Today in Aviation History - August

ausrere

ausrere

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August 1

In 1907... The Aeronautical Division of the US Army Signal Corps is created. Their goal is, “to study the flying machine and the possibility of adapting it to military purposes.”

In 1916... The first issue of America’s most influential and long-running aircraft magazine appears at a price of 5 cents. Called Aviation and Aeronautical Engineering, it is ancestor of Aviation Week & Space Technology and is published twice a month.

In 1929... Dr. Hugo Eckener commands the first airship flight to circumnavigate the globe when the flight leaves Friedrichshafen, Germany. Graf Zeppelin arrives back at Friedrichshafen on September 4, having logged 21,000 mi. in 12 days, 12 hours, 20 minutes flying time.

In 1946... British European Airways (BEA) is established under the Civil Aviation Act of 1946, which makes the entire British air transport industry nationalized.

In 1977... Francis Gary Powers, US U-2 pilot, dies at 47.

In 1997... President Bill Clinton lifted a 20-year-old ban on the sale of high-performance aircraft and other advanced weapons to Latin America
 
ausrere said:
In 1929... Dr. Hugo Eckener commands the first airship flight to circumnavigate the globe when the flight leaves Friedrichshafen, Germany. Graf Zeppelin arrives back at Friedrichshafen on September 4, having logged 21,000 mi. in 12 days, 12 hours, 20 minutes flying time.
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Eckener and his airships were pretty incredible. a great read is Dr. Eckeners Dream Machines or something like that. quite interesting telling about the early days of long distance airship flights.
 
August 2

In 1909... The first flying machine purchased and put into service by a government is the Wright Flyer. The US Army accepts its first airplane and pays the Wrights $25,000, plus a $5,000 bonus, because the machine exceeded the speed requirement of 40 mph.

In 1911... The first woman in the United States licensed as a qualified pilot is Harriet Quimby, a drama critic.

In 1917... Squadron leader E. H. Dunning of the British Royal Naval Air Service becomes the first pilot to land an airplane on the deck of a moving ship when he puts a Sopwith Pup down on HMS Furious.

In 1979... Thurmon Munson, NY Yankee, killed in a plane crash at Akron Oh at 32

In 1985... A Delta Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 TriStar crashes at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport killing 137.
 
ausrere said:
In 1909... The first flying machine purchased and put into service by a government is the Wright Flyer. The US Army accepts its first airplane and pays the Wrights $25,000, plus a $5,000 bonus, because the machine exceeded the speed requirement of 40 mph.
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Marty McFly: Would it be possible to get it up to... 90?
Engineer: Ha! 90? Tarnation, son, where would you be going in such a hurry?
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In 1985... A Delta Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 TriStar crashes at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport killing 137.
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Was this before or after Ernest Borgnine said no more L-1011's would crash?
 
August 3

In 1861... John La Mountain becomes the first balloonist to use boats for aerial operations in a military conflict. Using the Union tug Fanny, he ascends from its deck to a height of 2,000 ft. to conduct aerial reconnaissance of Confederate forces during America’s Civil War.

In 1904... In a dirigible named California Arrow, Thomas Scott Baldwin carries out the first circular flight by an airship in America. Powered by a converted motorcycle engine, it is built and dispatched by Glenn Curtiss.

In 1921... Lieutenant John A. Macready of the U.S. Army Air Corps finds a new use for airplanes when he sprays a patch of ground infested with caterpillars. This practice becomes known as crop dusting.

In 1940... Seaplane Clare makes 1st British passenger flight to the US

In 1955... President Eisenhower signs the Civilian Airport Modernization Bill. The legislation establishes a long-term program of federal government aid toward the construction of airports in the United States.

In 1975... A privately chartered Boeing 707 impacts the mountainside near Agadir, Morocco killing 188.

In 1981... In the United States, Air traffic controllers affiliated with the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization walk off the job. President Ronald Reagan ultimately responds on August 5th, by firing those who ignore his order to return to work.

In 1994... 1st Jordanian plane to fly over Israeli airspace (King Hussein pilot)


(This one is a bit late today I know, sorry...it's been a long day at work today)
 
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August 4

In 1807... Andre-Jacques Garnerin in Paris, France makes the first night ascent in a balloon.

In 1901... Octave Chanute arrives at the Wright brothers’ camp at Kill Devil Hill and photographs their flight tests with the 1901 glider.

In 1908... Wilbur Wright makes the first flight using stick controls near Le Mans, France. The flight lasts 1 minute and 45 seconds.

In 1908... Count von Zeppelin takes the LZ4 on a 24-hour flight from Lake Constance, down the Rhine to Basel, then to Strasbourg and Mainz and back to Stuttgart, a total non-stop distance of 435 miles.

In 1954... 1st flight of supersonic English Electric P 1 Lightning

In 1959... The first medical evacuation by helicopter from a Mobil Army Surgery Hospital (MASH) team takes place when an S-51 flies out a casualty from a fire flight along the Pusan Perimeter.
 
ausrere said:
August 4

....

In 1959... The first medical evacuation by helicopter from a Mobil Army Surgery Hospital (MASH) team takes place when an S-51 flies out a casualty from a fire flight along the Pusan Perimeter.
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There has to be a problem with this date. The Korean war was over long before 1959. 1949 perhaps... and the S-51 Dragonfly entered commercial service in 1947 so the medevac in 1949 is feasible.

-Skip
 
Skip Miller said:
There has to be a problem with this date. The Korean war was over long before 1959. 1949 perhaps... and the S-51 Dragonfly entered commercial service in 1947 so the medevac in 1949 is feasible.

-Skip
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I think you are probably right, but every search I've done to check it comes up with this same date. Most sites I've found that talk about the history of the S-51/H-5 just mentions that it was used for medevac in Korea, but doesn't give dates. It's another one from NASA's site, and suspect everyone else just copied their info.
 
August 5

In 1917... The first Aero Squadron of the Signal Corps leaves the United States for Europe under the command of Maj. Ralph Royce.

In 1918... The first American night patrol of the war takes place when a Felixstowe F.2A flying boat crewed by Ens. Ashton W. Hawkins and Lt. George F. Lawrence take off on patrol from RAF Killinghome, England.

In 1933... French Air Force pilots Lts. Paul Codes and Maurice Rossi begin a record-breaking straight-line distance flight (5,657 mi.) between New York and Rayak, Syria in their Blériot 110 monoplane.

In 1930... Neil Armstrong, Ohio, X-15 pilot, 1st Moonwalker (Gemini 8, Apollo 11) was born.

In 1981... Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.

In 1994... Clive Robertson Caldwell, British fighter pilot, dies at 84.
 
August 6

In 1910... An International aviation meeting opens at Lanark, Scotland, drawing a wide range of flyers and airplanes. In all, 22 competitors participate.

In 1920... Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator, first flight in independent Poland dies (b. 1890).

In 1945... Hiroshima is devastated when an atomic bomb, "Little Boy", is dropped by the United States B-29 Enola Gay. Around 90,000 people were killed instantly.

In 1966... Braniff Airlines Flight 250 crashes in Falls City, NE killing all 42 on board.

In 1969... The biggest helicopter ever built, the Soviet Mil V-12 secures an unbeaten world lifting record for rotary-winged aircraft by carrying 40,205.5 kg (88,636 lb.) to a height of 2,255 m (7,400 ft.).

In 1997... Korean Air Flight 801, a Boeing 747-300, crashes into the jungle on Guam on approach to airport, killing 228.
 
August 7

In 1917... The Morane-Saulnier A. I. Parasol fighter airplane makes its first flight in France.

In 1917... Squadron Commander E.H. Dunning, first pilot to land his aircraft on a moving ship, dies. (b. 1891)

In 1919... Capt. Ernest C. Hoy becomes the first pilot to fly over the Canadian Rockies when he carries mail from Vancouver, British Columbia to Calgary, Alberta in a Curtiss JN-4 biplane.

In 1928... One of the most successful designs of the day, the first Curtiss Model 50 Robin, takes to the air. A typical Robin has a wingspan of 41 ft. and a length of 25 ft., 8 in. with a 185-hp engine.

In 1931... Jim Mollison lands after flying from Australia to England in 10 days, knocking two days off the existing record.

In 1989... U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX) and 15 others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia.
 
ausrere said:
August 7



In 1917... Squadron Commander E.H. Dunning, first pilot to land his aircraft on a moving ship, dies. (b. 1891)
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Do you know if this was related to landing on a moving ship? It was only a few days earlier that he landed on a moving ship for the first time.
 
deafsound said:
Do you know if this was related to landing on a moving ship? It was only a few days earlier that he landed on a moving ship for the first time.
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According to Wikipedia, he was killed on his second attempt to land on a moving ship when his tire burst throwing his aircraft overboard. I suppose that would make him the first aviator to die attempting to land on a ship as well.
 
ausrere said:
According to Wikipedia, he was killed on his second attempt to land on a moving ship when his tire burst throwing his aircraft overboard. I suppose that would make him the first aviator to die attempting to land on a ship as well.
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Ooops. Oh well. Thanks for the info.
 
August 8

In 1908... Wilbur Wright makes his first flight in Europe by flying the Wright Flyer A from the racetrack at Hunaudières, 5 miles south of Le Mans, France.

In 1910... The first aircraft tricycle landing gear is installed on the US Army’s Wright airplane.

In 1929... The Zeppelin LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin makes the first flight around the world by an airship. Captained by Hugo Eckener, the airship makes its 21,500-mile circumnavigation in 21 days and 7 hours.

In 1946... First flight of the Convair B-36.
 
August 9


In 1884... Built by Frenchmen Charles Renard and Arthur Krebs, the airship La France is powered by a 9 hp electric motor driving one large propeller. It makes a fully-controlled circular flight while traveling about 5 miles at 14 mph.

In 1896... Otto Lilienthal crashes in his No.11 glider while flying from the Rhinower Hill range and dies the next day. He made approximately 2,500 flights in his various gliders.

In 1956... The Fiat G.91, produced for NATO as a light strike-fighter, makes its first flight.

In 1945... Nagasaki is devastated when an atomic bomb, "Fat Man", is dropped by the United States B-29 Bockscar. Around 70,000 people were killed instantly.

In 1976... USSR launches Luna 24, last Lunar flight to date from Earth.

In 1980... Jacqueline Cochrane, US pilot / 1st female to fly faster than sound, dies at 70.

In 1996... Sir Frank Whittle, inventor of the jet engine, dies at 89.
 
August 10

In 1840... American Louis Lauriat, whose balloon flies at 21 mph in New Brunswick, makes the first manned balloon flight in Canada.

In 1910... Claude Grahame-White attempts to fly the first airmail in the world to be carried on a powered airplane when he takes off from Squires Gate near Blackpool, England heading for Southport. The attempt in his little Blériot monoplane fails and he is forced to land.

In 1912... Englishman Francis K. McClean becomes the first pilot to fly under bridges spanning the Thames River when he takes off from Harty Ferry, Eastchurch in his Short biplane S. 33.
 
August 11

In 1906... Mrs. C. J. S. Miller becomes the first woman passenger in an airship. The 40-hp craft is owned and operated by her husband, Major Miller.

In 1915... The U.S. Naval Observatory asks Eastman Kodak to develop a special aerial reconnaissance camera that could be used from an airplane flying at heights of 3,000 ft. to 6,000 ft.

In 1952... British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) inaugurates its new weekly service between London and Colombo, the capital of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

In 1956... 1st flight of the 4-motor Cessna 620.

In 1962... the Soviet Union launched cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev on a 94-hour flight.

In 2002... U.S. Airways filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
 
August 12

In 1888... The first gas-powered aircraft flies. Built by the German experimenter, Wolfert, the powered airship (dirigible) fitted with a 2 hp Daimler benzene engine running two propellers, flies for 2 ½ miles from Seelberg to Kornwestheim, Germany.

In 1908... Controlled by Thomas Baldwin and Glenn Curtiss, the Signal Corps’ Dirigible Balloon No.1, known as SC-I, the first Army dirigible, begins flight trials at Fort Meyer near Washington, D.C.

In 1944... Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., eldest son of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, was killed with his co-pilot when their explosives-laden Navy plane blew up over England.

In 1946... President Harry Truman signs a bill authorizing an appropriation of $50,000 to establish a National Air Museum in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. The small museum eventually becomes the National Air and Space Museum - the most visited museum in the world.

In 1960... The first balloon satellite _ the Echo I _ was launched by the United States from Cape Canaveral.

In 1962... One day after launching Andrian Nikolayev into orbit, the Soviet Union also sent up cosmonaut Pavel Popovich; both men landed safely Aug. 15.

In 1977... The space shuttle Enterprise passed its first solo flight test by taking off atop a Boeing 747, separating, then touching down in California's Mojave Desert.

In 1985... Japan Airlines Flight 123, a Boeing 747 jumbo jet, crashes into Mount Ogura in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520 in the world's worst single-plane air disaster. Four people miraculously survive.
 
ausrere said:
August 12

In 1985... Japan Airlines Flight 123, a Boeing 747 jumbo jet, crashes into Mount Ogura in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520 in the world's worst single-plane air disaster. Four people miraculously survive.
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I thought I had seen that attribute given to another single-aircraft accident sometime back. It seems like it was a South American accident but I can't be certain.

I may be wrong but I believe the Canary Islands crash of two 747s was the largest in terms of loss and more than one aircraft.
 
i think y ou are right kenny, was it Tenerife? 2 747s collide on the runway and IIRC more than 600 died
 
Japan Airlines Flight 123 is the worst single-aircraft accident. 520 people died. Tenerife, Canary Islands (Pan Am) is the worst aircraft accident to date, 583 people died, but it involved two aircraft (both 747s).

Most sites also list 9/11 as the worse aviation disaster in history , but with an asterisk because it wasn't an accident, it was intentional (2974+ died).

Some Sources: http://www.planecrashinfo.com/worst100.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_airlines_123
 
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August 13

In 1824... The first aerial ascent by a Native American as a passenger, Chief Waschisabe, in Dupuis-Delcourt’s balloon “flotilla” takes place at Montjean, France.

In 1914... The first British airplane to reach French soil after mobilization is a BE2a, serial number 327, flown by Capt. F. F. Waldron and Air Mechanic Skerritt of No. 2 Sqdr. RFC commanded by Maj. C. J. Burke.

In 1976... The Bell Model 222, the first twin-engined light commercial helicopter, developed in the United States, makes its first flight, powered by the 650 SHP Avco Lycoming LTS 101-650C.
 
August 14

In 1909... The first woman passenger to fly in a powered airplane in Great Britain is the wife of Samuel F. Cody. She is taken for a 3-minute flight from the Royal Engineers Balloon Factory at Farnborough in Cody’s British Army Aeroplane No.1.

In 1931... Piloted by M. M. Gromov, the Tupolev ANT-14 large passenger aircraft makes its first flight. The largest landplane of its day, it could carry 36 passengers.

In 1953... The sound barrier is broken over Australia for the first time by Flight Lieutenant Bentleigh, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), in the first Australian-built Sabre fighter at Avalon, Victoria.

In 1962... NASA civilian test pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to 60,000 m
 
August 15

In 1935... Humorist Will Rogers and aviator Wiley Post were killed when their airplane crashed near Point Barrow, Alaska.

In 1939... 13 Stukas dive into the ground during a disastrous air-practice at Neuhammer. No survivors.

In 1951... Test pilot Bill Bridgeman reaches a record altitude of 79, 494 ft. in the #2 Douglas D-558-II rocket research aircraft, although this does not qualify for FAI (Federal Aeronautique Internationale) recognition.

In 1951... Powered by a Roll Royce Dart, a DC-3 of British European Airways becomes the first turboprop aircraft operated on a freight run.

In 1958... Congress approves a bill creating the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) to regulate all US commercial and military aviation.
 
August 16

In 1933... Stuart Roosa, American astronaut and command pilot of Apollo 14, was born. (d. 1994)

In 1942... The 82nd Airborne (All American) paratroop division is formed.

In 1952... The prototype Bristol Type 175 Britannia (G-ALBO) makes its first flight from Filton, Bristol, England.

In 1960... Captain Joe Kittinger jumps from a gondola, suspended from a balloon, 102,800 feet to the ground using a parachute. He breaks the records for greatest altitude from which a parachute descent had been made and the longest delayed parachute jump.

In 1972... The Royal Moroccan Air Force fires upon, in an unsuccessful coup d'état attempt, Hassan II of Morocco's plane while he is traveling back to Rabat.

In 1987... A McDonnell Douglas MD-82 carrying Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes on take-off from Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Michigan (Detroit), killing 155 passengers and crew. The sole survivor is four-year-old Cecelia Cichan.

In 2005... West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashes near Machiques, Venezuela, killing the 160 aboard.

In 2006... Herschel Green, American pilot and World War II Ace, died. Green was the leading ace of the Fifteenth Air Force downing 18 enemy aircraft and destroying 10 more on the ground. (b. 1920)
 
August 17

In 1890... Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviation pioneer and pilot of the first military flight in the history of the Polish Air Force, was born. (d. 1920)

In 1910... The first English Channel crossing by an airplane with a passenger is made by John Moisant who takes his mechanic in his two-seater Blériot on the flight from Calais, France to Dover, England.

In 1929... Francis Gary Powers, American U-2 pilot whose U-2 spy plane was shot down while over the Soviet Union, thus causing the U-2 Crisis of 1960, was born. (d. 1977)

In 1940... Billy Fiske, American aviator and Olympic athlete, died as the first American pilot casualty of World War II during the Battle of Britain. (b. 1911)

In 1943... World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission.

In 1946... The first person in the U.S. to be ejected from an airplane by means of its emergency escape equipment is Sergeant Lambert at Wright Field in Ohio.

In 1978... The U.S. balloon, Double Eagle II, becomes the first balloon to cross the Atlantic. The trip begins in Maine and ends almost 6 days later in France.

In 1988... 50 people set a world record for flying in a single hot air balloon (Lelystad, Netherlands)
 
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ausrere said:
August 17


In 1946... The first person to be ejected from an airplane by means of its emergency escape equipment is Sergeant Lambert at Wright Field in Ohio.
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Actually the 1st US ejectee was Larry Lambert on August 17th. The first person was Helmut Schenk, a German, who ejected from his He280 on January 13, 1942 after his control surfaces iced up and became inoperable.
 
NC Pilot said:
Actually the 1st US ejectee was Larry Lambert on August 17th. The first person was Helmut Schenk, a German, who ejected from his He280 on January 13, 1942 after his control surfaces iced up and became inoperable.
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Well, there's that perfect record keeping by NASA again for you. :D

I fixed it. Thanks.
 
August 18

In 1871... Alphonse Pénaud achieves the first flight of an inherently stable airplane when his Planophore is flown 131 feet in 11 seconds before the Société de Navigation Aérienne in the Tuileries Gardens, Paris.

In 1901... At the invitation of Chanute, Wilbur Wright addresses the Western Society of Engineers in Chicago with a 10,000-word paper titled “Some Aeronautical Experiments.”

In 1903... German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright Brothers.

In 1911... The British F.E.2 biplane makes its first flight from Farnborough, England piloted by its designer, Geoffrey de Havilland.

In 1930... Captain Wolfgang von Gronau and crew make the first east to west crossing of the Atlantic from Germany to New York.

In 1932... J.A. Mollison makes the first solo flight east to west across the Atlantic by a light airplane. He flies from Ireland to Canada.
 
August 19

In 1871... Orville Wright is born in Dayton, Ohio. He is co-inventor, with his brother Wilbur, of the first airplane to achieve powered, sustained, and controlled flight and the first fully practical powered airplane. Orville piloted the famous first flight at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina after winning a coin flip against his brother.

In 1911... British naval officer Comdr. Charles R. Samson sets a new British endurance record of 4 hours, 58 minutes, 30 seconds. The Short S.38 biplane has special tanks allowing sufficient fuel for more than 4 hours flying.

In 1919... A Curtiss 18-T flown by Curtiss test pilot Roland Rholfs establishes a new world speed record of 163 mph carrying a load of 1,076 lbs.

In 1921... Gene Roddenberry, B-17 combat pilot and winner of the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, was born in El Paso, Texas. Roddenberry was also a producer, screenwriter and creator of Star Trek. He became one of the first people to be buried in space upon his death in 1991.

In 1929... The first metal airship built for the U.S. Navy makes its first flight. The ZMC-2 is a 22,600 cu. ft. helium balloon supported by transverse metal frames and longitudinal stiffeners with a thin metal covering forming the outer skin.

In 1960... In Moscow, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.

In 1960... Sputnik 5 - The Soviet Union launches the satellite with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, 2 rats and a variety of plants.

In 1980... Saudia Flight 163, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar burns after making an emergency landing at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 301 people.

In 1981... United States fighters intercept and shoot down two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets over the Gulf of Sidra.

In 1982... Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the second woman to be launched into space.
 
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August 20

In 1901... The Wright brothers leave Kitty Hawk, N.C., at the end of their second season of testing gliders and return to Dayton, Ohio.

In 1908... The Wright Flyer built for flight trials before the U.S. Army arrives at Fort Meyer, near Washington, D.C., eight days ahead of schedule. Before trials begin, tests to check transportability, another stipulation, start.

In 1910... The first U.S. Army experiments with firing a rifle from an airplane takes place when Lt. Jacob Earl Fickel conducts firing trials from a Curtiss biplane piloted by Curtiss himself.

In 1913... French aviator Adolphe Pégoud carries out the first parachute descent ever made whereby the parachute is deployed before the pilot leaves the airplane.

In 1919... The first regularly scheduled passenger service by airship begins in Berlin with a Zeppelin LX 120 Bodenese.

In 1935... Boeing test pilot Les Tower flies the Model 299 nonstop from Seattle to Dayton and establishes an unofficial record of flying 2,100 miles at an average speed of 232 miles
 
August 21

In 1908... Wilbur Wright begins flying demonstrations of his Flyer A from the artillery ground known as Camp d’Auvers, 7 miles east of Le Mans, France, having moved from the Hunaudières race course.

In 1908... The first turn in the air performed by a monoplane is carried out by Antoinnette II, first flown at Issy-les-Moulineaux on July 22,1908. It lasts 1 minute, 36 seconds.

In 1923... The first use of electric beacons mounted on the ground to provide sight direction for night flying is made in the United States.

in 1953... A new world's altitude record of 83,235 feet is set by Marion Carl in the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket.
 
August 22

In 1909... The first great aviation meeting in Bétheny, France, opens as 23 European airplanes make 87 flights during one week. The meeting will have a strong influence on the technical and military aspects of flight.

In 1922... The Vickers Victoria (serial no. J6869) military transport makes its first flight, taking off from Brooklands, England with Stan Cockerell at the controls.

In 1932... Gerald P. Carr, American astronaut was born. Col. Carr was the commander of Skylab 4, launched November 16, 1973, and concluded February 8, 1974. This was the longest manned flight (84 days, 1 hour, 15 minutes) in the history of manned space exploration to that date.

In 1938... The Civil Aeronautics Act becomes effective in the United States, coordinating all non-military aviation under the Civil Aeronautics Authority.

In 1963... Joe Walker in the X-15 test plane reaches altitude of 106 km (67 miles).

In 1965... Ellen Church, First American airline stewardess, dies. (b. 1904)

In 1980... James Smith McDonnell, American aircraft manufacturer, dies. (b. 1899)

In 1985... 55 people died when fire broke out aboard a British Airtours charter jet on a runway at Manchester Airport in England.

In 2002... A Twin Otter carrying 18 people, including tourists from Germany, the United States and Britain, crashed in Nepal, killing all aboard.

In 2006... Pulkovo Airlines Flight 612 crashes, killing 170 people.
 
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August 23

In 1878... The British government uses its first military aviation budget (£150) to build and fly their first balloon, the Pioneer.

In 1913... Léon Letort carries out the first non-stop flight between Paris and Berlin when he flies his Morane-Saulnier monoplane fitted with an 80-hp Le Rhône engine the 560 miles between the two capitals in 8 hours.

In 1923... The I-1 (Il-400), the first independent design from Nikolai Nikolayevich Polikarpov, makes its first flight. Polikarpov has worked at the RBVZ [Russko-Baltijskij Vagonnyj Zavod (Russo-Baltic Cart Works)] on the Ilya Muromets and later becomes chief engineer at the GAZ-1 plant.

In 1938... The American racing and record-breaking pilot Frank Hawks is killed along with his mechanic when his Gwinn Aircraft Aircar becomes entangled in telephone lines shortly after taking off from East Aurora, New York.

In 1944... Freckleton Air Disaster - A United States Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England killing 61 people.

In 1948... The McDonnell XF-85 Goblin, a parasite fighter, first flies.

In 1951... The U.S. Navy announces that McDonnell F2H Banshees are in action against communist forces in Korea. This marks the first time that McDonnell-built planes have engaged in combat operations.

In 1955... First flight of the Bell Helicopter XV-3 (Bell 200). The XV-3 was the first successfully demonstrated tiltrotor concept aircraft and the predecessor to the XV-15 and V-22.

In 1977... The Gossamer Condor 2, a human powered aircraft, flew the first figure-of-eight, a distance of 2,172 metres winning the first Kremer prize. It was built byDr Paul B. MacCready. and piloted by amateur cyclist and hang-glider pilot Bryan Allen. Under the auspices of the Royal Aeronautical Society, industrialist Henry Kremer offered the Kremer Prizes of £5,000 for the first man-powered aeroplane to fly a figure-of-eight course round two markers half-a-mile apart.

In 1990... A new Air Force One, a modified Boeing 747-200B, is delivered to the Air Force and President George H.W. Bush.

In 2000... A Gulf Air Airbus A320 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain, killing 143.
 
August 24

In 1921... In the worst airship disaster thus far, 44 people die when the British dirigible R.38 is destroyed during routine operations off the coast of Yorkshire, England, by fire started by electrical sparks that engulfed the airship.

In 1932... Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey).

In 1956... A U.S. Army helicopter becomes the first rotary-winged aircraft to fly non-stop across the United States.

In 1961... Beginning this day through October 12, U.S. aviatrix Jacqueline Cochrane flying a Northrop T-38A Talon sets a wide range of records for women (altitude of 56,071 ft., a distance of 1,492 mi., a 100-km (62.14 mi.) closed circuit speed record of 784.337 mph and 15-km (9.32 mi.) course speed of 844.2 mph).

In 1970... Two USAF Sikorsky HH-53C helicopters complete a non-stop trans-Pacific crossing from Eglin AFB, Florida to Da Nang, South Vietnam, aided by refueling encounters with Lockheed C-130 tankers.

In 1988... Assembly of the first McDonnell Douglas C-17 begins at Douglas Aircraft facilities in Long Beach, Calif.

In 2001... Air Transat Flight 236 runs out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean (en route to Lisbon from Toronto) and makes an emergency landing in the Azores.
 
August 25

In 1784... The son of a Scottish minister, James Tytler, makes the first manned balloon hop in England when his hot-air device makes a brief uncontrolled ascent with Tytler in the basket to an altitude of a few hundred feet.

In 1919... The first daily commercial scheduled international air passenger service starts between London and Paris. A single fare to Paris is 21 pounds.

In 1932... The first woman to fly non-stop across the United States is Amelia Earhart. She flies in a Lockheed Vega.

In 1947... The official world air speed record is broken by Maj. Marion Carl, USMC, flying the Douglas D-558 Skystreak, a high-speed research aircraft, with an average speed of 650.7 mph
 
August 26

In 1925... In a record that would stand until Feb. 24, 1983, Farman Parker of Anderson, Indiana becomes the world’s youngest pilot to fly solo. Born on January 9, 1912, he flies at the age of 13 years, 7 months, 17 days.

In 1929... The first flight of the largest trimotor transport aircraft built by Fokker, the F.IX, takes to the air on its first flight. The prototype (PH-AGA) was handed over to KLM on May 8, 1930, and given the name Adelaar (Eagle).

In 1959... French flyer Jacqueline Auriol, piloting the Mirage III, becomes the first woman to attain the speed of Mach 2.

In 1959... President Eisenhower replaces his airplane with a jet, a USAF VC-137A, which is a modified Boeing 707 jet-airliner. The switch allows the President to cut his travel time in half.

In 1974... Charles Lindbergh, the first man to fly solo, non-stop across the Atlantic, died at his home in Hawaii at age 72.

In 2004... Boeing delivers the 500th AH-64D Apache Longbow multirole combat helicopter.
 
August 27

In 1783... Jacques Alexandre César Charles flies the first balloon filled with gas rather than fire-heated air using hydrogen produced by pouring 489 lbs. of sulfuric acid on 1,000 lbs. of iron. The balloon has a diameter of 12 ft.

In 1910... Radio is first used to send messages between the ground and an airplane when James McCurdy both sends and receives messages from a Curtiss biplane at Sheepshead, New York, using an H.M. Horton wireless set.

In 1913... Lieutenant Petr Nesterov of the Russian Army in Kiev performs the first loop-the-loop. The complete circle and other intentional acrobatic stunts prove to be valuable experience for the wartime maneuvers needed during aerial battles.

In 1939... The first fully jet-propelled aircraft to fly is Germany’s Heinkel 178. A centrifugal flow turbojet engine powers it.

In 1940... Caproni-Campini CC-2, experimental jet plane, maiden flight (Milan)

In 2006... Comair Flight 5191, a CRJ-100, crashed after trying to take off from the wrong runway en route from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. Forty-nine of the 50 people aboard the flight were confirmed dead in the hours following the crash. The co-pilot was the sole survivor.
 
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