On This Day in Aviation History

On This Day in Aviation History

1912 – At Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal, Japan, Lt. Yozo Kaneko makes the Imperial Japanese Navy’s first flight, piloting a Farman seaplane for 15 minutes and reaching an altitude of 100 feet.

1912 – John Henry Towers achieves an American endurance record by rigging extra gasoline tanks to a Curtiss A-2 seaplane, allowing him to remain aloft for 6 hours, ten minutes, 35 seconds.

1948 – An engine of a U.S. Air Force Boeing B-29 Superfortress catches fire shortly after take off from Robins Air Force Base and crashes in Waycross, Ga., killing nine of its 13 crew. The U.S. government asserts the state secrets privilege because the flight is a secret test of the “sunseeker” (a heat-seeking device later used in the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile).

1954 – First flight of the Fairey Delta 2 (BAC 221 mod shown), a British supersonic research aircraft for investigation into flight and control at transonic and supersonic speeds.

1978 – Birth of Liu Yang, Chinese pilot and first Chinese woman in space.

1989 – Death of Reinhard Seiler, German fighter ace of Spanish war and World War II.

 

Updated: October 6, 2014 — 12:35 PM
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