Today In History: 06 September [1939] -- Battle of Barking Creek, an RAF friendly fire incident
The Battle of Barking Creek was a friendly fire incident, due to the misidentification as hostile of an incoming team of eleven Hurricanes, two aircraft are shot down and Pilot Officer Montague Hulton-Harrop was killed, becoing the the first British fighter pilot killed duringhg the war. Hulton-Harrop's Hurricane was the first aircraft shot down by a Spitfire.
PHOTO: A flight of Hawker Hurricane Mark Is of No. 151 Squadron RAF take off from North Weald, Essex, while beneath them, Hurricanes of 56 Squadron RAF taxy to the northern end of the main runway. Behind them can be seen the wireless masts of the GPO radio station at Weald Gullet.
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Photo Attribution: Public Domain via Wikimedia. Hensser H, Royal Air Force official photographer
Today In History: 05 September [1928] -- Three pilots fly from Lisbon to Portuguese East Africa in two Vickers Valparaisos
Capt. Pais Ramos, Lt. Viegas and Lt. Esteves of Portugal fly from Lisbon to Portuguese East Africa in two Vickers Valparaiso aircraft The Valparaiso was a British light bomber biplane of the 1920s, which was esigned by Vickers as a development of its Vixen for export. The type was operated by Portugal and Chile.
PHOTO: Vickers Valparaiso III bomber in Portuguese service.
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Photo Attribution: Public Domain via Wikimedia.
Today In History: 04 September [1943] -- Red circle in US aircraft national insignia removed
Finding the red in the national insignia adopted in June 1943 for its military aircraft could cause confusion with Japanese markings during combat, the United States adopts a new marking consisting of a white star centered in a blue circle flanked by white rectangles, with the entire insignia outlined in blue
PHOTO: P-40B G-CDWH at Duxford 2011, wearing the earlier national insignia. It is the only airworthy P-40B in the world and the only survivor from the Pearl Harbor attack.[56]
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Photo Attribution: CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia. Tony Hisgett - Flickr: Curtiss P-40B 41-13297 4
Today In History: 03 September [1939] -- Britain's first military action of WW2
In Britain's first military action, the Royal Air Force's Bomber Command sends out 27 planes to bomb the Kriegsmarine, but they turn back before having been able to find any targets. Overnight ten Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys made the first of many 'nickel raids' in Bremen, Hamburg and the Ruhr in which the planes dropped propaganda leaflets.
PHOTO: Merlin-powered prototype K7208 (converted Whitley Mk I), circa 1938
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Photo Attribution: Public Domain via Wikimedia.
Today In History: 02 September [1942] -- First flight of the Hawker Tempest.
The Tempest, originally known as the Typhoon II, was an improved derivative of the Hawker Typhoon, intended to address the Typhoon's unexpected deterioration in performance at high altitude by replacing its wing with a thinner laminar flow design. Since it had diverged considerably from the Typhoon, it was renamed Tempest. The Tempest emerged as one of the most powerful fighters of World War II and at low altitude was the fastest single-engine propeller-driven aircraft of the war.
PHOTO: A Royal Air Force Hawker Tempest V Series II (s/n NV696) on a test flight from the Hawker factory Langley, near Slough, on 25 November, 1944. This aircraft went into service with No. 222 Squadron RAF a month later. The aircraft is piloted by William "Bill" Humble, who normally did not wear a helmet.
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Photo Attribution: Public Domain via Wikimedia.
Today In History: 01 September [1983] -- Korean Airlines flight 007 shot down by Soviets in Russian airspace
Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was a scheduled flight from New York City to Seoul via Anchorage, Alaska. On September 1, 1983, the flight was shot down by a Soviet Sukhoi Su-15 interceptor. The Boeing 747 was en route from Anchorage to Seoul, when owing to a navigational mistake made by the crew, the airliner drifted into Soviet prohibited airspace. The Soviet Air Forces treated the unidentified aircraft as an intruding US spy plane, and destroyed it with air-to-air missiles, after firing warning shots. All 269 passengers and crew aboard were killed.
PHOTO: HL7442, the aircraft that was shot down, landing at Zurich Airport in 1980.
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Photo Attribution: GFDL 1.2 via Wikimedia. Udo K. Haafke - https://www.airliners.net/photo/Korean-Air-Lines/Boeing-747-230B/2377142/L
Today In History: 31 August [1956] -- CIA Lockheed U-2 crash
A Lockheed U-2A aircraft previously delivered to the Central Intelligence Agency in July 1956 crashed at Groom Lake, Nevada this date during a night training flight, killing pilot Frank G. Grace, Jr. Grace became disoriented by lights near the end of the runway and flew into a telephone pole.
PHOTO: Original U-2A at USAF Museum
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Photo Attribution: Public Domain via Wikimedia.
Today In History: 30 August [1952] -- First flight of the Avro Vulcan
The Avro Vulcan is a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force from 1956 until 1984. Manufacturer A.V. Roe and Company designed the Vulcan in response to Ministry Specification B.35/46. Of the three 'V bombers' produced, the Vulcan was considered the most technically advanced, hence the riskiest option. Several reduced-scale aircraft, designated Avro 707s, were produced to test and refine the delta-wing design principles.
PHOTO: Avro Vulcan XH558 over Little Gransden airshow, 2014
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Photo Attribution: Historical Aviation Film Unit
Today In History: 29 August [1947] -- The world's first ram-jet helicopter is test flown by McDonald Aviation.
McDonnell's XH-20 'Little Henry' Helicopter is the world's first ram-jet helicopter, and is test flown by McDonald Aviation. As a functional helicopter it was a simple open-frame steel-tube construction, and although it flew successfully the ramjets were noisy and burnt a large amount of fuel and plans to build a larger two-seat XH-29 were abandoned.
PHOTO: McDonnell XH-20 "Little Henry" helicopter in flight.
USAF photo via San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive
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Photo Attribution: USAF photo via San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive Public Domain via Wikimedia.
Today In History: 28 August [1910] -- New flight over 'open water' record
Armand Dufaux pilots a Dufaux 4 biplane 66 km (41 mi) from St. Gingolph to Geneva in Switzerlan at an altitude of around 150 m (500 ft), taking 56 minutes and 5 seconds for the crossing of Lake Geneva, the longest flight over "open water" at the time. The Dufaux 4 was an experimental aircraft built in Switzerland in 1909 and which was originally constructed as an unnamed biplane, the third aircraft constructed by the brothers Armand and Henri Dufaux.
PHOTO: The Dufaux 4 piloted by Armand Dufaux over Lake Geneva.
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Photo Attribution: Public Domain via Wikimedia.