Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/June 24

June 24


 * 2013 – The Federal Reserve Bank of New York discovers that $1.2 million in $100 bills is missing from a $93 million shipment of cash carried from Zurich, Switzerland, to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City aboard Swissair Flight 17 on 22 June. The Federal Bureau of Investigation launches an investigation into where and how the money disappeared between the flight's point of origin in Zurich and the shipment's arrival at the bank.


 * 2004 – AH-1W SuperCobra 163939 shot down in Fallujah; pilots safe.


 * 1994 – 1994 Fairchild Air Force Base B-52 crash: Czar 52, a USAF Boeing B-52H-170-BW Stratofortress, 61-0026, crashes during an airshow practice at Fairchild AFB. After having rehearsed the maneuvers profile that in itself was dangerous to fly in a B-52, the aircraft came into land. Due to a KC-135 Stratotanker still being on the runway, the aircraft was required to make a 'go around'. After beginning a 360-degree turn left, the aircraft exceeded 90 degrees angle of bank, stalled and crashed into the ground. All four aircrew members were killed in the crash.


 * 1987 – RAF SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1A, XZ386, '05', of 226 OCU, suffers loss of control/controlled flight into terrain three miles (5 km.) SE of Builth Wells, Powys, Wales. Pilot KWF.


 * 1986 – First flight of the Grob/E-Systems/AlliedSignal Egrett


 * 1983 – Landed: Space shuttle Challenger STS-7 at 13:56:59 UTC Edwards Air Force Base. Mission highlights: First US woman in space Sally Ride; Multiple comsat deployments; First deployment and retrieval of a satellite SPAS.


 * 1982 – British Airways Flight 9, a Boeing 747-200, flies through a cloud of volcanic ash south of Java; all engines fail in flight, forcing the plane to glide; the crew is able to restart the engines and make a safe landing.


 * 1982 – First Frenchman launches into orbit, as part of Soviet mission.


 * 1980 – First flight of the Microturbo Microjet 200


 * 1975 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 66, a Boeing 727, encounters wind shear on final approach and strikes approach lights at John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing 112 of 124 people on board.


 * 1972 – Prinair Flight 191, a De Havilland Heron, over-rotates because of pilot error and crashes in Ponce, Puerto Rico, killing 5 of 20 people on board.


 * 1966 – Bombay-NY Air India flight crashes into Mont Blanc (Switz), 117 die.


 * 1960 – First flight of the Hawker Siddeley HS 748


 * 1956 – First flight of the Sukhoi Su-9


 * 1956 – In the 1956 BOAC Argonaut accident, a Canadair C-4 Argonaut, G-ALHE, crashes shortly after taking off from Kano Airport, Nigeria into a thunderstorm, killing 32 of the 38 passengers and 3 of the seven crew.


 * 1955 – Soviet MIG’s down a U. S. Navy patrol plane over the Bering Strait.


 * 1952 – On the eighth test flight of the first Convair YB-60-1-CF, 49-2676, a flutter condition resulted in the trim tab disintegrating and the rudder suffering severe torsional wrinkles while flying at 263 mph (423 km/h) at 35,000 feet (11,000 m). Replaced by rudder built for second prototype which never received one and never flew. As the Boeing B-52 project was succeeding, the Convair B-60 program was canceled and the two airframes were salvaged in 1954 for parts.


 * 1950 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501, a Douglas DC-4, with 58 people on board, disappears without a trace over Lake Michigan.


 * 1949 – Cargo airlines first licensed by US Civil Aeronautics Board.


 * 1948 – The Soviet Union begins the Berlin Blockade, America responds with the Berlin Airlift.


 * 1944 – Attempting to strike Iwo Jima, F6 F Hellcats of U. S. Navy Task Group 58.1 are intercepted by Japanese aircraft, shooting down 29 of them in exchange for six Hellcats. Iwo Jima-based Japanese aircraft fly three ineffective raids against the task group during the day, losing another 37 planes


 * 1944 – June 24-25 – The Luftwaffe makes its first operational use of "Mistel" composite aircraft, against Allied shipping in Seine Bay.


 * 1943 – The RAF uses chaff, codenamed "Window", for the first time to foil German radar during the Operation Gomorrah raids on Hamburg.


 * 1941 – No. 408 (Bomber) Squadron was formed in England.


 * 1940 – The first four Elementary Flying Training Schools (EFTS) were officially opened: No. 1 at Malton, Ontario; No. 2 at Fort William, Ontario; No. 3 at London, Ontario; No. 4 at Windsor Mills, Quebec.


 * 1939 – Pan Am’s first US to England flight.


 * 1935 – One Ford Trimotor of Servicio Aéreo Colombiano (SACO) crashed with another Ford Trimotor of Sociedad Colombo Alemana de Transporte Aéreo (SCADTA) in Medellín, Colombia. Fifteen people were killed including the world's most famous tango singer Carlos Gardel.


 * 1934 – First flight of the Supermarine Stranraer


 * 1930 – Dr. Albert Taylor and Leo Young of the Aircraft Research Laboratory, near Bolling Field, Washington, D. C., succeed in tracing the position of airplanes in flight using wireless detection equipment.


 * 1925 – Off New England, a United States Coast Guard Vought UO-1 becomes the first aircraft to assist in the capture of a rum-runner.


 * 1924 – In Macau, Portuguese Commander Brito Pais and Captain Sarmento de Beires give up on their eastbound attempt to circumnavigate the world in the de Havilland DH.9 A Patria II after covering 11,000 miles (17,713 km) from Lisbon.


 * 1922 – Laid Down: USS Shenandoah (ZR-1)


 * 1918 – The first scheduled Canadian airmail flight is made, between Montreal and Toronto.


 * 1918 – The RAF deploys its new 1,650 lb (748 kg) bomb for the first time. One is dropped on Middelkerke, Belgium by a Handley Page O/400 of No. 216 Squadron RAF.


 * 1910 – J. A. D. McCurdy crashed attempting a flight in the Canadian Aerodrome Company’s Baddeck No. 2 biplane at Lakeside, Que.