Today In History:  08 August  [1946]   --  Initial flight of the first 10-engine aircraft, the B-36 Peacemaker

The first 10-engine aircraft, the Convair B-36 Peracemaker, made its first successful test flight. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built. It has the longest wingspan of any combat aircraft ever built, at 230 ft (70 m) and it was the first bomber capable of delivering any of the nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal from an internal bomb bay without aircraft modifications.
PHOTO: The B-36 prototype (right) alongside a Boeing B-29 Superfortress at Carswell AFB, Ft. Worth, Texas, June 1948

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Photo Attribution:  Public Domain  via Wikimedia. United States Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama

Today In History:  07 August  [1951]   --  First flight of the McDonnell F3H Demon.

The McDonnell F3H Demon is a subsonic swept-wing carrier-based jet fighter aircraft designed and produced by the American manufacturer McDonnell Aircraft Corporation. It was the first swept wing jet fighter and the only single-engined carrier-based fighter the company produced.

The Demon was developed to fulfill a United States Navy requirement for a high-performance swept wing naval fighter to succeed the F2H Banshee.
PHOTO: A U.S. Navy McDonnell F3H-2N Demon (BuNo 133572) in flight near the McDonnell plant in St. Louis, Missouri (USA). US Navy photo.

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Photo Attribution:  Public Domain  via Wikimedia.

Today In History:  06 August  [1943]   --  The German submarine U-177 uses an autogyro kite to spot a Greek steamer

The German submarine U-177 uses a manned, towed Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 autogyro kite to spot the Greek steamer Efthalia Mari, which the submarine then intercepts and sinks. It is the only occasion on which a submarine's use of an Fa 330 results in a sinking. 
The Fa 330 could be deployed to the deck of the submarine by two people and was tethered to the U-boat by a 150 m (490 ft) cable.The airflow on the rotors as the boat motored along on the surface would spin them up. The kite would then be deployed behind the U-boat with its observer-pilot aboard, raising him approximately 120 meters above the surface and allowing him to see much farther — about 25 nautical miles (46 kilometres), compared to the 5 nautical miles (9.3 kilometres) visible from the conning tower of the U-boat.
PHOTO: An Fa 330 on display at the Hubschraubermuseum, Germany.

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

Today In History:  05 August  [1954]   --  The Boeing B-52A "Stratofortress" makes a its maiden flight.

The first Boeing B-52A "Stratofortress" makes a 78 minute maiden flight. The original XB-52 prototype had originally flown on th 15th April 1952, and today's flight marked the end of the initial type development. Despite an initial order for 10 B-52A's, only three were built before the B-52B was put into production - the remaining seven aircraft were delivered a 'B' models.

PHOTO: First flight of the Boeing YB-52 Stratofortress.

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


Photo Attribution:  CC BY-SA 2.0  via Wikimedia. AF GlobalStrike - https://www.flickr.com/photos/afglobalstrike/7251480460/

Today In History:  04 August  [1954]   --  First flight of the English Electric Lightning

First flight of the supersonic English Electric Lightning (at Boscombe Down). The Lightning was designed and developed as an interceptor to defend the airfields of the British 'V bomber' strategic nuclear force from attack by anticipated future nuclear-armed supersonic Soviet bombers such as the Tupolev Tu-22 "(Blinder"), Tupolev Tu-16 ("Badger") and Tupolev Tu-95 ("Bear").

PHOTO: Lightning of 11 Squadron, RAF Binbrook, seen arriving for IAT 1976. Later sold to Classic Jets, Thunder City, Cape Town, South Africa, as ZU-BEW. Ceased flying during 2010.

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Photo Attribution:  GFDL 1.2  via Wikimedia. Mike Freer - Touchdown-aviation - Gallery page http://www.airliners.net/photo/UK---Air/English-Electric-Lightning/2260192/L Photo http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/2/9/1/2260192.jpg

Today In History:  03 August  [1967]   --  A USAF de Havilland Canada C-7B Caribou, hit by 'friendly fire'

A USAF de Havilland Canada C-7B Caribou of the 459th TAS, 483d TAW, plunges to earth minus its tail from low altitude after being hit by US 155 mm artillery "friendly fire" on approach to Duc Pho Special Forces camp, Vietnam. Pilot Capt. Alan Hendrickson, co-pilot John Wiley, and loadmaster TSgt. Zane Carter are all killed, and the plunging aircraft was caught on camera by Japanese combat photographer Hiromichi Mine,.

PHOTO: RAAF Caribou on approach.

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Photo Attribution:  Historical Aviation Film Unit

Today In History:  02 August  [1945]   --  U.S. Navy PV-1 Ventura patrol plane discovers USS Indianapolis survivors

A U.S. Navy PV-1 Ventura patrol plane discovers survivors of the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis, the first indication that Indianapolis is even missing, 84 hours after she had been sunk by the Japanese submarine I-58 in the Philippine Sea. A large air-sea rescue operation lasts until August 8, but saves only 316 of her crew of 1,199.

PHOTO: Lockheed PV-1 "Ventura" patrol bomber.

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:  01 August  [1919]   --  World War I Russian ace Aleksandr Kazakov (32 kills, but only 20 officially) is killed in the crash of what was probably a Sopwith Camel.

World War I Russian ace Aleksandr Kazakov ( is killed in the crash of what was probably a Sopwith Camel. On 1 August 1918 Kazakov became a major in the RAF and was appointed to be commanding officer in charge of an aviation squadron of the Slavo-British Allied Legion made up of Camels. After the British withdrawal from Russia which left the Russian White Army in a desperate situation, Kazakov died in a plane crash during an air show on this date which was performed to boost the morale of the Russian anti-Bolshevik troops. Most witnesses of the incident thought Kazakov committed suicide.

PHOTO: An original WW1 Sopwith Camel operated b uyThe Vinatge Aviator collection in New Zealand.

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


Photo Attribution:  Historical Aviation Film Unit

Today In History:  31 July  [1952]   --  First transatlantic helicopter flight, from USA to Scotland

The first transatlantic helicopter flight is completed when Capt. Vincent H. McGovern and 1st Lt. Harold W. Moore piloted two Sikorsky H-19's from Westover, Massachusetts, to Prestwick in Scotland (3,410 mi). The trip was made in five stops from the 15th July, with a flying time of 42 hr., 25 min.

PHOTO: An Army UH-19B at the USAF Museum

Photo Attribution:  Public Domain  via Wikimedia.

Today In History:  30 July  [1935]   --  The first 'blind' landing at sea is made on the USS Langley

Lieutenant Frank Akers of the United States Navy becomes the first person to make a 'blind' landing at sea. His biplane has a hooded cockpit allowing him to see only his controls and instruments. He lands on the USS Langley. 
After WW2 as the commanding officer of the USS Saratoga from 1945 to 1946, he amassed a new world record of 642 carrier landings in a single day.

PHOTO: Akers (in flight helmet) shows Rear Admiral Ernest J. King (wearing civilian hat), the cockpit of the OJ-2 in which he performed the Navy’s first demonstration of a blind landing system intended for use on board aircraft carriers. He made the landing 'under the hood' at College Park, Maryland.

Photo Attribution:  Public Domain  via Wikimedia.