Milestones of Flight: 1/24

2009 - Death toll in two 'U.S. missile strikes' in Pakistan rises to 21.

Yesterday, officials said eight people including five foreigners--Pakistani officials use the term "foreigners" to describe Al-Qaeda militants--died in the missile strike at the house of a pro-Taliban tribesman near Mir Ali.

Hours later another suspected US drone fired two missiles into a house in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, killing seven people.

These were the first strikes under new U.S. President Barack Obama and effectively ended hopes that the new administration in Washington will halt such strikes.

Pakistan repeatedly protests that drone strikes violate its territorial sovereignty and deepen resentment among the 160 million people of the nuclear-armed Islamic nation.

President Asif Ali Zardari and army chief General Ashfaq Kayani were quoted as telling top .U.S General David Petraeus in Islamabad on the 19th that they hoped the Obama administration would take their concerns into consideration. Yeagh, right, whatever!

2009 - Aero-Legend Robert A. "Bob" Hoover turns 87-years-old.

2007 - A Sudanese airplane was hijacked in Khartoum by an armed man who diverted it to Chad's capital N'Djamena. The hijacker, Mahamat Abdelatif Mahamat, said he was trying to escape “degrading and humiliating treatment” at home in Darfur.

straight to the source: Al Jazeera Sudanese airplane hijacked, Wednesday, January 24, 2007, 11:27 Mecca Time, 8:27 GMT

straight to the source: BBC NEWS, Chad arrests Sudan plane hijacker, Wednesday, 24 January 2007, 11:01 GMT

2007 - A U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship has launched a second air strike against suspected al Qaeda operatives in southern Somalia.

straight to the source: U.S. launches new air strike on Somalia: report Wed Jan 24, 2007 5:22am ET

straight to the source: tehrantimes.com U.S. conducts second air strike in Somalia January 25, 2007

straight to the source: People's Daily OnlineU.S. launches 2nd round of strikes on suspected al Qaeda targets in Somalia 08:32, January 25, 2007

straight to the source: WORLD WAR 4 REPORT, New US air-strikes reported in Somalia, 01/25/2007 - 00:0009

Last week's airstrike was reported to have been launched from a US Air Force AC-130 gunship flying from a base in the French protectorate of Djibouti. Today's strike is reported to have been conducted by a U.S. Navy AC-130. That might be an error caused by movement of the aircraft carrier Eisenhower out of the Persian Gulf toward Somalia

2006 - Bruce T. Lundin, American Engineer, died this date.

Lundin earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of California in 1942 and worked for Standard Oil of California before joining the staff at Lewis Laboratory in 1943. He investigated heat transfer and worked to improve the performance of World War II aircraft engines. Then in 1946 he became chief of the jet propulsion research section, which conducted some of America's early research on turbojet engines. He became assistant director of Lewis in 1958 and directed much of the center's efforts in space propulsion and power generation. He advanced through the positions of associate director for development (1961) at Lewis, managing the development and operation of the Centaur and Agena launch vehicles, and of deputy associate administrator for advanced research and technology at NASA Headquarters (1968), before becoming acting associate administrator for advanced research and technology there (1969). Later that year, he received the appointment as director of the Lewis Research Center, where he remained until his retirement in 1977.

2005 - Pakistan is considering a request by Afghanistan to return Soviet-era aircraft and helicopters flown into Pakistan by defecting Afghan pilots.

Afghanistan`s Defense Ministry is seeking the return of 26 aircraft--nine helicopters, five bombers, eight fighters, two trainer jets and two transport planes--which had landed at Peshawar or adjoining areas close to Afghanistan. The aircraft flown to Pakistan between 1983 and 1989 have probably outlived their utility and are no longer flight-worthy.

2003 - A 24-passenger Gulfstream aircraft carrying members of Kenya's new government crashed, killing Kenya’s labour minister Ahmad Mohamed Kahalif and two pilots.

The 24-seat Gulfstream aircraft was bound for the Lake Victoria port of Kisumu. Other government officials believed to be on the plane were the water resources minister, the minister of state, the information and tourism minister, and the assistant justice minister

2003 - Sichuan Airlines plane B3043 on a half-hour flight from the city of Chongqing to Chengdu in Sichuan province, landed safely after a hijacker detonated homemade explosives on board, injuring himself and another passenger.

The hijacker was later subdued by an in-flight security guard. There where 10 other passengers and five crew members onboard the small airplane. The Civil Aviation of China sent two teams to Chengdu to investigate. No other details have been released.

2003 - American warplanes bombed an Iraqi air defense site, the 12th strike in the southern flight interdiction zone this month.

1999 - U.S. jets attacked 2 Iraqi surface-to-air missile batteries after encountering radar detection in the northern no-fly zone.

1991 - Navy SEALs from Naval Special Warfare Group 1 landed on Qurah Island aboard helicopters from 1991 - Helicopters from USS Leftwich (DD 984) and USS Nicholas (FFG 47) recapture the first Kuwaiti territory from Iraqi forces.

51 EPWs were taken into custody.

View Reuters' Interactive Map of Kuwait and area.

1991 - Al Quwwat al Jawwiya as Saudiya (Royal Saudi Air Force, or RSAF) Captain Ayehid Salah al-Shamrani of the No 13 Squadron of the RSAF callsign Stinger 20 in an F-15C using two AIM-9's shot down with a pair of Iraqi Mirage F1s ,that were flying along the Persian Gulf coast heading for the HMS Glouchester and Cardiff destroyers. A third Mirage jettisoned the Exocet and bugged out.

These Mirages may have been carrying Exocet missiles in preparation for an attack on Coalition naval units, apparently attempting Iraq's first air strike into allied territory. Later, some claimed the Mirages were actually a Photo-Recce Mission trying to surveil the Khafji Area prior to the Armored Probe initiated by the Iraqi Ground Forces.

The Saudi Arabian government at Riyadh initially ordered 47 F-15Cs and 15 F-15Ds under the Foreign Military Sales project Peace Sun as replacements for the BAC Lightning interceptor. The delivery of F-15s to Saudi Arabia has always been controversial, with Israel and its supporters in the US Congress being unhappy about such an advanced warplane being in the hands of a potential adversary. Although the US Congress eventually did approve the sale, a limit was imposed in 1980 which restricted Saudi Arabia to having no more than 60 Eagles in the country at any one time.

Saudi Arabia gave assurances that the planes would be used strictly for air defense. However, restrictions were placed on the delivery of the associated conformal fuel tanks, which would have brought Israel within range.

On June 5, 1984, Eagles from No 6 Squadron from King Khaled Air Force Base in Khamis Mushayt were involved in an air battle with Iranian-piloted F-4E Phantoms which were threatening Saudi oil fields. Two of the intruders were shot down by Sparrows, marking the first (and so far only) encounter in which (formerly McDonnell Douglas) Boeing-built aircraft fought each other.

In 1989, Saudi Arabia again tried to purchase additional F-15s; however, the U.S. Congress wouldn't OK the sale.

All that changed with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. The limit of only sixty F-15 airplanes in country at any one time was scrapped, and 24 F-15C/D Eagles were rushed to the RSAF from USAF stocks. These subsequently became the core of the newly-formed 42 Squadron at Dhahran.

In mid-1991, McDonnell began filling the order for twelve F-15s that had been placed by Saudi Arabia before the Gulf war began. Nine of them were for F-15Cs, 3 for F-15Ds.

A total of 72 F-15S were placed on order under Peace Sun IX in 1995 and the last was delivered in 1999. The F-15S (similar to the F-15E but without the second crew member and without some of the more advanced avionics deemed too sensitive for export)is currently operated by 55 Squadron based at Khamis Mushait.

View Reuters' Interactive Map of Saudi Arabia and area.

1991 - First indication of Iraqi aircraft fleeing to Iran.

By January 30 American officials said the number of Iraqi warplanes fleeing to Iran reached 90. It is still not clear why the pilots sought refuge. In a letter to the United Nations, Iran insisted that in accordance with its neutral status it had impounded the planes for the duration of the war.

1991 - A brief skirmish occurred high above the Persian Gulf as a Saudi warplane shot down two Iraqi jets.

1991 - Japan announced that it was sending military aircraft for non-combat missions.

1991 - French Air Force makes their first bombing missions on Iraq (morning)targeting the Republican Guards.

1986 - Voyager II space probe made closest approach to Uranus.

The spacecraft came within 81,500-km (50,600 miles) of Uranus's cloudtops. The probe radioed thousands of images and great amounts of other scientific data on the planet, its moons, rings, atmosphere, interior and the magnetic environment surrounding Uranus. Its images of the five largest moons around Uranus revealed complex surfaces indicative of varying geologic pasts. The cameras also detected 10 previously unseen moons. It also studied the fine detail of the ring system and newly discovered two more rings. Uranus has puzzled scientists ever since the probe Voyager 2 did the flyby and found that its magnetic field appeared to break the planetary rulebook. In 2004 scientists noted that Neptune and Uranus have an interior structure that is different from those of Jupiter and Saturn. Launched on August 20, 1977, Voyager II earlier visited Jupiter and Saturn. After Uranus, it travelled on to Neptune and eventually interstellar space.

1985 - SPACE MILESTONE: DISCOVERY (US). Space shuttle Discovery STS-51-C launched from and returned to Kennedy Space Center, Florida (Jan. 24-27) deploying eavesdropping satellite in secret.

An all military mission, the 15th Space Shuttle mission with Col. Loren J. Shriver leading the four-man crew on the first dedicated DOD mission.

1982 - A draft of Air Force history reported that the U.S. secretly sprayed herbicides on Laos during the Vietnam War.

1978 - SPACE MILESTONE: COSMOS 954 (USSR). Nuclear-equipped reconnaissance satellite launched Sept. 18, 1977, fell into Earth's atmosphere and burned over northern Canada. Some radioactive debris reached the ground on January 24, 1978.

1978 - USAF Tactical Air Command deployed eight F-15 Eagles from Langley AFB, Virginia to Osan AB, South Korea.

This was the first operational training deployment of the F-15s to the western Pacific.

1973 - The Spirit of '76, the VC-137 in which Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn into office as the 36th president of the United States at Love Field in Dallas was also used to fly his body from Texas to Washington, D.C. in a final tribute, and return President Johnson's body to Texas following his state funeral on January 24.

1966 - Hambi Bhabha, father of India's nuclear program, and 116 others died when Air India Boeing 707-437 Flight 101 descended below minimum safe altitude and crashed into Mt. Blanc, Switzerland. Crash caused by miscalculation of their position by the crew.

1961 - Krasimir Mihailov Stoyanov, costmonaut, International Group--1987, is born in Varna, Bulgaria.

1961 – A B-52 bomber suffered a fire caused by a major leak in a wing fuel cell and exploded in mid-air 12 miles (20 km) north of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Goldsboro, NC. The incident released the bomber's two Mark 39 hydrogen bombs.

Five crewmen parachuted to safety, but three died—two in the aircraft and one on landing. Three of the four arming devices on one of the bombs activated, causing it to carry out many of the steps needed to arm itself, such as the charging of the firing capacitors and critically the deployment of a 100 foot (30 m) diameter retardation parachute. The parachute allowed the bomb to hit the ground with little damage. The fourth arming device — the pilot's safe/arm switch — was not activated and so the weapon did not detonate. The other bomb plunged into a muddy field at around 700 miles per hour (300 m/s) and disintegrated. Its tail was discovered about 20 feet (7 m) down and much of the bomb recovered, including the tritium bottle and the plutonium. However, excavation was abandoned because of uncontrollable flooding by ground water, and most of the thermonuclear stage, containing uranium, was left in situ. It was estimated to lie at around 180 feet (55 m). The Air Force purchased the land and fenced it off to prevent its disturbance, and it is tested regularly for contamination, although none has so far been reported.

1957 - WW I German ace (9 victories) Leutnant Georg Weiner died.

became famous as an author of childrens books. He is probably best remembered for the creation of Biggles, the fictional WW I hero.

During WW II, Weiner served in the Luftwaffe and attained the rank of Major General.

1952 - Air Force Captains Dolphin D. Overton III and Harold E. Fischer Jr., both of the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, became the 24th and 25th fifth aces of the war.

They flew F-86's named Dolph's Devil and Paper Tiger. In addition, Captain Overton set a record for becoming a jet ace in the shortest time of four days.

1952 - William Francis Readdy, astronaut, NASA Group 12--1987, is born in Quonset Point, Rhode Island, U.S.A.

1951 - General Matthew B. Ridgway and Major General Earl E. Partridge personally reconnoitered the front lines in a T-6 Texan aircraft prior to the Jan. 25 dawn attack on communist Chinese forces, Operation Thunderbolt.

1950 - First flight of the Nord 1601, built to investigate the stability of swept wings, the effect of sweep back on high-lift devices and other aerodynamic problems at high subsonic speed.

Nord continued to build severa more research aircraft, including the 1402 Gerfaut 1A, wich ws the first high-powered delta-wing aircraft to fly in France when it took to the air on January 15, 1955.

1946 - Flight tests of La-9 fighter begin, piloted by A.A. Popov.

1946 - Gen. Carl Spaatz is named the first Chief of Staff of the Army Air Forces.

1945 - The U.S. 14th Air Force has to abandon Suichuan airfield, in China, because of Japanese advances nearby.

1945 - Germans successfully launched A-9, a winged prototype of the first ICBM (the A-10) designed to reach North America. A-9 reached a peak altitude of nearly 50 miles and a maximum speed of 2,700 mph.

1944 - U.S. Twelfth Air Force provided air cover for Allied units landing on Anzio beach in Italy.

U.S. control of the air played a major role in defending the beachhead.

1936 - German ace (15 victories) Leutnant Wilhelm Neuenhofen was killed in a flying accident over Munchen Gladbach, Germany.

1932 - French pilots Paul Codos and Henri Robida in a Breguet Super Bidon biplane, the Point D'Interrogation ("The Question Mark")land in Paris after flying from Hanoi in French Indochina in a record time of 3 days 4 hours.

The Super Bidon was created especially in a purpose of a transatlantic flight. First, Dieudonne Costes and Maurice Bellonte set a record of 7905 km from Paris to Moullart on September 27-29, 1929 on this plane. On September 1-2, 1930, they flew from Paris to New York City, on a distance of 6200 km, covering north Atlantic, mainland to mainland, for the first time for an airplane in a most difficult westward direction. The second Super Bidon, Spanish Cuatro Vientos, vanished over Mexico with M. Barberan and J. Collar Serra, after a transatlantic flight from Sevilla to Cuba on June 10-11, 1933.

1925 - A motion picture of a solar eclipse was taken by the U.S. Navy from the dirigible Los Angeles.

The craft was at an elevation of about 4,500-ft and positioned about 19 miles east of Montauk Point, Long Island, NY. This give a view of a total eclipse of the sun that lasted just over 2-minutes. Four astronomical cameras and a spectrograph were used as well as two moving picture cameras. This was the first time in the U.S. that a dirigible had been used as a platform for observation of a total eclipse of the sun. The first U.S. attempt to photograph one from an aircraft September 10, 1923 was unsuccesful due to cloudy conditions, but on April 28, 1930, a flight over California sponsored by the U.S. Naval Observatory recorded a total solar eclipse.

1922 - Bob Hoover is born in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A.


1919 - Royal Flying Corps Royal Air Force ace (22 victories) Capt. Cecil Frederick King.

1918 - Royal Flying Corps Royal Air Force ace Major William George Barker scored his 9th of 50 victories.

1918 - Royal Flying Corps Royal Air Force ace Lieutenant Harold Byrn Steve Hudson flying the Sopwith Camel scored his first two of this 13 victories.

1918 - Royal Flying Corps ace (33 victories) Capt. Frank Granger Quigley flying the Sopwith Camel scored his 16th victory.

1918 - Royal Naval Air Service Royal Air Force Capt. James Butler White achieved his first aerial victory flying the Sopwith Camel

This Canadian ace ended the war with 12 victories)

1918 - Royal Flying Corps Royal Air Force ace ames Thomas Byford "Mac" McCudden scored his 43rd victory--out of 57.

1918 - Royal Flying Corps ace Capt. George Edward Henry McIrish McElroy flying a S.E.5a scored his 4th victory--out of 47.

1918 - Royal Flying Corps ace Major William Earle Moley Molesworth scored his 12th and 13th victory--out of 18.

1918 - Royal Naval Air Service Royal Air Force ace Capt. William Lancelot Jordan of South Africa scored his 14th and 15th victories--out of 39.

1918 - Royal Flying Corps ace (13 victories) Capt. Harry Gosford Reeves was killed in a crash while performing an engine test on a Nieuport 27.

1917 - German ace Offizierstellvertreter Leopold Rudolf Reimann was killed in a flying accident at Jastaschule when the wings of his Albatros D.III (526/16) collapsed.

1917 - The most famous ace of WW I Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen scored his 18th of 80 victories.

1917 - French Air Service ace Capitaine Georges Marie Ludovic Jules Guynemer flying a SPAD VII, that he called Vieux Charles (Old Charles) he scored his 28th and 29th victories--out of a total of 53.

1917 - French Air Service ace Major Gervais Raoul Lufbery scored his 7th of 16 victories.

1917 - French Air Service ace Capitaine Alfred Marie Joseph Heurtaux
Légion d'Honneur died his 17th and 18th victories--out of a total of 21.


1915 - I.I. Sikorsky’s S-16 fighter accepted for the Russian army. The S-16 was the first Russian designed and built fighter aircraft. It had a 27' 6" span and was 20' 4" in length and was powered by an 80-hp Gnome engine. Early models had an equal upper/lower wingspan with ailerons on both wings. Later models had an unequal wingspan with ailerons on the upper wing only. The later models also had a fin profile that was curved as opposed to the long tapered profile that was on the earlier models. The aircraft had the landing gear arrangement with one short axle and two wheels mounted on each set of landing gear struts.

1914 - Gerhard Bernhard Heller is born in Germany.

Member of the German Rocket Team in the United States after WW II. As of 1960, Deputy Director, Research Projects Division, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Died at Huntsville, Alabama.

1914 - Birth of Russian test pilot I.I. Shelest.

1907 - Organizer of Soviet aviation industry, P.V. Dement'ev, is born in Siedlce, Imperial Russia (now Poland).

Supported Vladimir Nikolaevich Chelomei ’s proposals for an Organic Space System - a space infrastructure serviced by an integrated family of launch vehicles and spacecraft. The system would include orbiting stations, space factories, winged rockets, and nuclear weapons stored in space with plenty of decoys to defeat any enemy counter-measures. UR-200 rockets would fulfil all roles in servicing this array of weapons.

1900 - Arthur P. Urbanski is born in Germany.

Member of the German rocket team in America after WW II. He became a naturalized US citizen, and married Ellen von Bergwelt, a German citizen, in Huntsville in March 1956. As of 1960, Head of Mechanical Systems Analsysis Branch, Quality Division, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Died at Huntsville January 1, 1977.

1897 - Royal Naval Air Service
Royal Air Force ace (6 victories) Capt. Eric Bourne Coulter Betts is born in Dalkey, Dublin, Ireland.

1897 - Royal Flying Corps Royal Air Force ace (7 victories as an S.E.5a pilot) Lt. Malcolm Plaw MacLeod is born in Arnprior, Ontario, Canada.

During WW II, he served with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

1896 - Royal Flying Corps Royal Air Force ace (11 victories) Capt. George Owen Johnson is born in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada.

When WW I ended, Johnson returned to Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. Earning a CB during WW II, he retired with the rank of Air Marshal in 1947

1895 - Royal Flying Corps Royal Air Force ace (12 victories) Capt.Richard Michael Trevethan is born in the United States.

1895 - Royal Flying Corps Royal Air Force ace (9 victories) Major Gilbert Ware Murlis Green is born in London, England.

1895 - French Air Service ace (13 victories) Sous Lieutenant Marcel Joseph Maurice Nogues is born in Paris, France.

1893 - French Air Service ace (9 victories) Sous Lieutenant Marcel Marc Dhôme is born in Neuilly-sur-Marne, France.


1888 - Ernst Heinrich Heinkel, German aircraft engineer, is born.

He was chief designer of the Albatros Gesellschaft fur Flugzeugunternehmungen (Albatros Aircraft Company) in Berlin before WW I. He founded the Heinkel-Flugzeugwerke at Warnemünde (1922), making at first seaplanes, and later bombers and fighters which achieved fame in WW II. He built the first jet plane, the HE-178 (1939), and the first rocket powered aircraft, the HE-176. After Adolf Hitler came to power, Heinkel's designs formed a vital part of the Luffwaffe's growing strength. Heinkel was a critic of Hitler's regime and in 1942 the government took control of his factories. At the end of the war Heinkel was arrested by the Allies but evidence of anti-Hitler activities led to his acquittal.

1887- German ace (10 victories) Leutnant Paul Wenzel is born in Seemuhl, Germany.