Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/May 4

May 4


 * 2013 – The first Solar Impulse aircraft, HB-SIA, the world's first solar-powered aircraft capable of operating day and night, completes the first leg of its attempt to become the solar-powered aircraft to fly across the contiguous United States, landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, at 12:30 a.m. PDT after departing Moffett Field in Mountain View, California, at dawn on 3 May and covering 1,203 km (747 miles) in 18 hours 18 minutes at an average speed-over-ground of 65.5 km/h (40.7 mph). Plans call for the aircraft, which requires no fuel because it uses photovoltaic cells in its wings to supply it with power and charge its batteries for use at night, to make a series of five flights of 19 to 25 hours each, flying at about 40 mph (64 km/h), with a stopover of approximately 10 days in each city it visits, culminating in an arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, New York.


 * 2012 – A United States Air Force F-16 of the 421 Fighter Squadron crashed at the Utah Test and Training Range, pilot ejected safely.


 * 2009 – Northwest Airlines Flight 557, an Airbus A320-211, registration N311US, is substantially damaged in a heavy landing at Denver International Airport, United States. Vertical deceleration in excess of 3G is recorded. The aircraft may be written off.


 * 2009 – A Russian Navy Kamov Kamov Ka-27 (Helix) Helicopter landing on the Baltic Fleet Frigate Yaroslav Mudryi, the main-rotor made contact with the ship superstructure, crashed on the deck and then rolled over the side into the sea. The 5 crew from the Kamov helicopter were successfully rescued from the sea.


 * 2006 – Hawaiian Airlines announces service to the mainland destinations of San Diego, Seattle and Portland with their four additional Boeing 767-300 airliners.


 * 2004 – US Airways becomes the 15th member of the airline coalition Star Alliance.


 * 2003 – Frontier Airlines increases service to Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Portland, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle. Their regional operation Frontier JetExpress also adds regional jet service to Boise, Oklahoma City and Tucson, while discontinuing service to Oakland.


 * 2002 – Launch: Spot-5 satellite, with 2.5 m, 5 m and 10 m capability


 * 2002 – EAS Airlines Flight 4226, a BAC 1-11 500 series, crashes into the Gwammaja neighborhood at Kano, Nigeria shortly after takeoff; the ensuing crash resulted in the deaths of 75 passengers and at least 73 civilians on the ground.


 * 2002 – Launch of Aqua (EOS PM-1), multi-national NASA scientific research satellite in orbit around the Earth, studying the precipitation, evaporation, and cycling of water.


 * 1989 – Launch: Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-30 at 14:48:59 EDT. Mission highlights: Magellan Venus probe deployment.


 * 1986 – American Eagle Flight 5452, a CASA C-212 operated by Executive Airlines, crashes on landing at Eugenio María de Hostos Airport in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, killing both pilots. The other four people on board, all passengers, survive with minor injuries.


 * 1982 – Argentinian Navy Super Étendard aircraft fatally damage the British destroyer Sheffield with an Exocet missile southeast of the Falkland Islands. Sheffield sinks on May 10.


 * 1982 – The British lose their first Sea Harrier of the Falklands War, shot down by ground fire during a bombing raid over Goose Green. The pilot is killed.


 * 1978 – First prototype Lockheed Have Blue stealth test bed, c/n 1001, on its 37th flight, hit the runway a little too hard at Groom Lake, Nevada, and had to lift off for another pass rather than go into a skid, but had bent the right main gear strut. The landing gear had been retracted after the "touch and go", and now the right main gear leg wouldn't extend. Despite many attempts, there was no way to get the gear down. Critically low on fuel, Lockheed test pilot Bill Park decided to eject and let the aircraft crash into the desert. Park suffered a serious back injury and concussion, ending his career as a test pilot. The airframe was bulldozed under the desert. News of the crash leaked to the press, and some vague comments were made about the possible existence of "stealth" aircraft.


 * 1976 – Launch of LAGEOS 1, or Laser Geodynamics Satellites, scientific research satellitesdesigned to provide an orbiting laser ranging benchmark for geodynamical studies of the Eart.


 * 1972 – An Aeroflot Yakalov Yak-40 (CCCP-87778) crashes due to windshear at Bratsk, Russia, killing all 18 on board.


 * 1969 – 4-11 – The Daily Mail Transatlantic Air Race commemorates the 50th anniversary of Alcock and Brown's crossing. It is won by a Royal Navy F-4 Phantom, taking 4 hours 47 min.


 * 1967 – The Lunar Orbiter 4 launches on a 180-day mission to take photographs of The Moon for research purposes. It would take over 500 photos before striking the surface.


 * 1966 – Death of William Edward George "Pedro" Mann, British WWI flying ace, one of the first to fly an inverted formation at Hendon. He also served in WWII and helped to develop mobile radar and signals units that served as models for the entire RAF.


 * 1963 – Dassault Falcon 20 first prototype, registered F-WLKB, makes its first flight at Bordeaux-Merignac.


 * 1962 – (4–5) During the Carupanazo revolt against Venezuelan President Rómulo Betancourt, Venezuelan Air Force aircraft attack rebel positions at Carúpano.


 * 1961 – Project Strato-Lab: To test the Navy's Mark IV full-pressure suit, A world balloon record of 113,739.9 feet is set in a two-place open gondola balloon Strato Lab V by U. S. Navy Commander Malcolm David Ross and Lieutenant Commander Victor A. Prather. The flight lasted 9 hours 54 min and covered a horizontal distance of 140 miles (230 km). Unfortunately, Victor Prather drowned during the helicopter transfer after landing.


 * 1959 – First flight of the Pilatus PC-6 Porter, civilian utility aircraft built by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland.


 * 1959 – Birth of Maurizio Cheli, Italian engineer, air force officer, a European Space Agency astronaut and a veteran of one NASA space shuttle mission.


 * 1956 – Birth of Michael Landon Gernhardt, NASA astronaut.


 * 1955 – Death of Louis Charles Breguet, French aircraft designer and builder, one of the early aviation pioneers.


 * 1953 – English Electric Canberra B2 WD952, fitted with Rolls-Royce Olympus engines set a world altitude record – 63,668 ft (19,406 m).


 * 1969 – 4-11 – The Daily Mail Transatlantic Air Race commemorates the 50th anniversary of Alcock and Brown's crossing. It is won by a Royal Navy F-4 Phantom, taking 4 hours 47 min.


 * 1950 – Prototype reconnaissance platform Northrop YRB-49 A, makes its first flight.


 * 1949 – USAF North American F-82F Twin Mustang, 46-468, out of Mitchel Field crashes into an unfinished house on Fulton Avenue near Duncan Road, a residential neighborhood of Hempstead, New York near Hofstra University; the plane burst into flames but neither the pilot, 2nd Lt. Andrew Wallace, nor his radar observer, 1st Lt. Bryan Jolley, were killed. In fact, Wallace used a brick from the house to smash the right canopy and rescue Jolley.


 * 1949 – In the Superga air disaster, an Italian Airlines Fiat G.212 CP carrying the Torino football team crashes into the Superga hills near Turin, killing all 31 on board, including 18 players.


 * 1949 – The Avio Linee Italiane (Italian Airlines) Fiat G212CP carrying the Torino A. C. football squad flew into a thunderstorm on the approach to Turin and encountered conditions of low cloud and poor visibility. It crashed into the hill of Superga near Turin killing all 31 aboard


 * 1949 – The Canadian Blue Devils aerobatic team is formed.


 * 1945 – The British Home Fleet carries out its last operation of World War II, a raid by 44 Avengers and Wildcats from the aircraft carriers HMS Queen. HMS Trumpeter, and HMS Searcher against Kilbotn, Norway, sinking a German depot ship and submarine. It is the last air raid against Norway of World War II.


 * 1945 – (4-5) Carrier aircraft of the British Pacific Fleet strike airfields on the Sakishima Gunto.


 * 1944 – F/L LJ Bateman and crew in a Vickers Wellington of No. 407 Squadron sank the German submarine U-846 west of the Bay of Biscay


 * 1943 – S/L BH Moffit and crew in Consolidated Canso of No. 5 (BR) Squadron, Eastern Air Command, sunk the German submarine U-630 in the West Atlantic Ocean.


 * 1942 – 4-8 – The Battle of the Coral Sea is fought between US Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carriers. Japanese light carrier Shoho is sunk and Shokaku is badly damaged, and the USS Lexington is sunk.


 * 1942 – Three Bristol Blenheims of No. 15 Squadron, South African Air Force, on a familiarisation flight from Kufra, Libya, become lost over the Libyan Desert and are forced to land due to fuel exhaustion. One of them is found on May 9 with its entire crew of three dead of exposure, and the other two on May 11 with eight of the nine men with them dead of gunshots or exposure.


 * 1942 – (May 4-11, 1942) The Kufra tragedy occurred in May 1942 during World War II when eleven of twelve South African aircrew flying in three South African Air Force No. 15 Squadron Bristol Blenheim Mark IV aircraft died of thirst and exposure after the flight became lost following a navigational error near the oasis of Kufra in Libya and made a forced landing in the Libyan Desert.


 * 1937 – Die Heinkel-Werke Oranienburg, important factory for aircraft construction, is inaugurated.


 * 1936 – 4-7 – Amy Johnson sets a new England-South Africa speed record of 3 days 6 hours 26 min in a Percival Gull Six.


 * 1928 – Death of Leonard Warden Bonney, pioneering aviator, while making the first flight of his 'Bonney Gull '.


 * 1927 – First flight of the Boeing TB


 * 1927 – First flight of the Short Crusader, a British racing seaplane.


 * 1926 – Birth of Milton Orville 'Milt' Thompson, NASA research pilot, first person to fly a lifting body.


 * 1924 – First flight of the Sikorsky S-29-A


 * 1924 – Etienne Oehmichen, flew for he first time a helicopter following a circular trajectory with a length of about one km after about 7 min and 40 seconds in the same place to land.


 * 1918 – Death of Karl Patzelt, Austro-Hungarian WWI flying ace, killed in action.


 * 1917 – Birth of Siegfried Freytag "The Malta Lion", WWII German fighter ace and member of the French Foreign Legion during the French indochina war.


 * 1916 – Zeppelin LZ-32 is shot down and destroyed by British naval gunfire.


 * 1911 – The U. S. War Department approves a suggestion that S. C.No.1 (the Wright Flyer accepted by the Army August 2, 1909) be put at the disposal of the Smithsonian Institution for exhibition purposes following refurbishment.


 * 1904 – Birth of Joaquín García-Morato y Castaño, leading Nationalist fighter ace of the Spanish Civil War. He is credited with 40 air victories, four gained while flying Heinkel He 51 s and 36 with the Italian Fiat CR.32.


 * 1901 – Birth of Jerzy Bajan, prominent Polish sports and military aviator, winner of the Challenge 1934 contest.


 * 1899 – Birth of Reginald Carey Brenton Brading, British WWI flying ace.


 * 1899 – Birth of Fritz Adam Hermann Opel (Von Opel) German pilot and engineer remembered mostly for his spectacular demonstrations of rocket propulsion that earned him the nickname "Rocket Fritz".


 * 1892 – Birth of Otto Rosenfeld, German WWI flying ace.


 * 1890 – Birth of François Marie Noel Battesti, French WWI flying ace


 * 1883 – Birth of Jan Olieslagers, Belgian motorcycle racer, aviation pioneer (who set world records with both types of machinery) and WWI flying ace.


 * 1860 – Birth of Hans Georg Friedrich Groß, German balloonist and airship constructor.