Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/November 25

November 25


 * 2012 – Syrian rebel forces attack a Syrian government airbase 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) outside Damascus, and claim to have destroyed two helicopters on the ground.


 * 2009 – First flight of the Gulfstream G650


 * 2003 – OH-58D Kiowa 96-0040 crashes after its tail rotor struck ground.


 * 1985 – Aeroflot Antonov An-12 shoot-down: South African Special Forces use a shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile to shoot down a Soviet Antonov An-12 carrying 21 people 43 km (27 miles) east of Menongue, Angola. All aboard the aircraft die.


 * 1975 – Israeli Air Force Lockheed C-130H Hercules 203/4X-FBO, c/n 4533, crashed into Mount Jebel Halal, 55 kilometers south-southeast of El Arish, Sinai Peninsula. Pilots were Shaul Bustan and Uri Manor.


 * 1973 – KLM Flight 861, called “Mississippi”, was a Boeing 747 that was hijacked by three young Arabs over Iraqi airspace on a scheduled Amsterdam-Tokyo flight with 247 passengers on board. The hijackers threatened to blow up the plane when no country would grant landing permission. Most of the passengers and the eight stewardesses were released after negotiations with the Maltese PM Dom Mintoff. With 11 passengers on board the jumbo jet left Malta to Dubai where the incident ended without fatalities. The hijack was claimed by the Arab Nationalist Youth Organization.


 * 1961 – The US Navy's first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise is commissioned.


 * 1961 – The first crash of the CF-104 during the test flight from Canadair. The pilot ejected safely.


 * 1956 – Eight Boeing B-52 s complete a record nonstop flight of 17,000 miles over the North Pole.


 * 1956 – U. S. Air Force Sergeant Richard Patton makes the first successful parachute jump in Antarctica. He jumps from 1,500 feet as a test to determine the cause of parachute malfunction in sub-zero weather conditions.


 * 1950 – The People’s Republic of China launches a major offensive across the Yalu River against United Nations forces in Korea. Under terrible winter weather conditions, United Nations aircraft are heavily committed to supporting ground forces, which are driven out of northern Korea by the end of the year.


 * 1944 – Aircraft from seven aircraft carriers of Task Force 38 carry out the task force’s last raids in support of the Leyte campaign, raiding Japanese bases on Luzon, attacking a coastal convoy, and destroying 26 Japanese aircraft in the air and 29 on the ground. Aircraft from USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) sink the Japanese heavy cruiser Kumano in Dasol Bay. Kamikazes respond by damaging the aircraft carriers USS Intrepid (CV-11), USS Essex (CV-9), and USS Cabot (CVL-28); damage to the carriers forces cancellation of strikes against Japanese shipping in the Visayas the next day.


 * 1943 – (Overnight) Japanese aircraft attack American ships east of the Gilbert Islands, scoring no hits.


 * 1940 – First flight of the de Havilland Mosquito


 * 1940 – First flight of the Martin B-26 Marauder


 * 1930 – First flight of the Fairey Hendon


 * 1930 – Canadian Airways Ltd. acquired companies controlled by the Aviation Corporation of Canada and Western Canada Airways.


 * 1924 – The dirigible LZ 126 is commissioned into the U. S. Navy as USS Los Angeles (ZR-3) at Naval Air Station Anacostia in Washington, D. C.


 * 1913 – Raymonde de Laroche flies 200 miles (320 km) solo in four hours. The flight will win her the 1913 Fémina Cup for the longest solo flight by a woman that year.