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Today in Aviation

2012 – The People's Republic of China conducts its first carrier flight operations with fixed-wing aircraft, when the People's Liberation Army Navy aircraft carrier Liaoning launches and recovers the Shenyang J-15 fighter for the first time.^[1]

2012 – Two military aircraft OV-10 Bronco collide in the air during a demonstration flight near military El Libertador Air Base in the state of Aragua, Venezuela. One of the pilots is killed, guiding the aircraft away from a populated area. Three soldiers are also injured in the crash.

2009 – Italian Air Force Lockheed KC-130 J Hercules MM62176 crashed just after take-off from Galileo Galilei Airport, Pisa. All five crew were killed.

2009 – An Aeronautica Militare Italiana Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules, MM62176, c/n 5497, '46-41', engaged in a training mission crashes on nearby train tracks bordering the Pisa airport, while climbing and performing a left turn immediately after take-off from Galileo Galilei Airport. The aircraft immediately burst into flames, killing its five-member crew.

2002 – Launch: Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-113 at 19:38:25 UTC. Mission highlights: ISS assembly flight 11A: P1 truss, crew rotation, last successful mission before STS-107.

1978 – Royal Navy Hawker-Siddeley/McDonnell-Douglas F-4K Phantom II FG.1, XT598, used for trials installations at HSA Holme and A&AEE, Boscombe Down, then passed to 111 Squadron. Written off on approach to Leuchars this date.

1996 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961, a Boeing 767, is hijacked over Kenya. The aircraft runs out of fuel, and the pilot attempts to ditch the aircraft in the ocean off Moroni, Comoros. Of the 175 people on board, 125 were killed (including the 3 hijackers).

1985 – EgyptAir Flight 648, a Boeing 737, is hijacked by Palestinian militants. Egyptian special forces storm the plane on the island of Malta. The incident kills 58 out of 90 passengers and all but one of the hijackers.

1973 – Argo 16 was the codename of an Italian Air Force C-47 Dakota aircraft, registration MM61832, used by the Italian Secret Service and the Central Intelligence Agency in covert operations. Officially, those operations were limited to electronic surveillance on the Adriatic Sea and interference with the Yugoslavian radar network. The aircraft crashed on 1973 at Marghera, Italy after an improvised explosive device detonated on board. Venetian Judge Carlo Mastelloni determined that the Argo 16 aircraft was used to shuttle trainees and munitions of NATO members between the military bases around Italy: the aircraft had been involved in unclear operations, as the repatriation of terrorists and transport of secret service agents. The explosion and the subsequent crash killed the four operatives on board.

1964 – TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 707, suffers engine failure and crashes at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport, killing 50 of 73 on board; the cause is an inoperative thrust reverser.

1962 – United Airlines Flight 297, a Vickers Viscount 745D, crashes near Ellicott City, Maryland, following a bird strike; all 17 people on board died.

1961 – Aerolíneas Argentinas Flight 322, a de Havilland Comet 4 DH-106 turbojet, crashes in Campinas, Brazil shortly after takeoff, killing all 12 crew and 40 passengers on board.

1953 – USAF pilot 1st Lt. Felix Moncla and radar operator 2nd Lt. Robert L. Wilson take of in a F-89C Scorpion from Kinross Air Force Base, Kincheloe, Michigan investigating an unusual target on radar operators. Wilson had problems tracking the object on the Scorpion's radar, so ground radar operators gave Moncla directions towards the object as he flew. Flying at some 500 miles per hour, Moncla eventually closed in on the object at about 8000 feet in altitude. Ground radar showed both the unidentified craft and the Scorpion suddenly disappearing from screen after intersecting. It is presummed the Scorpion crashed into Lake Superior, though now confirmed traces of the craft or Moncla and Wilson have been found.

1946 – An Avro Lancastrian powered by two Rolls-Royce Merlin piston engines and two Rolls-Royce Nene turbojets returns from Paris to London in just 41 minutes. The flight from London to Paris was made on November 17. The "Nene Lancastrian" only uses its Merlins for takeoff and landing, becoming the first transport aircraft to fly solely on jet power.

1943 – The Deutsche Luftfahrt Sammlung (Berlin Air Museum), at Lehrter Bahnhof, is destroyed in an RAF bombing raid by 383 aircraft:365 Avro Lancaster, 10 Handley Page Halifax, and 8 de Havilland Mosquito bombers. Many exhibited aircraft are destroyed, including the Dornier Do-X, and the Focke-Wulf Cierva C.19a demonstrator, Wrke Nr. 35, D-1960 / D-OBIR. Surviving types are moved E from Berlin where they are discovered post-war. Most of these survivors are now in the Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego w Krakowie, the Polish Aviation Museum, at Kraków, Poland.

1942 – First flight of the Vought XF5U, dubbed “Flying Flapjack, ” the most radical conventionally-engined aircraft ever built makes its first flight when Chance Vought test pilot, Boone T. Guyton, takes the V-173 into the air.

1937 – During the Great Purge, Soviet Air Force commander-in-chief Comandarm Yakov Alksnis is arrested.

1923 – First of only three Bristol Jupiter Fighters, essentially adaptations of the Bristol F.2B airframe converted with 425 hp (317 kW) Bristol Jupiter IV engines and oleo-type undercarriage, crashes due to an engine seizure at high altitude. Second conversion was sold to Sweden in May 1924, and third was converted to a dual-control trainer.

^ Axe, David (November 26, 2012). "China's Aircraft Carrier Successfully Launches Its First Jet Fighters". Wired.co.uk. Retrieved December 2, 2012.

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