June 12th in Aviation History

June 12th in Aviation History

1897 – Birth of Henry George “Hal” Crowe, Irish World War I flying ace, who served with the Royal Air Force until the end of World War II.

1929 – First flight of the Vickers Type 143, or Bolivian Scout, a British single-seat biplane fighter designed for Bolivia.

1931 – The 40-passenger Handley Page HP-42, a four-engine biplane, enters service with British airline Imperial Airways.

1943 – Operation Corkscrew, the Allied invasion of the Italian island of Pantelleria (between Sicily and Tunisia), ends. The Italian island garrison surrenders after taking heavy bombing that saw defenses reduced to 47-percent effectiveness.

1998 – A NAS Whiting Field instructor and his student pilot are killed near Key Largo, Florida, when their U.S. Navy Beechcraft T-34C Turbo Mentor hits another training plane in mid-air and crashes into two feet of water.

2010 – Death of William H. ‘Bill’ Holloman III, World War II fighter pilot with the “Tuskegee Airmen;” he also was a commercial pilot who returned to service for the Korean and Vietnam wars, becoming the first black helicopter pilot in the U.S. Air Force.

 

Updated: May 17, 2018 — 5:33 PM
Air Age Media ©
WordPress Image Lightbox Plugin