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March 11

1910… Lieutenant J. W. Dunne’s D5 tailless biplane is tested at Eastchurch, Kent, England. It has a 60-hp Green engine and was built by Short Brothers.

1957… The prototype Boeing 707 jet lands after a press demonstration flight from Seattle, Washington to Baltimore, Maryland during which it covers 2,350 miles in a record time of 3 hours 48 minutes.

1998… The first two of four Boeing E-767 airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircrafts are officially handed over to the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force.

2001 – Jim Voss and Susan Helms made a spacewalk from Discovery’s airlock. A PAD device used to attach equipment to the RMS arm floated free and Voss retrieved a spare one from Unity, putting the walk behind schedule. The astronauts installed the Lab Cradle Assembly and the Rigid Umbilical on Destiny and disconnected the umbilicals connecting the PMA-3 docking port to Unity. The astronauts then spent two-and-a-half hours back in the depressurized airlock in case their help was needed during the move of PMA-3.

2008 – Space Shuttle Endeavour blasted off with to deliver of the Canadian Dextre robotic manipulator (fitted to the end of the Canadarm-2 robotic arm already installed on the station) and the Japanese Kibo ELM-PS Experiment Logistics Module – Pressurized. It also brought astronaut Reisman to the station, replacing Eyharts on the long-duration crew. On 13 March the shuttle docked with the PMA-2 port of the International Space Station. Mission accomplished, Endeavour undocked on March 25, completed the customary ISS flyaround. Endeavor deorbited the next day, and landed at Kennedy Space Center.

And that’s what happened today, March 11th in Aviation History. See you tomorrow.

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March 10

In 1905… The French lawyer and aspiring aeronaut Ernest Archdeacon sends a letter to the Wright brothers in Dayton, Ohio challenging them to prove the validity of their claims. This marks the beginning of a bitter contest between the Wrights and European aeronauts.

In 1910… The first flight at night is made by Frenchman Emile Aubrun in Argentina on a Bleriot airplane. Aubrun makes two flights in the dark, each about 20 km from Buenos Aires and back again.

In 1925… One of the most outstanding flying boats of its day and a stunning demonstration of the skills of aircraft designer R. J. Michell, the Supermarine Southampton, makes its first flight with Henri Biard at the controls. It remains in service for 12 years, longer than any other flying boat before Sunderland.

1945 – The Army Air Force firebombs Tokyo, and the resulting firestorm kills more than 100,000 people..

In 1948… NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) test pilot Herbert Henry Hoover becomes the first civilian to exceed the speed of sound when he flies the No. 2 Bell XS-1 to a speed of 703 mph (Mach 1.065).

In 1956… The first aircraft to exceed 1,000 mph is an English Fairey Delta 2. Piloted by Lt. Cdr. Peter Twiss, it reaches a speed of 1,132 mph (1,822 km/h).

1977 – Astronomers discover rings around the outer planet Uranus.

2006 – The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrived at Mars.

And that’s what happened today March 10th in Aviation history , See you tomorrow!

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March 9
In 1918… The first American air casualty in World War I is Capt. James E. Miller who loses his life in a French Spad while flying a practice patrol across the German lines.
In 1919… U.S. Navy Lt. Comdr. E. O. McDonnell makes the first successful flight from a gun turret platform on a U.S. navy battleship. The USS Texas is anchored in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for the test.
In 1928… The English aviatrix Lady Mary Bailey takes off from Croydon on what becomes the first round-trip flight between London and Cape Town, South Africa flown by a woman. She arrives back in England on May 12.
Today is the Birthday of Yuri Gagarin Born in 1934,He was a Soviet cosmonaut and the first human in space died in 1968
On 12 April 1961, Gagarin became the first man to travel into space, launching to orbit aboard the Vostok 3KA-3 . During his flight, Gagarin famously whistled the tune “The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows” The first two lines of the song are: “The Motherland hears, the Motherland knows/Where her son flies in the sky”. This patriotic song was written by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1951
Around the same time, some Western sources claimed that Gagarin, during his space flight, had made the comment, “I don’t see any God up here.” However, no such words appear in the verbatim record of Gagarin’s conversations with the Earth during the spaceflight. In a 2006 interview a close friend of Gagarin, Colonel Valentin Petrov, stated that Gagarin never said such words, and that the phrase originated from Nikita Khrushchev’s speech at the plenum of the Central Committee where the anti-religious propaganda was discussed. In a certain context Khrushchev said, “Gagarin flew into space, but didn’t see any God there”. Colonel Petrov also said that Gagarin had been baptised into the Orthodox Church as a child.
In 1938… A new parachute descent record of 35,450ft. is achieved by the French parachutist James Williams when he jumps from the cockpit of an ANF 113 high-wing monoplane after taking off from the airfield at Chartres. Dropping to a height above the ground of 650 ft. in 2 minutes 50 seconds before opening his parachute, Williams easily achieves a world free-fall record.
1967 – Trans World Airlines Flight 553, a Douglas DC-9-15, crashes in a field in Concord Township, Ohio following a mid-air collision with a Beechcraft Baron, killing 26.

And that’s what happened today March 9th in Aviation history , See you tomorrow!

I’ve updated the sidebar, so you can click (over on the right hand side of the front page) on an icon or link to subscribe in your favorite podcatcher or feed reader.

Stay tuned for more podcasts!

-Mike

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March 8
In 1910… Elise Deroche, the colorful self-styled Baroness Raymonde de Laroche, becomes the first woman in the world to receive a pilot’s license in Paris.
Also in 1910… Claude Moore-Brabazon receives the Royal Aero Club’s first aviator’s certificate in London. Charles Rolls receives the second.
German airship pioneer Count von Zeppelin died today in 1917
In 1949… The Nonstop flight of 56 hours and 2 minutes has put captain William Odom in the record books. Leaving Honolulu, Hawaii, he covers a distance of 4,957.25 miles before landing at Teterboro, New Jersey to gain the world record in a Class C-1-c light aircraft.
1972: A bomb exploded aboard a Trans World Airlines Boeing 707 at Las Vegas airport. No-one was injured in the blast which destroyed the cockpit of the aircraft as it stood empty on the tarmac. The explosion happened hours after an anonymous phone caller threatened TWA with a series of bomb attacks unless $2 million was handed over. The caller instructed airport officials at Kennedy Airport in New York to go to a locker where they found a note, which said there would be explosions at six hour intervals on four of the company’s aircraft. Sniffer dogs found a bomb, which consisted of 3lb (1.36kg) of plastic explosives and a timing device, aboard a TWA aircraft at the airport in New York, 12 minutes before it was timed to explode. It was found in a case labeled “crew” in the cockpit. A few hours later police boarded a second TWA jet at the airport but nothing was found. The aircraft which exploded in Las Vegas was thoroughly searched and left New York after the first bomb was discovered. It flew to Las Vegas with only 10 passengers and was searched again once it landed. The aircraft was then put under armed guard before the plane exploded seven hours later. Debris was blown more than 100 feet away but two security guards escaped uninjured. One of them said: “It sounded like dynamite. I could see pieces of the plane flying through the air.” The security department at the International Air Transport Association suspects that five people, who each hold Middle Eastern passports, may have been involved in the plot. TWA ordered worldwide checks on all 240 of its aircraft following the initial bomb threat. US President Richard Nixon said that the government would mobilize all resources “until the current threat is crushed.”

In 1974… Charles de Gaulle Airport France is officially opened. The new international airport is located 15.5 miles (25 km) from the center of Paris.

And that is what happened TODAY March 8th , in Aviation History. See you Tomorrow!

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March 7

In 1956… Dan Perkins, engineer at Britain’s Royal Aircraft Establishment, makes his first flight in an inflatable airplane in Bedfordshire, England. It takes 25 minutes to inflate it, using a large domestic vacuum cleaner.
In 1961… The # 2 North America X-15 becomes the fist manned aircraft to exceed Mach 4 when pilot Capt. Robert M. White reaches a speed of 2,905 mph which, at the altitude of 77,450 ft., is Mach 4.43.
The North American X-15 rocket-powered aircraft was part of the X-series of experimental aircraft that were made for the USAF, NASA, and the USN. The X-15 set speed and altitude records in the early 1960s, reaching the edge of outer space and returning with valuable data used in aircraft and spacecraft design.
It currently holds the official world record for the fastest speed ever reached by a manned aircraft.
During the X-15 program, 13 of the flights (by eight pilots) met the USAF spaceflight criteria by exceeding the altitude of 50 miles or 264,000 ft, thus qualifying the pilots for astronaut status. The USAF pilots qualified for USAF astronaut wings, while the civilian pilots were later awarded NASA astronaut wings.
Of all the X-15 missions, two flights (by the same pilot) qualified as space flights per the international definition of a spaceflight by exceeding a 100 kilometer or 328,084 ft altitude.
The 3 x-15’s and the 2 B-52 “motherships” flew a total of 199 test flights. The 200th flight was scheduled for 21 November 1968 but was canceled due to several weather and technical delays. The last B-52 mother ship was operational at the flight test center until 2004. It retired as the oldest aircraft in the USAF Inventory at 52 years of service.

And that is what happened TODAY in Aviation History. See you Tomorrow!

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March 6

In 1935… U.S secretary of commerce signs a special air traffic regulation that prohibits air flights over parts of Washington, D.C. The first of the No-Fly Zones
In 1965… The first nonstop transcontinental helicopter flight across the United States – flown off the deck of the carrier USS Hornet at San Diego, California to the deck of the carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt off Jacksonville, Florida – is completed successfully. A U. S. Navy Sikorsky SH-3A Sea King flies 2,116 miles.
The SH-3 is a variant of the Sikorsky S-61.
In September 1957, Sikorsky won a United States Navy development contract for an amphibious anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopter capable of detecting and attacking submarines.The XHSS-2 Sea King prototype flew on 11 March 1959. Production deliveries of the HSS-2 (later designated SH-3A) began in September 1961, with the initial production aircraft being powered by two 1250hp General Electric T58-GE-8B turboshafts.
Sikorsky was quick to develop a commercial model of the Sea King. The S-61L first flew on 2 November 1961, and was 4 ft 3in (1.27m) longer than the HSS-2 in order to carry a substantial payload of freight or passengers. Initial production S-61Ls were powered by two 1350shp (1005 kW) GE CT58-140 turboshafts, the civil version of the T58. The S-61L features a modified landing gear without float stabilisers.
Other Variants of the SH-3 operated by the US Military are the
CH-3C – Long-range military transport helicopter for the US Air Force.
CH-3E – Long-range military transport helicopter for the US Air Force.
HH-3E Jolly Green Giant – Long-range search and rescue helicopter for the US Air Force, 10 built and converted from CH-3E.
MH-3E – Special Operations version for the US Air Force.
VH-3E – US Air Force VIP transport helicopter.
HH-3F “Pelican” – Long-range search and rescue helicopter for the US Coast Guard,.
In 1986… Japan Air Lines embarks the world’s heaviest man, an 880-lb Austrian flying from Frankfurt, Germany, as a passenger; 16 seats are removed from the cabin to make room for him.
And that is what happened TODAY in Aviation History. See you Tomorrow!

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March 5

In 1912… Bob Fowler flies from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, Florida. The west to east coast-to-coast journey has taken four months to complete.
In 1923… The great aeronautical pioneer Igor Sikorsky sets up the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corp. in the United States with the financial help of several important leading figures, including Sergey Rachmaninoff. Sikorsky left Russia in 1917 when revolution threatened his work and his life.

1943 – First flight of Gloster Meteor jet aircraft in the United Kingdom. The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies’ first operational jet. Meteors saw action with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in the Korean War and remained in service with numerous air forces until the 1970s.
Two Meteors, WL419 and WA638, remain in service with the Martin-Baker company as ejection seat testbeds. Who would want to try that?

1958 – The Explorer 2 spacecraft launches and fails to reach Earth orbit.

In 1962… A Convair B-58 (serial no. 59-2458) of the Forty-third Bombardment Wing breaks three records during a round trip between New York and Los Angeles in 4 hours 41 minutes 14.98 seconds. The fastest trans-continental crossing between Los Angeles and New York is accomplished in 2 hours 58.71 seconds at an average speed of 1,214.65 mph. The third record notches the fastest time between New York and Los Angeles.

1976 – The last flight of the second Concorde prototype aircraft to the Fleet Air Arm Museum at the Royal Naval Air Station, Yeovilton,England.

And that is what happened TODAY in Aviation History. See you Tomorrow!

Check out this 1953 film with Arthur Godfrey

Thank you for listening to Geek of the North!

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Topics talked about today:

Intro – www.mikedell.com

Evernote – I found a use for it!

Plurk, FriendFeed, Myspace, Identi.ca and other dying social networks.

iPad / Apple fanboys getting excited!

7 year old Air Traffic Controller at JFK Airport !!!

New Sport Pilot rules are out. Check out www.beasportpilot.com

Catch you next week!

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