2011 -- U.S. Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, is now a statutory member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the result of a provision included in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, which President Obama signed it into law today. 2011 -- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has airlifted emergency food assistance into Liberia to feed refugees fleeing the political crisis in neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire as part of a rapid scale up of humanitarian operations in response to the evolving humanitarian crisis.
WFP has flown in five metric tons of High Energy Biscuits--fortified rations especially suited to use in emergencies--to assist the growing number of people crossing the border into Nimba County, Liberia. U.N. reports say around 20,000 refugees have arrived--most of them are being sheltered by the local community on the Liberian side of the border.
The first emergency consignment will be sent to the north-eastern town of Saclepea for distribution in coordination with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The five metric tons - enough to provide a day's food ration for around 15,000 people - is the first consignment in a wave of food assistance that WFP is mobilising to meet the immediate nutritional needs of the refugees.
"For airports, the change isn't about money. At issue, airport managers and security experts say, is the unwieldy size and bureaucracy of the federal aviation security system. Private firms may be able to do the job more efficiently and with a personal touch, they say. Airports that choose private screeners must submit the request to the TSA. There are no specific criteria for approval, but federal officials can decide whether to grant the request "based on the airport's record of compliance on security regulations and requirements." The TSA pays for the cost of the screening and has the final say on which company gets the contract. Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.), the incoming chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has written to 200 of the nation's largest airports, urging them to consider switching to private companies. The TSA was "never intended to be an army of 67,000 employees," he said.
Military aircraft dropped supplies to towns cut off by floods in northeastern Australia as the prime minister promised new assistance Friday to the 200,000 people affected by waters covering an area larger than France and Germany combined.
Pamela Anderson, Janet Jackson and Ralph Fiennes are all members - and even aviation giant Richard Branson admitted joining at the age of 19. Founder Mike Crisp says his air charter's bed-laden Cessna Grand Caravan, has been grounded "because of some prudish snobbery on the part of the CAA," the CAA disagrees. Crisp's business, Mile High Flights, operated for two years out of Gloucestershire, England, giving couples (and one threesome) the opportunity to join the mile high club. Now, the CAA says the company has failed to meet safety criteria and the regulatory agency will not renew the company's operating license.
But for adventurous Brits setting their sights on entry to the 'Mile High Club', domestic airlines look to be the only way forward after the UK's only 'romantic flights' firm was grounded
2010 -- The government of Spain has set in motion a plan to privatize much of its air traffic control system, beginning with the services provided to 13 airports.
2006 -- The first group of 10 F-117 Nighthawks officially retired at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, to make way for new incoming F-22A Raptors.
2002 -- TSA, with a little creativity--and assistance from K-9 explosives sniffers--met the mandate of Congress to have explosives detection capabilities to screen all checked baggage at all 429 major U.S. airports.
This was the last of thirty-six that Congress had laid down in the Aviation and Transportation Security Act. In little more than a year, TSA met all 36 mandates, including the November 17 deadline for screening passengers.
2001 -- During Operation Enduring Freedom,USAF Air Mobility Command aircraft flew 1,757 airlift missions outside the U.S.
C-17s and C-5s flying 45 percent and 29 percent of the missions, respectively, lasting from September 11 through the end of 2001. Tanker aircraft played a critical role by performing 953 air refueling missions--838 for KC-135s and 115 for KC-10s.
2001 -- During Operation Noble Eagle², homeland defense mission in the continental United States, Air Mobility Command completed 228 airlift missions with C-130s conducting 53 percent of the flights.
1990 -- Cosmonaut Vasili Grigoryevich Lazarev dies from alcohol poisoning. He was 62.
1985 -- Former teen idol Rick Nelson dies in plane crash in De Kalb, Texas.
The plane, a chartered DC-3 in Guntersville, Alabama, was bound for a New Year's Eve appearance in Dallas. Shortly before reaching Dallas, however, the cabin of Nelson's plane apparently filled with smoke due to a fire of undetermined origin. While the two pilots of the plane would survive their attempted emergency landing in a field outside De Kalb, Texas, all seven passengers on board were killed.
1984 -- Pursuant to the Airline Deregulation Act, the CAB ceased operations.
1981 -- U.S. Air Forces in Europe's first operational F-16s arrived at Hahn AB, Germany, for duty with the 50th Tactical Fighter Wing.
1972 -- An airplane chartered by the professional baseball player Roberto Clemente to bring food and other relief supplies to survivors of a recent earthquake in Nicaragua crashes shortly after takeoff from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
When a massive earthquake hit Nicaragua, Clemente headed up relief efforts from Puerto Rico, where he spent his off-seasons and played and managed for teams in the Puerto Rican national league. When he learned that the cargo of earlier relief flights had not reached its intended recipients, Clemente decided to accompany the next one himself. The plane that crashed was found to have a history of mechanical problems, and was carrying too much weight. Five people were killed in the crash, including Clemente, whose body was never recovered.
1972 -- With the end of Linebacker II, the most intense U.S. bombing operation of the Vietnam War, U.S. and communist negotiators prepare to return to the secret Paris peace talks scheduled to reconvene on January 2.
In a statement issued in Paris, the Hanoi delegation to the public peace talks asserted that the U.S. bombing did not succeed in "subjugating the Vietnamese people," and called attention to the losses of U.S. planes and the unfavorable world reaction to the raids. Despite the public denial that the Linebacker II raids forced them back, the communists returned to the negotiating table. When the negotiators met in January, the talks moved along quickly and on January 23, 1973, the United States, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), and the Viet Cong signed a cease-fire agreement that took effect five days later.
1972 -- Pacific Air Forces tactical forces flew 254,895 combat sorties in South Vietnam in 1972 to drop 899.5 thousand tons of munitions in Southeast Asia in 1972, while losing 194 aircraft.
The sorties included 115,298 attack sorties and 28,383 B-52 Arc Light sorties. KC-135s accomplished 111,770 aerial refuelings.
1971 -- During Southeast Asia Combat Operations 1971, Pacific Air Forces tactical forces flew 450,031 combat sorties to drop 642.9 thousand tons of munitions in Southeast Asia in 1971, while losing 87 aircraft (70 to combat).
Sorties totaled 87,052 attack sorties and 12,554 B-52 sorties, while KC-135s performed over 62,500 refuelings. Tactical airlift operations within moved 2,282,883 passengers and 283,556 tons of cargo.
1969 -- The 498th Tactical Missile Group inactivated on Okinawa to end the deployment of CGM-13B Mace tactical missiles there by the USAF.
1968 -- Several months ahead of the Anglo-French Concorde, the Soviet Union's Tupolev Tu-144, takes to the air, powered by four 28,660/38,580-lb. s.t. Kuznetsov NK-144 turbofans.
TU-144 so closely resembled the Concorde that the Western press dubbed it the Konkordski.
1967 -- The Air Force launched a TIROS satellite from Vandenberg AFB, California.
This was the 700th major launch from that base since 1959.
1966 -- The FAA declared the Boeing Company and the General Electric Company winners of the SST development program competitive design and study phase
1963 -- U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson approved U-2 flights over Southeast Asia.
The first Strategic Air Command U-2s arrived in the Far East in early February 1964.
1958 -- This year, for the first time, more passengers (1.2 million) have crossed the North Atlantic by air than by sea.
1951 -- This year, for the first time, air passenger miles flown (10.6 million) have exceeded passenger miles traveled in Pullman cars on the railroad (10.2 million).
1948 -- Allied aircraft logged the 100,000th flight of the Berlin airlift³.
The airlift began after WW II when Germany was occupied territory and Berlin was surrounded by the Soviet zone. The city itself was divided into four sectors controlled by Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union.
The Soviets tried to dissuade a West German government in the city by gradually escalating harassment of Western traffic to and from Berlin, which culminated in the Berlin blockade, imposed June 24, 1948.
1944 -- Far East Air Forces units launched a total of 163,397 sorties during 1944, of which 145,640 were considered effective.
Fighters conducted the most sorties, with 100,998 sorties airborne and 90,240 effective. The command dropped 92,134 tons of bombs, expended 39,481,000 rounds of .50 caliber ammunition, and destroyed 2,518 enemy aircraft. FEAF units suffered a total of 3,732 casualties, 1,360 dead, 1,206 wounded, and 1,166 either missing, captured, or interned. Aircraft losses totaled 2,584 aircraft of all types.
Chief of the First Directorate of Baikonur 1960-1967, where he oversaw launch teams.
1918 -- German Air Service Ace, with 28 victories, Friedrich Fritz Ritter von Röth, extremely depressed that Germany had lost the war, committed suicide.
By the end of the war, he was Germany's highest scoring balloon-buster. Of his 28 confirmed victories, 20 of them were balloons.
1913 -- Orville Wright demonstrated his Model E with an automatic stabilizer at Dayton, Ohio.
He received the 1913 Collier Trophy for this event.
1910 -- The first powered flight in Hawaii took place as James C. Bud Mars flew a Curtiss Skylark over Moanalua Polo Field.
The P-18 biplane was constructed of spruce, ash, bamboo, steel tubing, and rubberized silk wings.
1909 -- Bruno Helm is born.
German engineer in WW II, member of the Rocket Team in the United States thereafter.
1908 -- Wilbur Wright at Auvours, France, makes the first flight over 2 hours.
He flies for 2 hours, and 20 minutes, covers 77 miles, and wins the Michelin Cup for 1908.
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¹ In 1965, the French arrested Sergei Pavlov, head of the Paris office of the Soviet airliner Aeroflot, for illegally obtaining classified information about France's supersonic project. Another high-level Soviet spy remained unknown, however, and continued to feed the Soviets information about the Concorde until the spy was identified and arrested in 1967. On December 31, 1968, just three months before the first scheduled flight of the Concorde prototype, the fruits of Soviet industrial espionage were revealed when the Soviet's TU-144 became the world's first supersonic airliner to fly.
² CRS Report for Congress. Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom: Questions and Answers About U.S. Military Personnel, Compensation, and Force Structure
³ The airlift had casualties:
U.S.A.: 31 (28 U.S. Air Force, 1 U.S. Navy, 1 U.S. Army, 1 Army civilian)
Britian: 39 (17 Royal Air Force, 1 British Army, 21 civilians)
Germany: Disputed. Most sources say 9 civilians; some list 12 civilians.
Cut and Paste Aviation Archive
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