Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/March 20

March 20


 * 2011 – First flight of the 747-8 (747-8I)


 * 2011 – An airstrike by the international coalition against a Libyan government military ground convoy approaching Misrata destroys 14 tanks, 20 armored personnel carriers, and several trucks filled with ammunition, killing at least 14 Libyan government soldiers.


 * 2009 – Emirates Flight 407, an Airbus A340-500 flying from Melbourne Tullamarine Airport to Dubai International Airport has a tailstrike during take off and returns to Melbourne Airport with no fatalities.


 * 2008 – Deceased: Ann Baumgartner, 89, first American woman to fly a jet.


 * 2006 – The C-17 Globemaster III reached its million-hour milestone during a mission, evacuating injured U. S. troops from Iraq.


 * 2003 – CH-46E Sea Knight 152579 of HMM-268 crashes in Kuwait 9 km from Iraqi border, killing eight British Marines of 42 CDO and four American Marines.


 * 1999 – After a 46,759-mile balloon flight which lasted 19 days, 21 hours and 55 min, the Breitling Orbiter 3 balloon, flown by Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard, achieves a non-stop round-the-world balloon flight.


 * 1991 – A U. S. Air Force F-15 C Eagle of the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing uses an AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile to shoot down an Iraqi Air Force Sukhoi Su-22 (NATO reporting name “Fitter”) which is violating the post-Gulf War Coalition prohibition against Iraqi military flights.


 * 1991 – Cuban Air Force pilot Major Orestes Lorenzo Perez defects in his Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23BN to Naval Air Station Key West, Florida on a training mission. U.S. fighters never scramble to intercept, and embarrassed military authorities say that "hardware and software problems" with the radar net contributed to the failure. On 19 December 1992 he returns to Cuba in a borrowed small, twin-engined 1961 Cessna 310, landing on a well known bridge along the coastal highway east of Havana in Northern Matanzas Province at an agreed time. His wife Victoria and their two sons, Reyneil, 11, and Alejandro, 6, are already waiting on his order delivered through a messenger earlier. Orestes Lorenzo Perez picks up his family and manages a successful safe return to Miami.


 * 1982 – In the 1982 Garuda Fokker F28 crash, the Fokker F28 overruns the runway in bad weather at Tanjung Karang-Branti Airport; all 27 are killed when the aircraft bursts into flames.


 * 1969 – In the 1969 Aswan Ilyushin Il-18 crash, a United Arab Airlines flight crashes while attempting to land at Aswan International Airport. 100 of the 105 passengers and crew on board were killed.


 * 1963 – McDonnell F3H-2 Demon, BuNo 145281, of VF-14 suffers either cold catapult launch or failure of catapult harness before launch off USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, CV-42, and goes over the bow. Pilot Lt.j.g. Joseph Janiak, Jr. killed, body not recovered. Navy photo captured moment the Demon tipped over the bow.


 * 1950 – American Airlines Flight 711, a Convair CV-240, strikes the ground during final approach at Springfield, Missouri, killing 13 of the 35 on board.


 * 1955 – Royal Air Force Avro Lincoln bombers are sent to Singapore to be used against the Communist guerillas of Malaya in the Malayan Emergency.


 * 1948 – 1948 Tinker Air Force Base tornadoes: Two large tornadoes strike Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, damaging or destroying a large number of aircraft including at least two Douglas C-54 Skymasters, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain, and many Boeing B-29 Superfortresses stored from World War II.


 * 1945 – Lockheed test pilot Tony LeVier is forced to bail out of first Lockheed XP-80 prototype, 44-83021, named "Gray Ghost", of the 4144th AAF Base Unit, Muroc Army Air Field, California, after catastrophic turbine blade failure slices off tail, pilot coming down on Highway 99 near Rosamond, California, breaking his back and side-lining him for six months


 * 1943 – During the evening, aircraft drop naval mines for the first time in the Pacific, when 42 U. S. Navy and U. S. Marine Corps TBF Avengers from Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, mine the harbor at Kahili, Bougainville, during a diversionary raid on Kahili Airfield by 18 U. S. Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortresses. The following evening, 40 Avengers carry out another mining operation at Kahili during a diversionary raid by 21 U. S. Army Air Forces bombers on the airfield.


 * 1942 – The Luftwaffe’s Fliegerkorps II further escalates its bombing campaign against Malta as truly massive air raids begin with a goal of forcing the island’s antiaircraft artillery to exhaust its ammunition and personnel, followed by large attacks on airfields and aircraft on the ground, and finally the destruction of naval forces, dockyards, and other military installations.


 * 1942 – First flight of the Mitsubishi J2M (“Thunderbolt”), Allied reporting name “Jack”


 * 1940 – Boeing delivers Pan American Airways its first Model 307 Stratoliners.


 * 1940 – First flight of the Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle prototype P1361


 * 1937 – An attempted round-the-world flight by female aviator Amelia Earhart ends dramatically when the starboard tire of her Lockheed Electra airliner bursted during take-off from Honolulu, Hawaii. Because of damage, the expedition was temporary abandoned. The first leg from Oakland, California to Honolulu on March 17 was made in 16 hours, setting an east/west record.


 * 1935 – First flight of the Grumman F3F


 * 1932 – First flight of the Boeing P-26 Peashooter. It soon establishes its reputation as the fastest air-cooled pursuit fighter in the world.


 * 1932 – Luftschiffbau Zeppelin begins regular trans-atlantic services between Germany and Brazil, using the Graf Zeppelin.


 * 1922 – The US Navy commissions its first aircraft carrier, a converted collier, the USS Langley.


 * 1920 – Two South African pilots complete the first flight from Britain to South Africa after a flying time of four days, 13 hours, 30 min.


 * 1919 – Dr. John Hamilton Parkin set up the University of Toronto’s first wind tunnel as part of the aeronautics program.