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Today in Aviation

2012 – Jubba Airways Flight 6 J-711, an An-24 blew both right main gear tires on landing, causing the aircraft to veer off the runway at Abdullahi Yusuf International Airport in Galkayo, Somalia. The wing separated from the body of the aircraft. No injuries were reported, although the aircraft was substantially damaged.

1991 – Launch: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-39 at 11:33:14 UTC. Mission highlights: First unclassified DoD mission; military science experiments.

1988 – Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, suffers explosive decompression during flight but manages to land safely. Of 95 people on board, one flight attendant is blown out of the plane and killed, and several passengers are injured.

1986 – Pan Am returns to the Soviet Union, using a Boeing 747 from JFK International Airport in New York.

1983 – USAF LTV A-7D-11-CV Corsair II, 71-0361, of the 149th Tactical Fighter Squadron, of the Virginia Air National Guard, based at Richmond International Airport, crashed near Richmond, Virginia, shearing unoccupied house in half and setting second structure on fire. Pilot Capt. Robert Welch, 30, of Atlanta, Georgia, ejected just before impact, suffering a slight back injury.

1977 – An Aviateca Convair 240 crashes near Guatemala City, Guatemala, killing all 28 people on board.

1970 – A USAF McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II being ferried from Robins AFB, Georgia to Torrejon Air Base, Spain, was disabled by a severe thunderstorm, forcing the crew to eject at 36,000 feet 150 miles E of Charleston, South Carolina, suffering minor injuries from hail while descending. Pilot Capt. Daniel Heitz, 25, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and navigator Lt. MacArthur Weston, 28, of Jacksonville, North Carolina are spotted by rescue aircraft, and are recovered after two hours in the water by the oil tanker Texaco Illinois, diverted from 8 miles away.

1969 – LAN Chile Flight 160, a Boeing 727, crashes near Colina, Chile; all 60 on board survive.

1952 – Pan Am Flight 202, a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, crashes after a propeller failure in a remote area of Brazil on its way from Buenos Aires, Argentina to New York City via Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; all 50 on board are killed in the worst ever accident involving the Boeing 377.

1948 – The U.S. Navy launches two P2 V-3 C Neptune aircraft – A version of the P2 V configured for carrier launch carrying a nuclear weapon – From the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea (CVB-43) off the coast of Virginia. The first carrier launches of any type of P2 V, they establish the U.S. Navy’s first, interim carrier-based nuclear strike capability pending the acquisition of aircraft designed from the outset to be capable of carrying a nuclear weapon from a carrier.

1948 – The first non-stop Paris/New York flight is made by an Air France sleeper Constellation; the journey from Orly airport, near Paris, takes 16 hours, 1 min.

1948 – (28-29) Leonardo Bonzi and Maner Lualdi set a light plane distance record of 4,170 km (2,590 mi) flying from Campoformido (Italy) to Massawa (Eritrea) in an Ambrosini S.1001.

1947 – A Trans-Canada Air Lines Lockheed 18-08A Lodestar [CF-TDF] disappeared in southwestern British Columbia with 15 people onboard with no survivors. The crash site was discovered 47 years later, on Mt. Cheam near Chilliwack, BC.

1945 – Douglas A-26C Invader, 43-22644, assigned to the 611 Base Unit at Wright Field, Ohio,[34] crashes into the Choctawhatchee Bay, 3 Miles NE of Fort Walton, Florida after being struck by a test Speedee (Highball) bouncing bomb which tears off tail unit, bomber instantly nosing over into the water. It had taken off from Eglin Field, Florida, on a low level bombing exercise at AAF water range Number 60.

1944 – (28–29) U.S. Army Air Forces Fifth Air Force bombers conduct large strikes against Japanese forces at Biak, Wakde, Sarmi, and Sawar.

1944 – (April 28-May 6) Arctic Convoy RA 59 steams from the Kola Inlet in the Soviet Union to Loch Ewe, Scotland. Aircraft from the escorting British aircraft carriers HMS Activity and HMS Fencer sink three German submarines, attack eight more, and shoot down a German Bv 138 C flying boat during the voyage.

1940 – Aircraft from HMS Ark Royal raid the Trondheim area, causing considerable damage to the German-held airfield at Vaernes, Norway.

1939 – Vladimir Kokkinaki and Mikhail Godienko attempt a non-stop flight from the Soviet Union to New York but are forced down on Miscou Island in bad weather the next day.

1937 – The first commercial flight across the Pacific is made as a Pan-American Boeing 314 Clipper seaplane arrives in Hong Kong.

1932 – Louis T. Reichers flew from Montreal Quebec to Havana, Cuba; 1,786 miles in 9 hrs in Lockheed Altain “Golden Eagle”

1927 – The first airmail service north of the Arctic Circle begins between Fairbanks and Wiseman, Alaska.

1911 – The first aeroplane flight in the Province of Alberta was made by Hugh Robinson of the Curtiss exhibition flying team of Edmonton, Alberta using a Curtiss pusher biplane.

1910 – Frenchman Louis Paulhan completes the Daily Mail’s London to Manchester challenge in less than 24 hours.

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