2011 – The Syrian government deploys helicopters to Daraa in response to antiregime protests there as violence increases in the Syrian Civil War.[2]
2011 – A NATO airstrike in Tripoli kills Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Arab Gaddafi. The Libyan government claims that three of Said al-Arab Gaddafi's children also die in the attack.[3]
2009 – An Indian Air Force Sukhoi Su-30MKI crashes in the Pokhran region of Rajasthan after it took off from Pune during its routine sortie, killing one of its two pilots. This was the first crash of the Su-30MKI since its induction in the IAF.
2002 – A McDonnell-Douglas F-15C Eagle of the 46th Test Wing, based at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, crashes in the Gulf of Mexico ~60 miles (97 km) S of Panama City, Florida, killing the test pilot. An Accident Investigation Board determines that the crash was caused by the structural failure of the honeycomb material supporting the leading edge of the port vertical stabilizer during a high-speed test dive. A section of the leading edge, approximately 6 X 3 feet (0.91 m), broke away.
1983 – Shortly after take-off from NAS Jacksonville, Florida, around noon, for a flight to Leeward Point Field at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, the port engine of a Navy Convair C-131F Samaritan, BuNo 141010, c/n 293, caught fire. The pilot radioed that he was returning to the base. As the aircraft was over the St. Johns River, ~1/4 mile from the runway and at ~200 feet altitude, the port wing separated from the aircraft. When the fuselage hit the water, the plane exploded, killing 14 of 15 on board. The sole survivor grabbed onto the first floating object she could reach: her own suitcase.
1982 – Iran begins a major ground offensive to recapture Khorramshar from Iraq. In fighting that lasts until May 24, Iraqi aircraft fly up to 100 sorties per day, but usually attack Iranian forces in groups that are too small and arrive too late to be effective.[4]
1969 – The first woman airline pilot in the West, Turi Widerose of Norway, makes her first scheduled flight as a first officer for Scandinavian Airlines.
1945 – Just before midnight, first production Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer, BuNo 59359, was being prepared on the ramp at Lindbergh Field, San Diego, California, for a flight to NAS Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota, a mechanic attempts to remove the port battery solenoid, located 14 inches below the cockpit floor, but does so without disconnecting the battery. Ratchet wrench accidentally punctures hydraulic line three inches above the battery and fluid ignites, setting entire aircraft alight, mechanic suffered severe burns. Only number four (starboard outer) engine deemed salvageable. Cause was unqualified mechanic attempting task that only a qualified electrician should undertake.
1945 – (April 30-May 7) To divert Japanese attention from Operation Dracula and suppress Japanese airpower in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, aircraft from the British aircraft carriers HMS Empress and HMS Shah fly 400 sorties over eight days against Japanese airfields and shipping in the islands, losing one aircraft.
1945 – Michael Smith, American astronaut, was born (d. 1986). Smith was the pilot of the Space Shuttle Challenger when it was destroyed during the STS-51-L mission. All seven crew members died.
1943 – In preparation for the upcoming American invasion of Attu, the U. S. Army Air Forces‘ Eleventh Air Force has flown 1,175 combat sorties against Japanese bases in the Aleutian Islands during April, including a two-week period in which 60 aircraft per day attack Kiska.
1942 – Since April 1, the Luftwaffe's Fliegerkorps II and Fliegerkorps X have flown 9,599 sorties against Malta, dropping over 6,700 tons (6,078,200 kg) of bombs on or around the island, and the British have lost 30 aircraft on the ground. Royal Air Force fighters on Malta have flown 350 sorties, destroying about half of the aircraft the Axis has lost over the island during April. Since 15 April, Malta has undergone 115 air raids, with a daily average of 170 German bombers attacking.
1939 – Vladimir Kokkinaki and Mikhail Godienko attempt a non-stop flight from the Soviet Union to New York but are forced down on Miscou Island in bad weather the next day.
1937 – Nationalist Spanish battleship España sunk by air attack by Republican forces.
1935 – The Douglas DC-1 breaks its own transcontinental record, flying from Burbank, Calif., to New York in 11 hours 5 min.
1933 – The first air service internal to Scotland, Renfrew – Campbeltown, begins, operated by Midland and Scottish Air Ferries Ltd.
1932 – An international code of air traffic communication is formally established, following the decision to do so at a 1927 conference in Washington, DC. The new code is based on a series of three-letter code starting with the letter “Q”.
1928 – British pilot Lady Mary Bailey lands to complete a flight from England to Cape Town, South Africa. She took off on March 9th.
1926 – Bessie Coleman, at the age of thirty-four, was in Jacksonville, Florida. She had recently purchased a Curtiss JN-4 (Jenny) in Dallas, Texas and had it flown to Jacksonville in preparation for an airshow. Her friends and family did not consider the aircraft safe and implored her not to fly it. Her mechanic and publicity agent, William Wills, was flying the plane with Coleman in the other seat. Coleman did not put on her seatbelt because she was planning a parachute jump for the next day and wanted to look over the cockpit sill to examine the terrain. About ten minutes into the flight, the plane did not pull out of a dive; instead it spun. Coleman was thrown from the plane at 500 ft (150 m)) and died instantly when she hit the ground. William Wills was unable to gain control of the plane and it plummeted to the ground. Wills died upon impact and the plane burst into flames. Although the wreckage of the plane was badly burned, it was later discovered that a wrench used to service the engine had slid into the gearbox and jammed it.
1924 – One of the four Douglas World Cruiser aircraft, the "Seattle", 23-1229, c/n 145, attempting an around-the-globe flight in stages, crashes into a mountain in Alaska on this date. The crew, Major Frederick L. Martin and Staff Sergeant Alva L. Harvey, survive and make their way through the wilderness to safety. The wreckage of the "Seattle" is later recovered and is now on display in the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum.
1909 – Casey Baldwin and JAD McCurdy formed the first Canadian aviation company, the Canadian Aerodrome Company, at Baddeck NS with the assistance of Alexander Graham Bell.
1904 – The St. Louis exposition opens. Octave Chanute exhibits a replica of his biplane glider of 1896, which he launches by using an electric winch.
1902 – The St. Louis Aeronautical Exposition opens in Missouri. A highlight is Octave Chanute launching a replica of his 1896 glider.
^Cordesman, Anthony H., and Abraham R. Wagner, The Lessons of Modern War, Volume II: The Iran-Iraq War, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1990, ISBN0-8133-1330-9, p. 139.
^Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN0-87021-295-8, p. 258.
