Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/November 16

November 16


 * 2010 – A USAF Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor, 06-4125, of the 525th Fighter Squadron, 3d Wing, crashes in Alaska near Susitna Lodge, killing pilot Capt. Jeffrey Haney, from Clarklake, Michigan.


 * 2009 – Launch: Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-129 at 19:28:09 UTCT. Mission highlights: ISS assembly flight ULF3: ExPRESS Logistics Carriers (ELCs) 1 & 2.


 * 2007 – Inclement weather caused a BHP Billiton AS350-B2 helicopter, to crash in Angola, killing the helicopter's five passengers.


 * 2004 – NASA's X-43 reaches a record speed of Mach 10 (7,000 mph, 11,200 km/h)


 * 1984 – Landed: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-51-A at 11:59:56 UTC KSC, Runway 15. Mission highlights: Multiple comsat deployments, retrieval of two other comsats Palapa B2 and Westar VI which were subsequently refurbished on Earth and reflown.


 * 1982 – Landing: Space shuttle Columbia STS-5 at 14:33:26 UTC. Mission highlights: Multiple comsat deployments. First EVA of program canceled due to suit problems.


 * 1973 – Skylab 4 launches into orbit as the fourth Skylab mission, bringing the third and final crew to the space station.


 * 1973 – While on reserve station south of Crete, a U.S. Marine Corps Boeing-Vertol CH-46 Sea Knight from USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7) loses engine power during a routine flight while hovering above the USS Barry. The helicopter, with crewmen aboard, crashes into the destroyer's ASROC deck, rolls over the starboard side, and almost immediately sinks. While no one on Barry was injured, only two of the three helicopter crew were rescued by the ship's Motor Whale Boat.


 * 1970 – First flight of the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar


 * 1970 – A U.S. Navy McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II crashed in the Atlantic Ocean 30 miles E of the Virginia Capes shortly after launch from the carrier USS Forrestal, CVA-59. Two crew, out of NAS Oceana, Virginia, are lost, the Navy reported 17 November. Pilot was Lt.j.g. John Dale O'Connor, and RSO was Lt.j.g. Thomas F. Hanagan, both of Virginia Beach, Virginia. They were attached to a fighter squadron based at NAS Oceana at Virginia Beach.


 * 1967 – American aircraft attack the shipyards at Haiphong, North Vietnam, for the first time.


 * 1965 – Russia’s Venera 3, the first spacecraft to land on another planet’s surface, is launched.


 * 1959 – First flight of the Canadair CL-44


 * 1959 – National Airlines Flight 967, a Douglas DC-7 B, crashes into the Gulf of Mexico while on a flight from Tampa, Florida to New Orleans, Louisiana, in a possible case of sabotage; all 40 on board perish.


 * 1955 – KLM places an order for eight DC-8 s.


 * 1953 – First trans-Canada flight by a CF-100 Canuck aircraft from RCAF 445 Squadron took place.


 * 1946 – First flight of the Saab 90 Scandia


 * 1945 – Pan American World Airways resumes commercial seaplane service between California and Hawaii, using Boeing Clipper aircraft it has leased to the U.S. Navy during World War II.


 * 1942 – A B-24D Liberator of the 1st Antisubmarine Squadron based at St. Eval in the United Kingdom flies the first operational mission of the U.S. Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command.


 * 1938 – HMS Ark Royal enters service with the Royal Navy as the world’s first aircraft carrier with deck armor.


 * 1937 – A Sabena Junkers Ju 52 crashes near Ostend, Belgium, killing all 11 on board, including the Grand Duke Georg Donatus and Grand Duchess Cecilie of Hesse, who was eight months pregnant.


 * 1928 – Western Canada Airways established the Prairie Air Mail Route, an experimental air ail service operated for 20 days.


 * 1927 – The United States Navy commissions USS Saratoga (CV-3), its first large aircraft carrier and its first carrier capable of fleet speeds and true combat operations.


 * 1920 – QANTAS is formed at Longreach, Queensland.


 * 1919 – Cpt Henry Wrigley and Lt Arthur Murphy make the first aerial crossing of Australia, flying a Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2e from Melbourne to Darwin, taking 46 hours


 * 1915 – Victor Carlstrom became the first pilot to fly from Toronto to New York. Carlstrom flew in a Curtiss R-2 biplane and was in the air for 6 hours and 40 min.


 * 1909 – German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin forms the world’s first commercial airline, DELAG [Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft (German for "German Airship Travel Corporation")]


 * 1906 – First flight of the Lebaudy Patrie, French semi-rigid airship.