Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/October 16

October 16


 * 2013 – Lao Airlines Flight 301 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Vientiane to Pakse, Laos. On 16 October 2013, the twin-engine turboprop ATR 72 aircraft on the flight crashed into the Mekong River at Pakse, killing all 49 people on board. This the greatest loss of life in an aviation accident in 2013.


 * 2011 – Kenyan Air Force jets strike two villages in Somalia in support of a Kenyan invasion of Somalia to attack militant groups there.


 * 2004 – Two OH-58D Kiowas 94-0172 and 97-0130 from 1–25th Aviation Regiment collide near Baghdad, killing two pilots aboard the first craft, and wounding two aboard the other.


 * 1997 – First flight of the Boeing 777-300


 * 1992 – Flt Lt Nicky Smith, graduated from 89 Course at Shawbury to become the RAF's first female helicopter pilot


 * 1992 – One of three U.S. Army McDonnell Douglas AH-64 Apaches of Company B, 1/151st Aviation Battalion, on training mission out of McEntire Air National Guard Base, near Eastover, South Carolina, crashes in wooded area near Dacusville in Pickens County, South Carolina, at ~1700 hrs., injuring two crew. Airframe comes to rest on its starboard side on hilltop near Blue Ridge View Baptist Church off Anthony Road, leaving Army National Guard CWOs Poyas Haynes and Gilbert Terry with minor injuries. They were transported to Greenville Memorial Hospital for treatment. One witness said that one of the helicopter's engines appeared to stall, while another stated that the Apache rolled upside down and then back onto its side as it went down. The Apache was lifted from crashsite on 22 October by a CH-47 Chinook to an open field for transloading onto a truck for transport back to McEntire ANGB.


 * 1984 – An unarmed USAF Boeing B-52G Stratofortress, 57‑6479, of the 92nd Bomb Wing out of Fairchild AFB, Washington, crashed about 2100 hrs. into a mesa on the Navajo reservation in northeastern Arizona 13 miles NE of Kayenta, during a low-level training flight. Eight crew eject and recovered in a day; one ejects, missing; gunner KWF.


 * 1980 – A Fairchild UC-123K Provider, 57-6291, c/n 20301, of the 302d Tactical Airlift Wing, Air Force Reserve, crashed at 0830 hrs. shortly after take off from Henry Post Army Airfield, en route home from Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to Columbus-Rickenbacker ANGB, Ohio. Four crew members died on impact, the fifth died later. KWF are Capt. George Freeland, Jr.; Maj. Thomas Brady; Lt. Col. Donald Griffith; T/Sgt. Michael Snodgrass; and Sr. Amn. Robert Haas. A commemorative marker is displayed in Denver Williams Memorial Park, Wilmington, Ohio.


 * 1972 – A USAF Convair F-106B-50-CO Delta Dart, 57-2528, of the 4756th Air Defense Wing, Tyndall AFB, Florida, is lost in a crash. This aircraft had survived a mid-air collision on 4 May 1965 with F-106A-80-CO, 57-4721, both assigned to the 539th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, McGuire AFB, New Jersey, the second fighter being lost and 2528 recovering to NAFEC Atlantic City, New Jersey.
 * 1972 – A twin-engine Cessna 310 carrying Alaskan House Representative Nick Begich and House majority leader Hale Boggs of Louisiana disappears during a flight from Anchorage to Juneau, Alaska. The plane was flying to a campaign fundraiser for Begich. The aircraft's wreckage was never found, and a 39 day search is called off on November 24.


 * 1964 – The People’s Republic of China detonates its first nuclear weapon.


 * 1963 – A B-58 Hustler bomber of the U.S. Air Force's 305th Bombardment Wing sets a new speed record by flying from Tokyo, Japan, to London, England, via Alaska and Greenland in 8 hours 35 minutes at an average speed of 938 mph (1,510 km/hr).


 * 1961 – Cork Airport opened in Ireland.


 * 1956 – Pan Am Flight 6, a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, is forced to ditch in the Pacific Ocean between Hawai'i and San Francisco; all 31 on board are rescued by a nearby United States Coast Guard ship.


 * 1955 – The Boeing 367-80 (707 prototype) crosses the United States in just 3 hours 58 minutes


 * 1953 – Flying a Douglas XF4D-1, Robert Rahm sets a world airpseed record over a 100 km (62 mi) closed-circuit course of 728.11 mph (1,171.53 km/hr) at Muroc Dry Lake, California.


 * 1952 – First flight of the Sud Aviation Vautour


 * 1944 – 50 fighters of the U. S. Army Air Forces‘ 14th Air Force based at Liuchow Airfield, China, attack the waterfront of Hong Kong.


 * 1944 – Task Force 38 completes its operations against Formosa. Since October 11, it has defended itself against approximately 1,000 Japanese aircraft, the heaviest series of Japanese air attacks against U. S. naval forces of World War II with the possible exception of those during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, losing 76 aircraft of its own in combat, 13 aircraft due to non-combat causes, and 64 pilots and aircrewmen.


 * 1944 – (16–17) B-29 s again attack Formosa, dropping 640 more tons (580,762 kg) of bombs during the two days combined.


 * 1942 – B-25C-1 Mitchell, 41-13206, operated by the USAAF 5th Ferrying Group, Air Transport Command, piloted by James M. Treweek, is on a routine flight from Rosecrans Field, St. Joseph, Missouri to Dallas Love Field when bad weather closes airfield and controllers advise crew to divert. Pilot heads west, presumably bound for Meacham Field, flying below 500 ft (152 m) altitude to stay in visual conditions under low cloud deck. As bomber nears Grapevine, Texas, a wingtip and aileron are sliced off by a guy-wire of WFAA radio tower, causing pilot to lose control; all 6 crewmembers die in subsequent crash.


 * 1939 – World War II – After being attacked by Spitfires of Nos. 602 and 603 Squadrons over Lothian in Scotland, an He 111 bomber became the first German aircraft to be shot down over the UK. (First attack on British territory by German Luftwaffe.)


 * 1937 – First flight of the Fokker T.V


 * 1937 – First flight of the Short Sunderland


 * 1924 – Emergency use of parachute — Following a mid-air collision over Coronado, California, Gunner William M. Coles, USN, of VF-1, made a successful emergency parachute jump from his Curtiss JN.


 * 1917 – Final testing is made for the US Army-designed air-to-air radio communication system with a wireless set.


 * 1912 – The first aerial bomb is used by Bulgarian Air Force pilots Radul Milkov and Prodan Toprakchiev on the Turkish railway station of Karaagac (near Edirne), during the Balkan War. This is the first use of an airplane (Albatros F.II) as bomber.


 * 1910 – The first airship crossing of the English Channel is made by the French-built dirgible Cle´ment-Bayard II. The 244-mile route is completed in 6 hours.


 * 1908 – Pilot S.F.Cody takes off from Farnborough Common, Great Britain, in his British Army Aeroplane No 1, a biplane powered by a 50 hp Antoinette engine. His flight covers 424 metres before ending in a crash-landing, which he survives.


 * 1905 – The Wright brothers complete their 1905 test flight program, making their last flight until May 1908.