Milestones of Flight: 11/16

2007 - Female boxer-turned-jet fighter pilot World Boxing Champion Agnieszka Rylik has become the first Polish woman to fly a F-16 jet fighter.

The flight lasted 1.5 hour and took place in the Krzesiny airbase near Poznań, western Poland. The southpaw junior welterweight had to undergo a several-day long medical check-up in the Military Institute of Aviation Medicine in Warsaw. She flew with lieutenant colonel Dariusz Malinowski, an experienced pilot who was among the first Poles trained in the United States, with hundreds of hours in F-16 to his credit.

2007 - A Thai air force pilot has been suspended from flying duties after allegedly landing his helicopter in the countryside to collect wild mushrooms for his mother.

2007 - Boeing completed deals today to supply twelve 787 planes to Vietnam Airlines and a new Vietnamese aircraft leasing company as the flag carrier moves toward ending its aircraft shortage.

2007 - President Bush’s plan to cut holiday air travel delays is to have two temporary corridors (one northbound, the other southbound) through formerly restricted military airspaces along the East Coast, and new runway procedures at congested New York Kennedy (JFK) and Newark (EWR) airports.

The Air Transport Association (ATA), the airline industry’s trade group, likes the move. Air traffic controllers don't.

2007 - A man accused of getting so drunk he tried to open the door of a United Airlines jet at 30,000 feet was freed pending trial.

James D. Terry, 45, was on United Flight 371, which left Chicago O'Hare International on Thursday evening for Portland, Oregon to take care of a traffic citation, DUI. Now, he's accused of interfering with a flight crew member aboard an aircraft, a federal crime.

About 90 minutes -- and three drinks -- into the flight, Terry began acting obnoxiously, poking a female flight attendant. Later the crew heard the Pleasant Hill, Illinois, truck driver shouting in a rear bathroom, then found him prostrate near the galley.

Terry then grabbed one of two doors at the rear of the plane, activating warning indicators. Unable to open the door, Terry asked a male flight attendant to help.

Terry proceeded to harass a female flight attendant and attempted to pull up her skirt and grab at her, but passengers had enough, and subdued Terry, who was handcuffed and--after he wriggled free--handcuffed again. The crew finished the job by duct-taping his kicking legs.

2007 - A helium-powered balloon hit a power line and crashed onto a north-central Iowa cattle pasture today, killing two men and injuring a third.

Thomas Boylan, 62, of Fort Collins, Colo., and Bradley Brookhart, 37, of Littleton, Colo., died at the scene, and Doug Chaplin, 58, of Albuquerque, N.M., was taken by helicopter to a hospital about 35 miles away, authorities said. He was listed in fair condition Friday night at a hospital in Mason City.

2006 - Japan Airlines (JAL) today took delivery of its first Boeing Next-Generation 737, a 737-800 that will seat 165 passengers in a two-class configuration. The airplane, which features energy-saving Blended Winglets, is one of 30 737-800s that JAL ordered in May 2005.

2006 - A man was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after officials say they found him carrying $78,883 in cash and a laptop computer containing information about nuclear materials and cyanide.

2006 - Pakistan Ghauri test launch.

Ghauri is derivative of North Korean No Dong.

2006 - Tam Linhas Aereas SA, Brazil's largest airline¹, has signed a deal for 37 Airbus aircraft and has taken an option on twelve more.

The order includes 12 A319s, 16 A320s, three A321s and six A330s. It brings TAM's fleet of Airbus aircraft to a total of 115 planes, Airbus said.

2006 - Veterans Airlift Command (VAC), is recruiting volunteer pilots and aircraft owners to lend air support to recovering soldiers and their families.

2001 - A University of Georgia football fan rushing to catch his flight ran past guards and through a passenger exit at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, forcing officials to halt flights.

The man, Michael Lasseter, was later sentenced to five weekends or 10 days in jail and 500 hours of community service.

2001 - In Afghanistan U.S. bombing began at Tora Bora.

2000 - A U.S. Air Force F-16 collided with a small plane near Sarasota, Florida The pilot of the Cessna was killed, the fighter pilot ejected safely.

1984 - Landing of STS-51-A.

1982 - Landing of STS-5.

1974 - Walther Johannes Riedel, German manager and engineer who played a key role in the development of the rocket engine for the V-2, and subsequently the engines that would take the United States into space and to the moon, died this date in Hamburg, Germany.

Riedel headed rocket engine development at Peenemüende after the death of Thiel in 1944 and was Director of the Development Facility at Karlshagen. By January 1947 he was working with von Braun's team at Fort Bliss, Texas, brought there under Project Paperclip. However Riedel did not get on with von Braun, and was leader of several rocket team members taken on by North American later that year. There he played the key role in the transfer of German rocket engine technology to the United States. In 1947-1951 the planned single-chamber version of the V-2 engine was developed and updated by the combined German-American team for the Navaho cruise missile. This engine was also applied to the Redstone ballistic missile, and its descendents powered the Thor, Jupiter, Atlas, and Saturn I rockets.

In late 1951 several scientists, aeronautical engineers and interested persons established a UFO study group in California. Edward J. Sullivan, a North American Aviation employee, was the spark plug of the organization. Riedel was another prominent member. A denunciation of Riedel as a Nazi by another North American employee, Victor Black, led to an interview by the CIA in February 1953. Riedel later returned to Germany.

1973 - SPACE MILESTONE: VENERA 3 (USSR). Launched, it crashed into Venus, March 1, 1966. First man made object on another planet.

1973 - SPACE MILESTONE: SKYLAB IV (US). launched under command of Lt. Col. Gerald P. Carr, USMC.

Last of the Skylab missions; included observation of the Comet Kohoutek among numerous experiments. Completed 1,214 Earth orbits and four EVAs totalling 22 hours, 13 minutes. The mission lasted 84 days. Recovery by USS New Orleans (LPH-11).

1972 - SPACE MILESTONE: SKYLAB III (US).

Skylab III, carrying a crew of three astronauts, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on an 84-day mission that remained the longest American space flight for over two decades (until Norm Thagard broke it aboard Mir in 1995 and Shannon Lucid, February 2002-September 2003). The Skylab III crew, Gerald P. Carr, William R. Pogue and Edward C. Gibson, maintained their physical condition by walking treadmills and riding an on-board stationary bicycle. Among the thousands of experiments conducted during this flight, the astronauts took four space walks, including one on Christmas Day to observe the comet Kohoutek. After 1,214 orbits, the crew returned to Earth, splashing down on 8 February 1974.

1971 - As the fighting gets closer to Phnom Penh, the United States steps up its air activities in support of the Cambodian government.

U.S. helicopter gunships struck at North Vietnamese emplacements at Tuol Leap, 10 miles north of Phnom Penh.

1969 - Dr.Ing Graf Helmut Philip Georg Alexander Rudo Zborowski, Ph.D., Austrian technical designer of liquid rocket motors and expert in anti-tank missiles, died this date.

Zborowski received over 300 patents in the air and rocket industry. After the Nazis took over, Zborowski joined the SS but continued his research, contributing to development of the V-1 cruise missile and V-2 ballistic missile. Zborowski was Director of the camoflauged BMW facility at Muenchen-Allach, which mass-produced aircraft engines using a total of 20,000 workers, including 3,000 prisoners of war and 5,000 inmates from the Dachau concentration camp. Zborowski also supervised a rocket group at the facility which concentrated on new weapon research. As of January 1947, he was detained at POW Camp 317, Goettingen. After being released, Zborowski was taken by the French to do research at a chateau near Paris, then brought back to Bonn.

1969 - First Chinese satellite launch attempt ends in failure.

The launch vehicle arrived at the site on 18 March 1969. The objective was to launch China's first satellite before Japan lofted its counterpart. Ren Xinmin had obtained this specific order from Deng Hsiao Peng. Great difficulties were encountered in the middle of the Cultural Revolution,³ including the sending of most of the satellite engineers to work on irrigation ditch construction in the provinces. The skirt for the satellite, designed to make it easily visible to ground observors, had to be made from a special silk produced in a factory without the knowledge of the Red Guards. The engineers went by bus to a department store in Beijing to study an imported folding umbrella as a model for the deployment mechanism -- they could not afford to buy it. The entire launch was kept secret until a documentary was released in 2001.

1966 - Last F-105F/G Thunderchief (Det.1 561st TFS, 388th TFW) shot down by SAM in Vietnam, crew rescued.

A total of 382 aircraft were lost in Southeast Asia, 320 of those in combat. The vast majority of losses were the result of enemy ground fire. Of the 610 single-seat F-105Ds built, 283 were shot down and 52 lost operationally. Of the 143 F-105F/G two-seaters, 37 were shot down and ten lost operationally (one "Ryan's Raiders" night interdiction aircraft and one Combat Martin jammer without a back-seat WSO were lost in combat, the other 45 losses were Wild Weasel aircraft).

1963 - Kosmos-22 satellite launched.

The first second generation Zenit-4 spy satellite.

1956 - Maureen Cecil LaComb, American astronaut, DoD Group 2--1982, is born in Poughkeepsie, New York, U.S.A.

1952 - USMC aircraft attached to 5th Air Force attacked hydroelectric facilities at Kongosan.

1951 - U.S. Fifth Air Force fighter-bombers made more than 100 rail cuts between Sinanju and Sukchon and between Kunu-ri² and Sunchon.

They also damaged bridges, knocked out gun positions, destroyed supply buildings, fired fuel dumps, and took a toll of enemy railcars.

1950 - Carl Joseph Meade, American astronaut, NASA Group 11--1985, is born in Chanute Air Force Base, Illinois, U.S.A.

1945 - 88 German scientists brought to United States to work on rocket technology.

The U.S. military cloaked the operation in secrecy. In announcing the plan, a military spokesman merely indicated that some German scientists who had worked on rocket development had "volunteered" to come to the United States and work for a "very moderate salary." The voluntary nature of the scheme was somewhat undercut by the admission that the scientists were in "protective custody."

Upon their arrival in the United States on November 16, newsmen and photographers were not allowed to interview or photograph the newcomers. A few days later, a source in Sweden claimed that the scientists were members of the Nazi team at Peenemünde where the V-weapons had been produced. The U.S. government continued to remain somewhat vague about the situation, stating only that "certain outstanding German scientists and technicians" were being imported in order to "take full advantage of these significant developments, which are deemed vital to our national security." Ironic, the United States and the Soviet Union, once allies against Germany and the Nazi regime during WW II, were now in a fierce contest to acquire the best and brightest scientists who had helped arm the German forces in order to construct weapons systems to threaten each other.

1942 - Navy's first Night Fighter squadron (VMF(N)-531) established at Cherry Point, North Carolina, U.S.A.

1937 - The Grand Duke and Duchess of Hess were among 11 people killed when a Sabena Junkers JU-52 airplane crashed near Ostende, Belgium.

1934 - The USSR takes part for the first time in the Paris International Air Salon.

1915 - Victor Carlstrom becomes the first pilot to fly from Toronto to New York. Carlstrom flies in a Curtiss R-2 biplane and was in the air for 6 hours and 40 minutes.

1904 - Aircraft designer A.S. Mosalev is born.

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¹The TAM fleet -- currently comprised of only Airbus A319/320s and A330s, will by the middle of 2008 include the Boeing 777-300ER jetliner. TAM Airlines would become the first Latin American carrier to operate the popular 777-300ER.

² Kunu-ri is located in northwestern Korea about 20 miles upstream from the mouth of the Chongchon River and some 75 air miles Southeast of the Manchurian border.

³ In June 1968, Yao Tongbin, a metallurgist at the Seventh Ministry, is beaten to death by Red Guards. Zhou En Lai intervenes, putting the top fifty missile scientists under this protection.