Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/November 15

November 15
 * 2012 – Israeli aircraft strike 70 underground rocket-launching sites in the Gaza Strip in 60 minutes.
 * 2009 – Introduction: Mil Mi-28 (Mi-28 N)
 * 2008 –An OH-58 Kiowa Warrior strikes a tower near Mosul, killing the two pilots.
 * 2007 – China Southern Airlines officially joins the SkyTeam alliance on November 15. Because of this, SkyTeam is the first airline alliance with a mainland china carrier. It is also a major push into the global network for mainland China.
 * 2005 – Boeing formally launches the stretched Boeing 747-8 variant with orders from Cargolux and Nippon Cargo Airlines.
 * 2003 – Two UH-60L Black Hawks from 4–101st Aviation Regiment(93-26531) and 9–101st Aviation Regiment(94-26548) collide and crash after one aircraft coming under fire; 6 and 11 soldiers (crew and passengers) on board are killed, respectively, and 5 others on board the first AC are injured in Mosul.
 * 2003 – Two United States Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters collide near Mosul, Iraq. Twenty-two soldiers were on both aircraft and 17 were killed.
 * 2000 – A chartered Antonov AN-24 crashes after takeoff from Luanda, Angola, killing more than 40 people.
 * 1999 – The U. S. Postal Service unveils the new 33-cent “Jumbo Jet” postage stamp honoring the Boeing 747.
 * 1992 – An Aerocaribbean Ilyushin IL-18 flying from Santo Domingo to Puerto Plata in Dominican Republic, crashes into a mountain, killing all 34 occupants.
 * 1990 – Launch: Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-126 at 18:48:13 EST. Mission highlights: Seventh classified DoD mission. Likely SDS2-2 deployed.
 * 1987 – Continental Airlines Flight 1713, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, crashes on take-off during a snowstorm at Denver's Stapleton International Airport, killing 25 passengers and 3 crew.
 * 1985 – A United States Navy turboprop Convair C-131H Samaritan, BuNo 542817, of VR-48, Naval Air Facility, Washington, D.C., crashes shortly after take-off from Napier Field, Dothan, Alabama, killing two pilots of the Navy's Fleet Logistic Support Squadron, Andrews AFB, Maryland, and a flight engineer, also of Andrews AFB.
 * 1979 – American Airlines Flight 444 was a Boeing 727 flying from Chicago to Washington DC, which was attacked by the Unabomber. The bomb planted in the cargo hold failed to detonate, but gave off large quantities of smoke, and twelve passengers had to be treated afterwards for smoke inhalation. It was later determined that the bomb was powerful enough to have destroyed the aircraft had it worked correctly.
 * 1978 – Icelandic Airlines Flight LL 001, a Douglas DC-8 on a charter flight, crashes into a coconut plantation while on approach to Katunayake, Sri Lanka for a refueling stop; 183 out of 262 people on board are killed.
 * 1972 – Ansett Airlines Flight 232 was an attempted hijacking of a Fokker Friendship bound for Alice Springs from Adelaide on Wednesday, 15 November 1972. It was the first aircraft hijacking in Australia. The would-be hijacker died in the incident.
 * 1971 – A U.S. Navy Grumman A-6A Intruder, BuNo. 151563, of VA-42, on a maintenance test flight out of NAS Oceana, Virginia, suffers failure of the drogue chute gun in the pilot's ejection seat, pulling the two ejection seat cables and ejecting Lt. Dalton C. Wright. The bombardier-navigator, Lt. John W. Adair, with no pilot in the aircraft, is forced to eject. Jet comes down 15 miles from Oceana. The Navy investigation later determines that five or six flight accidents and one hangar accident may have been caused by the same problem. One source cites date of 15 October 1971.
 * 1970 – US Navy Grumman S-2 Tracker crashes at Fort Dix, New Jersey killing four. Wreckage found on 16 November in wooded area off Range Road. Killed were pilot Navy Lt. J.G. James K. Larson, 24, of Milltown, New Jersey, co-pilot 1st Lt. (USMC) Carleton C. Perine, 25, of Orange, New Jersey, and passengers Navy Airman Apprentice Robert Suttle, 20, of Bricktown, New Jersey, and Navy Airman Apprentice Gary B. Warner, 19, of Central Bridge, New York.
 * 1968 – The last official maintenance test flight of the RCAF sabre at the STU, Chatham.
 * 1967 – The only fatality of the X-15 program occurs during the 191st flight when Air Force test pilot Michael J. Adams loses control of his aircraft which is destroyed mid-air over the Mojave Desert.
 * 1967 – On the 191st flight of the North American X-15 program out of Edwards AFB, California, the third of three, 56-6672, suffers problems during reentry from 266,000 foot altitude, 3,750 mph mission. Airframe has massive structural failure, killing pilot Michael J. Adams, the only fatality in X-15s.
 * 1966 – Pan Am Flight 708, a Boeing 727, crashes near Berlin, Germany; all three crew members are killed.
 * 1965 – A Boeing 707 makes the first polar circumnavigation of the world.
 * 1964 – Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114, a Fairchild F27, slams into a mountain in poor weather while on a nighttime approach to Las Vegas, Nevada; all 29 aboard perish when the plane crashes only 10 feet (3 m) below a ridge; initially blamed on a pilot's misreading his approach chart, years later the chart maker agrees to pay a settlement of US$490,000 to some of the victims' heirs after it is shown the chart had incorrect markings.
 * 1957 – In the 1957 Aquila Airways Solent crash, a flying boat crashes near Chessell, Isle of Wight, UK, due to engine failure, killing 45 out of the 58 on board.
 * 1957 – First flight of the Tupolev Tu-114
 * 1957 – USAF Boeing TB-29-75-BW Superfortress, 44-70039, c/n 10871, of the 5040th Radar Evaluation Flight, 5040th Consolidation Maintenance Group, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, crashed 39 miles (63 km) SE of Talkeetna, Alaska at ~1822 hrs. Mission departed Elmendorf on a ground radar calibration mission at 0954 under instrument flight rules on flight path to the Aircraft Control and Warning radar stations at Campion near Galena and then Murphy Dome, N of Fairbanks. Flight covered 1,800 nmi (3,300 km). with ~ten hours in the air. Superfortress had fourteen hours' fuel and a crew of eight plus an instructor pilot. On final leg of approach to Elmendorf, bomber came down on glacier now known as "Bomber Glacier", three crew with major injuries and one with a minor injury later upgraded to major, others KWF. Due to remoteness of crashsite, wreckage is still there.
 * 1956 – A Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) Douglas DC-7 C sets a new distance record for commercial airlines by flying 6,005 miles nonstop from Los Angeles to Stockholm, Sweden, following the Great Arctic Circle route.
 * 1954 – No. 433 Squadron was reformed at Cold Lake, Alberta and equipped with Avro Canada CF-100 fighters
 * 1952 – A United States Air Force Fairchild C-119C-23-FA Flying Boxcar, 51-2570, c/n 10528, disappears on a flight from Elmendorf AFB to Kodiak Naval Air Station with 20 on board.
 * 1945 – First flight of the PZL S-1.
 * 1943 – First of three prototypes of the Curtiss XP-55 Ascender, 42-78845, on test flight out of Lambert Field, St. Louis, Missouri, crashes when pilot is unable to recover from a stall, engine then quits, Curtiss test pilot J. Harvey Gray divorces airframe after 16,000-foot (4,900 m) plummet, landing safely, fighter impacts inverted in an open field.
 * 1942 – The German submarine U-155 torpedoes and sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Avenger off Gibraltar with the loss of all but 12 of her crew.
 * 1941 – No. 418 (Intruder) Squadron was formed in England.
 * 1941 – (November 15-December 5) The Luftwaffe carries out 41 raids on Moscow. Soviet air defenses claim an average of 30 to 40 German aircraft shot down per day during the attacks.
 * 1937 – Squadrons of the NPAAF were renumbered by adding 100 to their number, e. g. No. 10 Squadron became No. 110 Squadron.
 * 1936 – (15-17) The German Condor Legion sees its first action of the Spanish Civil War, supporting Nationalist forces fighting to take Madrid.
 * 1932 – On first flight of United States Navy Hall XP2H-1 four-engine flying boat, BuNo A-8729, it noses straight up on take-off due to incorrectly rigged stabilizer, test pilot Bill McAvoy and aircraft's designer Charles Ward Hall, Sr., manage to chop throttles, plane settles back, suffering only minor damage. Incident occurred at NAS Anacostia, Washington, D.C.. This sole prototype was the largest four-engine biplane the U.S. Navy ever procured, with a wingspan of 112 feet.
 * 1929 – The McDonnell Doodlebug makes its first flight. The Doodlebug was a two-seat, low-wing monoplane and was the first airplane James McDonnell both designed and built.
 * 1926 – T. Neville Stack and B. S. Leete leave England in an attempt to reach India by air in a de Havilland DH.60. They will arrive in Karachi on January 8 1927.
 * 1919 – Alameda officials make an announcement stating that suspected criminals will be subjected to perilous flight to make them confess their crimes.
 * 1916 – The Model C two-place training seaplane, the first “all-Boeing” designed aircraft, makes its first flight.
 * 1906 – Curtis LeMay, U. S. Air Force general, is born (d. 1990). Lemay took over a B-17 Flying Fortress unit in England in October 1942, as part of the Eighth Air Force and led it in combat until May 1943, notably helping to develop the combat box formation. He was a general in the United States Air Force and the vice presidential running mate of independent candidate George C. Wallace 1968.