Portal:Aviation/Today in aviation

December 22

2009 – American Airlines Flight 331, a Boeing 737-800 from Miami International Airport overruns the runway at Norman Manley International Airport, Kingston, Jamaica; there are 40 injuries and no fatalities.

2001 – On board American Airlines Flight 63, a Boeing 767, a passenger, Richard Reid, attempts to detonate explosives hidden in his shoes, but fails and is subdued by two flight attendants and passengers. The plane lands safely in Boston.

1999 – Korean Air Cargo Flight 8509, a Boeing 747-200F, crashes after take-off near Great Hallingbury, England; killing all 4 crew.

1998 – First flight of the Beechcraft Premier I

1992 – Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 1103, a Boeing 727, collides with a Libyan Air Force MiG-23 near Tripoli International Airport, killing all 159 on board both aircraft.

1980 – Saudia Flight 162, a Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, suffers an explosive decompression over Qatar, killing two passengers who were sucked out of the aircraft; the cause is traced to a fatigue failure of a main landing gear wheel flange.

1979 – First flight of the Socata TB 30 Epsilon

1977 – First flight of the Antonov An-72

1976 – First flight of the Ilyushin Il-86

1974 – Avensa Flight 358, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, suffers dual engine failure after takeoff and crashes near Maturín, Venezuela, killing all 77 on board; the cause is never determined.

1969 – A USAF General Dynamics F-111A, 67-0049, c/n A1-94, crashes near Nellis AFB, Nevada, killing both crew, when starboard wing fails in flight, wing carry-through box failure, resulting in the fifth grounding order since the type entered service. Fifteen F-111s have crashed to this point.

1969 – A USN Vought F-8J Crusader, BuNo 150879, of VF-194, crashes into hangar at NAS Miramar, California during emergency landing, killing 14 and injuring 30. Pilot Lt. C. M. Riddell ejects safely. Five other fighters, including two McDonnell F-4 Phantom IIs, are damaged in the repair facility fire that ensues. Helicopters and military and civilian ambulances were used to transport the injured to Balboa Naval Hospital, San Diego.

1968 – The first CF-5D was taken on strength by the CAF.

1966 – First flight of the Northrop HL-10

1965 – American aircraft attack industrial targets in North Vietnam for the first time.

1965 – Entered service: Convair CV-640 with Caribair

1964 – First flight of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

1964 – First flight of the Lockheed D-21 Drone

1961 – U. S. Army helicopters engage in their first combat operation in Vietnam as the 8th Transportation Company makes several airlifts of South Vietnamese ground troops to landing zones in South Vietnam south of Saigon.

1954 – Capt. Richard J. Harer, test pilot with the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, California, belly lands a Lockheed F-94C Starfire on Rogers Dry Lake following engine problems, becomes trapped in the cockpit as the aircraft burns. Capt. Milburn "Mel" Apt, flying chase in another fighter, lands beside the failing F-94 and succeeds in pulling Harer from the burning jet, saving his life. Harer suffers a broken back, third degree burns and compound fractures of both legs that result in their amputation.

1953 – Pilot on a routine training mission from Eglin Air Force Base survives a crash landing in an Republic F-84 Thunderjet at Lee, Florida.

1953 – First unofficial flight of the Lockheed XFV when pilot pushes throttles too far on taxi test.

1949 – USAF Boeing B-50A-30-BO Superfortress, 47-110, c/n 15794,[209] of the 2d Bombardment Group, crashes into swamp land on the banks of the Savannah River ~7 miles above Savannah, Georgia, five minutes after take off at 2112 hrs. from Chatham AFB, 4 Miles ENE of the airfield. The bomber was on a training flight to Biggs AFB, El Paso, Texas. All eleven on board KWF. The crash site was less than two miles from U.S. Highway 17, which crosses the river just above Savannah, but it could only be reached by small boats guided by boatmen who knew the river. The Air Force waited until dawn to send a large crash boat with a score or more men, armed with shovels and ropes, to try to remove the bodies. They had to transfer to small, flat-bottomed swamp boats to get to the wreckage. Capt. E. S. Harrison, public information officer, said the wreckage would cover a football field. Salvage workers sank up to their armpits in the mire. The men aboard the plane were identified as: Capt. George V. Scaringen, pilot, and aircraft commander, Columbia, South Carolina; Capt. Andrew G. Walker, pilot, Norfolk, Virginia; Lt. Rogers Hornsby, Jr., 29, son of Rogers Hornsby of baseball fame; 1st Lt. Robert W. Beckman, bombardier, Birmingham, Alabama; Capt. Anthony C. Colandro, radar navigator, Baltimore, Maryland; 1st Lt. James W. Johnson, Jr., flight engineer, Wells, West Virginia; T/Sgt. Leonard B. Hughes, flight engineer, Denison, Texas; S/Sgt. Fred W. Cunningham, radio operator and gunner, New Orleans, Louisiana; S/Sgt. Manson L. Gregg, gunner, Meadow, Texas; S/Sgt. Garnell W. Myers, gunner, Franklin, Indiana; and S/Sgt. Billy C. Bristol, gunner, Tucson, Arizona.

1949 – First flight of the North American F-86D Sabre

1945 – Two Boeing C-97 Stratofreighters, on their first peacetime mission, carry 190 servicemen from Seattle to Chicago in time for Christmas.

1945 – First flight of the Beechcraft Bonanza

1944 – Retired: Curtiss XP-60.

1943 – Lt. Col. William Edwin Dyess (1916–1943) is killed when the Lockheed P-38G-10-LO Lightning, 42-13441, of the 337th Fighter Squadron, 329d Fighter Group, he is undergoing retraining in catches fire in flight near Burbank, California. He refuses to bail out over a populated area and dies when his Lightning impacts in a vacant lot at 109 Myers St, Burbank, saving countless civilians on the ground. Dyess had been captured on Bataan in April 1942 by the Japanese, but escaped in April 1943 and fought with guerrilla forces on Mindanao until evacuated by the submarine USS Trout in July 1943. Abilene Air Force Base, Texas, is named for him on 1 December 1956.

1941 – First flight of the Fairey Firefly

1941 – First flight of the Consolidated TBY Sea Wolf

1939 – First flight of the Petlyakov VI-100

1938 – First flight of the de Havilland Flamingo

1937 – (9 & 22) Air battles take place between Imperial Japanese Navy and Nationalist Chinese aircraft over Nanchang on December 9

1936 – First flight of the North American XB-21

1930 – First flight of the Tupolev TB-3

1910 – British aviation pioneer Cecil Grace vanishes over the English Channel during a flight from Calais, France, to Dover, England.

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