Today In History:  18 July  [1915]   --  First American woman to loop the loop in an airplane.

Katherine Stinson becomes the first woman in the USA to loop the loop in an airplane. The stunt pilot performs the full rotation of her airplane over at Cicero Field in Chicago, and eventually went on to perform this feat some 500 times in her career without a single accident.

Stinson began exhibition flying and became known as the "Flying Schoolgirl" and "America's Sweetheart of the Air." She also became one of the first pilots to ever fly at night and she flew over Los Angeles with flares attached to the plane and spelled out "CAL", becoming the first nighttime sky-writer.

PHOTO: In another publicity in May 1916 stunt Stinson flew her plane in a race with Dario Resta, the 1916 Indianapolis 500 champion, in his car at Sheepshead Bay Speedway in the "earth and air match," Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York City.


Photo Attribution:  Public Domain  via Wikimedia.

Today In History:  17 July  [1989]   --  First flight of the Northrop Grumman B-2.

First flight of the Northrop Grumman B-2A "Spirit" Stealth bomber. The first operational aircraft, christened Spirit of Missouri, was delivered to Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, where the fleet is based, on 17 December 1993.

PHOTO: A B-2 Spirit from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, flies at an undisclosed location over Pacific. While in the Indo-Asia-Pacific, the B-2s will integrate and conduct training with ally and partner air forces. (U.S. Air Force)


Photo Attribution:  Public Domain  via Wikimedia. Senior Airman Joel Pfiester - US Air Force

Today In History:  16 July  [1951]   --  First flight of the Iberavia I-11

The first of two prototype I-11 flew today. The I-11 was a two-seat civil utility aircraft manufactured in Spain in the 1950s, and originally designed by the Spanish aircraft company Iberavia. It was a low-wing monoplane of conventional configuration with fixed, tricycle undercarriage and a large, bubble canopy over the two side-by-side seats. Flight characteristics were found to be pleasing, but before plans could be made for mass production, Iberavia was acquired by AISA.  Seventy aircraft in this confirguartaion were built for use in Spain's aeroclubs. The Spanish Air Force then ordered 125 for use in training and liaison roles.


Photo Attribution:  CC BY-SA 4.0  via Wikimedia.

Today In History:  15 July  [1919]   --  RAF Airship explodes over the North Sea

The British Royal Air Force Airship NS.11 explodes over the North Sea during a mine-hunting patrol and crashes in a ball of fire off Cley next the Sea, Norfolk, killing all nine members of her crew.

NS11 was one of 14 North Sea-class airships ordered by the Royal Navy for the Royal Naval Air Service, but by the time NS11 was delivered in September 1918, the Royal Naval Air Service had been amalgamated with the Royal Flying Corps to form the RAF. Prior to the accident, she had made voyages of more than 1000 miles (1600 km) over the North Sea, setting a world record for non-rigid airships.[

PHOTO: Model of a North Sea Class Non Rigid Airship on display at the Chatham Historic Dockyard, Kent, England


Photo Attribution:  CC BY-SA 3.0  via Wikimedia. MilborneOne - Own work

Today In History:  14 July  [1934]   --  Howard Hughes completes a record-breaking flight around the Northern Hemisphere.

Flamboyant flying tycoon Howard Hughes lands in New York after a record-breaking flight of 91 hours (three days, 19 hours, 17 minutes) around the Northern Hemisphere, shattering the previous record of 186 hours set in 1933 (by Wiley Post in a single-engine Lockheed Vega).

Taking off from New York City, Hughes continued to Paris, Moscow, Omsk, Yakutsk, Fairbanks, and Minneapolis, then returned to New York City. For this flight he flew a Lockheed 14 Super Electra (NX18973, a twin-engine transport with a crew of four) fitted with the latest radio and navigational equipment.

PHOTO: Airline KLM operated two Lockheed 14s within Europe during 1938/39.

Photo Attribution:  CC0 via Wikimedia.

Today In History:  13 July  [1944]   --  A German Junkers Ju 88G-1 night fighter lans in the UK

Because of an error in navigation a Junkers Ju 88G-1 night fighter carrying both the Lichtenstein radar system and the Flensburg radar detector (meant to detect RAF aircraft using the Monica tail warning radar) is captured after it lands at RAF Woodbridge by mistake. When British military scientists examined the Flensburg equipment, they quickly realised its purpose and informed the RAF, who ordered Monica to be withdrawn from all RAF Bomber Command aircraft.

PHOTO: A Ju 88R night fighter with the full Matratze aerial setup for the Lichtenstein B/C UHF band radar.

Photo Attribution:  Public Domain  via Wikimedia. Intelligence Branch, Plans and Operations Division, Office of the Chief Signal Officer - ME 11-219 Directory of German Radar Equipment

Today In History:  12 July  [0000]   --  A balloon from Operation Outward knocks out a power station near Leipzig.

Operation Outward was a British campaign of the Second World War that attacked Germany and German-occupied Europe with free-flying balloons. It made use of cheap, simple balloons filled with hydrogen and carrying either a trailing steel wire to damage high voltage power lines by producing a short circuit, or incendiary devices to start fires in fields, forests and heathland. A total of 99,142 Outward balloons were launched; about half carried incendiaries and half carried trailing wires.

PHOTO: Balloon launch for Operation Outward. Felixstowe, Suffolk, site.  From The National Archives of the United Kingdom: ADM 199/848.

Photo Attribution:  Public Domain  via Wikimedia.

Today In History:  11 July  [1943]   --  United States Army paratroopers from North Africa jump into Sicily.

On the night of the 11th-12th July the U.S. Army Air Forces' 52nd Troop Carrier Wing flies United States Army paratroopers from North Africa for a parachute landing in Sicily.
Carrying men of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 504th Regimental Combat Team, the 144 transport aircraft flew in darkness at low level over Allied ships offshore and Allied troops on the front line, arriving during an Axis bombing attack, and both the ships and troops ashore mistakenly open fire on them. Twenty-three of the aircraft are shot down, with the loss of 100 lives.

PHOTO: Two USAAF C-47A Skytrains from the 81st Troop Carrier Squadron, loaded with paratroopers on their way for the invasion of southern France (Operation Dragoon).

Photo Attribution:  Public Domain  via Wikimedia.

Today In History:  10 July  [1953]   --  F-84 Thunderjet and a USAF C-47D Skytrain collide

A Royal Norwegian Air Force F-84 Thunderjet and a United States Air Force C-47D Skytrain collide in mid-air near Stavanger Airport, Sola, in Stavanger, Norway, while the C-47D is on final approach to the airport. Both aircraft crash, killing the F-84 pilot and all 10 people aboard the C-47D.

PHOTO: A bomb-laden U.S. Air Force Republic F-84E-15-RE Thunderjet (s/n 49-2424) from the 9th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, 49th Fighter-Bomber Wing/Group, taking off for a mission in Korea. This aircraft was shot down by flak on 29 August 1952.

Photo Attribution:  Public Domain  via Wikimedia.

Today In History:  09 July  [1959]   --  RAF Vickers Valiant makes the first non-stop flight to South Africa

A Royal Air Force Vickers Valiant makes the first non-stop flight from England to Cape Town. The Valiant was a British high-altitude jet bomber designed to carry nuclear weapons, and in the 1950s and 1960s was part of the Royal Air Force's "V bomber" strategic deterrent force. The Valiant was the first of the V bombers to become operational, and was followed by the Handley Page Victor and the Avro Vulcan. The Valiant is the only V bomber to have dropped live nuclear weapons (for test purposes).

PHOTO: Vickers Valiant XD873 in 1962

Photo Attribution:  CC BY-SA 3.0  via Wikimedia. Umeyou