On This Day in Aviation History

On This Day in Aviation History

1896 – Birth of Edmond Eugene Henri Caillaux, French World War I flying ace.

1941 – First flight of the Grumman XP-50 (shown), American twin-engine fighter prototype; it is the land-based development of the shipboard F5F-1 Skyrocket.

1957 – After 12 years of production, Douglas delivers the last of 3,180 AD Skyraiders to the Navy.

1958 – A Martin RB-57A Canberra, operated by the Republic of China Air Force, is shot down over Shandong by a Chinese Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17.

1991 – Death of Liu Chi-Sheng, Chinese Sino-Japanese War flying ace, leading ace of the Republic of China Air Force and high-ranking officer postwar.

2013 – After cutting a hole in a perimeter fence at Brussels Airport in Belgium, thieves dressed as police officers drive onto the tarmac and confront guards loading a cargo of diamonds onto Helvetic Airways Flight LX789, a Fokker 100 passenger jet packed with passengers and preparing to leave for Switzerland. They steal 120 small packages containing a combined $50,000,000  worth of diamonds in a three-minute robbery and escape via the same hole in the fence without firing a shot.

Updated: February 18, 2015 — 7:13 PM
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