Portal:Aviation/Today in aviation

November 11

• 2010 – The Zalingei Tarco Airlines Antonov An-24 crash on landing at Zalingei Airport, Sudan, kills 6 of 44 on board.

• 2009 – Swedish airline MCA Airlines declares bankruptcy.

• 2004 – AH-1W SuperCobra 161021 from HMLA-169 is shot down by RPG and small arms fire near Fallujah. It is destroyed by Iraqi rebel forces, crew recovered intact.

• 2002 – Laoag International Airlines Flight 585, a Fokker F-27 Friendship, crashes into Manila Bay shortly after takeoff from Ninoy Aquino International Airport. 19 of the 34 passengers and crew on board are killed.

• 1996 – ADC Airlines Flight 86, a Boeing 727, crashed when the crew lost control of the aircraft while avoiding a mid-air collision on approach to Lagos, Nigeria. All 153 passengers and crew on board were killed.

• 1983 – First flight of the CASA/IPTN CN-235

• 1982 – Canadian Anik C3 satellite was launched from the space shuttle Columbia.

• 1982 – Launch: Space shuttle Columbia STS-5 at 12:19:00 UTC. Mission highlights: Multiple comsat deployments. First EVA of program canceled due to suit problems.

• 1979 – Hawaiian Airlines celebrates 50 years of accident-free air passenger service.

• 1970 – The British government agrees to fund development of the Rolls-Royce RB211 turbofan, rescuing the project from Rolls-Royce's bankruptcy

• 1970 – A USAF McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II crashes in the North Sea after an engine fire. Both crew eject. Capt. Johnny Jones, 28, of Snow Hill, North Carolina, and Capt. David Allen, 27, of Darien, Connecticut are rescued by helicopter, officials at Ruislip, England said.

• 1966 – Gemini 12, the 18th manned American space-flight, launched.

• 1966 – Republic F-84F Thunderstreak of the 104th Tactical Fighter Group, Massachusetts Air National Guard out of Barnes Municipal Airport, Westfield, Massachusetts, goes into flat spin during simulated combat over Porter, Maine and crashes on Colcord Pond Road in Freedom, New Hampshire. Capt. Edward S. Mansfield has minor injuries; plane is destroyed. Star of the 551st AEWCW, out of Otis AFB, Massachusetts, crashes in the North Atlantic ~125 miles E of Nantucket, Massachusetts by unexplained circumstances, approximately the same general area as the one lost 11 July 1965. All 19 crew members are KWF, bodies never recovered.

• 1966 – A USAF Lockheed EC-121H-LO Warning Star of the 551st AEWCW, out of Otis AFB, Massachusetts, crashes in the North Atlantic ~125 miles E of Nantucket, Massachusetts by unexplained circumstances, approximately the same general area as the one lost 11 July 1965. All 19 crew members are KWF, bodies never recovered.

• 1965 – United Airlines Flight 227, a Boeing 727, crashes short of the runway during landing at Salt Lake City International Airport, Utah; 43 of 91 aboard are killed.

• 1962 – A USAF Boeing RB-47H-BW Stratojet, 53-4297, of the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, crashes at MacDill AFB, Florida, when the Stratojet loses power on an outboard engine, rolls, and crashes within the confines of the base. All three crew KWF – aircraft commander Capt. William E. Wyatt, copilot Capt. William C. Maxwell, and navigator 1st Lt. Rawl.

• 1956 – First flight of the Convair B-58 Hustler

• 1951 – An Argentine Air Force Vickers VC.1 Viking T-77 crashed at Morón Air Base.

• 1950 – AA Fairchild C-82A-FA Packet, 45-57739, c/n 10109, of the 375th Troop Carrier Wing (Medium), en route from Maxwell AFB, Alabama, and due to land at Greenville AFB, South Carolina, at 2230 hrs., crashes near Pickens, South Carolina, ~40 miles W of the destination, shortly after 2200 hrs. this date. On approach to Greenville, the aircraft strikes Bully Mountain in northern Pickens County, killing three crew and one passenger. KWF are Capt. John Miles Stuckrath, pilot; 1st Lt. Robert P. Schmitt, co-pilot; and S/Sgt. John Davis Bloomer; all were attached to Greenville AFB and were part of a Pittsburgh reserve wing called to active duty on 15 October 1950. The passenger was S/Sgt. Walter O. Lott, of Pensacola, Florida. He was a member of a Maxwell AFB unit. "The plane apparently began to plunge after it sheared off tree tops. It cut a cyclonic gap through the immense trees for about 100 yards and plowed into the 2,500-foot mountain near its peak. The impact of the crash sent one motor hurling 800 feet down one side of the mountain, and the other motor landed 500 feet down the opposite side." A post-crash fire burned two acres of forest land. The aircraft had just been overhauled at McChord Air Force Base, Washington, and had refueled at Maxwell AFB before transiting to its new assignment at Greenville AFB.

• 1946 – First flight of the Sud-Ouest Triton, France’s first jet

• 1946 – First flight of the Avions Fairey Belfair

• 1946 – First flight of the Short Solent.

• 1945 – A Short Stirling C.5 operated by No. 158 Squadron RAF was departing for the United Kingdom when it crashed on take off from RAF Castel Benito in Libya after the wing caught fire, 21 soldiers and five crew were killed, one person survived.

• 1944 – 347 carrier aircraft of Task Force 38 attack a convoy of five or six Japanese transports in the Camotes Sea approaching Ormoc, sinking all of them and all four of their escorting destroyers, as well as two more destroyers in Ormoc Bay, and shooting down 16 Japanese aircraft. Almost all of the 10,000 Japanese troops embarked on the transports are killed.

• 1943 – A strike by carrier aircraft from USS Saratoga (CV-3) and USS Princeton (CVL-23) against Japanese ships at Rabaul is ineffective due to bad weather. Another strike by approximately 185 aircraft from USS Essex (CV-9), USS Bunker Hill (CV-17), and USS Independence (CVL-22) sinks a Japanese destroyer and damages the light cruiser Agano and a destroyer; the raid is the combat debut of the SB2 C Helldiver dive bomber. A counterstrike by 108 Japanese Zero fighters, Aichi D3 A “Val” dive bombers, and Nakajima B5 N “Kate” torpedo bombers and a number of Mitsubishi G4 M (“Betty”) bombers is ineffective. The U. S loses 11 aircraft, while the Japanese lose 39 single-engine planes and several G4 Ms. During operations from shore bases at Rabaul, Japanese carrier aircraft have lost 50 percent of their fighters, 85 percent of their dive bombers, and 90 percent of their torpedo bombers in less than two weeks.

• 1943 – The last unit of the former U. S. Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command, the 480th Antisubmarine Group, is disbanded, and all American antiubmarine activities become the responsibility of the U. S. Navy. The U. S. Army Air Forces’ antisubmarine effort has sunk 12 German submarines.

• 1942 – Hostilities between Allied and French forces in French North Africa end. Since November 8, U. S Navy planes have shot down 20 French aircraft in air-to-air combat and destroyed many more on the ground, losing 44 U. S. Navy aircraft in exchange.

• 1941 – Saro Lerwick flying boat, L7257, of No. 4 OTU, sinks at mooring, Invergordon, when caught in a gale.

• 1940 – 11-12 – Fairey Swordfish from HMS Illustrious make a highly successful raid against Regia Marina ships at Taranto, damaging battleship Conte di Cavour beyond repair, and extensively damaging two others, Littorio and Caio Duilio (Battle of Taranto).

• 1940 – regular ferry flights of US-built warplanes commence across the Atlantic.

• 1937 – The Messerschmidt ME-109 V13 flies world record 379mph/610kph.

• 1935 – 11-13 – Jean Batten becomes the first woman to fly solo across the South Atlantic, taking 2 days 13 hours to cross from Senegal to Brazil in a Percival Gull. She also breaks the speed record for this crossing, by a full day.

• 1935 – A. W. Stevens and O. A. Anderson set a new balloon altitude record of 72,395 ft (22,066 m).

• 1929 – Inter-Island Airways – The future Hawaiian Airlines – commences operations.

• 1924 – Lt Dixie Kiefer makes the first night catapult launch from a ship, the USS California.

• 1922 – 1st Lt. Frank B. Tyndall is the second U.S. Army Air Service pilot to utilize a parachute in a life-saving effort when the Boeing-built MB-3A, (probably AS-68380) he is testing at Seattle, Washington sheds its wings in flight almost directly over the Boeing factory. He would later perish on 15 July 1930 in the crash of Curtiss P-1F Hawk, 28-61, near Mooresville, North Carolina. Tyndall Air Force Base is named in his honor.

• 1922 – Etienne Oehmichen flies 525 m (1,722 ft) in a helicopter.

• 1918 – The Armistice with Germany brings World War I to an end. The Royal Flying Corps, Royal Naval Air Service, and Royal Air Force have suffered 16,623 casualties during the war, while the German Air Service has suffered in excess of 15,000.

References

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