Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/March 26

March 26


 * 2012 – A Republic of China Air Force Sikorsky S-70C-6 crashed 20 km from Orchid Island, Taiwan during a rescue mission. One crew was rescued but five crew were missing.


 * 2011 – Coalition aircraft attack targets on the outskirts of Misrata, Libya.


 * 2011 – France reports that at least five Libyan government Soko G-2 Galeb fighter planes and two Libyan government Mil Mi-24 (NATO reporting name "Hind") attack helicopters preparing to attack rebel forces in the Az Zintan and Misrata regions have been shot down in the last 24 hours.


 * 2009 – Arrow Air Cargo Flight 431, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30F, suffers a major failure of the #2 (tail-mounted) engine shortly after take-off from Eduardo Gomes International Airport, Brazil. 12 houses and several cars were damaged by falling debris. The aircraft subsequently makes a safe landing at El Dorado International Airport, Colombia.


 * 2006 – Hooters Air (operated by Pace Airlines) ends service to both Orlando and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.


 * 2005 – West Caribbean Airways Flight 9955, crashes a few hundred feet from the end of the runway after departure from Providencia-El Embrujo Airport in Colombia, killing 9 of the 14 aboard. The Let 410 Turbolet’s #1 engine failed near V1 speed, and the aircraft impacts the ground at a 40-degree inverted angle after failing to climb.


 * 2003 – AirTran Flight 356 experiences electrical problems while on approach to La Guardia Airport’s runway 4, and a strong burning smell in both the cockpit and cabin is detected. The aircraft declares emergency on touchdown, and all of the 83 people on the Boeing 717-200 (N957AT) survive, though 10 were injured during the evacuation.


 * 2003 – UH-1N Huey 160444 of HMLA-269 makes hard landing in sandstorm and is written off.


 * 2001 – A Merpati Nusantara Airlines Fokker F-27 (PK-MFL) crashes on landing during a training flight after completing 8 touch-and-go’s throughout the day. The aircraft mysteriously banks to the right and struck the ground moments from touching down.


 * 2001 – Comair pilots go on strike for 89-days before finally agreeing to a new contract.


 * 1996 – Pace Airlines is founded after approval from the FAA and the US Dept. of Transportation. Their operation would last until they suspend operations on September 11, 2009.


 * 1992 – First flight of the Saab 2000


 * 1991 – Singapore Airlines Flight 117, an Airbus A310, is hijacked by Pakistani militants en route to Singapore, where, upon landing, it is stormed by Singapore Special Operations forces. All of the hijackers are killed in the operation, with no fatalities amongst the passengers and crew.


 * 1989 – Austrian Airlines begins international flights for the first time in almost two decades on a flight from Vienna to New York’s JFK on an Airbus A310 (OE-LAA), aptly named “New York”.


 * 1981 – The keel of the first aircraft carrier designed as such to be built in Italy, Giuseppe Garibaldi, is laid by Italcantieri in Monfalcone.


 * 1979 – An Interflug Ilyushin IL-18 (DM-STL) overruns the runway in Luanda, Angola, killing all 10 occupants after slamming into the ILS localizer antenna.


 * 1971 – A JamAir Douglas DC-3 (VT-ATT) collides with terrain after failing to follow the prescribed flight plan, killing all 15 occupants. The crash site is located after 6 days.


 * 1971 – The U. S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) is withdrawn from Vietnam, leaving behind only its 3rd Brigade (Reinforced) at Bien Hoa, South Vietnam.


 * 1971 – First flight of the CASA C-212 Aviocar


 * 1970 – First SEPECAT Jaguar prototype, E-01, crashes during landing attempt at Centre D'essais en Vol, Istres-Le Tubé Air Base, France, following in-flight emergency. Test pilot CDT A. M. L. Brossier shuts down starboard engine after engine bay warning due to a catastrophic fire; on return to base and finding the speed excessive, pilot shuts down the remaining engine and thus loses the hydraulics, having not selected the electrically driven hydraulic pump on. Without flying controls he is obliged to eject, receiving minor injuries.


 * 1963 – First flight of the Hunting H.126


 * 1959 – Entered Service: Breguet Alizé with the Aéronavale.


 * 1958 – The United States launches its third satellite, Explorer III.


 * 1956 – First flight of the Temco TT Pinto


 * 1955 – Pan Am Flight 845/26, a Boeing 377, ditches into the Pacific Ocean off the Oregon coast, killing four of the 23 on board.


 * 1952 – McDonnell’s second ramjet helicopter, the Model 79 Big Henry, makes its first flight.


 * 1950 – A North American B-25 Mitchell that was converted to an executive transport configuration and being flown around the country to promote possible sales, breaks-up in midair, presumably due to severe weather conditions. All 6 people on the aircraft perish.


 * 1950 – First flight of the Douglas A2D Skyshark.


 * 1950 – ARAF Short S.25 Sunderland GR.5, SZ513, sank at RAF Seletar after a bomb explosion while being prepared for a sortie, two killed.


 * 1949 – The Sunkist Lady flies an endurance record of 1,008 hours and 2 min or just a couple of minutes over 42 days. The flight was the duo’s fourth attempt at breaking the 726-hour record set in 1939 by Long Beach pilots Wes Carroll and Clyde Scliepper. Their first three attempts failed because of mechanical problems. The plan was for the Lady to travel from Fullerton to Miami and back. The Lady would then stay aloft over Southern California until the record had been broken. At airports along the route, the ground crew would land, board Willys Jeepsters, and race along the runway while the Sunkist Lady passed low overhead. Three-gallon cans of gasoline and food would then be passed up to the pilots.


 * 1947 – Prototype Convair XB-36 Peacemaker, 42-13570, on test flight out of Fort Worth Army Air Field, Texas, with two test pilots, seven Convair flight test crew, three US Army Air Force observers, and two employees of Curtiss-Wright to run electronic tests on troubling propeller vibrations on board, suffers explosion of hydraulic retracting strut as the starboard main gear comes up. Huge 9 foot, 2 inch main tire swings back down as dead weight, smashes rear of number 4 engine nacelle, rupturing fuel and hydraulic lines. Twelve on board bail out, suffering various injuries from gusting wind conditions, but after six hours of flight to burn off fuel, pilots Beryl A. Erickson and Gus S. Green successfully land the bomber at Fort Worth with no additional damage, although they have no hydraulics. Repaired, with a redesigned strut, the prototype returns to flight testing two months later.


 * 1945 – The United States declares the Iwo Jima operation “completed. ”


 * 1945 – The British Pacific Fleet conducts its first combat operation, launching aistrikes against Japanese airfields on Miyako-jima.


 * 1945 – A kamikaze damages the battleship USS Nevada (BB-36) off Okinawa, killing 11 and wounding 49.


 * 1944 – During a U. S. air strike on Ponape, the Japanese get fighters aloft for the first time in the Central Pacific Area in six weeks, but almost all of them are shot down.


 * 1942 – The fifth Republic P-47B Thunderbolt, 41-5899, is lost when pilot George Burrell is forced to bail out after fabric-covered tail surfaces balloon and rupture. Pilot dies when his chute has insufficient time to open. Future P-47s have enlarged all-metal surfaces.


 * 1942 – The first Bell XP-39E Airacobra (of three), 41-19501, with lengthened fuselage to accommodate the Allison V-1710-E9 engine, and used for determining handling qualities, armament tests, and maneuvers, crashes on its 36th test flight during a spin test out of Wright Field, Ohio.


 * 1942 – (Overnight) 115 British bombers attack the Ruhr.


 * 1941 – The United States Army redesignates the Northwest Air District as the Second Air Force, the Southeast Air District as the Third Air Force, and the Southwest Air District as the Fourth Air Force. They are responsible for the northwestern, southeastern, and southwestern United States, respectively.


 * 1940 – First flight of the Curtiss C-46 Commando


 * 1939 – Republican leader Segismundo Casado López telegraphs Nationalist leader Francisco Franco, announcing that the Spanish Republican Air Force will surrender to Nationalist forces the following day. Franco replies that Nationalist armies would advance on Republican territory anyway.


 * 1938 – Arthur Clouston and Victor Ricketts land their D. H. 88 Comet Australian Anniversary at Gravesend in Kent, England to complete a 26,500-mile flight from England to New Zealand and back in a record 10 days 21 hours.


 * 1936 – Adolf II, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, and his wife are killed in a plane crash at Zumpango, Mexico.


 * 1934 – Piloted by John Lankester Parker and with three passengers on board, the first landplane derivative of the Short Kent flying boat takes off to the air for the first time. Named Scylla (G-ACJJ), the big biplane is followed by Scyrinx (G-ACJK) for the busy Imperial Airways routes into continental Europe.


 * 1931 – Swissair is formed by the merger of Ad Astra Aero and Balair.


 * 1927 – First flight of the Handley Page Hinaidi


 * 1922 – First flight of the de Havilland DH.34


 * 1922 – One of the first small commercial transport aircraft built upon experience from passenger flying and the requirements of airline operators, makes its first flight from Edgware, near London. The 10-seat passenger de Havilland DH.34, with a top speed of 128 mph and a cruising speed of 105 mph has a range of 365 miles.


 * 1917 – Ex-Royal Flying Corps pilot J. B. Fitzsimmons is killed while engaging in some low level aerobatics in a high wind in the sole Nestler Scout (no serial) when the fabric began stripping from the wings. Fitzsimmons crashes into a hangar and the airframe is wrecked. No further development work takes place on the design.