Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/March 24

March 24


 * 2011 – A French fighter aircraft destroys a Libyan government Soko G-2 Galeb military trainer aircraft on the ground just after it had landed at a Libyan base following a flight in which it violated the no-fly zone over Libya. French aircraft also bomb the Al Jufra Air Base.


 * 2004 – U.S. Navy McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18C Hornet, of VFA-82, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Tybee Island, Georgia. Pilot ejects safely and is rescued.


 * 1998 – Launch: Spot-4 satellite


 * 1993 – South Africa abandons its nuclear weapons programme. President de Klerk announces that the country's six warheads had already been dismantled in 1990.


 * 1992 – The United States Department of Transportation announces that it will sign open skies treaties with any states that wish to reciprocate. The first open skies treaty is signed between the U. S. and the Netherlands later in the year.


 * 1992 – Launch: Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-45 at 8:13 am EST. Mission highlights: ATLAS-1 science platform.


 * 1986 – Combat breaks out in the Gulf of Sidra between Libyan military forces and an American naval force which includes the aircraft carriers USS Saratoga (CV-60), USS America (CV-66), and USS Coral Sea (CV-43). Two Libyan MiG-23 fighters engage in a dogfight with two U. S. Navy F-14 Tomcats, although none of the aircraft involved fire at each other; Libyan forces ashore fire surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) at American aircraft, scoring no hits; and U. S. Navy aircraft attack Libyan radars, SAM sites, and warships, sinking two vessels.


 * 1975 – A Royal Air Force Handley Page Victor K.1A, XH618, of 57 Squadron collided with a RAF Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer XV156 during a simulated refuelling. Buccaneer hit the Victor's tailplane causing the aircraft to crash into the sea 95 miles E of Sunderland, County Durham.


 * 1971 – As a result of votes in the U. S. Senate and House of Representatives, Boeing cancels its supersonic transport (Boeing SST). The elaborate, full-size mock-up is eventually sold to a promotion specialist who puts it in a Florida amusement park.


 * 1968 – Aer Lingus Flight 712, a Vickers Viscount 803, crashes off the Irish coast; all 61 on board perish.


 * 1960 – A jet airliner exceeded Mach 1 for the first time in history, when a modified DC-8 Series 40 hit 667mph in a shallow dive.


 * 1956 – North Star 17520 over-flew true North geographic pole with Gov Gen Vincent Massey on board.


 * 1948 – A Boulton Paul P.108 Balliol becomes the first aircraft to fly with a single turboprop engine (an Armstrong Siddeley Mamba).


 * 1945 – RCAF participation in large-scale crossings of the Rhine. Operation Varsity involved 2,000 transport aircraft and gliders.


 * 1945 – 112 carrier aircraft of Task Force 58 sink an entire convoy of eight Japanese ships 150 nautical miles (278 km) northwest of Okinawa.


 * 1944 – RAF tailgunner Flight Sergeant Nicholas Alkemade jumps without a parachute from a burning Avro Lancaster B Mk. II, 'S for Sugar', of No. 115 Squadron RAF, E of Schmallenberg, flying at 18,000 ft (5,500 m) during a raid on Germany. Alkemade falls into a forest and is decelerated by fall through tree branches before landing in deep snowdrift. Alkemade survives fall with severe bruising and a sprained leg. Captured and unable to show them his parachute, his captors disbelieve his story and suspect him of being a spy until he shows them bruising and indentation in snowdrift. Alkemade finishes war in Stalag Luft III and dies in 1987.


 * 1944 – A U. S. Army Air Forces B-17G Flying Fortress of the 422nd Bomb Squadron, 305th Bombardment Group (Heavy), crashes at Yielden, England, on takeoff from RAF Chelveston, killing all 10 men aboard the bomber and 11 people on the ground.


 * 1941 – Final Saro Lerwick flying boat loss for 209 Squadron before transition to Consolidated Catalina IIs and IIIs occurs this date when L7252 strikes a powerful wave in bad sea conditions whilst landing at Pembroke Dock, throwing aircraft up, sinks rapidly, but all crew escapes. Other Lerwicks are transferred to 4 OTU for training purposes.


 * 1939 – American woman air record-breaker Jacqueline Cochran achieves a woman’s altitude record of 30,052 ft. 5 in. over Palm Spring, California in a Beechcraft Model 17.


 * 1935 – First flight of the Avro Anson


 * 1932 – 24-28 – Jim Mollison sets a new speed record between the United Kingdom and Cape Town, taking 4 days 17 hours in a de Havilland Puss Moth


 * 1920 – The United States Navy decommissions the collier USS Jupiter at Norfolk Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia, for her conversion into its first aircraft carrier, designated CV-1.


 * 1920 – The United States Coast Guard opens Coast Guard Air Station Morehead City at Morehead City, North Carolina. It is the first Coast Guard Air Station.


 * 1919 – Igor Sikorsky (pictured} flees Europe for the United States


 * 1918 – Captain J. L. Trollope of No. 43 Squadron RFC shoots down six German aircraft in a day.


 * 1916 – Five Royal Naval Air Service Avro 504 s of No. 1 Squadron bomb the German submarine depot at Hoboken in Antwerp, Belgium, starting a fire in the shipyard that destroys two German submarines.


 * 1909 – The Wright brothers found a school in the USA to train pilots for exhibition flights. The first pupil is a childhood friend, Walter Brookins, 21, from Dayton. Because Dayton’s weather is not good enough, Orville Wright sets up the school at Montgomery, Alabama, where winds are generally light.


 * 1904 – The Wrights apply for a German patent for their airplane.


 * 1843 – William S. Henson and John Stringfellow filed articles of incorporation for the world's first air transport company, the Aerial Transit Company.