Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/March 8

March 8
 * 2014 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a Boeing 777, disappears during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing; the cause is unknown
 * 2005 – First flight of the Boeing 777-200LR.


 * 2002 – A Portuguese Air Force 201 Squadron F-16 crashes in Monte Real while landing, killing the pilot.


 * 2002 – A Grumman F-14A Tomcat, BuNo 158618, of VF-211, based at NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia crashes into the Arabian Sea after a failed attempt to land on the carrier USS John C. Stennis. The Navy said both crew members were pulled from the water by a rescue helicopter shortly after the accident. Neither appeared to be seriously injured.


 * 2001 – Launch: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-102 at 06:42 EST. Mission highlights: ISS assembly flight 5A: Destiny lab.


 * 1988 – Two Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, collided on a night training mission. They were flying at 92 mph air speed and about 250 feet from the ground when they collided a Fort Campbell spokesman said. The Army identified three of the dead as Staff Sgt. Charles L. Shirley, 21, of Arkansas; Sgt. Dennis Sabot, 28, of Iowa; and Spec. 4 Samuel A. Hintz, 23, of Ohio, all from the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry. A total of 17 soldiers were killed in the crash.


 * 1974 – Charles de Gaulle International Airport begins service.


 * 1973 – A Douglas EC-47 Skytrain carrying members of the US Army Golden Knights parachute team on a recruiting tour crashes and explodes at ~0900 hrs. in a muddy cornfield on the Basil Perry farm near Silk Hope, North Carolina while en route to their first performance of the season, at Overland Park, Kansas, killing 11 team members, two flight crew and the crew chief. The flight had departed Fort Bragg, North Carolina, at 0808 hrs. Cause was found to be overloading caused by the installation of a heavy metal plate floor, installed in Vietnam, but not entered in the logbook.


 * 1962 – 1962 Turkish Airlines Taurus Mountains crash occurred in the Bolkar Mountains while on approach to Adana Airport; all 11 on board die.


 * 1957 – Entered Service: Grumman F11 F Tiger, the world’s first carrier-based supersonic fighter, with United States Navy Attack Squadron 156 (VA-156)


 * 1954 – First flight of the Sikorsky H-34.


 * 1951 – A certificate of airworthiness is granted to the first Canadian-designed and built helicopter, the Sznyler SG-VI Grey Gull, at Dorval, QC.


 * 1949 – Nonstop flight of 56 hours and 2 minutes puts captain William Odom in the record books. Leaving Honolulu, Hawaii, he covers a distance of 4,957.25 miles before landing at Teterboro, New Jersey to gain the world record in Class C-1-c for light aircraft.


 * 1946 – The Bell 47 receives the first type certificate awarded to a commercial helicopter.


 * 1942 – (Overnight) Royal Air Force Bomber Command bombs Essen, Germany, on three consecutive nights with 211, 187, and 126 aircraft respectively, losing a combined total of 16 bombers. The raids are the combat debut of the Gee navigation aid, raising British hopes that precision bombing of the Krupp armaments factory will be achieved, but it is not hit, and bombs do far more damage to neighboring towns than to Essen itself. The third raid includes two Avro Lancasters, the first use of the Lancaster against a German target.


 * 1937 – A Nationalist offensive begins against Guadalajara, Spain, with support by Italian forces, including 50 fighters and 12 reconnaissance planes.


 * 1917 – Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, an inventor of the practical dirigible, dies.


 * 1910 – Raymonde de Laroche became the first woman to earn a pilot's license.


 * 1910 – Claude Moore-Brabazon receives the Royal Aero Club’s first aviator’s certificate in London. Charles Rolls receives the second.