Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/January 21

January 21

• 2010 – Cargolux Flight 7933, operated by Boeing 747-400 LX-OCV struck a vehicle on landing at Luxembourg International Airport. The van suffered major damage and the aircraft sustained a damaged tyre. Three investigations have been launched into the incident.

• 2010 – A Sociedad de Salvamento y Seguridad Marítima AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter fell into the sea off Almería. Three people are missing.

• 2009 – An Indian Air Force HAL HJT-16 Kiran Mk.2 military trainer aircraft from the No. 52 Squadron Surya Kiran (Sun Rays) Aerobatics display team based at the Bidar Air Force Station in Karnataka, India crashed into a field during a routine training exercise killing the pilot.

• 2004 – NASA's Mars Exploration Robot-A (MER-A) Spirit ceases communication from the red-planet because of a flash memory issue. The problem would be fixed two days later remotely from Earth.

• 1999 – Royal Air Force Panavia Tornado GR.1 ZA330, 'B-08', crashed into a Cessna 152 II, G-BPZX near Mattersley Nottinghamshire. In the Air Accident Report 3/2000 the conclusion was none of the pilots saw each other in time to take avoiding action. Both crew of the Tornado, Flight Lieutenant Greg Hurst and Sottotenete Matteo Di Carlo, as well as the pilot and passenger in the Cessna, were killed.

• 1999 – A Nicaraguan Air Force Antonov An-26, 126, c/n 14206, crashes into a mountain near Bluefields, Nicaragua, killing all 28 on board.

• 1996 – Death of Kaj Birksted, WWII Danish Flying ace serving with the RAF.

• 1991 – An Iraqi surface-to-air missile shoots down a U. S. Navy F-14 Tomcat and a United States Army attack helicopter is lost to non-combat causes in the Gulf War. Coalition aircraft have flown more than 4,000 sorties against Iraqi forces since Operation Desert Storm began, targeting command-and-control centers, airfields, and Scud short-range ballistic missile launchers. They now shift their focus to Iraqi positions around Basra and along the Iraq-Kuwait border.

• 1991 – The Soviet Union commissions the “heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser” Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov. A hybrid ship combining the capability of a Western aircraft carrier to operate high-performance fighters for fleet air defense with the heavy shipboard antiship missile armament of Soviet guided-missile cruisers, she is the first Soviet or Russian ship with a full-length flight deck similar to that of Western aircraft carriers and the only such ship ever to be built prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

• 1987 – American triathlete Lois McCallin, in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Michelob Light Eagle human powered aircraft, sets straight-line and closed circuit world distance records and the world duration record for women at 6.83 km (4.25 miles), 15.44 km (9.59 miles) and 37 min 38 seconds respectively.

• 1985 – Galaxy Airlines Flight 203, a Lockheed L-188 Electra, crashes in Reno, Nevada while attempting to return to the airport to troubleshoot a noise, killing 70 of the 71 people on board. It is later discovered that the air start door was not properly secured.

• 1980 – Iran Air Flight 291, a Boeing 727, crashes near Tehran, Iran. The plane hits high ground in a snowstorm during the approach to land; all 128 aboard are killed.

• 1978 – Death of Theodor Hermann Dahlmann, German WWI flying ace, influential aviation administrator before and during WWII.

• 1976 – Introduction: Concorde

• 1974 – Death of Everett Richard Cook, American WWI flying ace, High-ranking officer during WWII and later, one of the Directors of Eastern Airlines.

• 1973 – Death of François Portron, French WWI flying ace.

• 1972 – First flight of the Lockheed S-3 B Viking

• 1968 – 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash: A Boeing B-52G-100-BW Stratofortress, 58-0188, c.n. 4642256, of the 528th Bomb Squadron, 380th Bomb Wing, from Plattsburgh AFB, New York, carrying four hydrogen bombs crashes on the ice seven miles from Thule Air Base, Greenland at 1639 hrs. AST, 1 crew member killed; all four B-28 weapons are consumed in post-crash fire, however one bomb unaccounted for after debris is audited; extensive contamination of site and several relief workers exposed to radiation.] This accident caused the Department of Defense to suspend Operation Chrome Dome, the nuclear airborne alert program of SAC.

• 1963 – First flight of the Fairchild Hiller FH-1100, an American single-engine, single two-bladed rotor, light helicopter

• 1960 – Avianca Flight 671, a Lockheed Constellation, crashes on landing at Sangster International Airport, killing 2 of 7 crew and 35 of 39 passengers on board in Jamaica's worst aviation accident.

• 1960 – Little Joe 1 B, Launch Escape System test of the Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey on board.

• 1960 – Death of John Stanley Chick, British WWI fighter ace, and RAF officer until the end of WWII.

• 1958 – The last Fokker C. X in military service, the Finnish Air Force FK-111 target tower, crashed, killing the pilot and winch-operator.

• 1952 – Second prototype of Arsenal VG 90 turbojet strike fighter design for the Aéronavale, VG-90.02, first flown June 1951, crashes this date killing pilot Claude Dellys.

• 1952 – The Saab 210 experimental delta-winged research aircraft makes its first flight in Sweden.

• 1951 – Lockheed P2V-4 Neptune, of VP-22, deployed to WestPac during the Korean War on 1 November 1950 and based at Naha Air Base, Okinawa, is lost this date due to starboard engine failure during takeoff. The P2V crashed and sank in 20 fathoms of water one mile off the end of the runway. There were 11 survivors and two crewmen were listed as missing (their bodies were later recovered).

• 1951 – The U. S. Air Force F-84 Thunderjet makes its first kill, when F-84 pilot Lieutenant Colonel William E. Bertram shoots down a MiG-15 during the Korean War.

• 1951 – First non-stop unrefuelled transatlantic crossing by a jet is made by an English Electric Canberra.

• 1950 – First flight of the Tupolev Tu-75, a Soviet 4 engine military transport prototype variant of the Tu-4 bomber.

• 1950 – Birth of Joseph Richard "Joe" Tanner, jet pilot, and NASA astronaut.

• 1945 – The British East Indies Fleet aircraft carriers HMS Ameer and HMS Shah support the landings of the 26th Indian Infantry Division on Ramree Island off the coast of Burma.

• 1945 – Task Force 38 aircraft fly 1,164 sorties in strikes on Formosa, the Pescadores, and the Sakishima Gunto, sinking five tankers and five other merchant ships and destroying two Japanese aircraft in the air and 104 on the ground. In Japanese air attacks on the task force, a bomber damages the aircraft carrier USS Langley (CVL-27) and kamikazes damage the carrier USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) and a destroyer; an accidental bomb explosion during a landing accident damages the carrier USS Hancock (CV-19).

• 1944 – Launch of Operation Steinbock (Baby Blitz), nocturnal WWII Luftwaffe offensive against southern England launched primarily for the sake of propaganda and as a measure of retaliation than for any military objective

• 1944 – Death of Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, a German of aristocratic descent and a Luftwaffe WWII night fighter flying ace.

• 1944 – German ace Hauptmann Manfred Meurer is killed when his Heinkel He 219 night fighter collides with a British Lancaster bomber over Magdeburg, Germany. He has 65 kills at the time of his death.

• 1943 – Pan Am Flight 1104, a Martin M-130 nicknamed the Philippine Clipper, crashes into a mountain near Boonville, California, killing all 19 passengers and crew, including Rear-Admiral Robert H. English, commander of the U. S. Pacific Submarine Fleet.

• 1943 – The Combined Chiefs of Staff issue the Casablanca Directive. Its principal aim was to weld RAF and USAAF strategic bomber forces into one mighty air arm able to crush the German industrial, military and economic system.

• 1939 – Imperial Airways Short Empire flying boat Cavalier makes an emergency landing 285 mi southeast of New York due to loss of power and later sinks; 3 of 12 on board die.

• 1938 – First flight of the Potez-CAMS 141 ‘Antares’, a French four engined monoplane long range reconnaissance flying boat prototype.

• 1936 – First flight of the FMA AeC.3G, an Argentinian light utility aircraft, an evolution of the FMA AeC.3, first Argentine aircraft to be equipped with flaps.

• 1931 – First flight of the Vickers Type 161, a British unusual pusher biplane prototype interceptor, designed to attack aircraft from below with a single upward-angle large calibre gun.

• 1930 – First complete airport lighting system online at Calgary airport.

• 1921 – The first triple-triplane aircraft, and the first passenger-carrying aircraft designed to carry more than 100 people that actually got off the ground, is launched at Lake Maggiore, Italy. The flight attempt ends in failure when the 55,000 lb. flying boat nosedives into the lake.

• 1920 – The last Royal Navy balloon ship, HMS Canning, which has operated since December 1916 as a balloon depot ship, is sold.

• 1920 – 10 de Havilland DH-9 are dispatched to form "Z Force", and are used for bombing, strafing and as air ambulances during the RAF first ‘Little War’ against the tribal leader Mohammed bin Abdulla Hassan, the ‘Mad Mullah’, in British Somaliland.

• 1919 – Birth of Eric Melrose "Winkle" Brown, CBE, DSC, AFC RN, British Navy test pilot who has flown more types of aircraft than anyone else in history and holds the world record for aircraft carrier landings.

• 1917 – First flight of the Nielsen & Winther Type AA (also known as the Type Aa), a First single seat Danish designed fighter aircraft

• 1911 – Lieutenant Paul Ward Beck sends the first wireless-telephonic message from an aeroplane, sending a message from a Wright biplane over Selfridge Field in Michigan.

• 1903 – Birth of Maximilien "Max" Conrad, known as the "Flying Grandfather", American record-setting aviator.

• 1900 – Birth of Anselm Franz, pioneering Austrian jet engine engineer known for the development of the Jumo 004, the world’s first mass-produced turbojet engine.

• 1899 – Birth of Leslie Reginald Warren, British WWI flying ace.

• 1899 – Birth of Maurice Michael Freehill, British WWI flying ace.

• 1899 – Birth of Pruett Mullens Dennett, British WWI flying ace.

• 1897 – Birth of Ernest Thomas Morrow, Canadian WWI flying ace.

• 1897 – Birth of Carlo Francesco "Francis" Lombardi, Italian WWI flying ace, Aircraft and Automobile designer who made post war record breaking flights. He formed the Avia aviation company.

• 1896 – Birth of Fritz Thiede, German WWI flying ace, Pilot of Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich who also served in WWII.

• 1893 – Birth of Duerson "Dewey" Knight, American WWI flying ace.

• 1893 – Birth of Trevor Durrant, British WWI flying ace.

• 1885 – Birth of Umberto Nobile, Italian aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer.