September 28

2011 -- Rezwan Ferdaus was arrested in Framingham, Massachusetts, after undercover federal agents delivered materials he had allegedly requested, including grenades, six machine guns and what he believed was 24 pounds of C-4 explosive. He was accused of plotting an assault on the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol using remote-controlled aircraft armed with explosives. 

Ferdaus, a U.S. citizen who graduated from Northeastern University with a bachelor's degree in physics, made a brief initial appearance todayin federal court on charges of attempting to destroy federal buildings and providing support to a foreign terrorist organization, in this case al-Qaida. A detention hearing was scheduled for Monday.

Ferdaus is accused of planning to use three remote control airplanes measuring up to 80 inches (200 centimeters) in length. Ferdaus allegedly planned to pack five pounds (2.27 kilograms) of explosives in each plane, while saving some of it to blow up bridges near the Pentagon.

The planes, guided by GPS and capable of speeds greater than 100 mph (160 kph), would hit the Pentagon and blow the Capitol dome to "smithereens," according to Ferdaus' plan, detailed in the affidavit. Ferdaus then planned a follow-up automatic weapons attack with six people divided into two teams, according to the affidavit.

2011 -- Rebel forces in Yemen have shot down a government Su-22 Soviet-built ground-attack aircraft not far from the capital Sanaa, local tribal sources were quoted as saying by world media.

The Yemeni air force has been bombing rebel tribes in the area in the last week, to suppress an uprising against President Ali Abdallah Saleh.  

The tribesmen are allied to a dissident general, Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar.

2011 --  Analysts estimate that the EU's plan to rein in greenhouse-gas emissions could cost the global airline industry more than $1 billion in 2012.

Carriers are opposed to the proposal, presented this week by EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard.

2011 -- The test firing of a new Russian intercontinental ballistic missile ended in failure when the rocket crashed near the launch site.

2011 -- Boeing's first 787 Dreamliner landed in Tokyo, greeted by a phalanx of media, company executives and excited plane spotters.

2010 -- Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have taken delivery of three squadrons of flying craft named Bavar 2', according to the country's state TV.

2010 -- While aviation pursues its own green agenda, it stands as an obstacle to an icon of environmentalism—the wind farm. Radar Upgrades Cut Wind Farm Interference.

2010 -- Sen. James Webb (D-Va.)accuses Pentagon of stonewalling on plan to close military command.

The proposed closure of JFCOM, based in Virginia's Hampton Roads area, has become a major economic concern for that region and the entire state. Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) was also in Washington on Tuesday to press the issue, as he and Virginia's congressional delegation have been working together across party lines to oppose the move.

The closure is part of Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates's ambitious plan to make the Pentagon's budget more efficient in anticipation of possible future cutbacks. The state's members of Congress have written repeatedly to the Pentagon demanding to know how scrapping JFCOM would save money in the long term without jeopardizing national security.

2010 -- The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to hear an appeal from the Boeing Co. and General Dynamics Corp., the main contractors on a $4.8 billion project that the Pentagon, then headed by Richard Cheney, canceled in 1991.

This longstanding dispute between the Pentagon and two contractors contesting the government's demand for $3 billion over the Navy's ill-fated A-12 Avenger II¹ attack plane, nicknamed the Flying Dorito. The cancellation of the project didn't adhere to contract requirements and resulted in years of litigation between McDonnell Douglas/General Dynamics and the Department of Defense for breach of contract. On June 1, 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that the U.S. Navy had been justified in canceling the contract, and that the two contractors are now required to repay the U.S. government more than US$1.35 billion, plus interest charges of US$1.45 billion. That was not what Boeing, which merged with McDonnell Douglas in 1997, and General Dynamics wanted to hear. They'v been fighting the ruling and refusing to return the money given to them under the initial contract saying that the government canceled the project improperly and that the use of a state secrets claim by the U.S. prevented them from mounting an effective defense.

The consolidated cases are General Dynamics v. U.S., 09-1298, and Boeing v. U.S., 09-1302.

2010 -- The plane the U.S. Navy went with instead of the A-12 was the F-18.

Today, Boeing Company was awarded a new multi-year procurement (MYP) contract from the U.S. Navy for 124 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler aircraft.

The new contract is valued at $5.297 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Boeing will deliver 66 Super Hornets and 58 Growlers to the Navy from 2012 through 2015.

This is the third multi-year agreement between Boeing and the Navy for production of the F/A-18E.

2010 -- Aerial swarming robots to create communications networks for disaster relief.

1993 -- At Yokota AB, Japan, a 32-year-old C-130 Hercules in the 36th Airlift Squadron flew its 25,000th flying hour.

1988 -- Soviet MiG-23MLD Flogger pilots Vladmir Astakhov and Boris Gavrilov each shot down an Iranian helicopter.

1983 -- The U.S. Air Force designated the new EF-111A tactical electronic jamming aircraft as the Raven.

1976 -- WW I Royal Naval Air Service Canadian Ace Raymond Collie Collishaw died at West Vancouver, British Columbia. Canada.

1967 -- Royal Flying Corps WW I Ace William Gordon Dozy Claxton died at Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

1964 -- With eight KC-135s, the Yankee Team Tanker Task Force, started supporting U.S. Pacific Air Forces fighter combat operations.

1959 -- Explorer VI satellite revealed an intense radiation belt around Earth and took the first remote imaging TV pictures of Earth meteorological conditions.

1955 -- Royal Flying Corps WW I Ace Lionel Wilmot Brabazon Rees died at the Bahamas.

1953 -- American astronomer considered the founder of extragalactic astronomy Edwin Hubble died.

He provided the first evidence of the expansion of the universe.

1951 -- An F-80 flew a 14-hour, and 15 minute combat mission with eight refuelings.

Far East Air Forces informed the U.S. Air Force in October of what may have been the longest flight on record for jet aircraft using inflight refueling.

1950 -- The 7th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, the first jet fighter squadron to operate from a base in Korea, moved from Itazuke, Japan to Taegu, South Korea.

1950 -- Three RB-45 Tornadoes, the first jet reconnaissance aircraft in the U.S. Air Force inventory, arrived in the Far East.

1950 -- At Holloman AFB, New Mexico, eight white mice survived a balloon flight to 97,000 feet

1950 -- Chechen engineer Vitali Aleksandrovich Lopota is born.

1948 -- The U.S. Army Signal Corps released a balloon at Belmar, New Jersey, and it set a 140,000-foot altitude record.

1942 -- Gen. Henry Hap Arnold gives highest priority to the development of two exceptional aircraft--the B-35 Flying Wing and the B-36 Peacemaker--intended for bombing runs from bases in the United States to targets in Europe.

1942 -- 27 Mitsubishi G4M Betty bombers, escorted by 42 Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters, attack Guadalcanal.

34 Grumman F4F Wildcats intercept, claiming 23 Bettys and one Zero for no losses. The actual figure is five Bettys, two crashing enroute home, and no Zeros. The Japanese claim eight kills and five probables. They actually haven't splashed a single plane.

For the Japanese the age of easy kills over inferior pilots and fighters is over.

1942 -- At Stalingrad, the Luftwaffe attacks at dawn, dropping everything possible.

Luftwaffe supply officers are running out of bombs, so ground crew load their Junkers 88 bomb bays with pieces of metal, plows, tractor wheels, and empty cans, to use as shrapnel.

Maj. Gen. Khryukin's air force goes into action and Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Goudkov LaGG-3 and Yakovlev Yak-1 fighter pilots find out what their British cousins already know, Ju 87 Stukas are pretty easy targets.

1934 -- Deutche Lufthansa carries its 1,000,000th passenger.

1924 -- The first round the world airplane flight is completed. Douglas World Cruisers' Chicago and New Orleans arrive back at Seattle. With an actual flying time of 371 hours 11 minutes, the flight required 57 stops.

1923 -- The United States wins first and second place in Schneider Trophy Contest with Curtiss CR3 biplanes.

First place won by Naval Aviator Lt. D. Rittenhouse in a Curtiss CR3 biplane with a Curtiss engine at a speed of 177.38 mph (285.45 km/h). Lt. Rutledge, USN, was second in the former CR-1 at 173.46. Such a beating was administered such that when 1924 came rolling around and it was America’s turn to host, all the European competitors withdrew in a snit and the host cancelled the competition rather than win by default.

1921 -- Lt. John A. Macready flew his Lepere Biplane to a 34,508-foot world record. He received the Mackay Trophy for this flight.

1920 -- American pilot Howard Rinehart, flying a Dayton-Wright R.B Racer, becomes the first person to fly an airplane fitted with retractable landing gear.

1917 -- Canadian Ace Andrew Edward McKeever scored his 16th, 17th, and 18th victories.

McKeever was the highest scoring ace to fly the Bristol Fighter during WW I.

1912 -- Cpl. Frank S. Scott became the first enlisted fatality in U.S. Army Signal Corps Aviation.

Cpl. Scott was killed at College Park, Maryland, while flying as a passenger with 2nd Lt. Lewis G. Rockwell, who was engaged in a course of tests for Military Aviator ratings.

1902 -- Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasishchev, Soviet Chief Designer 1951-1960 of OKB-23., is born.

Developed innovative bomber, cruise missile, and spaceplane designs.
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¹ General Dynamics and McDonnell Douglas appropriated the name of an earlier Grumman product for their proposed stealth replacement for the A-6 Intruder all-weather attack bomber.

That earlier plane was the Grumman TBF Avenger was a torpedo bomber developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and eventually used by several air or naval arms around the world. It entered U.S. service in 1942, and first saw action during the Battle of Midway.