Milestones of Flight: 7/21

2008 - A B-52 bomber crashed off the coast of Guam earlier today.

The bomber based at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana was en route to conduct a flyover in a parade when it crashed around about 30 miles north-west of Apra Harbour. All six airmen on board were killed when it crashed. There's no word yet on what caused the crash. The last crash of a B-52 was in 1994; that accident was blamed on pilot error.

2008 - A Venezuelan military helicopter, one of two Super Pumas lent by the government of Venezuela for Bolivian President Evo Morales' travel within Bolivia, crashed. Five crew members were reported killed.

2008 - Arafat Waheed Khan, 27, and Waheed Zaman, 24, accused of plotting to detonate liquid explosives aboard trans-Atlantic jets in 2006 have pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

Khan and Zaman's guilty pleas brings to seven the number of defendants who have so far admitted to plotting to cause a public nuisance. Prosecutors say the men targeted at least seven jetliner flights from London to the United States and Canada and showed the court what they said were martyrdom videos intended to be released after the planes had been destroyed.

2008 - It looks like Canadian Sunwing Airlines will be offering flights to the beach resort town of Varadero, Cuba in the near future, from airports conveniently located near U.S. borders.

2008 - Russia may start regular flights by long-range bombers to Cuba in response to US plans to build missile defence sites in Eastern Europe, the newspaper Izvestia reported today, quoting an official.

2006 - 21-26: The 17th FAI World Precision Flying Championship in Troyes, France. Individual winners: 1. Krzysztof Wieczorek (Poland) - 3Xtrim, 2. Janusz Darocha (Poland) - Cessna 152, 3. Krzysztof Skrętowicz (Poland) - 3Xtrim. Team winners: 1. Poland, 2. Czech Republic, 3. France.

2006 - NATA Publishes 2006 Compensation Survey.

The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) has published its 2006 annual survey of general aviation service employee compensation. The survey includes salaries and benefits for pilots, line-service personnel and maintenance technicians. It is based upon data collected from 290 companies employing nearly 10,000 people.

2006 - The Vienna, Virginia-based firm Space Adventures announced today that future paying visitors the space station can take a 90-minute spacewalk, or extravehicular activity (EVA) and extend their orbital trip by up to eight days for an added cost of about $15 million more than the standard $20 million fare for the trip.

2006 - NASA has assigned crew members to the space shuttle mission that will deliver the European Space Agency's Columbus Laboratory to the International Space Station.

Video of the STS-122 crew members will air on NASA TV's Video File. Video File airs on the Media Channel (Program 103) at 6-8 and 9-11 a.m.; 12-2 and 4-7 p.m.; and 10 p.m.-midnight. All times are Eastern. For NASA TV downlink and scheduling information and links to streaming video, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

1998 - Alan (Bartlett) Shepard, Jr. was America's first man in space and one of only 12 humans who walked on the Moon¹ died this date.

Named as one of the nation's original seven Mercury astronauts in 1959, Shepard became the first American into space on May 5, 1961, riding a Redstone rocket on a 15-minute suborbital flight that took him and his Freedom 7 Mercury capsule 115 miles in altitude and 302 miles downrange from Cape Canaveral, FL. (His flight came three weeks after the launch of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who on April 12, 1961, became the first human space traveler on a one-orbit flight lasting 108 minutes.) Although the flight of Freedom 7 was brief, it was a major step for U.S. in a race with the USSR.

1994 - Hans Rudolf Palaoro, WW II and Cold War German rocket engineer, died at Huntsville, Alabama.

1978 - Four Imperial Iranian Army CH-47C Chinooks penetrated 15-20 km into Soviet airspace in the Turkimenistan Military District.

They were first intercepted by Soviet MiG-23M pilot A.V. Dem'janov, who mistakenly identified them as Soviet helicopters. The helicopters were intercepted a little later by MiG-23M pilot V.I. Shkinder. He fired two R-60 (AA-8 Aphid) missiles, shooting down one Chinook, killing eight crew members. He then fired his GSh-23L 23mm cannon at another Chinook , forcing it to land near Gjaurs. The four crew members of this helicopter survived, but were captured by Soviet border guards. The remaining two Chinooks escaped back into Iranian airspace. Shortly thereafter, the Soviets allowed the damaged Chinook (S-4092) to be repaired by Iranians. This helicopter and its four crew members were then allowed to return home.

1976 - To support an earthquake disaster relief operation, two U.S. Air Force C-130s airlifted 20.5 tons of tents, cots and blankets from Andersen AFB, Guam to Sentani Airport, Indonesia through July 23.

A C-141 transported 400 tents from Singapore to Bali International Airport.

1975 - WW I Australian flying ace (16 victories flying Bristol Fighters) died this date.

Post-war, Hepburn returned to Australia where he joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1921 and attained the rank of Wing Commander.

1972 - WW I Royal Flying Corps ace (22 victories) William Frederick James Harvey died at Wingham, Kent, England, U.K.

During WW II, he left his farm to rejoin the Royal Air Force. An MBE and author of "Pi in the Sky," Harvey wrote several articles for "Air Pictorial" magazine and later served as president of the British chapter of "Cross & Cockade."

1972 - U.S. Pacific Air Forces airlifted 2,000 tons of food, medical supplies and other relief supplies to Luzon through Aug. 15 for flood victims in the Philippines.

C-130s, and H-3 and H-43 helicopters airlifted more than 1,500 passengers, disaster relief teams and medical evacuees.

1969 - Boris Chimp 504 AKA Pofiri Yebenov, AKA Phantom cosmonaut, rocket engineer.reportedly died on the lunar surface aboard Luna 15, surviving for a time after the landing.

A Moscow urban legend reported that the Apollo 11 astronauts were in fact stranded on the moon due to an engine malfunction. A naked Russian cosmonaut, Pofiri Yebenov, obviously stranded on the moon some time before, assisted them in repairing their lunar module so they could return safely to earth. Real-world cosmonaut Gregori Grechko went so far as to ask U.S. moonwalker Aldrin if there was any truth to the story. An astounded Aldrin denied the story and confirmed that they had not encountered any human beings or wild life on the lunar surface. Perhaps Aldrin would have gotten the joke had he known that Yebenov means f---ked in Russian.

1969 - Apollo XI astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Buzz Aldrin blasted off from the moon after 21 1/2 hours on the surface and returned to the command module piloted by Michael Collins. The Lunar module was comprised of two stages. The decent stage had the landing gear, and was used as a launch pad for the ascent stage. The ascent stage was mainly the cabin, and had a fixed thrust engine (15,500-Newton-thrust) to propel it to 2000 m/s in Lunar orbit for docking. The lunar module's lower section, left behind, has a plaque mounted upon it, reading, "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."

1967 - WW I flying ace Frederic Ives Lord died at Apple Valley, California.

Lord enlisted in the U.S. Army but was discharged from the 3rd Texas Infantry when it was learned that he was too young for military service. With an altered birth certificate that declared he was born in 1894, Lord went to Canada where he enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps. After completing his training in England, he joined 79 Squadron in France. Flying the Sopwith Dolphin, Lord and four other pilots in the squadron became aces. Post-war became vice-president of the Garland-Lord Aircraft Sales Company.

1965 - MBR R-9 intercontinental ballistic missile. adopted into Russian inventory.

1961 - America's second Project Mercury astronaut, Capt. Virgil I. Grissom, attains an altitude of 118 miles and flies 5,310 mph in a 303-mile sub-orbital space flight from Cape Canaveral in the Liberty Bell 7 capsule.

1958 - First flight of the 105 supersonic bomber (Tu-22 in series construction).



1955 - Frank James Casserino, astronaut, is born in the Bronx, New York, U.S.A.

1954 - The U.S. Air Force Atlas Scientific Advisory Committee recommended the development of a second intercontinental ballistic missile airframe.

This suggestion led to the development of the Titan missile.

1953 - Two Chinese MiGs damaged a US Navy PBM-5 Mariner in an attack that took place over the Yellow Sea.

1952 - The "Flying Pastor," German WW I flying ace (11 victories), Fritz Loerzer died this date.

1949 - Nigel Richard Wood, astronaut, is born in York, England, U.K.

1946 - Swedes reactivate wartime radars and immediately begin getting Ghost Rocket tracks.

1946 - First flight of the UTB bomber trainer (serially built as the UTB-2) from the P.O. Sukhoy OKB, N.D. Fikson and crew.

1946 - In first U.S. test of adaptability of jet aircraft to shipboard operations, XFD-1 Phantom, piloted by Lieutenant Commander James Davidson, makes landings and takeoffs¹ without catapults from USS Franklin D. Roosevelt. The ship had been launched the previous year, then the biggest ship in the World.

Some say this took place on July 19, 1946.

1938 - Otto William Hoernig Jr., astronaut, is born in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.A.

1931 - Marina Lavrentrevna Vasliyevna Popovich Pilot.is born.

1929 - Ya.I. Alksnis and V.O. Pisarenko make a non-stop flight on board an R-5 aircraft from Moscow to Sevastopol' (1,276 km in 5 hours and 30 minutes).

1919 - Anthony Fokker founds the Dutch Aircraft Company at Schipol, near Amsterdam.

1918 - Offizierstellvertreter Otto Esswein, German ace with a dozen victories, was killed in action when his plane went down in flames near Hartennes, France.

1916 - German ace (8 victories) Leutnant Otto Parschau is killed in action when shot down over Grevillers, France.

1911 - First woman killed in a plane. Denise Moore crashes and dies on a solo flight in a Farman airplane.

1909 - The first international Zeppelin (airship) show is held in Frankfurt, Germany.

1899 - Royal Naval Air Service ace (14 enemy aircraft and 1 balloon flying the Sopwith Camel) Capt. George Brian Gates is born in Hove, Sussex, England, U.K.

1896 - Royal Flying Corps ace (6 victories) Capt. Laurence Minôt is born in Wandsworth, Surrey, England, U.K.

1893 - Royal Flying Corps ace (14 victories as an S.E.5a pilot) 2nd Lt. Maurice Edmund Mealing is born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, U.K.

1891 - French Air Service ace (8 victories)Sous LieutenantGilbert Marie de Guingand is born in Viroflay, Paris, France.

1890 - French Air Service ace Sous Lieutenant Marcel Robert Leopold Bloch is born in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland.

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¹ People who have walked on the Moon

As of 2007, twelve people have walked on the Moon. No one has walked on the Moon since 1972.
Name Born Age on
First Step Mission EVA dates Age today
1 Neil Armstrong 5 August 1930 38y 11m 15d Apollo 11 July 20, 1969 77
2 Buzz Aldrin 20 January 1930 39y 6m 0d 77
3 Pete Conrad* 2 June 1930 39y 5m 17d Apollo 12 November 19-20, 1969 died 8 July 1999, age 69
4 Alan Bean 15 March 1932 37y 8m 4d 75
5 Alan Shepard* 18 November 1923 47y 2m 18d Apollo 14 February 5-6, 1971 died 21 July 1998, age 74
6 Edgar Mitchell 17 September 1930 40y 4m 19d 77
7 David Scott 6 June 1932 41y 1m 25d Apollo 15 July 31–August 2, 1971 75
8 James Irwin* 17 March 1930 41y 4m 14d died 8 August 1991, age 61
9 John W. Young 24 September 1930 41y 6m 28d Apollo 16 April 21-23, 1972 77
10 Charles Duke 3 October 1935 36y 6m 18d 72
11 Eugene Cernan 14 March 1934 38y 9m 7d Apollo 17 December 11-14, 1972 73
12 Harrison Schmitt 3 July 1935 37y 5m 8d 72

* *Deceased

Duke was the youngest, at age 36 (+6mo); Shepard was the oldest, at age 47 (+2mo).