Just a quick update on my lack of progress. I will be back in a few more weeks!

Thanks for staying subscribed!

We have been taking a little break here getting the studio ready for the next bunch of shows.

See you in a few weeks!

-Mike

Aviation history this week for the week of August 22nd though the 28th, 2011

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August 22

1909… The first great aviation meeting in Bétheny, France, opens as 23 European airplanes make 87 flights during one week. The meeting will have a strong influence on the technical and military aspects of flight.

In 1922… The Vickers Victoria (serial no. J6869) military transport makes its first flight, taking off from Brooklands, England with Stan Cockerell at the controls.

In 1938… The Civil Aeronautics Act becomes effective in the United States, coordinating all non-military aviation under the Civil Aeronautics Authority.

1985 – a Boeing 737 of British Airtours explodes in Manchester before taking off, killing 54 of the 134 people on board and punctuating commercial aviation’s worst month in history.
August 23
In 1878… The British government uses its first military aviation budget (£150) to build and fly their first balloon, the Pioneer.
In 1913… Léon Letort carries out the first non-stop flight between Paris and Berlin when he flies his Morane-Saulnier monoplane fitted with an 80-hp Le Rhône engine the 560 miles between the two capitals in 8 hours.
In 1938… The American racing and record-breaking pilot Frank Hawks is killed along with his mechanic when his Gwinn Aircraft Aircar becomes entangled in telephone lines shortly after taking off from East Aurora, New York.
1949 – British Overseas Airways Corporation commences its first services to the Far East to be flown entirely by landplanes
1954 – Lockheed engineering test pilots Stanley Beltz and Roy Wimmer pilot the C-130 Hercules on its first flight from the production plant in Burbank, California to Edwards Air Force Base.
1964 – Greek Air Force F-4 Phantoms are recalled while en route to attack Turkish military positions

1977 – Gossamer Condor became the first human-powered aeroplane, flying a figure-8 course to demonstrate sustained, controlled flight.
1993 – the Russian Air Force flies open skies missions over Luftwaffe bases

August 24

In 1921… In the worst airship disaster thus far, 44 people die when the British dirigible R.38 is destroyed during routine operations off the coast of Yorkshire, England, by fire started by electrical sparks that engulfed the airship.
In 1956… A U.S. Army helicopter becomes the first rotary-winged aircraft to fly non-stop across the United States.

In 1961… Beginning this day through October 12, Jacqueline Cochrane flying a Northrop T-38A Talon sets a wide range of records for women (altitude of 56,071 ft., a distance of 1,492 mi., a 100-km (62.14 mi.) closed circuit speed record of 784.337 mph and 15-km (9.32 mi.) course speed of 844.2 mph)

In 1970… Two USAF Sikorsky HH-53C helicopters complete a non-stop trans-Pacific crossing from Eglin AFB, Florida to Da Nang, South Vietnam, aided by refueling encounters with Lockheed C-130 tankers

1983 – a Canadair Challenger 601 business jet arrives at London from Calgary, setting a world distance record for a business jet, at 4,364.2 miles (6,982 km).

2004 – Volga-AviaExpress Flight 1303 and Siberia Airlines Flight 1047 explode south of Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow. The Russian government declares the explosions to have been caused by Chechen terrorists

August 25

In 1784… The son of a Scottish minister, James Tytler, makes the first manned balloon hop in England when his hot-air device makes a brief uncontrolled ascent with Tytler in the basket to an altitude of a few hundred feet.

1914 – The first German aircraft of the war is forced down.

In 1919… The first daily commercial scheduled international air passenger service starts between London and Paris. A single fare to Paris is 21 pounds.

1932 – Amelia Earhart makes the first transcontinental flight across the US by a woman. She flies a Lockheed Vega.

1940 – Britain makes its first air raid on Berlin of the war.

1947 – the Douglas Skystreak is flown to an airspeed record of 650 mph (1,047 km/h).

August 26

In 1925… In a record that would stand until Feb. 24, 1983, Farman Parker of Anderson, Indiana becomes the world’s youngest pilot to fly solo. Born on January 9, 1912, he flies at the age of 13 years, 7 months, 17 days.

In 1929… The first flight of the largest trimotor transport aircraft built by Fokker, the F.IX, takes to the air on its first flight. The prototype (PH-AGA) was handed over to KLM on May 8, 1930, and given the name Adelaar (Eagle).

1939 – the Messerschmitt Me 209 sets a new world speed record of 755 km/h (469 mph).

In 1959… French flyer Jacqueline Auriol, piloting the Mirage III, becomes the first woman to attain the speed of Mach 2.

In 1959… President Eisenhower replaced his airplane with a jet, a USAF VC-137A, which is a modified Boeing 707 jet-airliner. The switch allows the President to cut his travel time in half. These jets remained in service until 2001.

1985 – TWA is purchased by Carl Icahn and associates

August 27

1783, flight of an unmanned experimental hydrogen-balloon in Paris (built by Professor Charles and the brothers Roberts). It flies 25 km (15 miles) from Paris to Gonesse and is destroyed by frightened peasants.

1910 – Frederick Baldwin and John McCurdy, using a Curtiss biplane, are the first pilots to send radio messages to the ground.

1939 – first flight made entirely on turbojet power made by Erich Warsitz in the Heinkel He 178

1950 – P-51 Mustangs of No. 2 Squadron SAAF are sent to Korea as part of South Africa’s contribution to the war.

August 28

In 1908… The US Army accepts its first dirigible. It is 96 feet long, with a 20-hp Curtiss engine.

In 1919… The International Air Traffic Association (IATA) is formed at The Hague, Holland.

1952 – a F6F Hellcat is loaded with explosives and flown as a remote-controlled drone against a railway bridge at Hungnam North Korea

1957 – a rocket-boosted English Electric Canberra sets a new world altitude record of 70,308 ft (21,430 m)

1972 – Prince William of Gloucester is killed in the crash of a Piper Cherokee Arrow during the Gordonwood Trophy race.

Also in 1972 – Capt. Richard Richie becomes the first US Air Force ace of the Vietnam War.

That will do it for this week. If you don’t want to miss an episode of Aviation History this week, click the “Podcast RSS” link in the upper right corner of FlightRadio.com.

For a transcript of this show, please see the show notes at FlightRadio.com and click on “aviation history this week” in the menu.

Thanks for listening. Catch you next week!

AHTW 8-15-2011

Aviation history this week for the week of August 15th though the 21st, 2011

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August 15

1937 – Lufthansa begins seaplane services between the Azores and New York with the assistance of seaplane tenders stationed along the route.

1940 – the heaviest fighting of the Battle of Britain occurs, with the loss of 46 British and 76 German aircraft.

1944 – the first air-to-air victory by a jet is scored by Feldwebel Helmut Lennartz, shooting down a B-17 Flying Fortress in a Messerschmitt Me 262

1945 – seven Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft make the last kamikaze attack of the war.

1951 – William Bridgeman sets a new altitude record in the Douglas Skyrocket of 74,494 ft (22,706 m)

In 1958… Congress approves a bill creating the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) to regulate all US commercial and military aviation.

1972 – the final USAF mission over Cambodia is flown

August 16

In 1942… The 82nd Airborne paratroop division is formed. Happy Birthday to the 82nd!

1944 – the Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket-powered interceptor is used against enemy bombers for the first time.

1960 – Captain (later Colonel) Joseph Kittinger (USAF) sets a world record for highest parachute jump (102,200 ft or 31,150m) and longest parachute freefall (84,700 ft or 25,815 m) while testing high altitude parachute escape systems in Project Excelsior. Project Excelsior was a series of high-altitude parachute jumps made by Colonel (then Captain) Joseph Kittinger of the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1959 and 1960 to test the Beaupre multi-stage parachute system. In one of these jumps Kittinger set world records for the highest parachute jump, the longest parachute drogue fall and the fastest speed by a human through the atmosphere, all of which still stand. To test the parachute system, staff at Wright Field built a 200 ft (61 m) high helium balloon with a capacity of nearly 3 million cubic feet (85,000 m³) that could lift an open gondola and test pilotinto the stratosphere. Kittinger, who was test director for the project, made three ascents and test jumps. As the gondola was unpressurized, Kittinger had to wear a full pressure suit during these tests, plus additional layers of clothing to protect him from the extreme cold at high altitude and the parachute system itself. This almost doubled his weight.

Also on August 16th in 1969 – Darryl Greenamayer sets a new piston-engine airspeed record in a heavily modified F8F Bearcat named Conquest I. His record speed of 478 mph (769 km/h) topples a record that had stood for 30 years.

August 17

1943 – 17-18 – RAF bombers attack the German missile research station at Peenemünde.

1943 – first operational use of the radio-controlled Henschel Hs 293 anti-ship missile

In 1946… The first person to be ejected from an airplane by means of its emergency escape equipment is Sergeant Lambert at Wright Field in Ohio.

1979 – Two Soviet Aeroflot jetliners collide in mid-air over Ukraine, killing 156

August 18

1903 – Karl Jatho makes a flight with his motored airplane in front of 4 people near Hanover Germany. His craft flies 200 feet and up to few meters above the ground.

In 1910… The first English Channel crossing by an airplane with a passenger is made by John Moisant who takes his mechanic in his two-seater Blériot on the flight from Calais, France to Dover, England.

In 1930… Captain Wolfgang von Gronau and crew make the first east to west crossing of the Atlantic from Germany to New York.

1932 – Jim Mollison makes the first solo East-to-West crossing of the Atlantic, flying a de Havilland Puss Moth from Dublin to New Brunswick

1932 – Auguste Piccard and Max Cosyns set a new balloon altitude record of 16,201 m (53,153 ft).

1960 – a C-119 Flying Boxcar recovers a data capsule from the Discoverer 14 satellite in mid-air. Discoverer 14 (also known as KH-1 9009) was a spy satellite used in the Corona program managed by DARPA and the United States Air Force. On 19 August 1960, usable photographic film images taken by the satellite were recovered by a C-119 recovery aircraft. This was the first successful recovery of film from an orbiting satellite and the first mid-air recovery of an object returning from Earth orbit.

1989 – a Qantas Boeing 747, the Spirit of Australia, flies non-stop from London to Sydney, setting a world record for a four engine jet, after having flown 11,000 miles in 20 hours.

August 19

1915 – Lt Oswald Boelcke shoots down his first aircraft flying a Fokker E.I fitted with interrupter gear.

1945 – two Mitsubishi G4Ms carry Japan’s surrender delegation to Ie Shima

1957 – Maj David Simons sets a new balloon altitude record of 101,516 ft (30,942 m)

1980 – a Saudi Arabian Airlines Lockheed L-1011 makes a safe emergency landing in Riyadh, but panicked passengers suffocate and burn in a subsequent stampede. All inside the plane die.

1981 – two United States Navy F-14 Tomcats shoot down two Sukhoi Su-22s of the Libyan Air Force over the Gulf of Sidra.

August 20

In 1910… The first U.S. Army experiments with firing a rifle from an airplane takes place when Lt. Jacob Earl Fickel conducts firing trials from a Curtiss biplane piloted by Curtiss himself.

1913 – 700 feet above Buc, France, parachutist Adolphe Pegond becomes the first person to jump from an airplane and land safely.

1939 – The last rigid airship, the Graf Zeppelin (LZ 130) makes its last flight.

1986 – first test-flight of a propfan engine, the General Electric GE-36. A propfan was first defined as a small diameter, highly loaded multiple bladed variable pitch propulsor having swept blades with thin advanced airfoil sections, integrated with a nacelle contoured to retard the airflow through the blades thereby reducing compressibility losses and designed to operate with a turbine engine and using a single stage reduction gear resulting in a high performance.

What it really is , is a jet engine with blades on the back side, A really goofy looking thing! See a picture at the website, FlightRadio.com and click on Aviation History this week.

August 21

In 1923… The first use of electric beacons mounted on the ground to provide sight direction for night flying is made in the United States.

1957 – The USAF formally cancels the XF-103 Mach 3 interceptor program

1985 – Sir Freddie Laker accepts a £UK 8 million in a settlement with British Airways. Laker had sued twelve airlines for conspiring to drive Laker Airways out of business

1998 – an Insitu Aerosonde named Laima becomes the first UAV to cross the Altantic Ocean, completing the flight in 26 hours.

That will do it for this week. If you don’t want to miss an episode of Aviation History this week, click the “Podcast RSS” link in the upper right corner of FlightRadio.com.

For a transcript of this show, please see the show notes at FlightRadio.com and click on “aviation history this week” in the menu.

Thanks for listening. Catch you next week!

Aviation history this week for the week of August 8th though the 14th, 2011
 
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August 8th
 
In 1908… Wilbur Wright makes his first flight in Europe by flying the Wright Flyer A from the racetrack at Hunaudières, 5 miles south of Le Mans, France
 
In 1910… The first aircraft tricycle landing gear is installed on the US Army’s Wright airplane.
 
1914 - A French aerial observer is injured by small-arms fire, becoming that nation’s first casualty of air war.
 
1929 - The Graf Zeppelin (LZ 127) begins its circumnavigation of the globe at Lakehurst, New Jersey.
 
1934 - 8-9 - James Ayling and Leonard Reid make the first non-stop flight from Canada to England, in a de Havilland DH.84, taking 30 hours 50 minutes for the flight.
 
August 9th
 
1884 - the first fully controllable free-flight is made in a French Army dirigible La France by Charles Renard and Arthur Krebs. The electric-powered flight covers 8 km (5 miles) in 23 minutes. It was the first full circle flight with landing on the starting point.
 
In 1896… Otto Lilienthal crashes in his No.11 glider while flying from the Rhinower Hill range and dies the next day. He made approximately 2,500 flights in his various gliders. 
 
1945 - B-29 Bockscar drops a plutonium-239 nuclear weapon, Fat Man, on Nagasaki.
 
1952 - Lt Peter Carmichael of No. 802 Squadron aboard HMS Ocean claims the Fleet Air Arm’s first MiG-15 kill, in a Hawker Sea Fury.
 
n 1956… The Fiat G.91, produced for NATO as a light strike-fighter, makes its first flight.
 
1975 - Japan Air Lines establishes Japan Asia Airways as a subsidiary
 
August 10th
 
In 1912… Englishman Francis K. McClean becomes the first pilot to fly under bridges spanning the Thames River when he takes off from Harty Ferry, Eastchurch in his Short biplane S. 33
 
1938 - 10-11 – a Lufthansa Focke-Wulf Fw 200 makes a non-stop flight from Berlin to New York, via Hamburg, Glasgow, Newfoundland, and Halifax, taking 24 hours 36 minutes for the trip.
 
1947 – a new world airspeed record of 640 mph (1,031 km/h) is set in the Douglas Skystreak.
 
Also in 1947 - BEA began the world’s first regular cargo-only airline service.
 
2002 - US Airways files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
 
August 11th
 
In 1906… Mrs. C. J. S. Miller becomes the first woman passenger in an airship. The 40-hp craft is owned and operated by her husband, Major Miller. 
 
In 1915… The U.S. Naval Observatory asks Eastman Kodak to develop a special aerial reconnaissance camera that could be used from an airplane flying at heights of 3,000 ft. to 6,000 ft. 
 
1939 - Pan American World Airways begins scheduled flights from New York, New York to Southampton, England.
 
1967 - F-105 Thunderchiefs of the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing USAF cut the Paul Doumer bridge, in Hanoi, using 100 tons of bombs.
 
1972 - NATO signs a development contract for the MRCA (Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) programme, which will eventually result in the Panavia Tornado
 
1986 - a modified Westland Lynx sets a new helicopter world speed record of 249 mph (401 km/h)
 
1993 - 11-14 – two B-1 Lancers complete a round-the-world trip in 47 hours.
 
2003, The Spirit of Butts Farm becomes the first flight across the Atlantic by a computer-controlled model aircraft.
 
August 12
 
In 1888… The first gas-powered aircraft flies. Built by the German experimenter, Wolfert, the powered airship (dirigible) fitted with a 2 hp Daimler benzene engine running two propellers, flies for 2 ½ miles from Seelberg to Kornwestheim, Germany.
 
 
1915 - Flt Cdr Charles Edmonds becomes the first pilot to attack a ship with an air-launched torpedo. He is flying a Short Type 184 from HMS Ben-my-Chree. His target is a Turkish supply ship.
 
In 1946… President Harry Truman signs a bill authorizing an appropriation of $50,000 to establish a National Air Museum in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. The small museum eventually becomes the National Air and Space Museum – the most visited museum in the world. 
 
1979- 12-17 - Ben Abruzzo and crew make the first transatlantic crossing by balloon, taking 5 days 17 hours to travel from Presque Island, Maine USA to Evreux, France in the Double Eagle II
 
1985 - Japan Airlines flight 123, from Tokyo to Osaka, crashes. The Boeing 747 had an explosion, then hit Mount Otsuka, killing 520 of 524 people on board. Rescuers are later shocked and saddened to find farewell notes that the passengers had written for their family and friends, next to the bodies. As of 2004 this is still the worst single-aircraft air disaster
 
August 13
 
1914 - A Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2 becomes the first British aircraft to arrive in France for the war.
 
1943 - the USAAF makes its first bombing raid on Austria
 
In 1976… The Bell Model 222, the first twin-engined light commercial helicopter, developed in the United States, makes its first flight, powered by the 650 SHP Avco Lycoming LTS 101-650C
 
2002 - Midway Airlines files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
 
 
August 14
 
1932 – 14-23 - Frances Mersalis and Louise Thaden set a women’s endurance record of 8 days 4 hours.
 
In 1953… The sound barrier is broken over Australia for the first time by Flight Lieutenant Bentleigh, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), in the first Australian-built Sabre fighter at Avalon, Victoria. 
 
1968 - Los Angeles Airways Flight 417 crashed Compton, California resulting in the loss of 21 lives. The accident aircraft, N300Y, serial number 61031, was the prototype of the Sikorsky S-61L.
 
1979 - Steve Hinton sets a new piston-engined airspeed record in a specially-modified P-51 Mustang named the Red Baron. He reaches 499 mph (803 km/h) over Nevada.
 
2005 - Helios Airways Flight 522 crashes into a mountain north of Marathon and Varnavas, Greece, killing all 121 passengers and crew.
 
That will do it for this week.  If you don’t want to make sure not to miss an episode of Aviation History this week, click the “Podcast RSS” link in the upper right corner of FlightRadio.com.  For a transcript of this show, please see the show notes at FlightRadio.com and click on “aviation history this week” in the menu.
 
Thanks for listening.  Catch you next week!

Aviation History this week for the week of August 1st to the 7th 2011.

Aviation History this week is a PROUD member of the Tech Podcast Network. If its tech, even old tech, it’s here! Visit Techpodcasts.com to find more tech-related family and work-safe podcasts.

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August 1st

1907 – An Aeronautical Division is formed in the U.S. Army Signal Corps to oversee “all matters pertaining to military ballooning, air machines, and all kindred subjects”.

1915 – Lt Max Immelmann shoots down his first aircraft, beginning his career as an ace and the period that will become known as the “Fokker scourge”

In 1916… The first issue of America’s most influential and long-running aircraft magazine appears at a price of 5 cents. Called Aviation and Aeronautical Engineering, it is ancestor of Aviation Week & Space Technology and is published twice a month.

1943 – USAAF B-24 Liberators flying from Libya attack the Ploesti oil refineries in Romania.

1943 – Soviet fighter ace Lydia Litvak is shot down and killed. She had 12 victories at the time of her death.

1957 – NORAD is formed to co-ordinate US and Canadian air defense

1972 – Delta Air Lines absorbs Northeast Airlines

1983 – America West Airlines begins flying, from Phoenix, Arizona.

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August 2nd

In 1909… The first flying machine purchased and put into service by a government is the Wright Flyer. The US Army accepts its first airplane and pays the Wrights $25,000, plus a $5,000 bonus, because the machine exceeded the speed requirement of 40 mph.

In 1911… The first woman in the United States licensed as a qualified pilot is Harriet Quimby, a drama critic.

In 1917… Squadron leader E. H. Dunning of the British Royal Naval Air Service becomes the first pilot to land an airplane on the deck of a moving ship when he puts a Sopwith Pup down on HMS Furious.

1964 – US Navy aircraft are involved in skirmishes in the Gulf of Tonkin. F-8 Crusaders sink a North Vietnamese torpedo boat

1985 – Delta Air Lines Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011, crashes within inches of the runway at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport, exploding and killing 133 persons, including a car driver who had been struck by the plane just before it exploded.
2005 – Air France Flight 358 bursts into flames after skidding off the end of a runway after landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport. All 309 people aboard survive.

August 3rd

In 1861… John La Mountain becomes the first balloonist to use boats for aerial operations in a military conflict. Using the Union tug Fanny, he ascends from its deck to a height of 2,000 ft. to conduct aerial reconnaissance of Confederate forces during America’s Civil War.

1904 – Major Thomas Scott Baldwin demonstrates the first successful U.S. Airship, “California Arrow”, at Oakland, California Powered by a converted motorcycle engine, The California Arrow was built by Glenn Curtiss.

In 1921… Lieutenant John A. Macready of the U.S. Army Air Corps finds a new use for airplanes when he sprays a patch of ground infested with caterpillars. This practice becomes known as crop dusting.

1950 – United States Marine Corps air operations over Korea commence, with VMF-214 flying strike missions from USS Sicily

In 1955… President Eisenhower signs the Civilian Airport Modernization Bill. The legislation establishes a long-term program of federal government aid toward the construction of airports in the United States.

1975 – A privately chartered Boeing 707 impacts the mountainside near Agadir, Morocco killing 188.

August 4th

In 1807… Andre-Jacques Garnerin in Paris, France makes the first night ascent in a balloon.

In 1901… Octave Chanute arrives at the Wright brothers’ camp at Kill Devil Hill and photographs their flight tests with the 1901 glider.

In 1908… Count von Zeppelin takes the LZ4 on a 24-hour flight from Lake Constance, down the Rhine to Basel, then to Strasbourg and Mainz and back to Stuttgart, a total non-stop distance of 435 miles.

1929 – 4-16 – the first International Tourist Aircraft Contest Challenge 1929 in Paris, with 5,942 km race over Europe, won by the German crew of Fritz Morzik on the BFW M.23 plane.
In 1959… The first medical evacuation by helicopter from a Mobil Army Surgery Hospital (MASH) team takes place when an S-51 flies out a casualty from a fire flight along the Pusan Perimeter.

August 5th

In 1917… The first Aero Squadron of the Signal Corps leaves the United States for Europe under the command of Maj. Ralph Royce.

1933 – 5-7 – Maurice Rossi and Paul Codes fly a Blériot 110 from New York to Rayal, Syria, establishing a new distance record of 9,104 km (5,657 miles).

1935 – Wiley Post, the first pilot to fly solo around the world, and his passenger Will Rogers are killed in a crash in Alaska.

1964 – US Navy aircraft attack North Vietnamese naval bases, spearheading direct US involvement in the Vietnam War.

1989 – Piedmont Airlines is merged into USAir.

1994 – USAF A-10 Thunderbolt IIs attack and destroy a Serbian anti-tank gun

August 6th

1945 – B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay drops “Little Boy” the first nuclear weapon used in warfare over the Japanese city of Hiroshima

***Atom Bomb Announcement clip

In 1969… The biggest helicopter ever built, the Soviet Mil V-12 secures an unbeaten world lifting record for rotary-winged aircraft by carrying 40,205.5 kg (88,636 lb.) to a height of 2,255 m (7,400 ft.).

1997 – Korean Air Flight 801, a Boeing 747-300, crashes into the jungle in Guam on approach to airport, killing 228

2005 – A Tuninter ATR-72 heading from Italy to Tunisia crashes into the Mediterranean Sea, killing 16 of 39 on board.

August 7th

1913 – Aviation pioneer Samuel Cody is killed in a crash

In 1919… Capt. Ernest C. Hoy becomes the first pilot to fly over the Canadian Rockies when he carries mail from Vancouver, British Columbia to Calgary, Alberta in a Curtiss JN-4 biplane.

In 1931… Jim Mollison lands after flying from Australia to England in 10 days, knocking two days off the existing record.

1951 – William Bridgeman sets a new airspeed record in the Douglas Skyrocket of Mach 1.88 (1,245 mph, 1,992 km/h).

1964 – 7-9 – the Turkish Air Force strikes Greek positions on Cyprus

1980 – Aerolineas Argentinas and Iberia jointly inaugurate the world’s longest non-stop air route, between Buenos Aires and Madrid

1980 – Janice Brown pilots the MacCready Gossamer Penguin on its first solar powered flight.

Welcome to Aviation History this week for the week of July 25th thru the 31st , 2011. I’m Mike Dell, Your host.

Aviation History this week is brought to you by Citrix Go to assist express and Carbonite online backup.

I would like to note, that a very important event in the history of aviation and spaceflight happened last week on July 21st. The last space shuttle, atlantis, touched down in florida. After 135 space shuttle missions over the last 30 years, NASA has retired the shuttles. They will be missed!

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July 25

1909 – Louis Blériot claims a £1,000 prize from the British Daily Mail newspaper for being the first pilot to cross the English Channel. He makes the crossing in his Blériot Type XI from Les Barraques (near Calais) toNorthfall Meadow (near Dover Castle) in 37 minutes. Blériot also received an additional £3,000 from the French government.

1915 – Captain Lanoe Hawker of the RFC wins first Victoria Cross for aerial combat, over France.

1949 – Second Lieutenant Bob Kipp of the Canadian Blue Devils aerobatic team is killed in a training accident.

1962 – the US Army forms its first armed helicopter company, using UH-1 Hueys

2000 – a Concorde of Air France (Air France Flight 4590) catches fire after takeoff, crashing and killing all 100 passengers, nine crew and four people on the ground, at Gonesse, France.

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July 26

In 1910… Capt. G. W. P. Dawes becomes the first British Army officer to be awarded an aviator’s certificate in England, when he qualifies for certificate no.17 on a Humber Monoplane at Wolverhampton, England.

1918 – Maj Edward Mannock, Britain’s highest scoring ace of the war, is shot down by German ground fire. He had scored 73 victories.

In 1929… Johnny Burtin sets a new world altitude record of 26,531 feet for airplanes with a 1-ton load. Burtin’s flight also proves that at high altitudes, fuel consumption drops considerably and wind resistance is reduced, making high-altitude flying more economical and profitable.

In 1937… Famous pilot, Jacqueline Cochran, sets a new speed record for women by flying over 203 mph.

1954 – Soviet Air Force Lavochkin La-7s attack two US Navy A-1 Skyraiders searching for survivors from the Air Cathay flight. The Skyraiders respond and shoot down the La-7s

1955 – Capital Airlines adopts the Vickers Viscount, the first US airline to select a British airliner.

1972 – NASA announces Rockwell International as prime contractor for the Space Shuttle Orbiter

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July 27

In 1901… Wilbur and Orville Wright make the first of a series of test glides at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Their redesigned biplane glider No. 2 has a larger wing area and wing control worked by a pilot’s hip-cradle device.

In 1909… Orville Wright makes the first official test flight of the U.S. Army’s first airplane in Fort Meyer, Virginia. President William Howard Taft, his cabinet, and 10,000 spectators witness the flight.

1944 – Gloster Meteors of No. 616 Squadron RAF fly their first V1 interception mission

In 1949… The de Havilland 106 Comet becomes the world’s first jet airliner to be used in commercial travel.

1955 – an El Al Lockheed Constellation is shot down by Bulgarian MiG-15s. All 58 aboard are killed

1996 – the final General Dynamics F-111 attack aircraft are withdrawn from USAF service; on its retirement, the aircraft finally receives an official popular name: “Aardvark.”

July 28

1914 – outbreak of World War I Aviation changes war in a twofold way. The aeroplane turns the sky into a new battle field where about 20,000 flyers, most of them trained pilots die. Aircraft eliminate the distinction between frontline and hinterland, with the civilian population far behind the frontline also becoming a target.

1941 – the Vichy government agrees to build German aircraft in France

1945 – a B-25 Mitchell bomber crashed into the Empire State Building

July 29

1930 – British airship R.100 makes a test flight to Montreal and back.

1950 – a BEA Vickers Viscount makes the first turboprop-powered passenger flight.

1952 – a USAF RB-45 Tornado makes the first non-stop crossing of the Pacific by jet

In 1958… President Eisenhower signs the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating a new federal agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NASA’s stated goal is to enable the U.S. to lead the exploration of space for peaceful purposes to benefit humanity.

In 1959… The first jetway in the U.S. is installed at the International Airport in San Francisco, California. Designed to protect passengers from the weather when they board or leave the jet plane, it is a powered telescopic or collapsible corridor that extends to the aircraft and connects the plane to the terminal. They are commonplace in all airports today.

1959 – QANTAS introduces the Boeing 707 on its Sydney-San Francisco route, the first transpacific service flown by jet.

2002 – Vanguard Airlines ceases operations. The next day it files for reorganization under Chapter 11 of US bankruptcy law.

July 30

1914 – Trygve Gran makes the first crossing of the North Sea by airplane.

In 1935… Lieutenant Frank Akers of the U.S. Navy becomes the first person to make a “blind” landing at sea. His biplane has a hooded cockpit allowing him to see only his controls and instruments. He lands on the USS Langley.

1971 – An All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 and a Japanese Air Force F-86 collide over Morioka, Japan killing 162

July 31

1894 – Hiram Maxim launches an enormous biplane test rig (wingspan 32 m, 105 ft) propelled by two steam engines. It makes a short captive hop after running down a length of railway track. After that he stopped his experiments, which had already cost him around thirty thousands pounds.

1901 – German meteorologists Berson and Süring climb to 10,800 m in a free balloon.

1918 – Lt Frank Linke-Crawford, Austrian 4th highest scoring ace, is shot down in combat. He had scored 27 victories.

In 1952… Two Sikorsky H-19′s set a new world distance record for helicopters while making the first transatlantic helicopter flight. They cover 920 miles in over 42 hours.

1964 – A. H. Parker sets a new sailplane distance record of 1,000 km (621 miles) in a Sisu-1A

That will do it for this week. Come back next week for another Aviation History This Week.

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July 18

1803, Etienne Gaspar Robertson and Lhoest climb from Hamburg (Germany) up to 7,280m (23,885 ft) in a balloon.

1941 – the first RAF aircraft is equipped with radar

1942 – a Messerschmitt Me 262 prototype makes its first flight under jet power, test-piloted by Fritz Wendel. Previous flights had been driven by a propeller.

1943 – US Navy airship K-74 is shot down by a German submarine, the only airship lost to enemy fire during World War II.

July 19

1867 – James W. Butler and Edmund Edwards are awarded Patent 2115 for their delta wing jet design the Steam Dart.

1923 – Czechoslovakian airline CSA commences operations.

1934 – July 19-August 20 – Gen Henry (Hap) Arnold leads ten Martin B-10 bombers on a 8,000 mile (12,875 km) proving flight.

1934 – F9C Sparrowhawk parasite fighters from airship USS Macon successfully launch from the airship, scout out the cruiser USS Houston and return to the Macon.

1957 – A USAF Northrop F-89J Scorpion launches a live MB-1 ‘Ding Dong’ nuclear rocket

1961 – MGM’s By Love Possessed is shown on a TWA Boeing 707, the first feature film exhibited on a regularly scheduled commercial airline flight

1963 – Joe Walker flies a North American X-15 to a record altitude of 106,010 metres (347,800 feet) on X-15 Flight 90. Exceeding an altitude of 100 km, this flight qualifies as a human spaceflight under international convention.

1967 – A Piedmont Airlines Boeing 727 and a Cessna 310 collided in mid-air over Hendersonville, North Carolina killing 82

1974 – Soyuz 14 landed back on earth Soyuz 14 was a manned spaceflight to the Salyut 3 space station. The flight was the first successful mission to a space station by the Soviets. The mission proved to be the only one for Salyut 3 as Soyuz 15 failed to dock with the station in August and the station was de-orbited January 1975. With the American Skylab missions now complete, the flight marked the start of the monopoly of manned space activities by the Soviets until the 1981 launch of STS 1, the first space shuttle flight, save for the joint Apollo-Soyuz flight of 1975.

1985 – Sharon Christa McAuliffe is chosen by NASA to be the first private citizen passenger in the history of space flight.

1989 – A Douglas DC-10, United Airlines flight 232 crashes in Sioux City, Iowa killing 112 but due to extraordinary efforts by the pilot and his crew, 184 on board survive.

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July 20

1936 – Twenty Junkers Ju 52s ferry Spanish Nationalist troops from Morocco to Spain in the world’s first major military airlift.

1939 – first flight powered by liquid-fuelled rocket made by Erich Warsitz in the Heinkel He 176

1969 – Neil Armstrong is the first man to walk on the moon.
Audio Clip of “One Small Step…”

July 21

1919 – Anthony Fokker founds the Dutch Aircraft Factory at Schiphol.

1932 – Wolfgang von Gronau sets out to make a round-the-world trip in a Dornier Wal. One hundred and eleven days later, it will be the first such trip made in a flying boat.

1946 – a McDonnell FH Phantom makes the first landing by a jet aboard a US aircraft carrier, USS Franklin D. Roosevelt

1980 – the F-16 is officially nicknamed the Fighting Falcon in a ceremony. it is known to its pilots as the “Viper”, due to it resembling a viper snake and after the Battlestar Galactica Colonial Viper starfighter.

July 22

1929 – Lufthansa uses a catapult to launch a Heinkel He 12 mail plane from the passenger liner Bremen, 400 km (249 miles) out of New York, speeding the mail on its way before the ship reached port.

1931 – July 22-September 1 – Sir Alan Cobham and crew make a 19,800 km (12,300 mile) return flight between England and the Belgian Congo in a Short Valletta.

1954 – an Air Cathay Douglas DC-4 is shot down near Hainan Island

1974 – the US Navy and Marine Corps evacuate 500 people from Cyprus, away from the conflict erupting between Greece and Turkey on the island

1983 – Dick Smith achieves the first solo circumnavigation of the globe in a helicopter. Smith makes the 56,742 kilometre (35,258 mile) journey in stages using a Bell Jetranger III named Australian Explorer.

July 23

1950 – aircraft carrier USS Boxer crosses the Pacific Ocean in record time, from Alameda, California to Yokosuka in 8 days 16 hours.

1977 – After threats of shutting down transatlantic air traffic, the U.S. and British governments reach the Bermuda II accord, giving British airlines additional ports of entry in the United States and removing American airlines’ rights to carry passengers beyond London and Hong Kong.

1979 – the British government announces plans to privatise British Airways and publicly sell British Aerospace shares.

1984 – an Air Canada Boeing 767 runs out of fuel on its way from Montreal to Edmonton. Ground crew at the Montreal airport miscalculated the flight’s length and did not put enough fuel in it. Pilot Robert Pearson, an amateur glider pilot, lands the plane safely at Gimli, making the incident famous as the “Gimli Glider”

July 24

In 1898… Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean and one of the world’s most famous aviators, is born in Atchinson, Kansas.

1926 – two Lufthansa Junkers G.24s leave Berlin to make a round-trip to Beijing. They will return on September 26.

In 1946… Bernard Lynch becomes the first person to be “shot” out of an airplane. Lynch was involved in the first airborne test of a British “ejection seat.”

Welcome to Aviation History this week for the week of July 11th through the 17th 2011

I’m Your host, Michael Dell.

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Lets get on with the history..

July 11

In 1935… Laura Ingalls arrives in Burbank, California after an 18-hour flight from Floyd Bennett Field, New York, making her the first woman to fly east to west across the United States

in 1955… The U.S. Air Force Academy is dedicated at its temporary location, Lowry Air Force Base.

1978 – the UK government agrees to fund development of the BAe 146 BAe 146 is a medium-sized commercial airliner formerly manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later part of BAE Systems

1997 – A Cubana de Aviacion (the Cuban Air Force) Antonov An-24 crashes into the Caribbean off southeast Cuba, killing 44.

July 12

1849 – balloons (Montgolfières) are used for bombardment for the first time, with Austrians bombing Venice.

1910 – Charles Rolls is killed in a crash at Bournemouth, becoming the first British aviation fatality

1937 – July 12-14 – Mikhail Gromov, A. B. Yumashev, and S. A. Danilin establish a new distance record of 10,148 km (6,303 miles) from Moscow to San Jacinto, California, USA via the North Pole.

1945 – An Eastern Air Lines flight en route from Boston, Massachusetts to Miami with stops in Washington, DC and Columbia, SC collided with a US Army B-25 Mitchell bomber about 3,000 feet above Syracuse, SC (about 20 miles from Florence, SC). The commercial pilot, G. D. Davis, landed his craft in a cornfield nearby. One passenger, an infant, was killed. The bomber exploded; two died and one was able to parachute safely.

1994 – a Royal Air Force C-130 Hercules flies the 10,000th United Nations relief flight into Sarajevo

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July 13

1925 – Western Air Express is founded.

In 1957… President Eisenhower becomes the first U.S. president to fly in a helicopter when he is flown from the White House to an unnamed military post in a USAF Bell UH-13J.

1996 – A Garuda Indonesia Airways DC-10 crashes on take-off from Fukuoka Airport, Japan, killing 3.

2006 – An RAF Harrier GR9 crashes en route to the Royal International Air Tattoo. What is that? The Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) is the world’s largest military air show, held annually over the third weekend in July, usually at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom in support of The Royal Air Force Charitable Trust. The show typically attracts a total of 150,000 to 200,000 spectators over the weekend.

July 14

1919 – A Fiat BR makes the first direct flight from Rome to Paris. The Fiat B.R. 1/4 was a series of light bomber developed in Italy shortly after World War I.

1933 – July 14-22, Wiley Post, flying a Lockheed Vega, makes the first around the world solo flight. His flight begins and ends at Floyd Bennett Field in New York, with stops at Berlin, Moscow, Irkutsk and Alaska – a total distance of 25,099 km (15,596 miles).

1938 – Howard Hughes finishes his trip in a Lockheed 14N around the world in 3 days 19 hours, to and from Floyd Bennett Field New York, more than halving the time that Wiley Post took to make the trip.

1948 – Silver City Airways makes the first car-carrying flight between England and France.

1948 – Vampire F3s of No. 54 Squadron RAF became the first jet aircraft to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. The six aircraft, commanded by Wg Cdr D S Wilson-MacDonald, DSO, DFC, go via Stornoway, Iceland and Labrador to Montreal on the first leg of a goodwill tour of Canada and the US where they gave several formation aerobatic displays.

1959 – Maj V Ilyushin sets a new altitude record of 28,852 m (94,659 ft) in the Sukhoi T-431

1978 – after receiving orders from United Airlines, Boeing begins full-scale development of the Boeing 767

July 15

1933 – July 15-17, Lithuanians Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas were supposed to make a non-stop flight from New York City to Kaunas, Lithuania in Bellanca aeroplane, but fatally crashed in Germany after 37 hours, 11 minutes, covering distance of 6411 km, only 650 km short of their final destination.

1934 – Varney Speed Lines (later to be Continental Airlines) makes its first passenger-carrying flight.

1947 – Northwest Airlines flies the first commercial passenger flight from the U.S. to Japan, using The Manila, a Douglas DC-4 aircraft, by way of Anchorage. From Tokyo, the flight continued to Seoul, Shanghai, and Manila.

1952 – a pair of USAF H-19 Chickasaws make the first transatlantic crossing by helicopter

In 1968… The first direct airline service between the Soviet Union and the U.S. is inaugurated, ten years after negotiations began.

1970 – the Tupolev Tu-144 exceeds Mach 2 in level flight, the first commercial aircraft to do so.

In 1975… The first international manned space flight occurs between the Soviet Soyuz 19 and an Apollo spacecraft.

July 16

1930 – July 16-August 8, the second International Tourist Aircraft Contest Challenge 1930 in Berlin, won by the German crew of Fritz Morzik on the BFW M.23 plane.

In 1957… Major John H. Glenn of the U.S. Marines sets a new record for a coast-to-coast flight across the U.S. The flight from Los Angeles, to New York takes just over three hours in a U.S. Navy Crusader supersonic jet.

1989 – European air traffic is halted due to industrial action by French air traffic controllers.

July 17

In 1908… The USA’s first aviation legislation is passed: a municipal ordinance requiring an annual license and regulating aircraft within the city limits of Kissimmee, Florida.

1924 – Pelletier d’Oisy completes a flight from Paris to Tokyo. The journey takes 120 hours in the air.

1927 – USMC de Havilland DH.4s are used to attack bandits in Nicaragua threatening the garrison at Ocotal.

1962 – Maj Robert M. White (USAF), pilots the North American X-15 to a record altitude of 314 750 feet (59 miles, 96 km).

In 1969… The Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket blasts off from the Florida Space Center in route to the first moon landing.

1970 – Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport commences passenger screening to help prevent hijackings; the first airport to do so.

1980 – Cathay Pacific begins a Hong Kong-London service

1980 – a Vickers Viscount plane of charter airline Alidair lands safely in Devon after suffering damage to all four engines.

1981 – the Israeli Air Force attacks Beirut in retribution for Palestinian terror attacks.

1996 – TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747 with 230 people aboard, explodes off the coast of New York.

2002 – Midway Airlines suspends operations.

That will do it for this week. Be sure to check out the Transcript of this podcast over at FlightRadio.com and check out my new book, Flight Radio – Guide to Aircraft communications also at FlightRadio.com

Aviation History this week the week of July 4th thru the 10th 2011

Aviation History this week is brought to you by FlightRadio.com and the new Flight Radio book.

We are also proud members of the Tech Podcast Network. If it’s tech, it’s here!

July 4th

1908 – Glenn H. Curtiss is awarded the Scientific American trophy for a public flight of over 1 km. Curtiss flies 1,550 m (5,090 ft)

In 1908… The Zeppelin LZ-4 makes a 12-hour flight crossing the Alps. It covers the 235 miles from Friedrichshafen to Zürich and reaches speeds of 32 mph.

1911 – First ever commercial cargo to be carried by an aircraft. The General Electric company paid £100 to have a case of electric lamps flown from Shoreham to Hove in England.

In 1927… The first flight of the Lockheed Vega, an influence in the design of later, larger transport of the 1930′s, takes place.

In 1956… A Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft makes its first operational overflight. It is designed to fly at supersonic speeds and photograph the earth from 60,000 feet.

1989 – the pilot of a Soviet Air Force MiG-23 ejects shortly after take-off in Poland. The pilotless aircraft flies across Europe before crashing into a Belgian farmhouse

July 5th

1874 – Belgian Vincent de Groof is killed in an accident as he tries to do a flight using flapping wings.

In 1940… The first American paratrooper unit is formed at Fort Benning, Georgia.

1970 – An Air Canada DC-8 crashes near Toronto International Airport killing 108

July 6th

1939 – Olga Klepikowa sets a world record by flying a glider 746 km (466 miles) from Moscow to Otradnoje.

1948 – the US Navy’s first two carrier-based AEW squadrons are formed, VAW-1 and VAW-2.

1951 – aerial refueling is used under combat conditions for the first time, with a KB-29 Superfortress refueling four RF-80 Shooting Stars over North Korea

In 1960… Sikorsky’s S-62 amphibious helicopter wins federal approval for operation as a commercial passenger aircraft.

1980 – the largest light airplane meet outside the United States brings 750 small planes to the Popular Flying Associations annual meeting in Leicester England UK

1992 – the final F-4 Phantom IIs are retired from Royal Air Force service.

July 7th

In 1914… American physics professor, Robert H. Goddard receives a patent for his two-stage solid fuel rocket.

1929 – Transcontinental Air Transport commences a regular service transporting passengers right across the United States in 48 hours, using a combination of trains and aircraft for different legs of the journey. Charles Lindberg flies the first plane over the air route.

1962 – a Soviet Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-152 sets a new airspeed record of 2,681 km/h (1,666 mph)

1981 – Stephen Ptacek flies a solar-powered aircraft Solar Challenger across the English Channel, taking a little over five hours.

July 8th

In 1838… Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin is born in Baden, Germany. The first large-scale builder and pioneer of rigid dirigible balloons, Zeppelin made his first balloon ascent while serving as a volunteer and observer for the Union Army in America’s Civil War.

1908 – Thérèse Peltier becomes the first woman to fly in an aeroplane. She is a passenger on a flight made by Lèon Delagrange at Turin.

1952 – New York Airways begins inter-airport helicopter services to link Idlewild, La Guardia, and Newark airports.

1953 – Sabena begins the first international helicopter service, linking Belgium, the Netherlands and France

1983 – General Dynamics rolls out the 1,000th F-16 Fighting Falcon

1991 – a US Navy F/A-18 Hornet is forced to shoot down an E-2 Hawkeye after its crew abandons it following an engine fire

2006 – Aerospace scientists in Toronto conduct the first confirmed flight of a manned ornithopter operating under its own power.

July 9

In 1910… Walter Brookins attains an altitude of 6,175 feet in a Wright biplane, becoming the first to fly a mile high and wins a prize of $5,000 for his feat.

1918 – British ace James McCudden is killed when his aircraft crashes on take-off.
In 1924… The first recorded flight of a live bull takes place when champion breeder Nico V is flown from Rotterdam, Holland to Paris, France. The bull is carried by KLM in a Fokker F.III transport aircraft.

In 1933… Flying their Lockheed Sirius built in 1929 and used for the 1931 survey flight of Alaska, the North Pacific and China, Charles Lindbergh and his wife begin a major route-proving tour of the North and South Atlantic. They complete their survey on December 6.

1959 – a Royal Air Force Vickers Valiant makes the first non-stop flight from England to Cape Town

1982 – a Pan Am Boeing 727 crashes while en route from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to New Orleans, killing 137 passengers plus people on the ground.

July 10

1914 – July 10-11, German Reinhold Böhm flies his Albatros-biplane 24 hours and 12 minutes without refueling and nonstop. This one-man-flight record lasted until 1927.

In 1938… Howard Hughes, with crewmembers Harry Connor, Tom Thurlow, Richard Stoddart and Ed Lund, begin a record-breaking round-the-world flight in a specially modified Lockheed Super Electra. They cut in half the time set by Wiley Post in 1933; their flying time is 71 hours, 11 minutes, 10 seconds.

In 1940… The fourth Messerschmitt Bf 109F series prototype makes its first flight in Germany, powered by one of the new 1,350-hp Daimler Benz DB 601E.

1965 – first US Air Force aerial victories of the Vietnam War scored by F-4 Phantoms

In 1978… Airbus Industrie announces a decision to proceed with development of the A300B10, a shortened version of the A300 with a capacity of 225 passengers, compared to 281 on the B2 and B4. The designation is later changed to the A310.

Check out my other Tech Podcast over at geekofthenorth.com and live 1pm eastern time on Tuesdays at techpodcasts.com/live/

Welcome to Aviation History This Week for the week of June 27th thru July 3rd, 2011. I’m Mike Dell, your host.

Aviation History this week is brought to you by FlightRadio.com and Flight Radio, the book. Your guide to Aircraft Communications and frequency information. Go check it out at FlightRadio.com

June 27

1912 – Following successes using aircraft against the Turks in North Africa, Italy forms a specialized Air Battalion

1923 – The first refueling in mid-air (with hose) of one airplane by another is made by a De Havilland D.H.4-b from another one over San Diego, California. The planes are flown by Capt. L. H. Smith and Lt. J. P. Richter.

1950 – A USAF Twin Mustang shoots down a North Korean Air Force Yak-9, the first air-to-air kill of the Korean War.

1950 – USAF B-29 Superfortresses of the 19th Bombardment Group attack Seoul railway station and the bridge over the Han River in the first strategic bombing mission of the war.

1979 – Israeli Air Force F-15 Eagles shoot down four Syrian Air Force MiG-21s

June 28

1908 – Jacob Ellehammer makes the first piloted, powered airplane flight in Germany.

1927 – The first non-stop flight between the United States and Hawaii is made by U.S. Lts. Albert F. Hegenberger and Lester J. Maitland. They fly 2,407 miles (3,874 km) from Oakland to Honolulu in 25 hours, 30 minutes. the aircraft used for this flight was a US Army Fokker C-2.

1939 – Britain’s Women’s Auxiliary Air Force is formed.

1948 – Sdn Ldr Basil Arkel sets a new helicopter speed record of 124 mph (200 km/h) in a Fairey Gyrodyne.

1950 – USAF B-26 Invaders fly the first strike mission into North Korea.

1955 – Jean Moire lands a Bell 47 helicopter on top of Mont Blanc, at an altitude of 4,807 m (15,772 ft)

June 29

1927 – June 29 – July 1 – Richard Evelyn Byrd with crew flies Fokker F.VIIa/3m “America” from New York City to France.

1932 – an F9C Sparrowhawk parasite fighter hooks onto the USS Akron for the first time.

1934 – June 29-30 – Benjamin and Joseph Adamowicz brothers, amateur pilots, flew across the Atlantic

1966 – The U.S. Air Force bombs Hanoi for the first time

June 30

1926 – Alan Cobham sets out on a round trip from England to Australia in a de Havilland DH.50. He will arrive back in London on October 1 and receive a knighthood for his accomplishment.

1950 – P-51 Mustangs of No. 77 Squadron RAAF are sent to Korea as part of Australia’s contribution to the war.

1953 – A SNCASO S.O. 4000 (prototype of the Sud Vautour fighter-bomber) becomes the first European aircraft to exceed the speed of sound in a shallow dive.

1977 – US president Jimmy Carter cancels the B-1 Lancer program

July 1

1785, Jean-Pierre Blanchard and the American meteorologist John Jeffries cross the English Channel from Dover to Guines in a balloon.

1912 – Harriet Quimby, the first licensed female pilot in the United States, as part of an Air Show spectacular flew around the Boston Light. During the flight, her Berliot plane was caught in turbulent air and nose-dived, plummeting both Quimby and a meet organizer passenger to their deaths in Dorchester Bay.

1922 – the US Navy orders the still-under-construction battlecruisers USS Lexington and USS Saratoga to be completed as aircraft carriers.

1924 – Regular night airmail services commence in the United States, linking Chicago with Cheyenne.

1926 – A Blackburn Dart makes the first night landing on an aircraft carrier, HMS Furious

1946 – a B-29 Superfortress drops an atomic bomb on Bikini Atoll in a nuclear test. *** VIDEO ***

1961 – the RAF deploys combat aircraft to reinforce Kuwait, which is under threat from Iraq.

1966 – U.S. Navy aircraft from USS Constellation and USS Hancock sink three North Vietnamese torpedo boats

1970 – Melbourne opens its new international airport

1978 – July 1-19 – Frank Haile Jr and William Wisner fly two Beechcraft Bonanzas around the world in formation.

July 2

1900, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin flies the first rigid airship, the LZ1 Zeppelin from Lake Constance, Friedrichshafen. It carries five passengers on a 20-minute flight.

1919 – Airship R 34 sets out of the first airship crossing of the Atlantic, leaving East Fortune, Scotland, to arrive in New York on July 6. The journey becomes a successful two-way crossing when the airship arrives in back in the UK on July 13.

1926 – the United States Army Air Service becomes the United States Army Air Corps.

1937 – Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappear over the Pacific Ocean.

2005 – Steve Fossett and co-pilot Mark Rebholz recreated the first direct crossing of the Atlantic by the British team of John Alcock and Arthur Whitten-Brown on June 14 1919 in a Vickers Vimy bi-plane.

July 3

1929 – Lt A. W. Gordon hooks a Vought VO-1 onto US Navy airship USS Los Angeles in successful parasite fighter experiments.

1937 – July 3-6 – Pan Am and Imperial Airways flying boats conduct joint survey flights over the Atlantic in preparation for the commencement of regular services.

1950 – F9F Panthers of VF-51 flying from USS Valley Forge become the first US jet fighters to go into combat. A North Korean Yak-9 is shot down.

1976 – Three Israeli Air Force C-130 Hercules carry commandos to Entebbe, Uganda to rescue the 258 passengers of an Air France Airbus hijacked six days earlier

Welcome to Aviation History this week for the week of June 20th to June 26th 2011, I’m Mike Dell, your host.

Aviation History this week is brought to you by FlightRadio.com, your source for aircraft communications information on the web.

June 20
In 1540… Joao Torto, in Viseu, Portugal, builds two pairs of cloth-covered wings, an upper and lower, which are connected by iron hoops. While preparing to jump from the town’s cathedral to the nearby St. Matthew’s fields, he is killed when the elaborated helmet slips over his eyes and he falls onto a roof.
In 1897… Percy Pilcher is towed about 750 feet in the Hawk, the fourth of his hang gliders.
In 1951… The first flight of an aircraft with variable-sweep wings is made as the research aircraft Bell X-5, flies for 30 minutes at Edwards, California.
1956 – the US Navy commissions its first helicopter carrier, USS Thetis Bay 1972 – Airline pilots hold a world-wide strike, calling for tighter security
1966 – Sheila Scott completes a solo round-the-world flight
1980 – Test pilot and barnstormer Herman “Fish” Salmon dies in the crash of a Lockheed Constellation he is ferrying to Alaska.
2004 – Frontier Airlines begins service to Nashville, Tennessee.
June 21
In 1907… Romanian Trajan Vuia makes a flight in Paris of almost 66 feet, at a height of 16 feet, in his second machine which has a 24-hp Antoinette engine running on carbonic acid and has its wheels fitted with shock absorbers.
In 1908… The first flight of the Aerial Experiment Association’s (AEA) promising June Bug biplane, their third machine, takes place in New York State. It has a 40-hp air-cooled Curtiss engine.
In 1913… The first woman to make a parachute jump from an airplane is Georgia “Tiny” Broadwick. The 18-year-old American descends 1,000 feet over Los Angeles, California.
1946 – a USAF P-80 Shooting Star carries the first airmail flown by jet
1954 – three USAF B-47 Stratojets cross the Pacific Ocean in under 15 hours
1961 – June 21-22 – a Royal Air Force Avro Vulcan makes the first non-stop flight from England to Australia
1972 – Jean Boulet pilots a Aérospatiale Lama to a new record altitude for helicopters, 12,441 m (40,820 ft)
1987 – Air France pilot Partick Fourticq and friend Henri Pescarolo once again walk into the record books, completing an around the world flight aboard a Lockheed 18, in 88 hours and 19 minutes.
2004 – SpaceShipOne is the first non-government built spacecraft to transport a person into space and return safely to earth.
June 22
In 1909… Wykoff, Church and Partridge, a car sales firm, becomes the USA’s first airplane sales agency.
In 1910… The German firm “Delag” inaugurates the first regular passenger-carrying airship service. Between 1910-1914, its five Zeppelin airships carry nearly 35,000 passengers without a fatality over inland German routes.
In 1933… The Tupolev ANT-25 monoplane, designed to win the world long-distance record for the USSR, makes its first flight.
1941 – Germany invades the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa). 1,200 Soviet aircraft are destroyed on the first day alone.
1975 – Svetlana Savitskaya sets a new women’s airspeed record of 2,683 km/h (1,667 mph) in the Mikoyan Ye-133, a modified MiG-25PU two-seat trainer
1984 – London: Richard Branson’s airline, Virgin Atlantic, begins services to North America, using Boeing 747s.
1990 – Bombardier purchases Learjet for $US 75 million
June 23
In 1905… Wilbur and Orville Wright make their first flight of 1905 in Huffman Prairie, Ohio, in their new Flyer III, the first practical airplane in history.
In 1913… The first large airplane designed exclusively as a bomber makes its first flight in Russia. Known as the “Russki Vityaz,” (Russian Knight) it was designed by Igor Sikorsky and built by the RBVZ [Russko-Baltijskij Vagonnyj Zavod (Russo-Baltic Cart Works)].
1916 – Victor Chapman of Lafayette Escadrille becomes the first US airman to be killed in action, shot down near Verdun.
1919 – six Zeppelins (LZ 46, LZ 79, LZ 91, LZ103, LZ 110, and LZ 111) are destroyed at Nordholz by their own crews in order to prevent them from falling into Allied hands.
In 1924… The prototype Focke-Wulf A 16 monoplane makes its first flight. Capable of carrying four passengers.
1924 – Lt Russell Maughan makes the first one-day crossing of the United States, completing the flight from Long Island to San Francisco in a Curtiss PW-8 in 21 hours, 48 minutes.
1931 – June 23-July 1, Wiley Post and Harold Gatty fly around the world in a Lockheed Vega, the Winnie Mae, covering 15,474 miles in 8 days 15 hours 51 minutes – a new record
1952 – June 23-24 – in the most intense use of airpower of the Korean War, US Navy and Marine Corps aircraft fly 1,200 sorties against North Korean power generation facilities.
1980 – Sanjay Gandhi, son of Indira Gandhi, dies when his private aerobatic biplane has an accident.
1985 – Air India Flight 182, a Boeing 747, explodes off the Irish coast, killing all passengers. A terrorist bomb is suspected, but never confirmed.
June 24
In 1784… Edward Warren, a boy of 13, makes the first, tethered, balloon ascent in the U.S. in Baltimore, Maryland; he volunteers when the craft proves too weak to lift its builder, Peter Carnes.
In 1918… The first air mail in Canada is flown from Montreal to Toronto.
In 1930… Dr. Albert Taylor and Leo Young of the Aircraft Research Laboratory, near Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., succeed in tracing the position of airplanes in flight using wireless detection equipment.
1935 – One Ford Trimotor of Servicio Aéreo Colombiano (SACO) crashed with another Ford Trimotor of Sociedad Colombo Alemana de Transporte Aéreo (SCADTA) in Medellín, Colombia. Fifteen people were killed including the world’s most famous tango singer Carlos Gardel.
1943 – the RAF uses chaff, codenamed “Window”, for the first time to foil German radar during the Operation Gomorrah raids on Hamburg.
1982 – British Airways Flight 9 a Boeing 747-200 lost all four engines after flying through a cloud of volcanic ash near Jakarta, after many attempts at restarting the engines, all four returned allowing the plane to land safely back at Jakarta.

June 25
In 1914… Tom Blakely flies the West Wind in Calgary, Canada. The Curtiss-type biplane was designed by Frank Ellis.
In 1919… The world’s most modern airliner, the Junkers F-13, makes its first flight at Dessau, Germany. It is made entirely of metal, with a strong, corrugated outer skin and cantilever wing structure, without struts or bracing wires.
In 1928… The Boeing Model 83 biplane, the last from this company in which wood was used for the wing frame and the last biplane built by Boeing, makes its first flight.
1946 – First flight of the Northrop XB-35 Flying Wing.
1997 – First flight of the Ka-52 Alligator combat helicopter.
June 26
In 1869… Largest hydrogen balloon ever to make a free (untethered) ascent, makes a short flight from the Champs de Mars in Paris, France. It has a capacity of 424,000 cubic feet (c. 130,000 cubic meters).
In 1909… The first commercial sale of an airplane in the United States is made as Glenn H. Curtiss sells one of his planes to the Aeronautic Society of New York for $7,500. This action spurs the Wright brothers to begin a patent suit to prevent him from selling airplanes without a license.
In 1911… As spectators watch in amazement, Lincoln Beachey flies his Curtiss pusher biplane over Horseshoe Falls, the most spectacular of the Niagara Falls.
In 1936… The first flight of the first practical helicopter with two side-by-side rotors is made in Germany. Designed by Henrich Focke, the Focke-Achgelis FW-61 makes many flights, the longest being one hour and 20 minutes.
In 1946… The U.S. Army Air Force and Navy adopt the “knot” and “nautical mile” as standard aeronautical units for speed and distance. A nautical mile is about 6.080 ft. (1,853 m), and knot is the equivalent of one nautical mile per hour.
1948 – the Berlin Airlift begins, with USAF, Royal Air Force, and British civil transport aircraft carrying supplies into West Berlin
1988 – An Air France Airbus A320 on a demonstration flight at an airshow at Mulhouse-Habsheim crashes and kills four people, including the pilot and co-pilot.

And that’s it for the Week of June 20th to the 26th. Check back next week for more Aviation History this week.

Aviation history this week is a proud member of the Tech Podcast Network. Check out the network over at techpodcasts.com

Welcome to Aviation History this week for the week of February 27th though March 5th
I’m Mike Dell, Your host.
Aviation history this Week is brought to you by FlightRadio.com and is part of the Tech Podcast Network. If it’s tech, it’s here.

February 27th –
In 1920… Major Rudolph W. Schroeder of the US Army Air Service sets a new world altitude record when he flies to the height of 33,143 feet. During the flight over McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio he nearly loses his life when his oxygen system fails.
In 1935… Latècoère’s giant seaplane Santos Dumont lands with a cargo of mail after a record flight of 53 hours 4 minutes from Natal, Brazil to Paris, with two stops en route.
In 1965… The world’s largest aircraft at the time, the Antonov An-22 Antei, makes its first flight. It is powered by four 15,000 HP Kuznetsov NK-12 turboprop engines.
1970 – Hawker begins buying back surplus Hawker Hunters from the Royal Air Force to remanufacture for new customers.
1993 – The USAF begins supply drops into Bosnia

February 28
In 1907… Cabinet-maker Charles Voisin begins tests of the airplane made by his company for Lèon Delagrange. He takes off for a hop of several feet, but the fuselage breaks up.
In 1918… Regulation of the airways begins as US President Woodrow Wilson issues an order requiring licenses for civilian pilots and owners. Over 800 licenses are issued.
In 1929… An amendment to the Air Commerce Act, effective in June, provides for the federal licensing of flying schools.
2005 – 28-March 3 – Steve Fossett completes the first solo, nonstop, non-refueled aerial circumnavigation of the globe by airplane in a jet-propelled airplane specially designed for this event.
1991 – The US calls a ceasefire in Iraq, with airpower having neutralized practically all of the country’s ability to make war.

March 1
In 1912… Capt. Albert Berry makes the first parachute descent from a powered airplane in America when he jumps from a Benoist aircraft that is being flown by the company pilot, Anthony Jannus. The aircraft is flying at a height of 1,500 ft. over Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri, and Berry uses a static line parachute.
1919 – German airline Deutsche Luft-Reederei (DLR) begins scheduled flights to Hamburg.
1919 – An airmail service begins Folkestone and Cologne
In 1925… Ryan Airlines begins the first regularly scheduled passenger airline service flown within the mainland United States. The service runs between Los Angeles and San Diego.
1926 – Four Royal Air Force Fairey IIIDs begin a long-distance flight, taking them from Cairo to Cape Town and then on to Lee-on-Solent, England, where they will arrive on June 2
In 1928… An airmail route between France and Chile is opened with a fast sea link between Dakar, Senegal and Natal, Brazil.
In 1933… U.S. Air Commerce Regulations are amended to increase the flying time required for a pilot’s license from 10 hours to 50 hours.
1941 – New Zealand’s first fighter squadron, No. 485 Squadron RNZAF is formed.
1945 – First vertical take-off manned rocket flight by Lothar Sieber in a Bachem Ba 349
1956 – The International Air Transport Association finalizes a draft of the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet for the International Civil Aviation Organization.
1962 – American Airlines Flight 1 crashes on take off in New York.
1966 – Venera 3 Soviet space probe crashes on Venus becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet’s surface.
In 1962… Los Angeles Airways sets up the world’s first commercial service using turbine-powered, multi-engine helicopters, the Sikorsky S-621L, which could accommodate up to 28 passengers.

March 2
In 1918… Lloyd Andrews Hamilton becomes the first American to receive a commission in the British Royal Flying Corps when he is assigned as lieutenant with No. 3 squadron in France.
In 1932… The 20-months-old son of aviator Charles Lindbergh has been kidnapped from the family’s home in Hopewell, New Jersey.
In 1949… Commanded by Capt. James G. Gallagher, the crew of 14 aboard the Strategic Air Command B-50A Lucky Lady II of the Forty-third Bombardment Group, USAF, completes the first nonstop round-the-world flight of 94 hours 1 minute. Flying a distance of 23,452 miles the B-50A is refueled four times by KB-29 tankers before landing back at Carswell AFB, Texas.
1965 – Operation Rolling Thunder begins, a massive air campaign against North Vietnam by the US
In 1969… After a lengthy succession of taxi and runway tests, the first prototype Concorde 001 (F-WTSS) makes its first flight, with Andre Turcat at the controls. The flight lasts 29 minutes.
1972 – The Pioneer 10 space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets.
1998 – Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter’s moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.
1949 – Captain James Gallagher lands his B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II in Fort Worth, Texas after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight in 94 hours and one minute.
1981 – Japan Air Lines is the first airline to use a computerised flight simulator to train its crews

March 3
In 1911… With Capt. Benjamin D. Foulois navigating a course and Phillip Parmelee at the controls, the Wright Type B on loan from Robert F. Collier sets an official U.S. cross-country record from Laredo to Eagle Pass, Texas. It flies the 106 miles in 2 hours 10 minutes.
In 1919… Airplane builder William E. Boeing and Eddie Hubbard of Hubbard Air Service make the first international airmail flight from Seattle, Washington to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
In 1950… Australian Quantas inaugurates a passenger service from Sydney to Tokyo.
In 1960… The longest nonstop flight ever made by a Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft is completed when a Vickers Valiant B.Mk.1 (serial no.XD858) piloted by Sqdn. Ldr. J. H. Garstin flies around the British Isles for a total distance of 8,500 miles aided by two inflight refuelings.
1972 – Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 crashes as a result of a control malfunction and insufficient training in emergency procedures.
In 1974… In the world’s worst air disaster, a DC-10-10 of Turkish Airlines loses an aft cargo door after taking off from Paris en route to London, resulting in a complete loss of control. The aircraft crashes, killing 346 passengers and crew. This is the second time a cargo bay door has been lost from aircraft of this type. As a result, a latch modification becomes mandatory.
2005 – Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane non-stop around the world solo without refueling.

March 4
In 1909… President William Howard Taft approves Congressional Gold Medals for the Wright brothers.
In 1936… The last great passenger-carrying airship, a veritable behemoth in its day, takes to the air for the first time. The German dirigible LZ 129, the Hindenburg, is powered by four 1,320-hp Daimler-Benz DB 602 diesel engines. The Hindenburg makes its first Atlantic crossing in the record time of 64 hours 53 minutes on May 6.
In 1948… The first American civilian to fly at supersonic speeds is Herbert Henry Hoover in Bell X-1 in Muroc, California.
1957 – 4-15 – a US Navy airship sets a duration record for a non-rigid airship, traveling 9,448 miles (15,205 km) in 264 hours 12 minutes
1994 – Space shuttle STS-62 (Columbia 16) launches into orbit.
2006 – Final contact attempt with Pioneer 10 by the Deep Space Network. No response is received.

March 5
In 1912… Bob Fowler flies from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, Florida. The west to east coast-to-coast journey has taken four months to complete.
In 1923… The great aeronautical pioneer Igor Sikorsky sets up the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corp. in the United States with the financial help of several important leading figures, including Sergey Rachmaninoff. Sikorsky left Russia in 1917 when revolution threatened his work and his life.
1943 – First flight of Gloster Meteor jet aircraft in the United Kingdom.
1958 – The Explorer 2 spacecraft launches and fails to reach Earth orbit.
In 1962… A Convair B-58 (serial no. 59-2458) of the Forty-third Bombardment Wing breaks three records during a round trip between New York and Los Angeles in 4 hours 41 minutes 14.98 seconds. The fastest trans-continental crossing between Los Angeles and New York is accomplished in 2 hours 58.71 seconds at an average speed of 1,214.65 mph. The third record notches the fastest time between New York and Los Angeles.
1976 – The last flight of the second Concorde prototype aircraft to the Fleet Air Arm Museum at the Royal Naval Air Station, Yeovilton,England.
2005 – Steve Fossett completes the first non-stop, solo circumnavigation of the world in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, completing the trip in 67 hours and 2 minutes

Welcome to Aviation History this week,brought to you by FlightRadio.com, for the week of December 5th through the 11th. Here’s Mike Dell, Your host.

December 5
In 1909… George Taylor makes the first manned glider flight in Australia in a glider of his own design. He eventually makes a total of 29 flights at Narrabeen Beach in New South Wales.

In 1921… Western Australia Airways opens the first scheduled regular airline service in the country.

December 6

In 1960… The first flight of the Sikorsky S-61L helicopter is made in the United States. It serves as a transport craft as well as patrol, rescue, and even anti-submarine duty.

1966 - the West German Luftwaffe grounds its fleet of F-104s to investigate continuing accidents with the type.

In 1975… The first airmail flight by a supersonic aircraft is made by the Tupolev Tu-144, carrying mail between Moscow and Alma Ata, within the U.S.S.R.

December 7

1941 - the Imperial Japanese Navy makes a devastatingly successful surprise attack on the US Navy fleet at Pearl Harbor. Six aircraft carriers launched a total of nearly 400 warplanes which claimed five US battleships and ten other vessels, and damaged three other battleships. The US declares war on Japan.

In 1945… New Zealand National Airways Corporation is founded with amalgamation of Union Airways, Air Travel and Cook Strait Airways.

In 1980… Pan Am’s Boeing 747 China Clipper arrives in Peking from New York via Tokyo to complete the first official flight between China and USA since shortly before 1949.

1990 - an Alaskan Airlines Boeing 727 takes off from Seattle International Airport in visibility of only 500 ft (152 m), the lowest for any airliner takeoff in the US.

Page 2

December 8

In 1938… Germany officially launches its first aircraft carrier, the 280-foot by 89-foot Graf Zeppelin.

In 1940… The New York City experiences its first blackout and anti-aircraft exercise, around the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

In 1964… A United Lines Caravelle makes the first landing in the USA completely controlled by computer (automatic touchdown).

December 9

In 1904… The Wright brothers discontinue trials with Flyer II after completing 105 tests and 80 brief flights since they began flying the new machine in May.

In 1909… American Dr. Henry W. Walden makes the first flight with his triplane known as the Walden III. It is powered by a three-cylinder, 22-HP Anzani engine and takes off from Mineola, Long Island, N.Y.

1946 - The Bell X-1 makes its first powered flight at Muroc Army Air Field.

1950 - RAAF Gloster Meteors replace the P-51s of 77 Sqn. in Korea

1983 - Delta Air Lines receives the 1,000th production Boeing 737 at Boeing’s headquarters.

2002 - United Airlines files for Chapter 11 reorganization, the largest airline bankruptcy in US history.

December 10

In 1919… Capts. Ross Smith and Keith Smith become the first Australians to fly directly between Great Britain and Australia, a distance of 11,340 mi., after flying 135 hr. 55 min. at an average speed of 83 MPH.

1955 - The Ryan X-13 Vertijet makes its first flight at Edwards Air Force Base.

1998 - Captain Michael VandenBos of the Snowbirds aerobatic team dies in a midair collision between two CT-114 Tutors during training near Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

Page 3

2004 – The United States Federal Aviation Administration issues an Emergency Airworthiness Directive effectively grounding the entire U.S. fleet of Beechcraft T-34 Mentor aircraft. The AD is in response to fatal in-flight structural failure accidents during simulated aerial combat flights.

2004 - Two CT-114 Tutors from Canada’s Snowbirds aerobatic team collide while training near Mossbank, Saskatchewan. Captain Miles Selby is killed and Captain Chuck Mallet is injured.

December 11

In 1917… Katherine Stinson flies 606 miles from San Diego to San Francisco, setting a new American non-stop distance record.

1967 - The SST prototype of the Concorde is first shown in France.

1978 - 6 masked men bind 10 employees at Lufthansa cargo area at John F. Kennedy International Airport, escaping with US$5.8 million in cash & jewellery.

1981 - Spacelab 1 arrives at the Kennedy Space Center.

That will do it for Aviation History this week.

Thanks for listening!

If you have any comments, questions, corrections or any future historical events I should know about, please email me at mike@mikedell.com

Aviation history this Week is brought to you by FlightRadio.com and is part of the Tech Podcast Network. If it’s tech, even old tech, it’s here.

Today, I have a the audio from a 1945 film by the US Army Air Forces Film unit.

Wings for this man which is about the Tuskegee Airmen voiced by someone you might have heard of.

Enjoy.

I will have this weeks History podcast later this week.

Catch me later!
-Mike

Welcome to Aviation History this week for the week of November 21st though the November 27th

I’m Mike Dell, Your host.

Aviation history this Week is brought to you by FlightRadio.com and is part of the Tech Podcast Network. If it’s tech, it’s here.

November 21

1783 - in a flight lasting 25 minutes, The 1st free or untethered human flight takes place when Jean Francois Pilatre de Rozier flies as high as 500 feet and travels 5 miles over Paris in a Montgolfier hot-air balloon.

1914 - Three RNAS Avro 504s bomb the Zeppelin sheds at Friedrichshafen.

1917 - 21-24 – the Zeppelin LZ59 makes a 6,757 km journey through Africa in 96 hours (average speed 71 km/h).

1970 - US aircraft begin the first major bombing campaign of North Vietnam since 1968. 300 aircraft attack the Mu Gia and Ban Gari passes.

1981 - Aeroflot is banned from flying to the United States, after an earlier Aeroflot flight that overflew American military installations, straying from its supposed flight path.

1989 - a British Airways Boeing 747 narrowly misses crashing into the Penta hotel near Heathrow Airport

November 22
1909… Wright Company is incorporated with a capital stock of $1,000,000. Formed to manufacture airplanes, the company’s president is Wilbur Wright and his brother Orville is the vice president.

1935 - Pan Am commences the first trans-Pacific airmail service, flying a Martin M.130 from San Francisco to Manila, via Honolulu, Midway Island, Wake Island, and Guam.

November 23
1916 - British ace Lanoe Hawker is shot down by Manfred von Richthofen

1942… Dubbed “Flying Flapjack,” the most radical conventionally-engined aircraft ever built makes its 1st flight when Chance Vought test pilot, Boone T. Guyton, takes the V-173 into the air.

In 1947… The Convair XC-99 (serial no. 43-52436) makes its first flight, piloted by Russell R. Rogers. (F&F)

1985 - EgyptAir Flight 648 is hijacked after take-off from Athens, and comandeered to Cairo. The next day, Egyptian forces storm the plane that was hijacked, starting a gun battle with the hijackers. 60 people die in the cross-fire
In 1989… An Airbus A310-300 opens Air France’s new direct Lyon/New York service.

Page 2
November 24

1924 - a KLM Fokker F.VII makes the first flight from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies, taking 127 hours 16 minutes.

1939 - British Overseas Airways Corporation was formedby the merger of Imperial Airways and the original British Airways.

In 1955… The prototype Fokker F.27 Friendship medium-range twin-turboprop transport flies for the 1st time.

1971: On the night before Thanksgiving in 1971, a man identifying himself as Dan Cooper (later know as DB Cooper) boarded a flight from Portland, Ore. to Seattle and passed a note to the flight attendant that he had a bomb. His demands for $200,000 cash and two sets of parachutes were granted when the plane landed in Seattle.
The Cooper case has baffled government and private investigators for decades, with countless leads turning into dead ends. As late as March 2008, the F.B.I. thought it might have had a breakthrough when children unearthed a parachute within the bounds of Cooper’s probable jump site near the town of Amboy, Washington. Experts later determined that it did not belong to the hijacker.
Despite the case’s enduring lack of evidence, a few significant clues have arisen. In late 1978 a placard containing instructions on how to lower the aft stairs of a 727, later confirmed to be from the rear stairway of the plane from which Cooper jumped, was found just a few flying minutes north of Cooper’s projected drop zone. In February 1980 on the banks of the Columbia River, eight-year-old Brian Ingram found $5,880 in decaying $20 bills, which proved to be part of the original ransom

November 25
1940 - First flight of the prototype de Havilland dh 98 Mosquito 

1956… U.S. Air Force Sergeant Richard Patton makes the 1st successful parachute jump in Antarctica. He jumps from 1,500 feet as a test to determine the cause of parachute malfunction in sub-zero weather conditions.

1961 - the USS Enterprise (no, not that one geeks!) US Navy’s first nuclear powered aircraft carrier,  is commissioned

Page 3
November 26
1964 - Belgian paratroops are dropped into Congo by the US Air Force

1987 - a DC-9 of Continental Airlines crashes in Denver, Colorado on take-off during a snowstorm. 26 die and 56 are injured.

2003 - the last “retirement” Concorde flight

November 27
1912… The aeronautical division of the US Army Signal Corps receives the 1st “flying boat”, a Curtiss Model F, capable of takeoff from water.

1929 - Richard Byrd and crew make the first flight over the South Pole in a Ford Trimotor

That will do it for Aviation History this week brought to you by FlightRadio.com

Thanks for listening!

If you have any comments, questions, corrections or any future historical events I should know about, please email me at mike@mikedell.com

Catch you later!

Aviation History This Week is a proud member of the Tech Podcast Network – If it’s tech (even old tech) it’s here!

Welcome to Aviation History this week for the week of October 31st though the November 6th I’m Mike Dell, Your host.

Aviation history this Week is brought to you by FlightRadio.com and is part of the Tech Podcast Network. If it’s tech, it’s here.

October 31st.

1933 - Air France is founded.
1956 - a US Navy R4D Skytrain is the first aircraft to land at the South Pole
1959 - Colonel G. Mosolov sets a new airspeed record of 2,387 km/h (1,483 mph) in the Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-66
1960 - BEA retires its last piston-engined airliners.
1972 - Two pilots are killed in the crash of a Dassault Falcon 10 prototype.
1987 - British Airways accepts the airline’s first women pilots.
1990 - the Australian airline industry is deregulated. Airlines are allowed to select their own routes and set their own fares

November 1st

1911 - 2nd Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti of the Italian Air Flotilla drops several small bombs on Turkish troops during the Italo-Turkish War. This was the first time bombs had been dropped from an aeroplane in war.

1920 - the US Post Office awards a contract for international air mail to Aeromarine West Indies Airways.

1950 - Lt Khominich Semen Fedorovich shoots down a F-80 Shooting Star from his MiG-15, the first victory by a jet over another jet.

1980 - British Airways terminates Concorde services to Bahrain and Singapore

1984 - British Airways and some other international airlines begin relief flights carrying food and supplies to Ethiopia.

November 2nd

1922 - QANTAS begins its first scheduled flights, between Charleville, Queensland and Cloncurry, Queensland.

1931 - US Marine Corps squadrons VS-15M and VS-14M embark on USS Lexington and USS Saratoga, the first time Marine Corps squadrons are assigned to aircraft carriers.

1954 - the VTOL Convair XFY transitions from vertical to horizontal flight and back.

November 3rd

1909 - Alec Ogilvie patents the first airspeed indicator.

1944 - the first Japanese Fu-Go balloon bombs are launched against the United States. A fire balloon, balloon bomb (Japanese: 風船爆弾 fūsen bakudan, literally “balloon bomb”), or Fu-Go was an experimental weapon launched by Japan during World War II. A hydrogen balloon with a load varying from a 12-kilogram (26 lb) incendiary to one 15 kg (33 lb) antipersonnel bomb and four 5 kg (11 lb) incendiary devicesattached, they were designed as a cheap weapon intended to make use of the jet stream over the Pacific Ocean and wreak havoc on Canadian and American cities, forests, and farmland.
The balloons were relatively ineffective as weapons but were used in one of the few attacks on North America during World War II.
Between November 1944 and April 1945, Japan launched over 9000 fire balloons. About 300 balloon bombs were found or observed in North America, killing six people and causing a small amount of damage.[1]

November 4th

1894 - German meteorologist Berson climbs up with an airship to 9,155 m. (around 30,000 ft.)

1909 - John Moore-Brabazon makes the first live cargo flight by airplane when he puts a small pig in a waste-paper basket tied to a wing-strut of his airplane.

1964 - First ever automatic blind landing by a passenger aircraft when a British European Airways Hawker Siddeley Trident landed in dense fog

1982 - Pan Am inaugurates service from Los Angeles to Sydney; at 7,487 non-stop miles (11,979 km), it is the longest non-stop flight in the world.

November 5th

In 1910… The Willows airship N° 3 City of Cardiff arrives after the 1st dirigible flight across the English Channel, flying from London in 10 hours and 30 minutes.

1911 - Calbraith Rodgers completes the first coast-to-coast airplane flight across the USA in the Vin Fiz Flyer - taking 49 days, with several crashes en-route.

1921 - Curtiss test pilot Bert Acosta wins the Pulitzer Trophy in a Curtiss CR-2 and establishes a new closed-circuit airspeed record of 284.36 km/h (176.7 mph).

1940 - four RAF squadrons are deployed to Greece to support the country against Italian attacks.

November 6th

1915 - A Curtiss AB-2 piloted by Lt Cdr Henry Mustin is catapulted from the deck of USS North Carolina while the ship is underway.

In 1945… The 1st jet plane to land on an aircraft carrier is a Ryan FR-1 piloted by U.S. Navy Ensign Jake West. (OTM)

1986 - Sumburgh disaster, a British International Helicopters Boeing 234LR Chinook crashes in the Shetland Isles, killing 45 people. It is history’s worst civlian helicopter disaster.

2002 - National Airlines, already operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, permanently ceases operations

That will do it for Aviation History this week.

Thanks for listening!

If you have any comments, questions, corrections or any future historical events I should know about, please email me at mike@mikedell.com

Catch you later!

Welcome to Aviation History this week for the week of October 24th though the 30th I’m Mike Dell, Your host.

Aviation history this Week is brought to you by FlightRadio.com and is part of the Tech Podcast Network. If it’s tech, it’s here.

October 24
In 1912… Harry Hawker wins the British Empire Michelin Cup for endurance. He flies for over 8 hours in a Burgess-Wright airplane. Harry Hawker went on to co-found Hawker Aircraft, the firm that would later be responsible for a long series of successful military aircraft, including the Fury, Sea Fury, Hurricane, Hunter and Harrier. Hawker Aircraft is now part of Raytheon Inc. along with Beachcraft aircraft.
1919 - Frank Piasecki is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Piasecki becomes the second man in the United States to fly a helicopter in 1943. Piasecki’s company develops many of the world’s most successful tandem rotor helicopters including the H-21 Shawnee, CH-46 Sea Knight and CH-47 Chinook.
1947 - United Airlines Flight 608 DC-6 (NC37510) en route to Chicago from Los Angeles caught fire and then crashed while attempting an emergency landing at the Bryce Canyon, Utah airport.
1962 - aircraft carriers USS Enterprise, USS Independence, USS Essex, and USS Randolph take part in blockading Cuba.
2003, the Concorde makes its last scheduled commercial flight.

October 25
1930 - TWA (originally “Transcontinental and Western Air”) begins the first regular passenger flights between New York and Los Angeles
1944 - the first kamikaze mission is carried out, with aircraft of the 201st Kokutai sinking the carrier USS St Lo.
1951 - Japan Airlines flies its first flights, using three Northwest Airlines Martin 2-0-2 aircraft, flown by Northwest crews

October 26
In 1907… Henry Farman flies his Voisin Farman I flying machine just under 2,530 feet, breaking the world distance record.
1922 - the first landing is made on USS Langley by Lt Cdr Geoffrey DeChevalier in a Aeromarine 39
1925 - Schneider Trophy race flown at Baltimore, USA. Won by Jimmy Doolittle (USA) in a Curtiss R3C at 374.2 km/h (232.6 mph).
1962 - the last B-52 off the production line is delivered to the US Air Force
1977 - 26-31 – a Pan Am Boeing 747SP circumnavigates the world over the two poles
1983 - Pan Am celebrates the 25th anniversary of their first Boeing 707 with a 707 flight from JFK International Airport to Paris

October 27
In 1909… Mrs. Ralph van Denman flies for four minutes with Wilbur Wright at College Park, Maryland, becoming the U.S.’s 1st female passenger.
1962, in flight from McCoy AFB, a U-2 was shot down over Cuba by two SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missiles, killing the pilot, Major Rudolf Anderson, Jr.[13] Anderson was posthumously awarded the first Air Force Cross.

October 28
In 1914… Aviators in Melbourne form an Australian Aero Club.
1982 - The last Air France Boeing 707 flew, from Tunis to Paris.

October 29
1901 - the Royal Aero Club of Great Britain is established.
In 1917… An American-built DH-4 flies for the 1st time.

October 30
In 1908… Henry Farman performs the 1st cross-country flight in Europe as well as the 1st flight between two towns.
In 1909… Claude Moore-Brabazon wins a £1,000 prize offered by the Daily Mail for a circular flight of one mile.
1978 - the Indian government approves the purchase of the SEPECAT Jaguar for the Indian Air Force
1979 – Sir Barnes Wallis Dies. Wallis was an English scientist, engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the RAF in Operation Chastise (the “Dambusters” raid) to attack the dams of the Ruhr Valley during World War II. The raid was the subject of the 1954 film The Dam Busters, in which Wallis was played by Michael Redgrave. Among his other inventions were the geodesic airframe and the earthquake bomb.

That will do it for Aviation History this week.

Thanks for listening!

If you have any comments, questions, corrections or any future historical events I should know about, please email me at mike@mikedell.com

Catch you later!

Welcome to Aviation History this week for the week of October 17th thought the 23rd
I’m Mike Dell, Your host.
Aviation history this Week is brought to you by FlightRadio.com and is part of the Tech Podcast Network. If it’s tech, it’s here.

October 17
In 1922… Lieutenant V.C. Griffin, in a Vought VE-7SF airplane, achieves the 1st take-off from the USS Langley, America’s 1st operational aircraft carrier.
1977 – Four days after it was hijacked, Lufthansa Flight 181 lands in Mogadishu, Somalia, where a team of German commandos later rescues all remaining hostages on board.

October 18
In 1909… Charles Comte de Lambert, Wilbur Wright’s 1st aviation student, flies around the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
1967 – The Soviet probe Venera 4 reaches Venus and becomes the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet.

October 19
In 1968… USAF test pilot Major William “Pete” Knight wins the Harmon international aviator’s trophy for “exceptional individual piloting performance”. Knight joined the United States Air Force in 1951. While only a Second Lieutenant, he flew an F-89 at the National Air Show in 1954 and won the Allison Jet Trophy.
Starting in 1958, Knight served as a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base. He was a project test pilot for the F-100, F-101 Voodoo, F-104 Starfighter and later, T-38 and F-5 test programs. In 1960, he was one of six test pilots selected to fly the X-20 Dyna-Soar, which was slated to become the first winged orbital space vehicle capable of lifting reentries and conventional landings. After the X-20 program was canceled in 1963, he completed the astronaut training curriculum at Edwards AFB and was selected to fly the North American X-15.
He had more than his share of eventful flights in the X-15. While climbing through 107,000 feet at Mach 4.17 on June 29, 1967, he suffered a total electrical failure and all onboard systems shut down. After arching over at 173,000 feet, he calmly set up a visual approach and, resorting to old-fashioned “seat-of-the-pants” flying, he glided down to a safe emergency landing at Mud Lake, Nevada. For his remarkable feat of airmanship that day, he earned a Distinguished Flying Cross.
On October 3, 1967, Knight set a world aircraft speed record for manned aircraft by piloting the X-15A-2 to 4,520 mph (7,274 km/h) (Mach 6.72), a record that still stands today. During 16 flights in the aircraft, Knight also became one of only five pilots to earn their astronaut wings by flying an airplane in space, reaching an altitude of 280,500 feet.
After nearly ten years of test flying at Edwards AFB, he went to Southeast Asia in 1968 where he completed a total of 253 combat sorties in the F-100. Following his combat tour, he served as test director during development of the F-15 Eagle atWright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. He also was the Program Director for the International Fighter (F-5) Program at Wright-Patterson. In 1979, he returned to Edwards AFB, and served as a test pilot for the F-16 Fighting Falcon. After 32 years of service and more than 6,000 hours in the cockpits of more than 100 different aircraft, he retired from the USAF as a Colonel in 1982.
In honor of his achievements, Knight was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor with the inaugural class of 1990. Also, the Scaled Composites White Knightspacecraft launch plane was named after Knight and fellow X-15 pilot Robert White.

October 20
In 1920… Flying his Nieuport Delage, Sadi Lecointe set a world speed record flying at 187.99-mph.
1953 - a TWA Lockheed Constellation makes the first non-stop, scheduled passenger flight across the United States
1969 - Finnair introduces an inertial navigation system on its aircraft, becoming the first airline to dispense with the need for a navigator aboard.
1980 - first dog fight of the Iran-Iraq War. An Iraqi  MiG-21 was shot down by Iranian F-4 Phantom

October 21
In 1929… The Colonial Flying Service and Scully Walton Ambulance Company organize the United State’s 1st civilian air ambulance service.
1986 - British Airways is offered for public sale by the British government

October 22
In 1797… The modern parachute is born as Andre-Jacques Garnerin makes the 1st human parachute descent from the air. Garnerin jumps from a hydrogen balloon at a height of 2,300 feet over Paris.
In 1898… Augustus Herring pilots a powered biplane based on Octave Chanute’s glider design.
1912 - Australian Flying Corps formed.

October 23
In 1906… Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos Dumont makes the 1st sustained airplane flight in Europe in his own airplane.
1934 - Francesco Agello sets a new airspeed record in the Macchi MC.72, of 709 km/h (440 mph).
1987 - the last F-104 Starfighter is phased out of Luftwaffe service

Welcome to all new, Aviation History This Week for the week of October 10th though the 16th.

Aviation history this week is brought to you by FlightRadio.com and is part of the Tech Podcast Network. If it’s Tech, it’s here!

Now on with the history..

October 10th
In 1898… Augustus Herring pilots a powered biplane based on Octave Chanute’s glider design.

In 1907… Robert Esnault-Pelterie makes the 1st airplane flight with a control stick, using a single, broom handle-like lever.

On October 10, 1933, a Boeing 247 propliner operated by United Air Lines and registered as NC13304, crashed near Chesterton, Indiana. The transcontinental flight, carrying three crew and four passengers, had originated in Newark, New Jersey, with its final destination in Oakland, California. It had already landed inCleveland and was headed to its next stop in Chicago, but exploded en route. All aboard died in the crash, which was proven to have been deliberately caused by an on-board explosive device.
Eyewitnesses on the ground reported hearing an explosion shortly after 9 p.m., and told of seeing the plane in flames at an altitude of about 1,000 feet. A second explosion followed after the plane crashed. The crash scene was adjacent to a gravel road about five miles outside of Chesterton, centered in a wooded area on the Jackson Township farm of James Smiley.
Investigators who combed through the debris were confronted with unusual evidence: The toilet and baggage compartment had been smashed into fragments. Shards of metal riddled the inside of the toilet door while the other side was free of the metal fragments. The tail section had been severed just aft of the toilet and was found mostly intact almost a mile away from the main wreckage. Investigators found evidence of a bomb that was set off in the toilet
Despite the efforts of the investigators, no suspect has ever been identified or charged in this incident, and it remains unsolved.
This is thought to be the first proven act of air sabotage in the history of commercial aviation.[6] One of the air crew killed was the flight attendant, Alice Scribner, 26, of Chicago. Scribner, a trained nurse, was in her first month on the job, She was the first United flight attendant to be killed in a plane crash

Page 2

October 11
In 1910… President Teddy Roosevelt becomes the 1st US president to fly when he is taken up in St. Louis.

October 12
In 1976… The NASA/U.S. Army rotor systems research aircraft produced by Sikorsky as the S-72 makes its first flight.

October 13
In 1931… Canadian pilot Godfrey Dean performs the 1st loop in an autogyro, at Willow Field, near Philadelphia.

1972 – An Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-62 crashed outside Moscow killing 176.

1972 – Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashes in the Andes mountains, near the border between Argentina and Chile. By December 23, 1972, only 16 out of 45 people lived long enough to be rescued.

1976 – A Bolivian Boeing 707 cargo jet crashes in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, killing 100 (97, mostly children, killed on the ground).

October 14
1910 – The English aviator Claude Grahame-White lands his Farman Aircraft biplane on Executive Avenue near the White House in Washington, D.C.

1938 – The first flight of the Curtiss Aircraft Company’s P-40 Warhawk fighter plane.

In 1947… Captain Charles “Chuck” Yeager becomes the 1st person to fly faster than sound. Yeager “breaks the sound barrier” in his Bell X-1 airplane, Glamorous Glennis, named after his wife. He was able to reach 670-mph or Mach 1.015 at Muroc Dry Lake, California.

1968 – The first live telecast from any manned spacecraft, the Apollo 7, was launched by the NASA from Florida.

Page 3
October 15

In 1783… The 1st man to ascend in a tethered balloon is French scientist Jean Pilatre de Rozier. His hot-air Montgolfier balloon ascends to 84 feet – the length of the rope holding the balloon.

In 1913… Lieutenant Ronin makes the 1st official airmail flight in France.

In 1927… Captain Dieudonne´ lands in Brazil becoming the 1st person to fly non-stop across the South Atlantic. The 2100-mile flight takes just over 18 hours.

In 1939… New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia dedicates an airport in Flushing bearing his name. La Guardia airport was the costliest to build at the time, $45 million.

2001 – NASA’s Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter’s moon Io.

October 16

In 1908… Samuel Cody becomes the 1st man to fly in Britain. Flying the British Army Aeroplane No 1, Cody flies for 1,391 feet before crashing.

In 1909… German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin forms the world’s 1st commercial airline.

In 1910… The 1st airship crossing of the English Channel is made by the French-built dirgible Cle´ment-Bayard II. The 244-mile route was completed in 6 hours.

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

Just a quick update on my podcasting this last week and what’s up this week.

-Mike

Just a quick post to announce that Today in Aviation History (now Aviation History this week) will be starting up in this space soon.

Stay tuned and if you would like to subscribe to this new podcast, put this into iTunes or your other favorite RSS reader / Pod-catcher : http://flightradio.com/feed/podcast/

See you soon!

-Mike (host of Aviation History this week)

April 1

In 1904… Using a glider imperfectly modeled by Ernest Archdeacon on an outdated Wright design, artillery captain Ferdinand Ferber launched himself into a short hop from a massive dune in Normandy, France.

1911 – The first flying unit of the British Military, the Air Battalion Royal Engineers formed.

1918 – the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service combine to form the Royal Air Force. The Women’s Royal Air Force is formed at the same time.

In 1921… French pilot Adrienne Bollard takes off from Mendoza, Argentina in a Cauldron biplane to become the first woman to fly over the Andes. She completes the historic Andean crossing to the Chilean capital, Santiago in 10 hours.

1924 – The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.

1953 – BEA and Air France introduce “tourist class” fares

1954 – Last operational flight by an RAF Spitfire, a photo-reconnaissance sortie against bandits in Malaya

1955 – post-World War II bans on powered flight in West Germany are lifted

1972 – BOAC and BEA are merged to create British Airways

In 1976… Lufthansa’s first two Airbus A300Bs enter service. They will fly between Frankfurt and Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart and London.

1978 – The Canadian Snowbirds aerobatic team officially becomes the 431 Air Demonstration Squadron

1982 – Air France flies the Concorde over to Rio de Janeiro and Caracas, Venezuela for the last time.

1993 – Queen Elizabeth II of England reviews 70 Royal Air Force aircraft on the ground in celebration of the air force’s 75th anniversary. A mass flypast is cancelled due to poor weather.

2063 – Zefram Cochrane (The Great Great Grandson of the World Famous Tech Podcaster Todd Cochrane) makes the first human warp flight with the Phoenix. This attracts the Vulcans and they make first contact with humans.

2161 – The United Federation of Planets is founded by Earth, Tellar, Andoria, and Vulcan

2343 – The Galaxy class Starship development project is officially given the greenlight by Starfleet Command.

That’s what happened today in Aviation and space history on April fools day! See you tomorrow!

March 30

1918 – Alan Jerrard VC, British ace (7 victories) is shot down by Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg and taken captive

In 1928… A resident of Zehden, Germany, Samuel Schwartz, asks German airline Deutsche Luft Hansa (DLH) for rent for the airspace above his house, citing law that says his rights extend to the “space above and the ground beneath” his property.

Also In 1928… The Federal Aeronautique Internationale (FAI)-ratified world speed record is pushed through 300 mph for the first time. Flying a specially adapted Macchi M-52bis seaplane, Italian Maj. Mario de Bernardi achieves a speed of 512.69 km/h (318.64 mph). This is an increase of 20.81 mph over his previous record.

In 1929… Imperial Airways inaugurates a weekly passenger service from England to India, part of which would have to be taken by rail. For £130 single fare, the trip ends in Karachi seven days after leaving England.

In 1939… Piloted by Hans Dieterle, the Heinkel He 100 seizes the absolute world air speed record. He records an average speed of 463.92 mph, adding 70 mph to the previous record. Hermann Wurster held the old record of 379 mph.

1974 – The first Airbus to fly revenue passengers, the A300B2 enters service with Air France.

And that’s what happened today, in aviation history, we will see you later!

As you can see, there has been a lot of changes around here. Mainly, I’ve gotten off the old hand coded FrontPage website and now am using a database driven CMS (WordPress as you might be able to tell).

I’m not done updating the information yet and I have plans to add a lot of more. Please feel free to browse around and let me know if you find anything that needs to be added, corrected or anything else. FlightRadio.com hasn’t really been touched in a few years, but that’s all changing now!

Again, Welcome!

-Mike Dell
mgdell@gmail.com