2012 – The women's international record-holder for number of flight hours logged as a pilot in a lifetime, Evelyn Bryan Johnson, dies at the age of 102. Between her first solo flight on 8 November 1944 and her retirement from flying in the mid-1990s, she had logged 57,635 hours (about 6½ years) in the air, flying about 5,500,000 miles (8,856,683 km). Only one person, Ed Long (1915-1999), had logged more hours (over 65,000, or about 7 years) in the air during a lifetime.[1]
2010 – A Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II from 23rd Wing 75th Fighter Squadron s/n 79-0141 of the US Air Force crashed during take off at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. Pilot ejected safely.
2010 – A Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter of the United States Army made a controlled landing after being hit by enemy fire in Helmand Province . All crewmembers were safely returned to base. Helicopter was intentionally destroyed by international forces.
2009 – YV-1467, a BAe 3201 Jetstream 31, crashes near Útila Airport, 2009Honduras during an illegal drug smuggling flight carrying almost 1,700 kilograms (3,700 lb) of cocaine. One of the three occupants are killed.
1995 – A Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk, 85-0822, callsign Spear 26, from the 49th Fighter Wing, Holloman AFB, New Mexico, crashes 7 miles S of Zuni, New Mexico, while on a training mission. The pilot, Capt. Kenneth W. Levens, 35, of the 9th Fighter Squadron, was killed in the crash. The autopilot apparently disengaged, aircraft enters inverted near-vertical dive, impacts on the Zuni Indian Pueblo in a 70 degree dive with 120 degrees starboard bank at more than 600 mph at 2225 hrs, creating a 30-foot crater. A Kirtland AFB H-60 Blackhawk finds the impact site shortly after 0000 hrs.
1990 – Flight Lieutenants Julie Ann Gibson and Sally Cox become the first female pilots to fly solo in Royal Air Force (RAF) jet aircraft. Both officers flew Jet Provosts as part of their flying training at No.1 Flying Training School, RAF Linton-on-Ouse.
1979 – The US Air Force sends E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft (a military variant of the Boeing 707) to perform surveillance over Yemen, which is in the midst of a civil war.
1972 – Vietnam People's Air Force Shenyang J-6 of the 925th Fighter Regiment, piloted by Nguyen Manh Tung, runs out of fuel after CAP mission, deadsticks from altitude of 1,400 meters, descends too rapidly, and overruns runway at Yen Bai airfield, North Vietnam, overturning and exploding, killing pilot instantly.
1970 – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7969, Article 2020, crashed near Korat RTAFB, Thailand, after a refuelling resulted in a subsonic high-speed stall. Pilot Lawson and RSO Martinez eject safely.
1967 – Northrop M2-F2, NASA 803, during the 16th glide flight, crashes on landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, due to a pilot-induced oscillation coupled with misjudged height and drift. Airframe rolls over six times, footage used for television program "The Six Million Dollar Man". Pilot Bruce Peterson survives. Project is cancelled.
1967 – First (of five) LTV XC-142As, 62-5921, crashes on 149th flight during simulated downed-pilot recovery mission test. Rapid descent from 8,000 feet to avoid ground-fire ends badly when aircraft pitches over violently at low altitude, impacting in heavily wooded, marshy area at Mountain Creek Lake, near Dallas, Texas, killing three crew. Airframe destroyed by impact and post-crash fire. KWF are contract pilot Stuart Madison, co-pilot Charles Jester, and hoist operator John Omvig. Investigation finds cause to be failure of tail propeller control system, causing overspeed condition which generated unexpected and uncontrollable nose-down pitch.
1961 – Air France Flight 406, a Lockheed Starliner, crashes into the Sahara Desert near the Edjele oilfield in Algeria after a bomb goes off on board. All 78 passengers and crew were killed in the crash.
1961 – A Convair B-58 cruises at a speed of 1,302 miles per hour (2,095 km/h) and wins the Blériot trophy, created 30 years ago for the first airplane to maintain a speed of more than 2,000 kilometres per hour (1,200 mph) for more than 30 min in a closed circuit.
1945 – Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Lewiston-based Howard GH-2 Nightingale ambulance, overloaded for runway length, crashes on takeoff from Rangeley, Maine airstrip, killing Lt. Eugene B. Slocum, AMM3C Louis F. Ceurvorst, Pfc. James V. Haney of the USMC and one more unidentified.
1945 – Sighting a Japanese Kawasaki Ki-45 (Allied reporting name “Nick” fighter flying high over Okinawa, U. S. Marine Corps First Lieutenant Robert R, Klingman in a Vought F4U Corsair gives chase for over 185 miles and intercepts the Ki-45 at 38,000 feet (12,000 m). Finding his guns frozen, he climbs well above the Corsair's service ceiling of 41,600 feet (12,700 m) and cuts off the Kawasaki Ki-45′s tail with his propeller in several passes, causing it to crash. He then belly lands safely at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa. He receives the Navy Cross for the action.
1945 – 10 – 11 – The sixth Japanese Kamikaze attack off Okinawa includes 150 kamikazes. They damage two destroyers and the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill (CV-17), which suffers 353 killed, 43 missing, and 264 wounded. One of the most heavily damaged aircraft carriers to survive the war, Bunker Hill is out of service for the rest of World War II.
1942 – The commander of Luftflotte 2, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, reports to Berlin that “the neutralization of Malta is complete, ” marking the end of the heavy German air campaign against the island that had begun the previous December. The same day, the newly arrived Spitfires confront Axis aircraft with a superior force over the island for the first time in months, shooting down 12 German aircraft for the loss of three Spitfires.
1943 – First Curtiss YC-76 Caravan constructed at the Louisville, Kentucky plant, 42-86918, loses tail unit at 1729 hrs. due to lack of "forgotten" securing bolts during test flight, crashes at Okolona, Kentucky, killing three Curtiss test crew, pilot Ed Schubinger, co-pilot John L. "Duke" Trowbridge, and engineer Robert G. Scudder. Miserable attempt at building all-wood cargo design is cancelled by the USAAF on 3 August with only nineteen completed, all grounded by 12 September 1944. Four C-76s at the St. Louis, Missouri plant are granted one-time flight clearance and flown directly to Air Training Command bases for use as instructional airframes.
1943 – First Consolidated XB-32 Dominator, 41-141, crashes on take-off at Lindbergh Field, San Diego, probably from flap failure. Although bomber does not burn when it piles up at end of runway, Consolidated's senior test pilot Dick McMakin is killed. Six others on board injured. This was one of only two twin-finned B-32s (41-142 was the other) - all subsequent had a PB4Y-style single tail.
1941 – At 2305 hrs. Messerschmitt Bf 110D, Werknr 3868, 'VJ+OQ', appears over Eaglesham, Renfrewshire. Pilot bails out and when challenged by David McLean, Head Ploughman of a local farm, as to whether he is German, the man replies in good English; "Yes, I am Hauptmann Alfred Horn. I have an important message for the Duke of Hamilton". Horn is taken to McLean's cottage where McLean's wife makes a pot of tea, but the German requests only a glass of water. Horn has hurt his back and help is summoned. Local Home Guard soldiers arrive and Horn is taken to their headquarters at the Drill Hall, Busby, near Glasgow. Upon questioning by a visiting Royal Observer Corps officer, Major Graham Donald, Horn repeats his request to see the Duke. Donald recognises "Hauptmann Horn" to be none other than Rudolf Hess. The remains of Hess' Messerschmitt Bf 110 are now in the Imperial War Museum.
1941 – Flying via Vichy French-controlled Syria, aircraft of the German Luftwaffe begin to arrive at Mosul, Iraq, to support Iraqi forces against the British under the command of Fliegerführer Irak.
1932 – Sole Lockheed Y1C-12 Vega, 31-405, c/n 158, of the 59th Service Squadron, a Lockheed DL-1 Vega acquired by the Army Air Corps for service tests and evaluation, is moderately damaged at Langley Field, Virginia, while piloted by Thomas D. Ferguson. Aircraft eventually scrapped at Langley Field on 16 May 1935.
1919 – The recently formed Avro Transport Company in Manchester opens Britain's first scheduled air service. A fare of four guineas (£4.20) is being charged for the journey of 50 miles (80 km). The company is using four of Avro 504K aircraft, modified to carry two passengers.
1915 – Death of Denys Corbett Wilson, pioneering Irish aviator, Killed with his observer during a reconnaissance mission in a Morane Parasol when their aircraft was struck by an enemy shell.
1911 – First U.S. Army pilot casualty, 2nd Lt. George Edward Maurice Kelly (1878–1911), London-born, and a naturalized United States citizen in 1902, is killed when he banks his Curtiss Type IV (or Curtiss Model D), Army Signal Corps serial number 2, sharply to avoid plowing into an infantry encampment near the present site of Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The Aviation Camp (aka Remount Station) at Fort Sam Houston is renamed Camp Kelly, 11 June 1917, then Kelly Field on 30 July 1917, and finally Kelly AFB on 29 January 1948. Airframe rebuilt, finally grounded in February 1914, refurbished, and placed on display in the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C. Due to this crash, the commanding officer of Fort Sam Houston bans further training flights at the base, the flying facilities being moved to College Park Airport, College Park, Maryland in June–July 1911. A replica of this airframe is preserved at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
^Lamger, Emily, "Obituary: Evelyn Bryan Johnson, 102; 'Mama Bird', a Prolific Pilot, Flew More Hours Than Any Other Woman," The Washington Post, May 14, 2012, p. B4.
