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This Day in Aviation History
On 16 March
In 1905... S. H. Maloney, a professional balloon-parachute jumper, makes a first successful glide to earth in a tandem-wing glider built by John J. Montgomery (1858-1911), a professor at Santa Clara College in California. (OTM)
In 1907... Built for Leon Delagrange and pilot Charles Voisin, the Voisin-Delagrandge biplane makes its first flight from Bagatelle, France, achieving a height of 13ft. and a distance of 260ft. (F&F)
In 1911... The first certificate of airworthiness awarded to an airplane in Britain is signed by Mervyn O’Gorman, superintendent of the Balloon Factory at Farnborough, covering the Farman III Type Militaire purchased by the British Army during the second half of 1910. (F&F)
In 1960... KLM opens its first intercontinental jet service, by Douglas DC-8 from Amsterdam to New York. (AYY)
In 1983... A Boeing 767 lands after a nonstop flight of 5,499 miles from Lisbon, Portugal to set a distance record for a twin-jet airliner in commercial service. (AYY)
On 18 March
In 1906... Trajan Vuia, a Rumanian, first tests a monoplane in France. Although it only hops and does not fly, Louis Bleriot (1872-1936) decides that its monoplane design is superior to his biplane. (OTM)
In 1938... Only seven months after its first flight, the prototype Heinkel He 115 V1 begins a series of flights breaking eight seaplane speed records by carrying loads between 1,100 lb. and 4,400 lb. over distances of 1,000 km (621 miles) and 2,000 km (1,242 miles) at an average speed of 204 mph. The He 115 is the Luftwaffe’s most successful seaplane. (F&F)
In 1952... Two USAF F-84 Thunderjets land in Neubiberg, Germany after the longest sustained jet flight; they flew 2,800 miles from the USA in 4 hours 48 minutes, without refueling. (AYY)
On 19 March
In 1909... The International Aero and Motor-Boat Exhibition opens in London. Among the exhibits is a Wright airplane for sale at $7,000. (AYY)
In 1912... The first of the U. S. Signal Corps Scout series capable of meeting a specification issued February 8, 1912, the S. C. No.8 is delivered to Augusta, Georgia by Curtiss pilot Charles F. Walsh. It finally passes all tests at College Park, Maryland in May with Lincoln Beachey at the controls (F&F)
In 1918... U. S. airplanes in France make the first operational flights. (OTM)
In 1969... The first scheduled jet air service inside the Arctic Circle begins as Nordair inaugurates a weekly return service between Montreal, Canada and Resolution Bay, Cornwallis Island, Canada. (OTM)
On 20 March
In 1920... Two South African pilots complete the first flight from Britain to South Africa after a flying time of four days, 13 hours, 30 minutes. (AYY)
In 1922... The CV-1 Langley, America’s first aircraft carrier, is commissioned into the U. S. Navy at Norfolk, Virginia under the command of Comdr. Kenneth Whiting. (F&F)
In 1932... The airship Graf Zeppelin begins a series of flights between Germany and Brazil. Several round-trips are planned per year, embarkation being at Friedrichshafen bound for Recife and later to Rio de Janeiro. (F&F)
In 1937... An attempted round-the-world flight by leading US woman aviator Amelia Earhart ends dramatically when the starboard tire of her Lockheed Electra airliner bursts during take-off from Honolulu, Hawaii. Because of damage, the expedition is temporary abandoned. The first leg from Oakland, California to Honolulu on March 17 was made in 16 hours, an east/west record. (AYY)
On 21 March
In 1877... Maurice Farman (1877-1964), aviation pioneer and manufacturer, is born in Paris, France. In 1908, he made the first circular flight of more than one mile (1,6 km) with his brother, Henri. (OTM)
In 1908... Henri Farman covers 6,275 feet in 3 minutes 47 seconds in his Voisin-Farman No.1 bis at Issy-les-Moulineaux. (AYY)
In 1933... Fairey’s TSR.1 torpedo spotter-reconnaissance airplane makes its first flight at Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England. (AYY)
In 1933... James L. Kinney makes the first cross-country test of blind flying and landing from College Park, Maryland to Newark, New Jersey. (AYY)
On 24 March
On 24 March
In 1904... The Wrights apply for a German patent for their airplane. Two days ago they applied for a French one. (AYY)
In 1909... The Wright brothers found a school in the USA to train pilots for exhibition flights. The first pupil is a childhood friend, Walter Brookins, 21, from Dayton. Because Dayton’s weather is not good enough, Orville Wright sets up the school at Montgomery, Alabama, where winds are generally light. (AYY)
In 1932... Jim Mollison leaves Lympne, Kent, England at the start of a record-breaking attempt to fly to South Africa in a D. H. 80A Puss Moth (G-ABKG) specially modified as a long-range single seater. His time was 4 days 17 hours 19 minutes. (F&F)
In 1939... American woman air record-breaker Jacqueline Cochran achieves a woman’s altitude record of 30,052 ft. 5 in. over Palm Spring, California in a Beechcraft Model 17. (F&F)
In 1971... As a result of votes in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, Boeing cancels its supersonic transport. The elaborate, full-size mock-up is eventually sold to a promotion specialist who puts it in a Florida amusement park. (F&F)
On 25 March
On 25 March
In 1917... One of the greatest fighter pilots of WWI, Canada-born Lt. Col. William Avery Bishop, scores his first combat victory over an Albatros single-seat fighter while flying a Nieuport. (F&F)
In 1926... Willie Messerschmitt, a graduate of Munich Technical High School and already an experienced designer of light aircraft and sailplanes, forms the Messerschmitt Flugzeugbau G.m.b.H. (F&F)
In 1960... The first NASA flight in the X-15 hypersonic research program gets under way when test pilot Joseph A. Walker makes the first of his flights in this aircraft. (F&F)
In 1993... The first woman Concorde pilot makes her first flight as First Officer of the daily supersonic London-New York route. British-born, Barbara Harmer, is one of only 17 co-pilots in the British Airways Concorde fleet. (AYY)
On 26 March
On 26 March
In 1922... One of the first small commercial transport aircraft built upon experience from passenger flying and the requirements of airline operators, makes its first flight from Edgware, near London. The 10-seat passenger D. H. 34, with a top speed of 128 mph and a cruising speed of 105 mph has a range of 365 miles. (F&F)
In 1934... Piloted by John Lankester Parker and with three passengers on board, the first landplane derivative of the Short Kent flying boat takes off to the air for the first time. Named Scylla (G-ACJJ), the big biplane is followed by Scyrinx (G-ACJK) for the busy Imperial Airways routes into continental Europe. (F&F)
In 1938... Arthur Clouston and Victor Ricketts land their D. H. 88 Comet Australian Anniversary at Gravesend in Kent, England to complete a 26,500-mile flight from England to New Zealand and back in a record 10 days 21 hours. (AYY)
On 27 March
On 27 March
In 1907... Romanian Trajan Vuia begins tests of his airplane, newly fitted with steering surfaces. He makes a short flight of 33 feet in Paris, France. (AYY)
In 1927... Young American airmail pilot Charles A. Lindbergh registers his entry in the Raymond Orteig challenge for the first man to cross the Atlantic Ocean solo. The challenge and a $25,000 prize, has been issued in 1920, but no one has so far been successful in making the flight. (F&F)
In 1946... An air agreement is signed by France and the US giving Air France the right to serve the cities of Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. (AYY)
In 1968... Yuri Gagarin, in April 1961 first man in space, is killed in the crash of a MiG-15UTI trainer near the Soviet capital Moscow. (AYY)
In 1984... British Airways inaugurates a Concorde service from London to Miami twice weekly. The service operates through Washington-Dulles, necessitating a 50-minute stopover. The overall trip lasts 6 hours 35 minutes, a saving approximately 2.5 hours over the direct flight by subsonic airliners. The round-trip fare is quoted a £2,509. (F&F)
On 28 March
On 28 March
In 1843... William Samuel Henson (1805-1888) receives the patent and publishes in London his design for an Aerial Steam Carriage. This is the first reasoned, formulated, and detailed design for a propeller-driven aircraft. (OTM)
In 1908... Leon Delagrange makes the first passenger flight, taking Farman aboard his Voisin biplane at Issy-les-Moulieaux. (AYY)
In 1910... The first flight of Henri Fabre’s Hydroavion, the first powered seaplane in the world, takes place at La Mède harbor, Martigues, France. The hydroplane flies for about 1,600 ft. at the maximum height of 7 ft (F&F)
In 1936... National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) commences operational use of the newly constructed 8-ft.-high speed tunnel (8-Foot HST) at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Langley, Virginia. Built as a companion to the full scale tunnel capable of simulated speeds of up to 118 mph, the new facility can test models and components to 577 mph (Mach 0.75). (F&F)
| Quote: : |
| In quoting from an 1880’s book, La Navigation Aerienne, Octave Chanute describes how Simon the Magician in about 67 A.D. undertook to rise toward heaven like a bird. “The people assembled to view so extraordinary a phenomenon and Simon rose into the air through the assistance of the demons in the presence of an enormous crowd. But that St. Peter, having offered up a prayer, the action of demons ceased…” |
On 29 March
On 29 March
In 1858... Two men – Brown and Dean – make the first balloon flight in Australia in a hydrogen balloon named the Australasian. (F&F)
In 1920... Located about 10 miles due south of the City of London, England, Waddon Airport at Croydon is used for the first time as London’s airport. Until this date, Hownslow has been considered the capital’s main airport. (F&F)
In 1951... Flight Safety Inc. begins operations at the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia Airport, New York with just one secretary and rented late night hours on a Link trainer simulator. (AYY)
On 1 April
In 1904... Using a glider imperfectly modeled by Ernest Archdeacon on an outdated Wright design, artillery captain Ferdinand Ferber launched himself into a short hop from a massive dune in Berc-Sur-Mer, Normandy, France. (AYY)
In 1918... The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force is born. It is formed out the army’s Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service. (AYY)
In 1921... French pilot Adrienne Bollard takes off from Mendoza, Argentina in a Cauldron biplane to become the first woman to fly over the Andes. She completes the historic Andean crossing to the Chilean capital, Santiago in 10 hours. (AYY)
In 1953... BEA (British European Airways) and Air France introduce tourist-class fares on their European routes. (AYY)
In 1976... Lufthansa’s first two Airbus A300Bs enter service. They will fly between Frankfurt and Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart and London. (AYY)
On 5 April
On 5 April
Aero Vodochody L-29 Delfin
History: The prototype of the L-29 Delfin ("Dolphin") trainer, called the XL-29, first flew in Czechoslovakia on 5 April 1959, powered by a Bristol Siddeley Viper turbojet engine. The second prototype, first flown in July 1960, was powered by the Czech-designed M701 engine, which was to become the standard installation.
In 1961, the L-29 was entered in a competitive design evaluation to find a new Warsaw Pact basic/advanced jet trainer to replace the piston-engine trainer fleet. The other competitors were the Russian Yakovlev Yak-30 and the Polish TS-11 Iskra. The L-29 won and subsequently became the standard trainer in all Eastern-bloc counties except Poland.
The first production Delfin rolled off the assembly line in April 1963, and production continued for more than 11 years, a huge statement of its success. More than 2,000 were eventually supplied to the Soviet air force, and 400 more to the Czech air force. Others were supplied to Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary and Romania.
Straightforward, rugged and easy to fly, the L-29 was ideal as both a primary jet trainer and as an advanced combat/weapons trainer. The Delfin was later exported to several other nations including Egypt and Indonesia. A small number of a single-seat version, the L-29A Delfin Akrobat, was produced, but it never caught on.
In recent years, the L-29 has become popular on the jet warbird market, mostly in the USA, but also in England, Italy and South Africa.
Nicknames: Maya (NATO Code name)
Specifications:
Engine: One 1,960-lb thrust Motorlet M701 VC-150 or S-50 turbojet
Weight: Empty 5,027 lbs., Max Takeoff 7,231lbs.
Wing Span: 33ft. 9in.
Length: 35ft. 5.5in.
Height: 10ft. 3in.
Performance:
Maximum Speed at 16,000 ft: 407 mph
Ceiling: 36,100 ft.
Range: 397 miles with internal fuel
Armament: None
Number Built: Approximately 3,500
Number Still Airworthy: At least 50
