Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/July 4

July 4

• 2012 – Two Swedish advertising agency employees, Thomas Mazetti and Hannah Frey, take off from Pociūnai Airport in Lithuania, make an illegal 90-minute flight into Belarus at an altitude of 50 meters (165 feet) in a Jodel biplane, and drop 879 parachute-equipped teddy bears adorned with human rights and freedom-of-speech slogans into the southern suburbs of Minsk.

• 2012 – The American deep-sea exploration vessel Nautilus discovers the wreckage of the Turkish Air Force F-4 Phantom II shot down on 22 June and the bodies of its two-man crew on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea at a depth of about 1,000 meters (3,281 feet). The Turkish armed forces announce that they have begun an effort to recover the bodies.

• 2011 – Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash: A pilot attempted to abort its take off from Pukatawagan Airport. The aircraft overran the runway and crashed into a ravine where it caught fire and was destroyed. One passenger was killed, the pilot and seven other passengers were injured and transported to hospital. None of those transported to hospital received life-threatening injuries.

• 2007 – An OH-58 Kiowa 95-0002 crashes into power lines in Mosul, killing the pilot and injuring the copilot.

• 2006 – Launch: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-121 at 18:37:55 UTC. Mission highlights: ISS Flight ULF1.1: Supply, crew rotation, MPLM Leonardo.

• 2005 – Deep Impact's impactor successfully collided with the 9P/Tempel 1 comet's nucleus.

• 2002 – An Egyptian-American man, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, opens fire on the El Al ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California, killing two Israelis and wounding four other people before an El Al security guard shoots him to death.

• 2002 – Benjamin O. Davis Jr., leader of the famed all-black Tuskegee Airmen during World War II and the first black general in the Air Force, died in Washington at age 89.

• 2001 – Vladivostok Air Flight 352, a Tupolev Tu-154 enters a flat spin on approach to Irkutsk Airport in Irkutsk, Russia, crashes down onto its belly and bursts into flames in a wooded area, killing all 145 aboard.

• 2000 – Malév Flight 262, a Tupolev Tu-154, lands on its belly at Thessaloniki International Airport in Greece. There are no serious injuries or fatalities.

• 1997 – Mars Pathfinder (MESUR Pathfinder), American spacecraft carrying a base station with roving probe, lands on Mars

• 1992 – USS George Washington (CVN-73), American nuclear-powered supercarrier, is Commissioned.

• 1989 – 1989 Belgian MiG-23 crash: The pilot of a Soviet Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23M (Flogger-B) ejects shortly after take-off in Poland. The "runaway" pilotless aircraft flies across Europe before crashing into a Belgian farmhouse, killing an 18-year-old man.

• 1988 – Death of Donald Roderick MacLaren, Canadian WWI fighter ace, who helped to found the Royal Canadian Air Force, and later formed Pacific Airways

• 1986 – First flight of the Dassault Rafale

• 1983 – Launch of BOR-5, Russian space vehicle, 1:8 Buran model designed to test the main aerodynamic characteristics, thermal and acoustic loads and stability for the Shuttle Buran program.

• 1982 – Landing: Space shuttle Columbia STS-4 at 16:09:31 UTC. Mission highlights: Last shuttle R&D flight, first DoD payload.

• 1980 – A seven-year-old boy is killed and several others are injured when he manages to fire an ejection seat in Lockheed S-3A Viking, BuNo 159769, c/n 394A-1098, of VS-24, at NAS Willow Grove, Pennsylvania during an open house.

• 1979 – Death of Frank H. Ellis, early Canadian aviator, aircraft designer and author ("Canada's Flying Heritage", the first major study of the History of aviation in Canada). He was the First Canadian to make a parachute jump from an airplane in Canada.

• 1977 – Patricia Undall and Nan Gaylord win the 30th and final annual women's United States transcontinental air race, nicknamed 'The Powder Puff Derby'.

• 1975 – First flight of the Boeing 747SP, modified version of the Boeing 747 jet airliner which was designed for ultra-long-range flights. The SP stands for "Special Performance".

• 1973 – A Grumman HU-16 Albatross, American large twin-radial engine amphibious flying boat, sets a world record for twin-engine amphibians reaching 32,883 feet.

• 1964 – Last flight by the RCAF of the Canadian built Avro Lancaster B X.

• 1961 – Birth of Richard Allen Garriott (Richard Garriott de Cayeux), British / American video game developer and entrepreneur and space self-funded tourist.

• 1958 – Ghana Airways is formed.

• 1958 – First flight of the SAN Jodel D.140 Mousquetaire (Musketeer), French five-seat light touring monoplane.

• 1957 – First Flights: Ilyushin Il-18

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

• 1955 – An Anti-Submarine Helicopter Squadron was formed at HMCS Shearwater, Dartmouth, NS.

• 1952 – 58 Republic F84 Thunderjets take off for a trans-ocean flight of 10,895 miles, with seven stops, from Georgia in the USA to Yokota in Japan.

• 1950 – Seafires and Fireflies from Triumph strikes targets of opportunity in Korea, including a railway bridge and a column of North Korean troops.

• 1948 – The Northwood mid-air collision between a Scandinavian Airlines System-operated Douglas DC-6 and an RAF Avro York kills all 39 passengers and crew in Britain's worst mid-air collision

• 1946 – The aircraft carriers USS Antietam (CV-36) and USS Boxer (CV-21) are among ten U. S. Navy ships participating in the celebration at Manila of the independence of the Republic of the Philippines.

• 1946 – Pacific Theatre ace Lt. Col. John C. "Pappy" Herbst (18 credited victories) is mortally injured at the age of 36 in front of 30,000 people at the San Diego County Fair when his Lockheed P-80A-1-LO Shooting Star, 44-85083, of the 445th Fighter Squadron, 412th Fighter Group, March Field, California, crashes after failing to pull up in a dive just west of the Del Mar Fairgrounds while flying with an early jet demonstration team. Herbst crashed in a dry riverbed near the Del Mar Racetrack after his aircraft stalled during an encore of their routine finale in which the pair of P-80s did a loop while configured to land. Herbst had married his second wife less than 24 hours before. Herbst's wingman, Major Robin Olds narrowly avoided the same fate while flying in formation

• 1945 – 483 B-29 s drop 3,752 tons (3,403,792 kg) of bombs on Kōchi and other cities in Japan.

• 1944 – Allied assault on Carpiquet airport at Caen.

• 1944 – Death of Sadao Yamaguchi, Japanese WWII flying ace, killed in action

• 1943 – 17 Japanese bombers escorted by 66 fighters raid Rendova, destroying and damaging several landing craft.

• 1943 – Death of Ichirobei Yamazaki, Japanese WWII flying ace, killed in action.

• 1943 – The prototype Platt-LePage XR-1 helicopter, 41-001, tested at Wright Field, Ohio, by the Rotary Branch of the Air Technical Service Command from May 1943, is damaged this date by the failure of a rotor blade spinner. Never ordered into production, its last flight will take place on 21 June 1946 with 91 hours, 45 minutes of flight time, and it will be donated the National Air Museum in Washington, D.C., where it remains in storage at the Paul Garber Facility at Silver Hill, Maryland.

• 1943 – RAF Consolidated LB-30 Liberator II, AL523, crashes on takeoff from RAF North Front Field, Gibraltar, killing the exiled Polish Prime Minister General Władysław Sikorski, together with his daughter, his Chief of Staff, Tadeusz Klimecki, and seven others. The flight departed at 2307 hrs., coming down in the sea after only 16 seconds of flight. Only the pilot, Eduard Prchal (1911–1984), survives. "This crash is shrouded in mystery and intrigue. Throughout World War II Sikorski tried to organize the Polish Army and constantly negotiated with Churchill and Roosevelt to circumvent any appeasement deals between the Allies, Russia, and Germany which would come at Poland's expense. By this time, the Free Poles had found out about the Katyn Massacre, and thus terminated relations with the Soviet Union on 26 April 1943. As Sikorski was the most prestigious leader of the Polish exiles, his death was a severe setback to the Polish cause, and was certainly highly convenient for Stalin. It was in some ways also convenient for the western Allies, who were finding the Polish issue a stumbling-block in their efforts to preserve good relations with Stalin. This has given rise to persistent suggestions that Sikorski's death was not accidental. This has never been proved."

• 1942 – US air offensive against nazi-Germany begins.

• 1941 – Death of Stepan Pawlowitsch Suprun, Soviet Test pilot and WWII pilot, killed in Action in his MIG-3.

• 1940 – In retaliation for the British attack at Mers-el-Kébir, French Air Force bombers raid Gibraltar, causing little damage.

• 1940 – Last scheduled airmail flight by autogiro Kellett KD-1 is flown.

• 1933 – Death of Henri Robida, French raid aviator.

• 1930 – Brothers John, Kenneth, Albert, and Walter Hunter set a new record after a flight of 553 hours 40 min over Chicago using two Stinson SM-1 Detroiters as refueler and receiver.

• 1929 – The Japanese aviator Masashi Goto crashes and is killed in Utah’s Uinta Mountains in the beginning stages of an attempted flight around the world by crossing the continents of North America, Europe and Asia.

• 1927 – First flight of the Lockheed Vega.

• 1922 – Death of Lothar-Siegfried Freiherr von Richthofen, German WWI fighter ace, younger brother of top-scoring ace Manfred von Richthofen, killed in the crash of his LVG C VI at Fuhlsbüttel due to an engine failure.

• 1920 – Death of Jaime Gonzáles Grocier, early Cuban aviator, in a crash.

• 1917 – Death of Ivan Alexandrovich Orlov, Russian WWI flying ace, Self Glider and Aircraft designer, killed in a dogfight with 4 Germans, Losing the lower right wing of his Nieuport and fatally crashing.

• 1915 – Lt Oswald Boelcke claims his First victory, a Blériot Parasol, while flying an Albatros C. I two-seater with Lt von Wühlisch as the observer & gunner.

• 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.

• 1910 – Hubbard failed one attempted flight at the Montreal Air Meet. The Hubbard monoplane was the first aircraft ever sold in Canada and the first to be exported.

• 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.

• 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).

• 1895 – A large German military balloon burst at the German Army's Balloon Department grounds. Five balloonists were injured.

• 1895 – Birth of Kurt Haber, German WWI flying ace.

• 1894 – Birth of Arthur Laumann, German WWI flying ace who scored 28 victories in just over three months.

• 1893 – Birth of Alvin Andrew Callender, American WWI flying ace.

• 1892] – Birth of Henry Maston Mullinnix, American aviator, engineer and Admiral of the US Navy during WWII, mainly responsible for developing the air-cooled engine for naval aircraft.

• 1891 – Birth of William James Arthur "A rt" Duncan, Canadian WWI flying ace, Hockey player and coach post WWI.

• 1858 – Birth of Marie Paul Jules Lebaudy, French industrial and politician, early dirigible pioneer along with his brother Joseph Marie Pierre Lebaudy.

• 1798 – At least one balloon of the French army‘s Company of Aeronauts is transported aboard the French Navy warship Le Patriote for use ashore in conducting a reconnaissance of the coast of Egypt, but Le Patriote strikes a rock and sinks off Alexandria, Egypt.

• 1753 – Birth of Jean-Pierre Blanchard, aka Jean Pierre François Blanchard, French inventor, most remembered as a pioneer in aviation and ballooning.