Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/September 3

September 3


 * 2010 – UPS Flight 6, operated by Boeing 747-44AF N571UP crashed shortly after take-off from Dubai International Airport, killing both crew and destroying the aircraft. N571UP was operating an international cargo flight to Cologne Bonn Airport, Germany.


 * 2009 – BA CityFlyer accepts delivery of its first Embraer 170.


 * 1997 – Vietnam Airlines Flight 815, a Tupolev Tu-134, crashes on approach to Phnom Penh International Airport in heavy rain, killing 65 of the 66 people on board.


 * 1989 – Cubana de Aviación Flight 9646, an Ilyushin Il-62M, crashes while trying to take off from José Martí International Airport in Havana, Cuba. All 126 people on board the aircraft plus 45 people on the ground are killed in the crash.


 * 1989 – Varig Flight 254, a Boeing 737, runs out of fuel because of incorrect navigation and crashes in the Brazilian jungle, killing 13 of the 54 people on board.


 * 1982 – First flight of the Beechcraft 1900


 * 1981 – McDonnell Douglas delivers the 1,000th DC-9 produced; it was ordered by Swissair.


 * 1981 – First flight of the British Aerospace 146


 * 1979 – Two Convair F-106 Delta Darts of the 186th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 120th Fighter-Interceptor Group, Montana Air National Guard, out of Great Falls Airport, perform a pair of a flyovers in Dillon, Montana in conjunction with the town's Labor Day parade. One Delta Dart, F-106A-70-CO, 57-2458, c/n 8-24-41, piloted by Capt. Joel Rude, clips a grain elevator with its port wing. The pilot unsuccessfully attempts to eject and is killed. Forty others are injured by debris and fire but Capt. Rude is the only fatality. On 7 September 2009, a commemorative plaque is dedicated in Dillon in the pilot's memory.


 * 1978 – Air Rhodesia Flight 825 from Kariba to Salisbury is shot down by a SA-7 surface-to-air missile; eighteen of the fifty-six passengers initially survive the emergency landing, 10 are subsequently killed by Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army militants.


 * 1976 – An Lockheed C-130H Hercules, 7772, c/n 4408, "24 de Julio", belonging to the Venezuelan Air Force crashed in the Azores Islands, near the Lajes Field at ~2145 hrs., while attempting an approach in a storm (Hurricane Emmy). 64 passengers, including most of the University Choir of the Venezuelan Central University (Universidad Central de Venezuela) and its Director Mr. Vinicio Adames, together with 4 crewmembers died in the accident.


 * 1975 – A USAF Boeing B-52G-85-BW Stratofortress, 57-6493, of the 68th Bomb Wing, Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina, crashed near Aiken, South Carolina, when the aircraft suffered major structural failure due to a major fuel leak with the right wing separating between the third and fourth engine nacelles, the wing then shearing off the horizontal stabilizer. The bomber rolled inverted and broke apart. Witnesses described it as a "ball of fire" which then plunged into a wooded area. Wreckage was spread over a 10-mile area. Four crewmembers successfully ejected, three KWF. The aircraft was on a routine training mission and was carrying no weapons. The Federal Aviation Administration, which was monitoring the flight, said the bomber was last reported flying at an altitude of 28,000 feet. Killed were 1st Lt. Grady E. Rudolph, 26, of Lafayette, Indiana; 1st Lt. Melvin E. Bewley, Jr., 25, of Birmingham, Alabama; and Sgt. Ricky K. Griffith, 21, of Cedarville, New Jersey. Survivors were Capt. James A. Perry, 29, of Princeton, West Virginia; Capt. Donnell Exum, 27, Smithfield, North Carolina; Capt. Gregory A. Watts, 27, Morganton, North Carolina; and 2d Lt. Hector M. Marquez, 24, Brownsville, Texas. The four survivors were reported in good condition at the Dwight Eisenhower Medical Center, Fort Gordon, Georgia. The Department of Defense said that 67 B-52s have crashed, including 17 in the Vietnam War.


 * 1970 – Air France places the first orders for the Airbus A300.


 * 1955 – J. S. Fairfield makes the first ejection from an aircraft on the ground, escaping from a Gloster Meteor traveling at 120 mph (193 km/h) along a runway.


 * 1953 – First flight of the Pilatus P-3.


 * 1948 – The only Silverplate Boeing B-29 Superfortress to be part of the strike package on both atomic missions over Japan, Boeing B-29-40-MO Superfortress, 44-27353, "The Great Artiste", of the 509th Composite Group, deployed to Goose Bay Air Base, Labrador for polar navigation training, aborts routine training flight due to an engine problem, makes downwind landing, touches down halfway down runway, overruns onto unfinished extension, groundloops to avoid tractor. Structural damage at wing joint so severe that Superfortress never flies again. Despite historic value, airframe is scrapped at Goose Bay in September 1949.


 * 1940 – Ark Royal aircraft again attack Cagliari in Operation Grab in an attack similar to that of Operation Smash. The raid is less successful, with many bombs falling into the sea.


 * 1939 – Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys are used to drop propaganda leaflets into German cities.


 * 1939 – Paratroops are used for the first time, with German units dropped into Silesia, behind Polish lines.


 * 1939 – The United Kingdom and France declare war on Germany.


 * 1936 – Nationalist aircraft on Majorca support a Nationalist counteroffensive against Republican invaders, demoralizing them and sparking a precipitous Republican retreat from the island, which will become an important Nationalist base for the remainder of the Spanish Civil War.


 * 1934 – Fokker Y1O-27, 31-599, of the 12th Observation Squadron, Brooks Field, Texas, crashes 5 miles W of Danville, Louisiana after starboard engine loses power. Pilot Cadet Neil M. Caldwell and passenger Pvt. Betz Baker die in crash and fire, passenger Pvt. Virgil K. Martin, riding in rear cockpit, survives with minor injuries. This aircraft has previously ditched in San Diego Bay, California on 16 December 1932.


 * 1932 – Jimmy Doolittle sets a new landplane airspeed record of 296 mph (476 km/h) in the Gee Bee R-1


 * 1930 – Ford National Reliability Air Tour finishes in Chicago. Harry Russell takes first place, and Eddie August Schneider finishes in eighth place, but wins the Great Lakes Trophy.


 * 1925 – U.S. Navy airship, USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) ZR-1, crashed after encountering thunderstorms near Ava, Ohio after an in flight break up due to cloud suck about 0445 hrs. Fourteen of 43 aboard are killed. The ship's commanding officer, Lt. Cdr. Zachery Lansdowne is killed on what was to have been his final flight before reassignment to sea duty.


 * 1925 – The Spanish Navy aviation ship Dédalo, the only ship ever built capable of operating airships, balloons, and seaplanes, accompanies a Spanish fleet to Morocco to participate in the Rif War. Her aircraft and one of the airships she operates support the Spanish campaign to capture Ajir, which falls on October 2. She is the only European aviation ship to see combat between the end of the Russian Civil War and the beginning of World War II.


 * 1924 – Regular airmail service in Canada began with flights between Ontario and Quebec.


 * 1917 – The US first Aero Squadron arrives in France


 * 1916 – Imperial German Army Zeppelin LZ86, LZ56, crashed when the fore and aft nacelles broke away from the ship's hull after a raid.


 * 1915 – First Canadian-built twin engined aircraft, the Curtis Canada, was flown at Long Branch.


 * 1908 – Seeking a contract to build the United States Army’s first airplane, Orville Wright begins flight trials before Army observers at Fort Myer, Virginia, in a new Wright Model A flyer. The flight lasts 1 min 11 seconds.