Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/October 18

October 18


 * 2012 – Syrian Air Force jets destroy two residential buildings and a mosque in the rebel-held town of Maarrat al-Nu'man, reportedly killing at least 44 people.


 * 2011 – Iran Air Flight 742, a Boeing 727-200, from Moscow, Russia to Tehran, Iran lands without nose gear at Mehrabad International Airport. All 94 passengers and 14 crew members survive without injuries.


 * 2002 – Boeing reveals its Bird of Prey stealth technology demonstrator, which has conducted a number of flights during the period 1996 to 1999.


 * 2002 – Two Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets collide during Air Combat Maneuvering off the Southern California coast and crash into Pacific 80 mi SW of Monterey, California. All four crew (two Pilots and two WSOs) are KWF.


 * 1993 – Launch: Space Shuttle Columbia STS-58 at 10:53 am EDT. Mission highlights: Spacelab mission.


 * 1989 – Launch: Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-34 at 12:53:40 EDT. Mission highlights: Galileo Jupiter probe deployment, IMAX.


 * 1983 – Pan Am and American Airlines announce they will trade aircraft; Pan Am will send 15 McDonnell Douglas DC-10s to American in exchange for 8 Boeing 747s. It is the first time in history two airlines agree to a swap.


 * 1979 – First flight of the McDonnell Douglas MD-80


 * 1967 – The Soviet probe Venera 4 reaches Venus and becomes the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet.


 * 1958 – The last Canadian-built North American Sabre, the 1815th produced, was delivered to representatives of West Germany.


 * 1958 – NAVY SQUADRON AEWRON FIFTEEN (VW-15) AIRCRAFT: Lockheed WV-2 Warning Star, BuNo 141294, LOCATION: NAS Argentia, Newfoundland. EVENT: Crashed into Placentia Bay 1000 feet short of runway during CGA landing trying to get under weather; flight from Pax to Arg. U.S. Naval Aviation Safety Center, Accident Brief No. 10, May 1960: "The ceiling was reported indefinite 200 feet, visibility 2 miles in drizzle and fog. A precision approach was commenced to the duty runway. The approach was within tolerances and normal until after passing through GCA minimums, at which time the aircraft went below glide path and the pilot was instructed to take a waveoff. The waveoff was not executed until after the aircraft had actually made contact with the runway. After climbout, GCA was contacted and a second approach was requested to commence with no delay. The pilot advised GCA that the runway was in sight just before GCA gave him a waveoff on the first approach. The second approach was again normal until the final controller gave the instructions, "Approaching GCA minimums." The aircraft immediately commenced dropping below glide path. An emergency pullup was given, but the aircraft collided with the water [Placentia Bay] and came to rest 2050 feet east of the approach end of the runway. It sank in 26 feet of water and 11 persons lost their lives." LOSS: 11 of 29-man crew & passengers killed: CREW: LT Donald A. Becker, PPC, CDR Raymond L. Klassy, VW-13, ENS Donald E. Mulligan, Lyle W. Foster, American Red Cross, A. S. Corrado, Robert N. Elliot, AN, R. J. Emerson, Clarence J. Shea, J. E. Strange, William Jerome Taylor, AD3 (body never recovered), and D. D. Wilson.


 * 1948 – A USAF Douglas C-54D-10-DC Skymaster, 42-72688, c/n 10793, participating in the Berlin Airlift, crashes near Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, killing three crew, Capt. James A. Vaughn, 1st Lt. Eugene Erickson and Sgt. Richard Winter.


 * 1944 – A United States Army Air Forces Consolidated B-24H-20-CF Liberator, 42-50347 broke up in mid air over the town of Birkenhead, England. The aircraft was on a flight from New York to Liverpool and the accident killed all 24 airmen on board the aircraft.


 * 1943 – No. 168 (Heavy Transport) Squadron was formed at Rockcliffe, Ontario.


 * 1943 – From Dobodura, New Guinea, the Fifth Air Force mounts another raid on Rabaul of about the same size as the October 12 raid, but bad weather hampers the aircraft and only 54 B-25 Mitchell bombers get through.


 * 1938 – The first major air transfer of RCAF to the West as Wapities of the No. 3 Squadron flew from Ottawa to Calgary.


 * 1933 – First flight of the Grumman F2F, a Grumman’s first single-seat, enclosed-cockpit aircraft


 * 1927 – Count Jacques de Lesseps and his mechanic were lost in a Schreck flying boat in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near St. Felicite, Quebec.


 * 1925 – Sadi Lecointe wins the Beumont Cup, with a speed of 194 mph (312 km/h).


 * 1909 – Charles Comte de Lambert, Wilbur Wright’s first aviation pupil, flies around the Eiffel Tower in Paris.


 * 1908 – Wilbur Wright climbs to 115 m above Auvours.