Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/March 2

March 2


 * 2012 – The last departure of an official Continental Airlines flight takes place at 11:59 pm Pacific Standard Time as Continental Flight 1267 departs Phoenix, Arizona, bound for Cleveland, Ohio. On 3 March, Continental Airlines disappears into United Airlines, completing the two airlines' 2010 merger.  Continental had operated since 1934.


 * 2011 – Two Libyan Air Force jets bomb Ajdabiya in an attempt to destroy a weapons depot. Anti-aircraft artillery shoots one of them down.


 * 2011 – The Libyan opposition's interim-government council formally requests that the United Nations impose a no-fly zone over Libya and conduct precision air strikes against Libyan government forces, and the Arab League states that a no-fly zone is necessary and adds that in cooperation with the African Union, it could impose a militarily-enforced no-fly zone without the United Nation's backing.


 * 2010 – An Republic of Korea Air Force Northrop F-5E and Northrop F-5F crashed into Mount Hwangbyeong, about 20 kilometers (12 mi) west of the city of Gangneung, Gangwon. The pilot of the F-5E and the two pilots of the F-5F were killed.


 * 2002 – A Grumman F-14B-145-GR Tomcat, BuNo 162923, of VF-143, 'AG', from the carrier USS John F. Kennedy crashes into the Mediterranean near the Greek island of Crete, killing its pilot. Aircraft was launching from the carrier when the nose gear disintegrated - both crew eject but the pilot was outside the envelope and was killed.


 * 1998 – Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter’s moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.


 * 1995 – Launch: Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-67 at 05:22:04 am UTC. Mission highlights: ASTRO-2.


 * 1986 – The United States Navy disbands United States Naval Reserve Light Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron 206 (VFP-206), its last squadron equipped with specialized photographic reconnaissance aircraft and the last equipped with any version of the Vought F-8 Crusader.


 * 1981 – Japan Air Lines is the first airline to use a computerized flight simulator to train its crews


 * 1972 – The Pioneer 10 space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets.


 * 1971 – The U. S. Marine Corps begins combat testing of the AH-1 J Sea Cobra in South Vietnam. It is the first attack helicopter specifically designed for use aboard ships.


 * 1969 – First flight of the Concorde


 * 1965 – Operation Rolling Thunder begins, a massive air campaign against North Vietnam by the US


 * 1963 – 439 and 441 Squadrons became the last Air Div units to reform on CF-104. Eight squadrons now online.


 * 1956 – Four members of the RCAF Sky Lancers Aerobatic Team killed in crash of their Sabres at Strasbourg, France.


 * 1955 – First flight of the Dassault Super Mystère


 * 1954 – McDonnell F2H-3 Banshee loses partial power while in landing pattern for the USS Oriskany (CV-34), dropping below glide path. Unable to boost the jet back on slope, the Banshee suffers ramp strike, fuselage breaks in two, fuel tanks erupt in orange fireball, aft end of plane falls into the sea, forward fuselage and cockpit rolls down deck, pilot miraculously surviving unhurt.


 * 1953 – First flight of the SNCASO Trident


 * 1951 – U. S. Navy AD Skyraiders of Attack Squadron 195 (VA-195) from the aircraft carrier USS Princeton (CV-37) begin a lengthy series of raids against a railroad bridge across a deep ravine south of Kilchu, Korea. By the time the raids end in early April, the bridge will have been destroyed and enemy attempts to repair it will have been defeated.


 * 1949 – Two USMC Reserve Grumman F6F-5N Hellcats, BuNo. 94202, c/n A-11954, 'WF 9', and BuNo. 94182, 'WF 14', out of MCAS El Toro, crash into the 9,500 foot level of the south slope of Mt. Baldy, in Southern California. Wreckage discovered on 6 March.[179] Also this date, Vought F4U-4B Corsair, BuNo 97448,[180] 'AB 16', is reported missing since 1430 hrs., last reporting in that it was near Santa Cruz Island. Its wreckage and the body of its dead pilot are found on the island on 5 March.


 * 1949 – Commanded by Capt. James G. Gallagher, the crew of 14 aboard the Strategic Air Command B-50 Lucky Lady II of the Forty-third Bombardment Group, USAF, completes the first nonstop round-the-world flight of 94 hours 1 min. Flying a distance of 23,452 miles the B-50 A is refueled four times by KB-29 tankers before landing back at Carswell AFB, Texas.


 * 1944 – The Allied air forces make their largest attacks of the Anzio campaign, with 241 B-24 Liberators and 100 B-17 Flying Fortresses escorted by 113 P-38 Lightnings and 63 P-47 Thunderbolts dropping thousands of fragmentation bombs around Castello di Cisterna, Velletri, and Carroceto, Italy. Almost the same number of Allied medium and light bombers and fighter-bombers strike German tanks, artillery positions, and assembly areas around the Anzio beachhead, especially along the Castello di Cisterna-Campoleone highway.


 * 1943 – In the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, U. S. Army Air Forces and Royal Australian Air Force aircraft attack a convoy of eight Japanese cargo ships escorted by eight destroyers carrying troops from Rabaul, New Britain, to Lae, New Guinea, as it transits an unnamed body of water soon to be named the Bismarck Sea. For the loss of five aircraft, they sink all eight cargo ships and four of the destroyers, damage the other four destroyers, and shoot down 20 to 30 Japanese fighters attempting to provide air defense. About 3,000 Japanese troops are killed.


 * 1940 – The United Kingdom and France promise to send 100 bombers with crews and bombs to assist Finland at once, but do not follow through on the promise.


 * 1936 – During spin testing, the Heinkel He 112 V2 prototype crashes.


 * 1918 – Lloyd Andrews Hamilton becomes the first American to receive a commission in the British Royal Flying Corps when he is assigned as lieutenant with No. 3 squadron in France.