Today In History:  26 October  [1952]   --  A de Havilland Comet airliner is written off during take-off from Rome

A BOAC de Havilland Comet airliner is badly damaged in an accident during take-off from Rome-Ciampino airport in Italy. The air raft failed to become airborne and ran into rough ground at the end of the runway, resulting in two passengers sustaining minor injuries. The aircraft, G-ALYZ, was a write-off.

PHOTO: British European Airways (BEA) Comet 4B [with flaps extended to slow the aircraft] arriving at Berlin Tempelhof Airport in 1969

See the Historical Aviation Film Unit website at http://www.aviationfilm.com to get a new history tidbit every day.


Photo Attribution:  GFDL 1.2  via Wikimedia. Ralf Manteufel derivative work: Altair78 (talk) - BEA_De_Havilland_DH-

Today In History:  25 October  [1939]   --  First flight of the Handley Page "Halifax"

The prototype Handley Page Halifax (L7244) makes its first flight from RAF Bicester with J.L.B.H. Cordes at the controls.

The Halifax quickly became a major component of R.A.F. Bomber Command, performing strategic bombing missions against the Axis Powers, primarily at night. Arthur Harris, the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Bomber Command, described the Halifax as inferior to the rival Lancaster (in part due to its smaller payload) though this opinion was not shared by many of the crews that flew it.

PHOTO: A Halifax B Mark I Series I of No. 76 Squadron undergoing maintenance at RAF Middleton St George.

See the Historical Aviation Film Unit website at http://www.aviationfilm.com to get a new history tidbit every day.


Photo Attribution:  Public Domain via Wikimedia.

Today In History:  24 October  [1946]   --  First photo of earth from space.

A camera on board the (sub-orbital) V-2 rocket No. 13 rocket which is launched from the White Sands Missile Range, takes the first photograph of earth from space. Photos were taken every second and a half, and the highest altitude reached (65 miles, 105 km) was five times higher than any picture taken before.

The rocket was assembled and launched by General Electric company with both captured German components and re-manufactured ones.

PHOTO: The first photo from space.

See the Historical Aviation Film Unit website at http://www.aviationfilm.com to get a new history tidbit every day.


Photo Attribution:  Public Domain via Wikimedia. U.S. Army - White Sands Missile Range/Applied Physics Laboratory

Today In History:  23 October  [1944]   --  US B-29s start using using Tinian Island as a base.

USAF Boeing B-29 Superfortress aircraft begin using Tinian Island, in the Marianas )Pacific Theatre), as a base for the systematic bombing of Japan. Both US bombers the Enola Gay and the Bockscar (which dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively) flew their missions from Tinian's North Field.

PHOTO: A 307th Bomb Group B-29 bombing a target in Korea, c. 1951

See the Historical Aviation Film Unit website at http://www.aviationfilm.com to get a new history tidbit every day.


Photo Attribution:  Public Domain via Wikimedia. USAF Photo

Today In History:  22 October  [1977]   --  First flights of Concorde to New York

First commercial flights of a Concorde from Europe to New York. Two aircraft were due to arrive in New York on the same day -- Air France's Concorde was the first to arrive, touching down at JFK from Paris CDG at 08:25, while British Airways jet arrived from Heathrow just over an hour later, at 09:30. JFK would continue to be an important destination for the rest of Concorde's career

PHOTO: Concorde landing at Farnborough (UK) in September 1974

Photo Copyright ©  Steve Fitzgerald GFDL 1.2  via Wikimedia.

See the Historical Aviation Film Unit website at http://www.aviationfilm.com to get a new history tidbit every day.


Photo Attribution:  Steve Fitzgerald - http://www.airliners.net/photo/British-Aircraft-Corporation/Aerospatiale-BAC-Concorde/1804269/L/     GFDL 1.2  via Wikimedia.

Today In History:  21 October  [1943]   --  German ace Emil Lang shoots 12 Soviet aircraft in one day

Lang completed this single day feat on the Eastern Front, near Kiev in the USSR, raising his victory total to 72. He was eventually credited with 173 aerial victories -- 144 on the Eastern Front, 29 on the Western Front, and one Soviet Motor Torpedo Boat sunk, over a span of 403 combat missions. He was killed over Belgium in September 1944 while dogfighting with American P-47 Thunderbolts.

PHOTO: A German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-3 of 11./JG 2 after landing in the UK by mistake in June 1942. This is the type of aircraft that Lang was flying when he was killed.

See the Historical Aviation Film Unit website at http://www.aviationfilm.com to get a new history tidbit every day.

Today In History:  20 October  [1943]   --  Junkers Ju 390

The Ju 390 was a six-engined, long-range derivative of the German Junkers Ju 290 aircraft, intended to be used as a heavy transport aircraft, maritime patrol aircraft and long-range bomber.  Two prototypes were created by attaching an extra pair of inner-wing segments to the wings of Ju 290 airframes and adding new sections to lengthen the fuselages.
It was one of the aircraft designs submitted for the abortive Amerikabomber project, along with the Messerschmitt Me 264, the Focke-Wulf Ta 400 and the Heinkel He 277. 

PHOTO: IWM caption : Ju 390 transport with six B.M.W. 801 engines. Pictured abandoned on a German airfield, the propellers have been removed to disable the aircraft.

See the Historical Aviation Film Unit website at http://www.aviationfilm.com to get a new history tidbit every day.


Photo Attribution:  Public Domain via Wikimedia. From IWM Collections

Today In History:  19 October  [1928]   --  Early US Paratroop experiements in Texas

Six enlisted men make parachute jumps from separate planes over Brooks Field, Texas, secure a machine gun also dropped by parachute, and begin firing within three minutes after leaving the aircraft.

Despite these favouravle results it was not until 1939, spurred by the developments in Germany, that the US Army Chief of Infantry proposed the development of an "air infantry" (paratroop) service.

PHOTO: US Paratroops aboard an aircraft during WW2.

See the Historical Aviation Film Unit website at http://www.aviationfilm.com to get a new history tidbit every day.


Photo Attribution:  Public Domain via Wikimedia.

Today In History:  18 October  [1940]   --  First flight of the Airspeed Fleet Shadower

The Airspeed AS.39 Fleet Shadower was a British long-range carrier-based maritime reconnaissance and patrol aircraft design that did not go beyond the prototype stage.
A similar aircraft, the General Aircraft Fleet Shadower, was also built to the extent of prototypes. While the concept of a fleet shadower had some promise, the resulting designs were soon overtaken by wartime developments in airborne radar.

PHOTO:  Fleet Shadower Prototype

See the Historical Aviation Film Unit website at http://www.aviationfilm.com to get a new history tidbit every day.


Photo Attribution:  Public Domain via Wikimedia.

Today In History:  17 October  [1951]   --  Yugoslavian DC-3 pilots seek asylum in Switzerland

The pilot and copilot of a JAT Douglas DC-3 making a domestic flight in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from Ljubljana to Beograd instead land the airliner at Zürich, Switzerland, where they request political asylum for themselves and members of their families who are aboard the plane as passengers.

Jat Airways was the national flag carrier and largest airline of Yugoslavia and later Serbia and Montenegro and Serbia. Founded in 1927 as Aeroput, the airline ceased operations during World War II. After resuming flights in 1947, the airline was renamed Jugoslovenski Aerotransport (abbreviated JAT) on 1 April 1947.

PHOTO: Postcard of a JAT DC-3.

See the Historical Aviation Film Unit website at http://www.aviationfilm.com to get a new history tidbit every day.


Photo Attribution:  Public Domain