Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/May 26

May 26


 * 2011 – The United Kingdom announced plans to send four Apache helicopters to aid in the conflict.


 * 2010 – Iraqi Airways ceases operations.


 * 2010 – Launched from a B-52H Stratofortress over the Pacific Ocean, the Boeing X-51A Waverider makes a successful first flight, reaching nearly Mach 5. It is the first time in history that an aircraft flies powered by a practical thermally balanced hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet engine.


 * 2009 – 9Q-CSA, an Antonov An-26 operated by Services Air crashes short of the runway at Matari Airport, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing three of the four people on board. The aircraft is destroyed in the crash. It had previously been placed on a blacklist by the International Civil Aviation Organisation and Antonov.


 * 2009 – A Força Aérea Brasileira Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante (C-95) FAB 2332) a twin-engined turboprop transport made a heavy landing at Base Aérea do Campo dos Afonsos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The accident occurred when the landing gear failed to operate.


 * 2008 – Chelyabinsk Antonov An-12 crash: A Moskovia Airlines An-12 cargo aircraft crashed near Chelyabinsk, Russia, killing all nine crew members when after departure to Perm it turned back and crashed near the airfield.


 * 2007 – San Francisco International Airport runway incursion occurred when SkyWest Airlines (operating as United Express) Flight 5741 (SKW5741), an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia turboprop aircraft, nearly collided with Republic Airlines (operating as Frontier Airlines) Flight 4912, an Embraer 170 Regional Jet, at the intersection of runways 1L and 28R at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), South San Francisco, California. There were no reported injuries to occupants and no reported damage to either aircraft. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials described the runway incursion as the most serious incident of its kind in at least a decade, and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) initiated an investigation into the incident.


 * 2007 – An OH-58D(I) Kiowa 93-0989 from 1–17th Cavalry Regiment is shot down with small arms near Baquba, killing the two crewmen.


 * 1998 – The 1998 MIAT Mongolian Airlines crash: a Harbin Y-12 crashes 13 minutes after takeoff from Erdenet Airport, Mongolia, killing all 28 passengers and crew.


 * 1991 – Lauda Air Flight 004, a Boeing 767, disintegrates in mid-air over Uthai Thani Province, Thailand, killing all 223 people on board. A thrust reverser had accidentally deployed in flight, causing the disaster. It is the first fatal crash of a Boeing 767.


 * 1986 – Helicopter prison escape from a Parisian jail. Escapee Michel Vaujour was flown to freedom via his wife, a newly graduated helicopter pilot.


 * 1983 – A Learjet 55 sets a world speed record in its class of 448 mph (722 km/h) over the 5,655 mile (9,101 km) between Los Angeles and Le Bourget.


 * 1981 – Grumman EA-6B Prowler, BuNo 159910, of VMAQ-2 Detachment Y, crash landed on flight deck of USS Nimitz, off the Florida coast, killing 14 crewmen and injuring 45 others (some reports say 42, some 48). The crash was the result of the aircraft missing the last arresting cable, while ignoring a wave-off command. Two Grumman F-14 Tomcats struck and destroyed (BuNos. 161138 and 160385), 3 F-14s, 9 LTV A-7 Corsair IIs, 3 S-3A Vikings, 1 Grumman A-6 Intruder and 1 SH-3 Sea King damaged. Forensic testing conducted found that several members of the deceased flight deck crew tested positive for marijuana (the officers on board the aircraft were never tested, claimed one report). The responsibility for the accident was placed on the deck crew. The official naval inquiry stated that the accident was the result of drug abuse by the enlisted crewmen of the Nimitz, despite the fact that every death occurred during the impact of the crash and not one member of the deck crew was killed fighting the fire. As a result of this incident, President Ronald Reagan instituted a "Zero Tolerance" policy across all of the armed services—which started the mandatory drug testing of all US service personnel. In another report, however, the Navy stated that pilot error, possibly caused by an excessive dosage of brompheniramine, a cold medicine, in the blood of pilot Marine 1st Lt. Steve E. White, of Houston, Texas, "may have degraded the mental and physical skills required for night landings." The report described brompheniramine as "a common antihistamine decongestant cold medicine ingredient." "Last October [1981], Rep. Joseph P. Addabbo, (D-N.Y.) said that an autopsy conducted on the pilot's body disclosed up to 11 times the recommended dosage of a cold remedy in his system." This report seems to belie the above account that no testing was done on the flight crew.


 * 1977 – First flight of the NDN Firecracker G-NDNI


 * 1972 – The United States and Soviet Union sign the SALT-1 strategic arms limitation treaty


 * 1972 – Cessna builds its 100,000th aircraft, the first company in the world to achieve this figure.


 * 1972 – Two American UH-1 B attack helicopters use TOW antitank missiles to destroy 12 North Vietnamese tanks outside Kontum, South Vietnam, allowing South Vietnamese forces to counterattack and secure the city.


 * 1970 – The prototype Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic airliner reaches a speed of 1,335mph, becoming the first commercial transport in the world to exceed Mach 2.


 * 1970 – Operation Menu, the 14-month-long covert American bombing campaign by B-52 Stratofortresses against North Vietnamese Army sanctuaries in Cambodia, comes to an end. The B-52 s have flown 3,800 sorties and dropped 108,823 tons (98,723,578 kg) of munitions during the campaign.


 * 1969 – Apollo 10 astronauts returned to Earth after a successful eight-day dress rehearsal for the first manned moon landing.


 * 1969 – The US Army cancels the Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne production contract, worth $US 900 million.


 * 1965 – Sir Geoffery de Havilland dies aged 82.


 * 1964 – A Boeing B-47E-110-BW Stratojet, 53-2296, c/n 4501109, of the 509th Bomb Wing, inbound to RAF Upper Heyford from Pease AFB, New Hampshire, suffers uneven throttle advance on attempted go around, port engines fail to respond, wing drops and bomber cartwheels between two loaded B-47s before striking storage building which the day before had contained JATO bottles. Prompt response by rescue personnel and apparatus douse the fire and three of four crew are pulled from the wreckage alive: pilot Capt. Robert L. Lundin, North Platte, Nebraska, co-pilot 1st Lt. James V. Mullen, Des Moines, Iowa, and passenger Lt. Col. Robert E. Johnson, Los Angeles, California. Navigator Capt. Lowell L. Mittlestadt, 27, of Elmhurst, Illinois, is KWF. One firefighter is hospitalized after being overcome from smoke and a dozen others are treated for minor injuries and smoke while fighting the blaze.


 * 1961 – Lockheed CF-104 Starfighter Canadian prototype (Canadair CL-90) was test flown at Palmdale, California.


 * 1961 – A U. S. Air Force bomber flies across the Atlantic in a record of just over three hours.


 * 1958 – Entered Service: Republic F-105B Thunderchief with the 335th Tactical Fighter Squadron USAF at Eglin AFB


 * 1958 – First flight of the Short SC.1 (VTOL)


 * 1951 – Sally Ride, astronaut, the first American woman in space is born.


 * 1942 – The Northrop XP-61 Black Widow night fighter prototype flies for the first time.


 * 1941 – First flight of the Kayaba Ka-1


 * 1941 – Eight aircraft from the British aircraft carrier HMS Formidable raid the Axis airfield at Scarpanto. Retaliating German dive bombers badly damage Formidable and a destroyer; the following day they also damage the battleship HMS Barham.


 * 1941 – German dive bombers set the British infantry landing ship HMS Glenroy on fire, preventing her from bringing reinforcements to Crete.


 * 1941 – Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm aircraft play a key role in finding and sinking the German battleship Bismarck.


 * 1940 – (May 26-June 4) Operation Dynamo, the Dunkirk evacuation, takes place, as 308,888 Allied soldiers are evacuated to the United Kingdom from Dunkirk by sea under continuous German air attack. During the evacuation, German aircraft sink six British and three French destroyers and eight personnel ships and put 19 British destroyers and nine personnel ships out of action.


 * 1939 – German personnel of the Condor Legion depart Spain.


 * 1937 – Spanish Republican air raids by Soviet pilots narrowly miss the German patrol ship Albatross at Palma and damage the German “pocket battleship” Deutschland off Ibiza, killing 31 and wounding 66 aboard Deutschland.


 * 1932 – First flight of the Farman F.220, a French high wing 4 tandem engine 40 seat high wing monoplane airliner


 * 1929 – A Junkers W 33 (much modified and sometimes referred to as a W 34) established a world altitude record, piloted by Willy Neuenhofen, at 41,800 ft (12740 m)


 * 1924 – First flight of the Tupolev ANT-2.


 * 1923 – Lieutenant H. G. Crocker landed in Gordon, Ontario, to complete a non-stop transcontinental south/north flight from Houston, Texas, of 11 hours, 55 min.


 * 1921 – Death of Karl Scharon, German WWI flying ace.


 * 1920 – First flight of the Boeing GA-1 (company designation Model 10), American armored triplane powered by a pair of modified Liberty engines driving pusher propellers, first of the Engineering Division's heavily-armored GAX series (ground attack, experimental) aircraft.


 * 1920 – Alfred Fronval, French aviator, sets in Madrid a record of 962 loopings in 3 h 52 min.


 * 1919 – Monstrous Royal Air Force three-wing, six-engine Tarrant Tabor bomber, F1765, attempts first flight at Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, noses over on lift-off, forward fuselage crushed back to the wing, both crew, Capts. F. G. Dunn and P. T. Rawlings killed. No second prototype is ever built.


 * 1918 – Death of Thomas Frederick Le Mesurier, British WWI flying ace, Killed in action in his de Havilland DH4.


 * 1915 – Oberleutnant Kästner and Lt Georg Langhoff score the first German air-to-air victory of World War I.


 * 1911 – Jules Vedrines wins the Paris-Madrid Race in a Morane-Saulnier A.


 * 1910 – Frederick Handley Page makes several hops in his 'Bluebird' monoplane at Barking but crashes while attempting to turn.


 * 1909 – The Zeppelin LZ-5 sets an endurance record by completing a 600-mile (970 km) nonstop trip in 38 hours.


 * 1904 – The Wright brothers make their first successful flight in the Wright Flyer II. It is the first of 100 flights they will make in the Flyer II during 1904.


 * 1898 – Birth of John Sidney Owens, American WWI flying ace.


 * 1896 – Birth of William Grossart, Scottish WWI flying ace.


 * 1895 – Birth of Rudolf Besel, German WWI flying ace.


 * 1892] – Birth of Eustace Slade Headlam, Australian WWI flying ace.


 * 1890 – Birth of William Stanley Jenkins, Candian WWI flying ace


 * 1874 – Birth of Henri Farman, French pilot, aviator, aircraft designer and manufacturer with his brother Maurice Farman.