Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/November 29

November 29


 * 2012 – Fighting between government and rebel forces near Damascus International Airport in Damascus, Syria, closes the road to the airport. The airline Emirates suspends flights to Damascus, and an Egyptian airliner that has landed at Damascus International as scheduled and discharged its passengers safely is ordered to take off and return to Cairo without passengers if its pilot feels the situation is too dangerous to allow the plane to stay long enough to embark its passengers for the return flight.


 * 2012 – The U.S. Navy successfully conducts the first land-based catapult launch of the Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned combat air vehicle at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.


 * 2006 – Two members of the Australian Army are killed and seven are injured when a Sikorsky S-70A-9 Black Hawk helicopter, A25-221, of 171 Aviation Squadron, hits the deck of HMAS Kanimbla and crashes off Fiji.


 * 2004 – A U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk, crashes shortly after taking off from Fort Hood, Texas, when it strikes guy-wires supporting the television antenna of KSWO-TV, near Waco, Texas, killing all seven soldiers aboard. Conditions were foggy and the warning lights on the tower were not lit, in violation of both Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) regulations. Victims included Brigadier General Charles B. Allen of Lawton, Oklahoma; Specialist Richard L. Brown of Stonewall, Louisiana; Chief Warrant Officer Todd T. Christmas of Wagon Mound, New Mexico; Chief Warrant Officer Doug Clapp of Greensboro, North Carolina; Chief Warrant Officer Mark W. Evans of Killeen, Texas; Chief Warrant Officer David H. Garner of Mason City, Iowa; and Colonel James M. Moore of Peabody, Massachusetts.


 * 2003 – An Air Force of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Antonov An-26, 9T-TAD, blows out a tire during landing in Boende, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and overruns the runway and crashes into a market square. Of the 24 people on board, 20 are killed and 13 people on the ground die.


 * 1997 – The US Airways Arena in Washington DC, aka the Capital Center, shuts down.


 * 1995 – First flight of the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet


 * 1987 – Korean Air Flight 858, a Boeing 707, crashes into the Andaman Sea after a bomb explodes on board. All 115 people on board are killed.


 * 1982 – Shortly after completing a training mission, a USAF Boeing B-52G Stratofortress, 59-4766, suffered hydraulics fire in nose gear, exploded at the end of the runway at Castle AFB, California, but crew of nine escaped before it was fully engulfed. Aircraft commander ordered evacuation as soon as he learned of the wheel fire.


 * 1974 – First flight of the Boeing Vertol YUH-61 73-21656


 * 1963 – Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 831, a Douglas DC-8, crashes shortly after takeoff from Montréal/Dorval Airport, killing all 118 people on board.


 * 1955 – Royal Air Force Gloster Javelin FAW.1, XA561, on flight out of RAF Boscombe Down, entered spiral at 39,000 feet (12,000 m) from which the pilot could not recover. He ejected and the aircraft came down, largely intact, at Ashley, Isle of Wight.


 * 1953 – American Airlines inaugurates the first regular commercial service between New York and Los Angeles. The plane for the job: The Douglas DC-7.


 * 1949 – American Airlines Flight 157, a Douglas DC-6, en route from New York City to Mexico City with 46 passengers and crew, veers off the runway and strikes buildings after the flight crew loses control on final approach to Dallas Love Field; 26 passengers and 2 flight attendants die.


 * 1949 – Fairey Gannet, VR546, crashes on take-off from Fairey's flight test airfield at White Waltham, Berkshire, following violent porpoising at unstick speed. Repairs take three months and test flying does not resume until March 1950.


 * 1945 – A U. S. Army Sikorsky R-5 helicopter off the coast of Long Island, New York, makes the first air-sea rescue.


 * 1944 – The U. S. Navy submarine USS Archerfish (SS-311) torpedoes and sinks the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano southeast of Shingū, Japan, with the loss of 1,436 lives. There are 1,080 survivors.


 * 1944 – Kamikazes damage the battleship USS Maryland (BB-46) and a destroyer in Leyte Gulf.


 * 1944 – (Overnight) 29 B-29s conduct the first night incendiary raid against Japan, attacking industrial areas in Tokyo and destroying an estimated 0.1 square mile (0.15 square kilometer) of the city.


 * 1944 – Douglas A-26 Invader, A-26B-10-DT 43-22298 and A-26B-15-DT 43-22336 both of 641st Squadron USAF collided during formation after take-off from Warton Aerodrome Lancashire. All crew were killed. Both aircraft remained on Freckleton Marsh and were partially recovered as part of a UK Channel 4 Time Team Programme in 2005.


 * 1943 – The Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-12) is commissioned. Today she is a floating museum docked in San Francisco Bay at the former NAS Alameda.


 * 1940 – First flight of the Junkers Ju 288, the prime contender for the Luftwaffe's Bomber B production contract.


 * 1929 – U. S. Admiral Richard E. Byrd becomes the first person to fly over the South Pole.


 * 1929 – Bristol Type 101, a single-bay, biplane two-seat fighter design powered by a 450 hp Bristol Jupiter VI, and later, VIA radial engine, is rejected outright by the Air Ministry due to its all-wooden construction. Continued as a private venture, it first flies at Filton on 8 August 1927, piloted by Cyril Uwins, registered G-EBOW. With the VIA powerplant, Uwins achieves second place in the 1928 King's Cup race at an average speed of 159.9 mph. Subsequently used as a company hack and as a test bed for the 485 hp Bristol Mercury II nine-cylinder radial, it suffers wing centre section failure on this date while being subjected to engine overspeeding tests, the pilot, C. R. I. Shaw, bailing out successfully. This was the last wooden fighter built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company.