On This Day In Aviation History

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On This Day In Aviation History

1959 - First flight of the Canadair CC-109 Cosmopolitan [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadair_ ... smopolitan]

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47 years ago today the General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) F-16 Fighting Falcon flew for the first time.

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8 years ago today:

OTD in 2013, Iran unveiled its "Qaher 313" stealth jet. This article I wrote on that day few hours after the first images appeared online, would become one of the most commented ever here at The Aviationist...

https://theaviationist.com/2013/02/02/i ... h-fighter/

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77 years ago today:

The Thunderbolt sequel that almost was. #OTD in 1944, the first flight of the Republic XP-72 took place. Developed as a follow-on from the P-47 Thunderbolt, the XP-72 was designed around the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major 28-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, armed with six 50 caliber wing-mounted machine guns and underwing racks for two 1,000 lb bombs. The first prototype, shown here, had a four-bladed propellor, but the second used a contra-rotating propellor.

The prototypes performed well and an order for 100 was placed, but the tide of the war was already turning. The need late in the war was for long-range escort fighters and not high-speed interceptors. This, coupled with the advent of the jet engine, led to the cancelation of the program.

Another interesting P-47 follow-on design proposed by Republic was the XP-69 that was to be powered by an experimental 42-cylinder Wright R-2160 liquid-cooled inline radial engine, a pressurized cockpit, and armament of two 37 mm cannon and four 50 caliber machine guns! The XP-72 was showing greater promise though, so the XP-69 was canceled and the XP-72 moved ahead for a short time.

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36 years ago today the Atlas XH-1 Alpha flew for the first time. The XH-1 Alpha was a prototype helicopter used as a concept for the Denel Rooivalk.

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35 years ago today the Dassault Mirage 2000N/D, a two-seat ground attack variant of the Mirage 2000, flew for the first time. The Mirage 2000N was designed for nuclear strike while its counterpart, the Mirage 2000D, was designed for conventional attack.

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20 years ago today the AgustaWestland (now Leonardo) AW139 flew for the first time.

Leonardo AW139 helicopter 20th anniversary

On 3 February 2021 the Leonardo company celebrated the 20th anniversary of the AW139 helicopter’s maiden flight.

The first aircraft, registered I-ACOI (construction number 31001) took to the skies from the Company’s facility in Cascina Costa di Samarate, Italy on 3 February 2001. The helicopter, at that time still designated Agusta-Bell AB139 flew for 45 minutes. Agusta later merged with the British Westland company, and the designation became AW139. Since 2016 the company is known as Leonardo Helicopters.

With almost 1,200 units ordered from more than 280 customers in over 70 countries on all continents, the AW139 is a true success in the 7 ton intermediate-twin engine helicopter market.

Since the first production machine was delivered in 2004, the AW139 has achieved a leading position in its class in the offshore transport sector, VIP, institutional and corporate transport as well as other civil missions.

With rising demands the helicopter is produced on different assembly lines both in Italy, in the Vergiate plant, and in the United States in Philadelphia which has delivered around 30% of all units to date.

The US Air Force will soon introduce the AW139-based Boeing MH-139 to replace the UH-1N fleet. A small number of AW139s has also been produced by HeliVert, a joint venture between Russian Helicopters and (then) AgustaWestland, in its production plant in Tomilino, Russian Federation.

The AW139 also represents a turning point in the rotary-wing sector through the introductory concept of the Leonardo "helicopter family".

The AW139 is, in fact, the forefather of a helicopter family comprising of the smaller and lighter AW169 and the larger and heavier AW189. Models, the only case in the world, that share the same design philosophy, the same high performance, the same flight characteristics and the same certification standards, as well as the same approach to maintenance and training.

A concept that allows operators with large diversified fleets, with models ranging from 4 to 9 tons of weight, to create significant synergies in crew training, flight operations, maintenance and logistics support.

https://www.scramble.nl/civil-news/leon ... nniversary

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On 3 February 1982, flown by Ге́рман Вита́льевич Алфёров (Herman Vitalievich Alferov) and L.A. Indeev, the Mi-26 with an all-up weight of 56,768.8 kilograms (125,153.8 pounds) flew to a height of 2,000 meters (6,562 feet).¹ Later, they flew to a height of 4,100 meters (13,451 feet) with a payload of 25,000 kilograms (55,115.6 pounds).²

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6 years ago today the Embraer C-390 Millennium flew for the first time.

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76 years ago today:

#OTD in 1945, bound for the Kola Inlet in the Soviet Union, Convoy JW 64 becomes the first Arctic convoy to depart from the River Clyde and was escorted by the aircraft carriers HMS Campania and HMS Nairana. Campania carried the first night fighter involved in a convoy escort operation, a Fairey Fulmar equipped with airborne intercept radar. Do you know how many Fulmar's were produced during the war?