On This Day In Aviation History

[n33d4sp33d_85]

35 years ago today:

OTD in 1985, several combat planes belonging to the Carrier Air Wing 17 (CVW-17) lauched from USS Saratoga (CV-60) to intercept the Egyptair Boeing 737 which was carrying the terrorists who had hijacked the Achille Lauro liner off Egypt.

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[n33d4sp33d_85]

48 years ago today:

On this date in 1972 the Great Fly-Off between the Northrop YA-9 and the Republic YA-10 commenced.

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[n33d4sp33d_85]

44 years ago today:

On this date in 1976 the Sikorsky S-72 experimental hybrid helicopter/fixed-wing aircraft flew for the first time.

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[n33d4sp33d_85]

59 years ago today:

Eye opener- on this date in 1961 the Bedevilers of VF-74 became the first to gain carrier qualification with their new jets- the McDonnell F4H Phantom II. https://www.avgeekery.com/bedevilers-vf ... first-ph…/

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[n33d4sp33d_85]

76 years ago today:

On this date in 1944 First Lieutenant Charles "Chuck" Yeager scored five aerial victories during a single mission while leading the 357th Fighter Group escorting XIII Bomber Mission 674 to Bremen.

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[n33d4sp33d_85]

9 years ago today:

On this date in 2011 Cargolux began flying the 747-8F.

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[n33d4sp33d_85]

90 years ago today:

on this date in 1930 the Junkers Ju-52 "Tante Ju" flew for the first time.

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[n33d4sp33d_85]

24 years ago today:

On this date in 1996 the Bombardier Global Express flew for the first time.

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[n33d4sp33d_85]

82 years ago today:

on this date in 1938 the P-40 Warhawk flew for the first time.

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[n33d4sp33d_85]

73 years ago today:

It was #OTD in 1947 that Chuck Yeager flew the Bell X-1 rocket plane through Mach 1 to become the first aviator to break the sound barrier.

On the famous flight, the X-1 was air dropped from a specially-modified B-29 before igniting its rocket engines. The aircraft hit 700mph, which translated as Mach 1.06 at the altitude and temperature of the flight. In aviation, "Mach 1" indicates the speed of sound independently from speed in mph because the speed of sound through air varies depending on atmospheric conditions, the most important factor being temperature.

Some claim that George Welch, flying the North American XP-86 Sabre, beat Yeager to the sound barrier, though the Sabre did it in a dive and Yeager did it in level flight. But that claim is almost certainly wrong. For more details on why, check out this article in Air & Space magazine: https://bit.ly/34TlbLJ

Do you know what Yeager named his X-1?

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