Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/September 20

September 20


 * 2012 – At least 71 people die in Raqqa, Syria, when a Syrian Air Force plane bombs a gasoline (petrol) station.


 * 2012 – After takeoff from Damascus International Airport in Damascus, Syria, a Syrian Air Airbus A320 collides in mid-air with a Syrian Mil Mi-17 (NATO reporting name "Hip") helicopter. The helicopter crashes, while the A320 returns to the airport safely despite a damaged tail.


 * 2009 – One U.S. service member was killed and 12 others are injured when a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter goes down inside of Joint Base Balad.


 * 1999 – A Swedish Air Force Saab JAS-39 Gripen, 39156, '56', of F7 Wing, 2nd Sqn., crashes into Lake Vänern at about 1430 hrs. during an air-to-air combat exercise. Aircraft sank in about 260 feet of water (80 m). Pilot ejected safely and was recovered by Hkp 10 SAR helicopter. The accident was caused by a design flaw in the plane's control system, rendering it in a stalled mode after passing another plane's vortex. This was the first loss of a Gripen since the type became operational.


 * 1995 – Just after making a supersonic pass close by the starboard side of the USS John Paul Jones, Grumman F-14A-110-GR Tomcat, BuNo 161146, 'NH 112', of VF-213 from the USS Abraham Lincoln, explodes in flight from catastrophic compressor failure, both crew ejecting, suffering burns to the upper body. Crew recovered. Plane goes down in the Central Pacific, ~800 miles W of Guam, and 55 miles from the carrier. Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qMtnFtB38I


 * 1993 – Erich Alfred “Bubi” Hartmann, German pilot died (b. 1922) Nicknamed “The Blond Knight Of Germany” by friends and “The Black Devil” by his enemies, Hartmann is the most successful fighter ace in the history of aerial combat. He scored 352 aerial victories (of which 345 were flown by the Soviet Air Force, and 260 of which were fighters) 1,404 combat missions and engaging in aerial combat 825 times while serving with the Luftwaffe in World War II.


 * 1989 – A USAir Boeing 737 aborts a takeoff in New York and slides into the East River. Two people are killed.


 * 1989 – USAir Flight 5050, a Boeing 737, overruns the runway after a tire on a nosewheel bursts; two passengers die.


 * 1973 – Musicians Jim Croce and Maury Muehleisen are killed in a Beechcraft E18S due to fly from Natchitoches, Louisiana to Sherman, Texas. The plane collides with a tree at the end of the runway of Natchitoches Regional Airport.


 * 1971 – First flight of the VFW VAK 191B


 * 1969 – An Air Vietnam Douglas C-54D-10-DC Skymaster), XV-NUG, c/n 10860, collided on approach to landing with an American USAF McDonnell F-4 Phantom II near Da Nang, Vietnam. 77 died.


 * 1965 – A UH-2 Seasprite makes the U. S. Navy’s first helicopter rescue of a pilot downed in North Vietnam.


 * 1958 – A Rolls-Royce test pilot, Mr. K.R. Sturt, flying the prototype Avro Vulcan VX770 in an airshow at RAF Syerston pulls up too hard after a high-speed flyby and exceeds the airframe's structural limits, collapsing the plane's right wing. The craft spirals out of control and crashes, killing the entire aircrew and 3 people on the ground. VX770 was known to have had a weaker wing structure then production aircraft. The aircraft had been testing the Rolls-Royce Conway installation and was returning from a test flight via-Syerston.


 * 1955 – First flight of the Nord 1500 Griffon (Griffon I)


 * 1951 – First flight of the Grumman F-9 Cougar.


 * 1948 – First prototype USAF North American XB-45 Tornado, 45-59479, in a dive test at Muroc Air Force Base, California, to test design load factor, suffers engine explosion, tearing off cowling panels that shear several feet from the horizontal stabilizer, aircraft pitches up, and both wings tear off under negative g load. Crew has no ejection seats, and George Krebs and Nick Piccard are killed.


 * 1946 – First flight of the Martin P4M Mercator


 * 1945 – An experimental Gloster Meteor with Rolls-Royce Trent engines makes the first turboprop-powered flight.


 * 1943 – First flight of the de Havilland Vampire prototype LZ548


 * 1943 – (overnight) To disrupt the German evacuation of Corsica, Allied Northwest African Air Force Wellington, Mitchell, and Liberator bombers begin strikes against airfields, shipping, and port facilities at Bastia, Corsica, and Leghorn and Pisa, Italy.


 * 1939 – Sgt F Letchard a gunner of the RAF 88, in a Fairey Battle, claimed the first RAF victory of the war after he shot down a German Bf 109 during a patrol near Aachen.


 * 1936 – Tupolev TB-3-4AM-34FRN with A. B. Yumashev at the controls set a payload-to-altitude record of 12,000 kg (26,455 lb) to 2,700 m (8,858 feet).


 * 1933 – First flight of the Boeing P-29 (Boeing Model 264)


 * 1929 – Western Canada Airways pilot ?Punch? Dickins began operations to locate and bring out the missing MacAlpine Survey. The group was ultimately successfully rescued and all members of the expedition and the crews of the rescue aircraft were brought out safely.


 * 1928 – First prototype Parnall Pipit, N232, suffers structural failure of port tailplane in flight, crash lands at Martlesham Heath, Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) test pilot Sqn. Ldr. Jack Noakes (AFC, MM) survives, despite suffering broken neck when thrown from the somersaulting airframe.


 * 1922 – First flight over 200 mph (322 km/h) made by Sadi Lecointe in a Nieuport-Delage NiD 29.


 * 1920 – Schneider Trophy race flown at Venice, Italy. Lt. Luigi Bolgna in a Savoia S.12 is the only starter. Speed 172.6 km/h (107.3 mph).


 * 1904 – Wilbur Wright makes the first circuit flight, in the Flyer II


 * 1902 – The Wright brothers make the first of nearly 1,000 glides on their modified No. 3 glider in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. It is this glider, made of spruce wood and cloth, which incorporates for the first time the flight controls of the modern airplane.


 * 1874 – Du Temple builds a steam-powered monoplane which achieves a short hop after gaining speed by rolling down a ramp. It carries a human passenger whose identity is no longer known.