered Service: Convair B-36 Peacemaker with the United States Air Force’s 7th Bombardment Wing (Heavy)


 * 1945 – (2-3) Carrier aircraft of Task Group 38.4 strike Kyushu.


 * 1944 – 54 Japanese planes attack U. S. landing forces off Biak, losing 12 of their number and inflicting almost no damage.


 * 1943 – An hour into a routine training flight from the USS Lexington (CV-16) over the Gulf of Paria off Venezuela, 1939 Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick develops severe oil leak, cannot recover to either the carrier or land, and ditches his F4F Wildcat.[207] Although rescue forces arrive at the scene in eight minutes, neither he nor his plane are found, only an oil slick. Kinnick was the first Heisman winner to die. The University of Iowa renames their football stadium "Kinnick Stadium" in 1972.


 * 1942 – Nos. 8, 111 and 118 Squadrons moved to Alaska to join No. 115 Squadron already there, to work with the US Forces against the Japanese threat.


 * 1941 – First British Consolidated LB-30 Liberator II, AL503, on its acceptance flight for delivery from the Consolidated Aircraft Company plant at San Diego, California, crashes into San Diego Bay when flight controls freeze, killing all five civilian crew, CAC Chief Test Pilot William Wheatley, co-pilot Alan Austen, flight engineer Bruce Kilpatrick Craig, and two chief mechanics, Lewis McCannon and William Reiser. Craig, who had been commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1935 following Infantry ROTC training at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering, had applied for a commission in the Army Air Corps before his death. This was granted posthumously, with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, and on 25 August 1941, the airfield in his hometown of Selma, Alabama was renamed Craig Field, later Craig Air Force Base. Investigation into the cause of the accident causes a two month delay in deliveries, so the RAF does not begin receiving Liberator IIs until August 1941.


 * 1941 – The United States Navy commissions USS Long Island (AVG-1), its first escort aircraft carrier – At the time designated an “aircraft escort vessel” (AVG) – At Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia.


 * 1938 – Nationalist aircraft bomb Granollers, Spain, a town without military significance, killing about 100 people. Most of the dead are women and children.


 * 1936 – First flight of the LACAB GR.8


 * 1923 – First flight of the Boeing Model 15


 * 1917 – Captain William Avery Bishop, 60 Squadron, flying a Nieuport 17, made a single-handed attack on a German aerodrome and shot down three enemy aircraft. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for this action.


 * 1912 – The Lewis machine gun is first tested in an aircraft by the US Army. The results are extremely encouraging, and this weapon would go on to become the standard armament of many fighter aircraft during World War I.


 * 1910 – Charles Rolls makes the first successful return flight over the English Channel


 * 1794 – J. M. J. Coutelle and N. J. Conte of the French army’s “Aerostiers” at Mauberge, France make the first military use of a balloon, when they observe enemy positions from their captive balloon.