Milestones of Flight: 8/1

2008 - U.S. Senate confirms General Norton A. Schwartz, a 35-year veteran in special operations, as the 19th Air Force chief of staff.

Gen. Duncan McNabb, also confirmed by the Senate, will assume command of USTRANSCOM.

2008 - The United States has completed the removal of 50 Minuteman 3 ICBMs from their silos at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.

This was part of an effort to reduce the nuclear-armed, land-based missiles to just 450.

2008 - RIA Novosti reported that Russia conducted a test launch of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile from the submarine Ryazan off the nation’s eastern coast.

The missile hit a designated target at the Kura test site in the Kamchatka Peninsula. Russia also plans to carry out bombing exercises this week, United Press International reported. The tests, which are expected to begin today and last a week, would incorporate the supersonic Tu-22M bomber. Russia has 141 of the bombers, which can fly as far as 4,300 miles and transport 50,000 pounds of weaponry, including cruise missiles and nuclear weapons.

2008 - First commercial Airbus A380 superjumbo jet flight arrives at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The landing of the Emirates jetliner was the first commercial arrival of an A380 in the U.S. The plane, which flew to New York from Dubai, landed smoothly.

2008 - Here are more details of the UK's clarification of rules surrounding the inclusion of aviation in the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme from 2012.

Aviation Allowances (AAs):

* Airlines receive 85 percent of AAs for free in February 2012.

* The remaining 15 percent to be auctioned by government shortly thereafter - this may change from 2013 as part of wider EU negotiations

* Every EU member state will hold an AA auction over the course of a few days in mid-2012

* There are no limitations as to who can participate or how many AAs can be bought in any of the 27 auctions - this may lead to increased volatility and speculation

* In the UK, auction revenues will not be earmarked, or 'hypothecated', to fund renewable energy projects or fight climate change

* Airlines can use EUAs, the credits traded under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), for compliance, but heavy industry participating in the EU ETS cannot use AAs

* Airlines can also use UN-approved offsets (CERs or ERUs), the project-based credits issued under the Kyoto Protocol, to cover 15 percent of their emissions - this may change from 2013 as part of wider EU negotiations

* 3 percent of all AAs will be set aside for new operators and fast-growing airlines, defined as having growth over 18 percent per annum.

2007 - The air forces of Slovenia, Croatia, Turkey and Germany sent specialised firefighting aircraft to the Republic of Macedonia in response to an urgent request by NATO's Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre for help to put out a wave of forest fires ravaging the country's woodland.

2007 - The U.S. Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman, a six-year, $635.8 million contract to conduct the first ever at-sea carrier launches and recoveries with a fixed-wing unmanned air system (UAS), the X-47B.

The Navy's program, known as the Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D), will demonstrate the capability of an autonomous, low-observable air vehicle. The UCAS-D effort will mature critical technologies, reduce unmanned air system carrier integration risks and provide information necessary to support a potential follow-on acquisition milestone.

2007 - British Airways (BA) has been fined a record $640 million for fixing ticket prices on flights between the U.K. and the U.S.A.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic colluded to increase the price of the fuel surcharge on trans-Atlantic flights over an 18-month period.

Last year Virgin blew the whistle on the scam and was given imunity. BA has now been fined $290 million by Britain's Office of Fair Trading and $350 million by the US Department of Justice.

It is the first time that the U.K. and the U.S. have simultaneously brought action against a company

Korean Air Lines will pay a 300-million-dollar fine as part of a guilty plea in a U.S. court for fixing prices on passenger and cargo flights. The U.S. alleges that between January 2000 and July 2006, Korean Air conspired with competitors to fix rates charged for cargo on routes between the Unied States and South Korea. Conspirators agreed to increase a fuel surcharge for cargo and with fixing rates for passengers on flights between the US and South Korea. Both tickets sold by the airline and those sold to clients through travel agents are involved.

German airline Lufthansa revealed its own involvement in the cargo scheme with British Airways and Korean Air and will likely escape a fine after agreeing to cooperate with the department's investigations. Lufthansa will probably get the same deal as Virgin Atlantic by cooperating in the passenger fare investigation involving British Airways.

The plea deal must still be approved by a U.S. district court in Washington.

2007 - Gorshkov delivery to be delayed.

The schedule for the delivery of Gorshkov aircraft carrier has been further delayed to 2011, according to Russian media reports. Russian news agency Interfax quoting an unnamed official of Sevmash shipyard, where the aircraft carrier is undergoing repair work, stated that the shipyard's Director General Vladimir Pastukhov had been dismissed after failing to meet deadlines.

The reports of delay in the delivery of Gorshkov, re-christened as INS Vikramaditya, has caused concern in the Defence Ministry as the Indian Navy was ready to induct the second aircraft carrier, the first being INS Viraat, in its fleet in 2008.

2007 - Four California congressmenhave introduced legislation to rename the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center after test pilot and Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first to walk on the moon.

The legislation would re-designate NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center, but would still honor the center's current namesake by naming the Western Aeronautical Test Range as the Hugh L. Dryden Aeronautical Test Range. The legislation was presented by Rep. Ken Calvert, the ranking Republican on the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee; Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, whose district covers the Kern County portion of the Antelope Valley as well as parts of Lancaster; Rep. Howard P. Buck McKeon, R-Santa Clarita; and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena.

2002 - First flight Scaled Composites White Knight, flying launch platform for suborbital flights.

1998 - ESA Astronaut Training Group 3 selected.

European Space Agency astronauts sent to Russia for cosmonaut training.

1997 - Boeing purchased its archrival, McDonnell-Douglas. The deal, valued at a handsome $16.3 billion, seemingly left Boeing as the unchallenged king of commercial aircraft production.

1997 - American engineer Byron Gordon MacNabb died. He was 87-years-old and lived in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

He headed Convair operations at Cape Canaveral throughout development flight test of the Atlas rocket system that launched the United States' space program and sent four astronauts into orbit.

1995 - First test flight of Il-76MF transport with PS90A engines, A.N. Knyshev and crew.

1995 - NATO threatened major air strikes if any more safe areas were attacked in Bosnia.

1990 - CNES Astronaut Training Group 2 selected.

French astronauts trained for flights to the Mir space station.

1990 - Troops from the 30th Space Wing began deployment to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Desert Shield.

1990 - Air Force Space Command establishes first space system infrastructure to directly support a military conflict.

The satellite systems will relay communications, provide meteorological data and detect short-range missile launches.

1985 - Buran Cosmonaut Training Group 2 selected.

Experienced test pilots in the USSR were selected to train for manned missions using the Buran space shuttle.

1979 - DoD Astronaut Training Group 1 selected.

The group was selected to provide shuttle manned spaceflight engineers to operate military payloads. Thirteen were selected from 222 candidates. The existence of the group was secret until 1985.

1972 - Future President George Walker Bush, son of former president George Herbert Walker Bush, is suspended from flying with the Texas Air National Guard for missing an annual medical examination.

1977 - Francis Gary Powers, 48-years-old, the American pilot of a U2 spy plane shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960, and his cameraman were killed when his Bell 206 Jetranger helicopter crashed in Balboa Park on the way back from covering a brush fire.

At the time, he was a helicopter pilot for KNBC television in Los Angeles, CA.

1967 - First flight of the Mi-14 helicopter with TV3-117VM engine, Yu. S. Shvachko.

1963 - Koichi Wakata, Japanese astronaut, NASDA Group 2--1992, NASA Group 14--1992, is born in Omiya, Saitama, Japan.

1960 - Strategic Air Command's 43d Bombardment Wing at Carswell AFB, TX accepts the first operational B-58 Hustler medium bomber.

The first supersonic bomber, the delta-wing aircraft flies at twice the speed of sound and can be refueled in-flight.

1960 - U.S. Air Force Strategic Air Command's 43d Bombardment Wing at Carswell Air Force Base, Texas accepts the first operational B-58 Hustler medium bomber.

The first supersonic bomber, the delta-wing aircraft flies at twice the speed of sound and can be refueled in-flight.

1957 - The North American Air Defense Command, a joint United States-Canadian command with an air-defense mission, is informally established.

1956 - Flug Revue Celebrates 50 years. Motor Presse Stuttgart made the decision to found an aviation magazine. The new magazine was Europe's best-selling German-language aviation magazine from its very first issue. It still holds this distinction to this day.

1952 - The U.S. Coast Guard released a photograph of unidentified aerial phenomena (i.e. a UFO), taken by a 21-year-old Coast Guard photographer on July 16 at the Salem Coast Guard Air Station.

1950 - The 6147th Tactical Control Squadron (Airborne) was established at Taegu for forward air control operations with T-6 aircraft.

1950 - Forty-six B-29s of the 22nd and 92nd BGs bombed the Chosen nitrogen fertilizer factory at Hungnam, the largest chemical plant in the Far East.

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

1946 - Richard Oswalt Covey, American astronaut, NASA Group 8--1978, is born Fayetteville, AK.

1944 - Me-163B first operational use.

German Me-163B Komet rocket-powered fighters first attacked American bomber formations over Europe. The Me-163 had sweptback wings, Walther liquid-fuel rocket motor, speed of 590 mph, and powered flight duration of 8-10 minutes.

1944 - Organized Japanese resistance ends on Tinian and Naval Air Base, Tinian, is established.

1944 - Navy PBY attacks Japanese convoy, sinking ammunition ship Seia Maru in Taliaboe Bay, Soela Island.

1944 - Yuri Viktorovich Romanenko, Russian cosmonaut, Air Force Group 5--1970, is born in Koltubanovskiy, Orenburg, Russia.

Father of cosmonaut Roman Romanenko. 430 cumulative days in space.

1943 - Highest-scoring Russian female fighter pilot L. Litvyak, the White Rose of Stalingrad (12 victories) dies in aerial combat.

Lilya was her nickname, as her actual name was Lidiya. She began her service in the all-woman 586th IAP, where she flew mostly defense missions from January to August 1942. In August she was posted to "male" squadrons because of her merits. The first was the 286th Fighter Division (IAD), then to the 437 IAP, which had recently been equipped with the new Lavochkin La-5. With this unit she got her first 2 air victories in September 13, 1943. She was sent as an attachment to the female flight of the 287 IAD, and served briefly in the 9th Guards IAP.

In the end of January, 1943, she was transferred to the 296th along with 2 other skilled women fighter pilots. On February 17, 1943, she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Two days later she was promoted to Junior Lieutenant and soon after to Senior Lieutenant.

On each side of her YaK-1's cockpit she painted a white lily, often confused for a rose—hence the nickname.

Litvyak was injured 3 times during her combat tour. All three injuries occurred during the Spring and Summer of 1943, a period of intense combat activity. The first time was on March 15, the same day that she shot down a Junkers Ju-88 bomber, but got hit by their escorting Me-109s (she continued to fly and bagged another Ju-88!). She managed to land at her base, and passed out and she remained in a hospital until May.

When she came back, the 296th IAP had been renamed the 73 Guards IAP for their exploits in battle. She was wounded again in combat in July 16 and 18. Both times she landed in German-occupied territory, but got back to base on foot the first time, and was rescued by another fighter pilot who landed after her the second.

She was repeatedly successful in flying missions, although was finally killed in action over Orel, while escorting a unit of Shturmoviks returning from an attack in August 1, 1943. Eight Messerschmitt Me-109's concentrated solely on Lilya's YaK-1, and it took all eight of them to finally shoot down the White Rose of Stalingrad. Litvyak had completed 168 missions, and had 3 shared victories in addition to her personal twelve. She was 22 years old when she died.

Some sources claim that she died in September, not August. As with most details from the Great Patriotic War, 5 decades of censorship has made it hard to be sure about anything that took place on the Russian front in WWII.

1943 - American B-24s Liberators, commanded by General Beverton, carry out Operation Tidalwave dropping 311 tons of bombs and inflicting heavy damage on Ploesti oil fields.

These fields furnished about 80% of the Nazis’ petroleum requirements and were a key military target. Of the 177 B-24 Liberator bombers, 50 are lost.

1942 - Naval Base, Galapagos Islands; Naval Station, Taboga Island, Canal Zone; Naval Auxiliary Air Facility and Motor Torpedo Boat Base, Salinas, Ecuador, are established.

1942 - Coast Guard J4F Widgeon, piloted by Ensign Henry C. White of Coast Guard Squadron 212, based at Houma, La., bombs and sinks German submarine U-166, off the passes of the Mississippi, 28°31'N, 90°45'W.

1941 - Naval Air Station, Midway Island is established, Commander Cyril T. Simard in command.

1941 - First flight of the Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo plane.

1940 - Hitler issues Top Secret "Directive No. 17" ordering the Luftwaffe to crush the British Air Forces by every means possible.

1938 - British aircraft designer Frank Barnwell was killed in a plane crash while testing an aeroplane of his own personal design at the Bristol Civil Airport in England.

Barnwell had designed the Bristol Scout (1914), Bristol Fighter (1916), and many other airplanes for the Bristol Aeroplane Company. His three sons all died while flying in WW II. His brother Harold was also killed while flying in 1917.

1935 - V.Ya. Klimov engine building OKB founded.

Today the OKB builds engines for both airplanes and helicopters.

1935 - First flight of the A.N. Tupolev DI-8 (ANT-46), Yu. M. Alekseev.

1930 - 1930 - 200-Mile Air Camera.

Along distance aerial camera perfected by Captain A. W. Stevens of the U. S. Army Air Service has proved itself capable of taking photographs from a distance of 200 miles. The secret of the performance of the camera lies in the fact that it is equipped with a dense red filter that cuts through the haze which usually clouds long distance pictures.

1934 - Test pilot V.A. Krasil'nikov is born.

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.

1929 - First JATO takeoff

Use of a battery of solid-propellant rockets on Junkers-33 seaplane, the first recorded jet-assisted take-off of an airplane, made in tests near Dessau, Germany.

1927 - Benjamin Wier, American engineer, is born in Buffalo, NY.

Atlas-E flight test conductor, later Deputy Program Manager, Director of Production for the first 100 Tomahawk cruise missiles, and finally as Vice President of Atlas programs.

1922 - Fred Wallace, American engineer, is born in San Diego, CA.

From 1943 to 1946 served as a Navy torpedo plane navigator. After WW II he graduated from Lafayette college, then worked for the Rohr and Solar aircraft companies in San Diego. He joined Convair in 1951, working at first on the Terrier missile project. From 1953 he worked on structural test of the innovative Sea Dart and Pogo fighter aircraft. He then joined the Atlas program, managing the Point Loma Test site activation, later becoming Chief of Test Operations at the Sycamore Canyon Test Site. From 1970 he worked on the Tomahawk cruise missile program until his retirement in 1984.

1921 - Successful tests of gyroscopic high level bombsight (Norden Bombsight) at Torpedo Station, Yorktown, VA.

Carl Norden developed the bombsight for the Bureau of Ordnance.

1921 - The RAF takes delivery of the first purpose-built troop-carrying aircraft, the Vickers Vernon, a development of Vimy bomber with a bulbous fuselage.

1917 - The Australian naval air fleet is formed.

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.

1915 - Leutnant Max Immelman shoots down his first enemy aircraft in his Fokker E1 monoplane, equipped with a single synchronised LMG 08 machine gun.

1914 - Emil A H, Hellebrandt, Rocket engineer, is born in Vienna, Austria.

German expert in guided missiles during WW II. Member of the German rocket team, arrived in America under Project Paperclip in 1945. Starting in January 1947 he worked at Fort Bliss, TX, then White Stands, NM, and finally at Huntsville, AL.

1913 - Test pilot M.V. Mimonov is born.

1911 - Harriet Quimby, a drama critic, becomes first woman granted pilot's license by Aero Club of America.

1911 - All-Russian aviation school opens in St. Peterburg, leader is V.A. Lebedev.

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.”