January 21

2012 -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta  announced todaythat the United States remains committed to the further development of the troubled Marine Corps’ short-takeoff and vertical landing variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta visited a flight testing center along the shores of Chesapeake Bay gave a lift to the beleaguered F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, announcing that he was removing the Marine Corps version of the costly warplane from the probation announced by former secretary Gates.

Shortly after Mr. Panetta’s announcement, Gen. James F. Amos, the Marine Corps commandant, released a statement praising the decision.  “I welcome the secretary of defense’s announcement removing the F-35B Lightning II from ‘probation’ and granting it full status commensurate with the other two variants of the Joint Strike Fighter,” General Amos said. “I continue to be encouraged by the strong and steady progress that the F-35B team has made over the past year.”

2011 -- Winslow T. Wheeler, Director, Straus Military Reform Project, Center for Defense Information, F-35 testimony to Canada's House of Commons.

2011 -- TAP Portugal and LAM (Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique) have formalised a Memorandum of Understanding stating that as from June 2011 they will combine all direct flights operated by both airlines from Portugal to Mozambique and South Africa.

2011 -- Lynn Tilton has been named America's Aviation Entrepreneur of the Year," one of the flight industry's most prestigious honors, at the Eighth Annual Living Legends of Aviation Awards ceremony.

She's known for rescuing companies on the brink of bankruptcy. Her $8 billion private equity firm owns all or part of 74 companies, including MD Helicopters in Mesa, Arizona.

2011 -- Poland is offering payments up to 250,000 zlotys (64,500 euros, $86,500U.S.) to relatives of the victims of the Smolensk air disaster which killed president Lech Kaczynski, and for a separate 2008 crash.

2011 -- The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has fined SkyWest Airlines US$220,000 for alleged cargo violations.

The FAA claims SkyWest failed to document heavy cargo and luggage on five flights between 21 April and 25 May 2010, resulting in incorrect weight and balance data on the aircraft. The Utah-based airline has 30 days to respond.

2011 -- Raytheon Company signed a contract worth $475 million with The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the combat-proven Paveway family of precision-guided munitions.

Raytheon's Paveway is a kit that transforms "dumb" bombs into precision-guided munitions.

2011 -- Lufthansa Airlines and Singapore Airlines (SIA)will raise fuel surcharges because of the persistent rising cost of jet fuel.

Qantas may raise prices and fuel surcharges if global competitors did the same thing.

2011 -- Two pilots were killed when their T-37C jets collided and crashed düring flight training in South Korea today.

The Cessna planes came down in fields in Uljin county on the east coast and no other casualties were reported. T-37 production ended in 1975. The South Korean Air Force originally acquired 25 T-37Cs, starting in 1973, and later bought 30 from Brazil.

2011 -- The Dassault Aviation will implement a general salary increase of 1.5% for non-executives and 3.5% for executives in 2011.

2011 -- A hot-air balloon takes a dip in Melbourne's Port Philip Bay after being blown off course when trying to land on a beach.

2011 -- Brazi's Navy brings flood relief.

2011 -- The snow that blanketed parts of southern and eastern China has severely disrupted transport by air as millions of Chinese had already made their way to their home province to celebrate the New Year.

2011 -- CAE today announced it has been awarded a series of military contracts for the defence forces of more than 12 countries valued at more than C$140 million.

Among the contracts are: the design and manufacture of a C-130J weapon systems trainer and other training devices for Lockheed Martin; a contract from Boeing Training Systems and Services to build two M-346 full-mission simulators; an agreement with IGTEC to design and manufacture a C-130H full-mission simulator; a contract from Airbus Military to develop A400M maintenance trainers; a contract from Boeing to provide CAE's magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) system for the Indian Navy's P-8I Poseidon aircraft; and a contract from the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence to continue providing training support services for Royal Navy helicopter training systems.

2010 -- 21-23: The first-ever Bahrain International Airshow took place in Manama on the island-nation.

2008 -- Airbus has won orders worth more than USD$6 billion at list prices from Brazilian airline Tam which include a firm contract for 22 A350 XWBs.

The agreement raised to 314 the total number of orders for the wide-body long-range A350 XWB, worth around USD$200 million each at list prices.

2007 -- Brazilian lead aviation accident investigator Renato Sayao for the first time acknowledged air traffic controllers share some of the blame for the September 29 midair that killed 154 people when a Legacy business jet collided with a Gol Airlines 737 over the Amazon jungle.

But the Legacy pilots -- Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino of New York, both of whom survived the collision along with their five passengers – might not be off the hook entirely. According to The Associated Press, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office said both the pilots and controllers were likely at fault. The prosecutor's office cannot press charges against the Brazilian controllers since they are military personnel; instead it can only submit findings to military justice officials, who would then pursue any further action.

1991 -- In the first successful combat search and rescue mission of Desert Storm and since Vietnam, one of two F-14 crew members was recovered 50 miles north of Mudaysis airfield.

Capt. Paul T. Johnson in his A-10 Thunderbolt II found a downed Navy fighter pilot, who had ejected in Iraq territory. Captain Johnson destroyed a threatening Iraqi truck, which allowed an Air Force MH-53J Pave Low helicopter to rescue the pilot. For his efforts, Captain Johnson received the Air Force Cross.

2007 -- Brazilian lead aviation accident investigator Renato Sayao for the first time acknowledged air traffic controllers share some of the blame for the September 29 midair that killed 154 people when a Legacy business jet collided with a Gol Airlines 737 over the Amazon jungle.

But the Legacy pilots -- Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino of New York, both of whom survived the collision along with their five passengers – might not be off the hook entirely. According to The Associated Press, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office said both the pilots and controllers were likely at fault. The prosecutor's office cannot press charges against the Brazilian controllers since they are military personnel; instead it can only submit findings to military justice officials, who would then pursue any further action.

2008 -- Airbus has won orders worth more than USD$6 billion at list prices from Brazilian airline Tam which include a firm contract for 22 A350 XWBs. The agreement raised to 314 the total number of orders for the wide-body long-range A350 XWB, worth around USD$200 million each at list prices

1993 -- Shortly after his inauguration, President Clinton said the United States would continue the Bush policy on Iraq, and U.S. aircraft fired at targets in Iraq after pilots sensed Iraqi radar or anti-aircraft fire directed at them.

1991 -- U.S. Air Force Capt. Paul T. Johnson in his A-10 Thunderbolt II found a downed Navy fighter pilot, who had ejected in Iraq territory. 

Captain Johnson destroyed a threatening Iraqi truck, which allowed an Air Force MH-53J Pave Low helicopter to rescue the pilot. For his efforts, Captain Johnson received the Air Force Cross.

1991 -- Scud missiles fired from Iraq at Al Jubail, Dhahran, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

1988 -- WW I United States Air Service Ace Robert Miles Todd died at La Jolla, California.

1987 -- The First B-1B, named the Wings of Freedom, arrived at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, U.S.A..

1985 -- Major Ralph B. Filburn launched the first anti-satellite missile to a point-in-space from an F-15.

1984 -- The anti-satellite missile completed its first free flight test from an F-15 Eagle carrier. 

1981 --  The 52 American hostages held at the U.S. embassy in Tehran for more than 14 month stepped from the plane onto the tarmac at Wiesbaden airport looking tired but elated after their 4,000-mile (6,437km) flight from Iran.

The former diplomats and embassy staff arrived in West Germany on their way home to the United States.
1980 -- French Air Service WW I ace André Dubonnet died.

1976 -- First passenger services by a supersonic airliner are begun, as British Airways and Air France Concorde supersonic transports take off simultaneously for Bahrain and Rio de Janeiro.

British Airways and Air France Concorde supersonic transports with commercial passengers simultaneously took flight - from London's Heathrow Airport to Bahrain in the Persian Gulf, and from Orly Airport outside Paris to Rio de Janeiro via Senegal in West Africa. At their cruising speeds, the Concordes flew at 1,350 mph, well over the speed of sound, cutting air travel time by more than half.The Concorde was not a great commercial success, however, and people complained bitterly about the noise pollution caused by its sonic booms and loud engines. Most airlines declined to purchase the aircraft, and just 16 Concordes were built for British Airways and Air France. Service was eventually limited between London and New York and Paris and New York, and luxury travelers appreciated the less than four-hour journey across the Atlantic.

1975 -- WW I United States Air Service Ace Howard Burdick died at Los Angeles, California.

1972 -- A Lineas Aéreas La Urraca Vickers 837 Viscount crashed during a rainstorm shortly after leaving Bogotá for San Andres, Columbia. There were 20 Fatalities.

1972 -- A SATENA Douglas DC-3 operated on a flight from Medellin to Buenaventura, Columbia crashed, and all 39 aboard died.

1972 -- A Türk Hava Yollari - THY McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 diverted to Adana, Turkey after pressurization problems. The aircraft hit the ground downwind on the 2nd approach and caught fire.

One crew member died in this accident.

1972 -- First flight S-3A Viking, the U.S. Navy's newest ASW aircraft, from Lockheed's Palmdale, California facility.

The S-3A Viking met the Navy's requirements for a 400 knot plus aircraft and a 2,000 mile range subhunter to replace the aging S-2 Tracker. The S-3A, while about the same size as the S-2, had twice the speed and range of the Tracker. It had been equipped with the latest sensor and weapon systems and could cover nearly three times the area of the S-2 Tracker.

1971 -- A Fuerza Aérea del Peru - FAP Curtiss C-46 crashed in the Cuti Padre mountain range, near Palca, Peru, which is part of the central Andes. 

The airplane carried 35 members of a civil guard anti-guerrilla force.  None survived the crash.

1971 -- L'Armée de L'Air Nord 262A-34 crashed in a blizzard in mountainous terrain. The airplane flew into the side of Suc de Pradou, a 1,342 m high mountain and came to rest 200 m below the summit.

There were nineteen fatalities, thirteen of France's top nuclear weapons experts were killed.
The crew had been cleared by Marseilles ACC at FL 80 to the Montelimar (MTL) VOR and FL50 afterwards. FL80 was the minimum safe altitude level between CMF (Clermont Ferrand) and MTL. Controllers at the time considered it possible that the pilot might have retained the FL50 as the final clearance and had disregarded the initial FL80 instruction.

1971 -- Rockwell 1121 Jet Commander N400CP operated by Cousin Properties with 5 occupants went missing and is presumed to have crashed in Lake Champlain, New York.

1970 -- The first wide body jet was put into service as the Pan American Airways Boeing 747 flew its first flight between from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport and Heathrow Airport in London, England.

The first scheduled flight came back to the gate after an engine overheated during taxiing; more than five hours later a back-up plane finally left New York for London.

1969 -- Canadian WW I Royal Flying Corps Ace Arthur Eyguem De Montaigne Jacko Jarvis died.

1968 -- A B-52 crashed 7 miles south of Thule Air Force Base in Greenland, scattering the radioactive fragments of three hydrogen bombs over the terrain and dropping one bomb into the sea after a fire broke out in the navigator’s compartment.

Contaminated ice and airplane debris were sent back to the U.S., with the bomb fragments going back to the manufacturer in Amarillo, Texas. The incident outraged the people of Denmark (which owned Greenland at the time, and which prohibits nuclear weapons over its territory) and led to massive anti-U.S. demonstrations. One of the warheads was reportedly recovered by Navy Seals and Seabees in 1979, but an August 2000 report suggests that in fact it may still be lying at the bottom of Baffin Bay.

1965 -- German WW I Ace Ludwig Lutz Beckmann died.

1965 -- Austro-Hungarian Empire WW I Ace Friedrich Hefty died at Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.

1961 -- A B-52 bomber carrying one or more nuclear weapons disintegrated in midair following an engine fire and explosion approximately 10 miles north of Monticello, Utah, killing all five crewmembers.

Four nuclear bombs were destroyed in a fire after the B-52 bomber carrying them crashed approximately seven miles southwest of the runway at Thule Air Force Base in Greenland. The B-52, from Plattsburgh Air Force Base in New York, crashed after a fire broke out in the navigator's compartment. The pilot was en route to Thule AFB to attempt an emergency landing. Upon impact with the ground, the plane burst into flames, igniting the high explosive outer coverings of at least one of the bombs. The explosive then detonated, scattering plutonium and other radioactive materials over an area about 300 yards on either side of the plane's path, much of it in "cigarette box-sized" pieces.

1958 -- The U.S. Air Force received its first five Cessna T-37 trainers.

The Air Force first used Cessna T-37s in student pilot training with Class 59-D at Bainbridge AB, Georgia.

1957 -- The U.S. Air Force received its first five Cessna T-37 trainers.

1953 -- Air Force F-86 Sabre jets downed seven MiGs and damaged three others in a trio of engagements. While aircraft from three carriers continued assaults against communist supply buildups near Hungnam and Wonsan.

1952 -- First flight Saab 210.

The Saab 210, nicknamed the Lill Draken, was a scale test bed used in the development of the supersonic J35 Draken. The Saab 210 was primarily used to test and develop the highly swept wing design and better understand the flight characteristics of such a design.

1951 -- The United States Air Force F-84 Thunderjet makes its first kill, when F-84 pilot Lieutenant Colonel William E. Bertram shoots down a MiG-15 during the Korean War.

1950 --- Astronaut Joseph Richard Joe Tanner is born in in Danville, Illinois, U.S.A.

1943 -- A Nazi daylight air raid kills 34 in a London school.

1943 -- The Casablanca Directive is issued to the U.S. and British strategic bombing forces in Europe by the Combined Chiefs of Staff. It sets out priorities for the continuing Allied attacks. Most of the reasoning is in line with the precision bombing ideas of the U.S. leadership.

As yet the U.S. air forces have too few resources to carry out the full scheme and RAF Bomber Command will continue its area of bombing policy, in line with the views of its Commander in Chief Sir Arthur Harris.

1940 -- The first American test of the practicability of moving a complete troop unit by air. A battalion of Sixty-fifth Coast Artillery was transported 500 miles by 38 bombers of the Seventh Bombardment Group, Hamiliton Field, California.

1930 -- Russian cosmonaut Valentin Ignatyevich Filatyev is born.

1929 -- Astronaut Robert Ward Philips is born in Peoria, Illinois, U.S.A.
1928 -- Russian cosmonaut (1928-1998) Valentin Gavriyilovich Yershov is born.
Trained for the Soviet Lunar Landing Program.

Dismissed from cosmonaut training by TsPK Director Beregovoi when Yershov refused to become a member of the Communist Party.

1921 -- The first triple-triplane aircraft, and the first passenger-carrying aircraft designed to carry more than 100 people that actually got off the ground, is launched at Lake Maggiore, Italy.

The flight attempt ends in failure when the 55,000 lb. flying boat nosedives into the lake.