Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/May 25

May 25


 * 2024 – Supermarine Spitfire MK356 of the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight crashes in a field near RAF Coningsby, killing the pilot.
 * 2012 – The first Solar Impulse aircraft, HB-SIA, the first solar-powered aircraft capable of both day and night flight thanks to its batteries charged by solar power, completes the first leg of its first intercontinental flight, arriving at Madrid, Spain, after a flight from Payerne Airport outside Payerne, Switzerland. During the flight, it sets a world distance record for a solar-powered flight between pre-declared waypoints of 1099.3 km and a world distance record for a solar-powered flight along a course of 1116 km. The second and final leg of the flight will take HB-SIA to Rabat, Morocco, the following month.


 * 2011 – First flight of the e-Genius, German manned electric airplane, two seated side by side high wing configuration aircraft completely manufactured of fibre composites and equipped with a retractable landing gear, propulsion realized by a permanent magnet synchronous motor with an electrical driven variable pitch propeller.


 * 2008 – Phoenix (Robotic Spacecraft) lands on Mars to search for environments suitable for microbial life on Mars, and to research the history of water there.


 * 2008 – Kalitta Air 2008 Boeing 747-209 F/SCD cargo overran runway 20 at Brussels Airport. The plane broke in three and came to a complete stop in a field bordering the runway. There were four crew members and one passenger on board, and no injuries were reported.


 * 2005 – A chartered Maniema Union Antonov An-28 aircraft, owned by Victoria Air, crashed into a mountain near Walungu, Democratic Republic of the Congo about 30 min after takeoff. All of the 22 passengers and 5 crew members were killed.


 * 2003 – Boeing 727 tail number N844AA mysteriously disappears in Angola, along with pilot Ben Charles Padilla.


 * 2002 – China Airlines Flight 611, a Boeing 747-200B, disintegrates in mid-air above the Taiwan Strait, apparently because of metal fatigue; all 206 passengers and 19 crew members – a total of 225 – are killed.


 * 2000 – Reginald Chua hijacks Philippine Airlines Flight 812, an Airbus A330-301 with 290 other people on board, just before landing at Ninoy Aquino International Airport near Manila, the Philippines. He demands the passengers place their valuables in a bag, and then attempts to jump from the plane via the rear door using a homemade parachute, but panics and instead clings to the door; a male flight attendant then pushes him from the door and he falls from the plane over Antipolo, Rizal. His body is found three days later near Llabac in Real, Quezon.


 * 1998 – PIA Flight 544, a Pakistan International Airlines Fokker F27, was hijacked shortly after it took off from Gwadar International Airport, by three armed men belonging to Baloch Students Organization (BSO). The aircraft, with 33 passengers and 5 crew members aboard, had just arrived from Gwadar International Airport, Baluchistan,and was sat to land in Hyderabad Airport, Sindh. The Army’s SSG’s Haideri Company, 7th Commando Zarrar Battalion, SSG Division, accompanied with elite members of Army Rangers stormed the aircraft, while the Pakistan Police surrounded the plane. The operation concluded with all three hijackers arrested and sentenced to death by Pakistan, with no human casualties.


 * 1998 – A Lao People's Liberation Army Air Force Yakovlev Yak-40, RDPL-34001, '001', c/n 9431835, crashes into a mountain during heavy rain killing all of the 26 on board, including Lt. Gen. Dao Trong Lich, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnamese Peoples' Army.


 * 1996 – Death of David Wayne Howe, American WWII flying ace and later test pilot for Bell.


 * 1995 – A combined force of NATO aircraft attack a Serb ammunition depot near Jahorinski Potok.


 * 1993 – In an 1844 hrs. flight deck accident aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt, the undercarriage of an McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 Hornet attempting a wave-off from the carrier due to still fouled deck, strikes the vertical fin on Grumman A-6E Intruder, BuNo 164382, '500', shearing away a large portion of the empennage, as the A-6 was taxiing away from the arresting gear. The Hornet dropped its underwing tanks and safely recovered to the carrier. Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=ai7nnJNIwuU


 * 1986 – A prisoner in a Parisian jail escapes when his wife rescues him in a helicopter


 * 1982 – VASP Boeing 737-2 A1 on landing procedures at Brasília during rain, made a hard landing with nose gear first. The gear collapsed and the aircraft skidded off the runway breaking in two. Two passengers out of 118 occupants died.


 * 1982 – HMS Coventry (D118), Type 42 (Sheffield Class) destroyer of the Royal Navy, is sunk by Argentine Air Force A-4 Skyhawks during the Falklands War.


 * 1982 – A RAF Hawker-Siddeley/McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom II piloted by Roy Lawrence and Alistair Inverarity was engaging a Royal Air Force SEPECAT Jaguar GR1, XX963, 'AL', piloted by Flt. Lt. D. Steve Griggs in training exercises. During the encounter the Phantom shot a live AIM-9 Sidewinder forcing the Jaguar pilot to eject.


 * 1979 – American Airlines Flight 191, a McDonnell-Douglas DC-10, crashes on takeoff from O'Hare International Airport after an engine falls off, killing all 271 on board and 2 on the ground; prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks, this was the deadliest airliner occurrence in American history, and it remains the worst single-aircraft airliner accident on US soil.


 * 1978 – The first Challenger was rolled out at Cartierville, Montreal.


 * 1976 – First Flight of the Boeing E-3 Sentry, U. S. military airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft based on the Boeing 707 that provides all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications.


 * 1973 – Launch of Skylab 2, first manned mission to Skylab, the first U. S. orbital space station.


 * 1970 – First commercial aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in level flight is a Tupolev Tu-144.


 * 1969 – Birth of Dmitri Yur'yevich Kondrat'yev, Russian cosmonaut.


 * 1968 – First flight of the Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler, twin-engine, mid-wing electronic warfare aircraft, Developed from Grumman A-6 Intruder.


 * 1968 – Tupolev Tu-16 "Badger" F, commanded by sub-Cmdr. Alexander Pliyev, crashes into the Norwegian Sea after a low pass by the aircraft carrier USS Essex (CV-9). The bomber had flown by the ship just 15 meters above the sea.


 * 1966 – Launch of Explorer 32 (also known as Atmosphere Explorer-B (AE-B)), satellite launched by the United States for studying the Earth's upper atmosphere.


 * 1965 – The Soviet Union announces the construction of surface-to-air missile sites in North Vietnam around Hanoi.


 * 1965 – Birth of John Daniel "Danny" Olivas, American engineer of Mexican descent and a NASA astronaut


 * 1964 – Birth of Ivan Bella, Slovak Air Force officer who became the first Slovak citizen to fly in space


 * 1964 – First flight of The Ryan XV-5 Vertifan, American jet-powered V/STOL experimental aircraft.


 * 1961 – Brigadier General Barnie B. McEntire, Jr., commander of the South Carolina Air National Guard, is killed when his Lockheed F-104A-25-LO Starfighter, 56-0853, suffers engine failure on take off from Olmsted Air Force Base, Pennsylvania, and he stays with the jet to crash into the Susquehanna River rather than risk it crashing into populated areas of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Congaree Air National Guard Base near Eastover, South Carolina is subsequently renamed in his honor in October 1961 by Governor Ernest F. Hollings.


 * 1960 – A Vickers Valiant of No.214 Squadron, captained by Squadron Leader J. H. Garstin, takes off for the first non-stop flight between the UK and Singapore.


 * 1958 – The 1958 Dan-Air Avro York crash occurred near Gurgaon, India due to an engine fire; of the 5 on board, only one survives.


 * 1958 – USAF Lockheed RC-121D-LO Warning Star, 55-123, of the 551st AEWCW, burns out on the ramp at Otis AFB, Massachusetts, 0 dead.


 * 1955 – Convair B-36J-5-CF Peacemaker, 52-2818A, c/n 374, of the 6th Bomb Wing, call sign Abbott 27, on a routine training flight, crashes at ~2305 hrs. CST, in the SW corner of Glasscock County, Texas, on the Drannon Ranch, ~18.5 miles (29.8 km) SW of Sterling City, Texas. The aircraft had apparently disintegrated due to thunderstorm or tornadic activity, losing its outer wing panels and all tail control surfaces, and impacted in a flat attitude with little forward motion. Aircraft wreckage was found in a 25 X 3-mile (4.8 km) path on a heading of 66 degrees true. None of the 15 members of crew L-22 were able to escape the damaged bomber and all hatches and ports were found still in place. The wings and forward fuselage burned on impact, with only the rear fuselage remaining. The aircraft had been preparing to land at Walker AFB, New Mexico, when it was lost. Due to the extended period that the crash site was kept secured while crew remains were recovered and identified, and wreckage from the disintegration was searched for (almost a week), there was some question as to whether the B-36 was armed with a nuclear weapon, but there is no evidence to support this.


 * 1954 – United States Navy (USN) ZPG2 airship, flown by Commander M. H. Eppes and crew, lands at Key West Florida after being airborne for just over 200 hours.


 * 1953 – First flight of the North American F-100 Super Sabre, supersonic jet fighter aircraft.


 * 1951 – First delivery of The English Electric Canberra B2, first-generation jet-powered light bomber, to replace the Lincolns of No. 101 Squadron at Binbrook, Lincolnshire.


 * 1950 – The first prototype of Arsenal VG 90 turbojet strike fighter design for the Aéronavale, VG-90.01, F-WFOE, first flown 27 September 1949, crashes this date killing the pilot Pierre Decroo.


 * 1943 – (Overnight) 759 British bombers attack Düsseldorf, Germany. Pathfinder aircraft fail to concentrate markers on the target and the raid fails when the bombers spread their bombs widely throughout the countryside.


 * 1949 – Silverplate Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 44-27299, of the 97th Bomb Group, Biggs AFB, Texas, suffers fire in number 4 (starboard outer) engine shortly after take-off for routine navigation and radar training mission. Unable to extinguish blaze, crew bails out but navigator's parachute does not open and he is killed - believed that he had struck his head on nose gear operating assembly while departing bomber. B-29 makes two-mile circle, then comes down 35 miles NE of El Paso, Texas, exploding on impact.


 * 1940 – HMS Illustrious (R87) enters service with the Royal Navy as the world's first fully armored aircraft carrier.


 * 1939 – Sole Grumman XSBF-1, BuNo. 9996, (the XSF-2 airframe modified with a triangular frame beneath the engine mounting to carry one 500 lb (227 kg) or two 100 lb (45 kg) bombs, flown 18 February 1936), crash lands near Leonardtown, Maryland, killing one crew.


 * 1938 – During the Spanish Civil War the Italian Aviazione Legionaria bombs of Alicante.


 * 1937 – The first letter to encircle the world by commercial air mail despatched from New York via San Francisco to Hong Kong, Penang, Amsterdam and Brazil is back to New York.


 * 1937 – First flight of the Gasuden Koken, Japanese long-range research aircraft, single-engined low wing cantilever monoplane with a retractable undercarriage designed to break the world record for longest flight.


 * 1936 – Maj. Hezekiah ("Hez") McClellan, (1894–1936), was killed while flight-testing Consolidated TPB-2A, 35-1, which crashed near Centerville, Ohio. Posthumously awarded the DFC, McClellan prepared early charts and records while pioneering Alaskan air routes. Sacramento Air Depot renamed McClellan Field on 1 December 1939.


 * 1931 – Birth of Georgy Mikhaylovich Grechko, Soviet cosmonaut who flew on several space flights among which Soyuz 17, Soyuz 26, and Soyuz T-14.


 * 1929 – Lieutenant William Gosnell Tomlinson, USN, took first place in the Curtiss Marine Trophy race held at Naval Air Station Anacostia. He flew the XF7 C-1 with an average speed of 162.52 MPH. He completed the 100-mile race course before his nearest competitor had entered the final 20 miles


 * 1929 – The first "air meet" in western Canada was held in Winnipeg, Manitoba.


 * 1928 – First flight of the Sikorsky S-38, American twin-engined 8-seat amphibious aircraft sometimes called "The Explorer's Air Yacht" and Sikorsky's first widely produced amphibious flying boat.


 * 1928 – Umberto Nobile's Airship Italia crashes on the ice on the attempt to reach the North Pole. Radio operator Biagi salvages radio, constructs a radio mast and begins transmitting SOS.


 * 1927 – Lieutenant James Doolittle was the first person to do an outside loop in an Army Racer.


 * 1919 – A Handley Page V/1500, flying from Risalpur piloted by Captain Halley and with Lt E. Villiers as observer reached Kabul in three hours and bombed the Royal Palace during the Third Anglo-Afghan War, being the first decisive use of strategic bombing.


 * 1917 – French WWI fighter ace Georges Marie Ludovic Jules Guynemer, scores 4 victories this day.


 * 1917 – A mass air-raid by 21 Gotha G.V bombers attacks Folkestone in Kent, England, killing 95 people and injuring 174. Seventy-four British aircraft take off to intercept, but shoot down only one Gotha. It is the first of 22 German heavier-than-air raids on England during World War I.


 * 1917 – Death of René Pierre Marie Dorme, French WWI fighter ace, killed in action in his SPAD VII.


 * 1913 – Birth of Oskar-Heinz (Heinrich) "Pritzl" Bär, German Luftwaffe flying ace who served throughout WWII in Europe. He flew over a thousand combat missions, and fought in all major German theatres of the war, including the Western, Eastern and Mediterranean fronts. On 18 occasions he survived being shot down and he was credited with 220 aerial victories, around 16 of which were in a Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter.


 * 1912 – First plane of the Royal Norwegian Navy to arrive in Norway is the HNoMS Start, an Etrich Taube (fighter, bomber, surveillance plane and trainer).


 * 1910 – Orville Wright takes his 82-year-old father for his first airplane ride. Also on this day, Wilbur and Orville fly together for the only time in a six-and-one-half minute flight at Simms Station, near Dayton, Ohio.


 * 1909 – French Paul Tissandier, sets a world Flight Airspeed Record for an aeroplane in a Wright biplane, achieving 54kph (34mph).


 * 1905 – Ferdinand Ferber makes his first aerial tests in Chalais-Meodon, France with his No.6 bis glider fitted with a 12-hp Peugeot motor.


 * 1902 – Birth of Henri Guillaumet, pioneer of French aviation in the Andes, the South Atlantic and the North Atlantic.


 * 1898 – Birth of Harry Christopher Travers Gompertz, British WWI flying ace (Observer).


 * 1896 – Birth of William John Charles Kennedy-Cochran-Patrick, Scottish WWI fighter ace, founder of Aircraft Operating Company of South Africa Pty Ltd.


 * 1895 – Birth of Robert Arthur Grosvenor, British WWI fighter ace


 * 1893 – Birth of Christopher Joseph Quintin Brand, South African officer of the Royal Air Force, WWI pilot and raid pilot.


 * 1892 – Birth of James Victor Gascoyne, British WWI flying ace.


 * 1889 – Birth of Léon Jean Pierre Bourjade, French WWI fighter ace and leading balloon busting ace. Post-war, he completed his theological studies and devoted the remainder of his life to service as a medical missionary to lepers.


 * 1889 – Igor Sikorsky, American aviation engineer who developed the first successful helicopter was born.


 * 1883 – Birth of William Durrand, Jr., Canadian WWI flying ace.


 * 1866 – The Aereon N°2, American dirigible airship, flew over New York City.


 * 1864 – Birth of Anne Löwenstein-Wertheim Princess of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (born Lady Anne Savile), British aviation pioneer.


 * 1757 – Birth of Louis-Sébastien Lenormand, French physicist, inventor and pioneer in parachuting.