Yesterday in History

[seacue]

On 26 February the no-fly zone over the US President's White House in Washington was established.
Any guess as to the year?











1935, yes 1935
==================================
Washington's main airport has been close to the White House since the mid-1920s. Here's part of a Wiki:
Airport facilities in Washington, D.C., had long been seriously inadequate early in the 20th Century. Hoover Field, located near the present site of the Pentagon, was the first major terminal to be developed in the Capital area, opening its doors in 1926. Hoover Field had a single runway intersected by a local street (guards had to stop automobile traffic during takeoffs and landings).

The following year, Washington Airport, another privately operated field, began service next door. In 1930, the economics of the Great Depression caused the two terminals to merge to form Washington-Hoover Airport. Bordered on the east by Highway One, with its accompanying high-tension electrical wires, and obstructed by a high smokestack on one approach and a dump nearby, the field was less than adequate.

National Airport opened its doors on June 16, 1941. Though located in Virginia, much of the site had originally been underwater, in District of Columbia territory. A 1945 law established the airport as legally within Virginia but under the jurisdiction of Congress.
=================================
I question that Highway One was at east side of Hoover Field. My memory says it's always been south of the location of Hoover field.

[Kermit 180]

I suppose they were more concerned about aircraft failing in flight rather than being flown into things on purpose in 1935... :rolleyes:

[evansb]

On February 28, 1919, the first international air passenger by heavier-than-air machine arrived in Canada. W.E. Boeing was flown to Vancouver, B.C. from Seattle, Washington, in a Boeing C-700 seaplane by Edward Hubbard.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r68/convair640/bjtr07.jpg

[evansb]

March 1st, 1951
St. Hubert, Quebec. RCAF No. 441 Squadron was reformed, and equipped with D.H.100 Vampire fighters.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r68/convair640/300px-Vampire.jpg

[evansb]

March 2nd, 1969,
Toulouse, France. The Anglo-French Concorde, prototype 001, makes its first flight.

[evansb]

March 5, 1936
First flight of the British Supermarine Spitfire.

[evansb]

March 5, 1943
Gloucester, England. At Cranwell, the prototype Gloster Meteor, Halford H.1 engined, twin-jet fighter, DG206, flies for the first time.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r68/convair640/glosterMeteorP.jpg

[seacue]

March 5, 1946: Winston Churchill uses the phrase "Iron Curtain" in his speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.

[evansb]

March 7, 1924
Lieutenant E.H. Barksdale and his navigator B.Q. Jones fly an American-built DH-4B, 575 miles from McCook Field, Dayton Ohio, to Mitchell Field, New York, on instruments only.

[evansb]

March 7, 1965
A Qantas Boeing 707-338B completed the first non-stop commercial flight across the Pacific. The JT3D turbofan powered airliner took just 14 hours, 33 minutes, to fly the 7,424 miles, from Sydney to San Francisco.

[seacue]

March 8, 1910
Elise Deroche, the colorful self-styled Baroness Raymonde de Laroche, becomes the first woman in the world to receive a pilot’s license in Paris.

March 8, 1910
Claude Moore-Brabazon receives the Royal Aero Club’s first aviator’s certificate in London. Charles Rolls receives the second. Edited to add that elsewhere it is reported that Henri Farmen received the first British pilot's licence.

March 8, 1917
Count F. von Zeppelin died at the age of almost 79.

[evansb]

1919. Toronto, Canada. A wind tunnel is completed at the University of Toronto.

1934.
Four US Army air-mail pilots die in weather-related crashes. The crashes will result in an investigation, concluding in a decision to have commercial air lines carry the mail.

[evansb]

March 10, 1945
Tokyo residents survey the devistation after wave upon wave of U.S. B-29 Stratofortresses dropped thousands of tons of incendiary bombs last night, turning the largely wooden-built city into an inferno, killing between 80,000 and 130,000 people. Only 14 B-29s are lost; five crews were rescued from the Pacific.



March 10, 1953
Toronto, Canada The DHC-2 Mk.2 prototype, an Alvis Leonides-powered Beaver, was flown for the first time. Test-pilot G.A. Neal at the controls. The Mk.2 prototype's
vertical stabiliser was 30 percent larger than the Mk.1.

[evansb]

1908. Keuka Lake, New York. Aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss watches his first aeroplane, "Red Wing" take flight for the first time. Curtiss's first aeroplane ride won't take place for another two months.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r68/convair640/RedWing.jpg


1917. RFC pilot James McCudden wins the Military Cross. McCudden becomes the most highly decorated British Empire Pilot of W.W.I, and at 57 confirmed victories, he was one of the highest scoring British aces.

1953. An RAF Avro Lincoln is shot down by MIG fighters
while flying on, (or near), the air corridor linking Hamburg and Berlin. 6 of the 7 crew perish.

[evansb]

1928. Hamilton, Ontario. First Canadian woman to become a licensed pilot. Miss Eileen M. Vollick received Private Pilot's License No. 77, flying a Curtiss JN-4 Canuck. She also made several parachute jumps, her first in the summer of 1927.

1943. San Diego, USA. Consolidated Aircraft merges with Vultee to form Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft Corp. (Convair). The company produces 10,400 aircraft that year. Vultee had previously boasted the world's fastest airplane assembly line, exceeding any German, Russian, Japanese or British factory.

[evansb]

1935. Kent, England. The Percival Gull makes its maiden flight.

1936. London. Imperial Airways starts a weekly service to Hong Kong.

1939. Yukon Southern Air Transport Ltd. was formed, taking over the operations of United Air Transport Ltd. Later, Yukon Southern becomes part of Canadian Pacific Airlines.

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r68/convair640/yukon40.jpg

[evansb]

1908. First attempt to sell aircraft in Canada. The Franco-American Automobile Co. of Montreal, Quebec, advertised Voisin aircraft and Chanute type gliders for sale.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r68/convair640/Voisin1909.jpg




1918. U.S. Army pilots fly their first patrol of the war, in Nieuport 28s; their mission is to keep German reconnaissance aircraft away from the river Marne.

[seacue]

I have it on excellent authority that today is Thursday, March 15, 2007. Thus I calculate that yesterday would have been March
14th.

Aviation events reported for March 14 include:

1927 - Pan American Airways is formed to carry mail between Key West and Havana.

1947 - Saudi Arabian Airlines begins regular services.

[PPRuNe Pop]

Errrrrr! Hate to intervene but I think we are getting out of synch here. The title of this forum includes the word HISTORY. Some of the facts and events are hardly that! Yesterdays - last month and last year, and even recent years don't fall into the category at all for example.

I suggest the interest in 'yesterdays' is best stirred by events of 50 years or more.

[seacue]

March 15
1929 - NACA Variable Density Wind Tunnel At Langley Field
Left to right Eastman Jacobs, Shorty Defoe, Malvern Powell, and Harold Turner. In this photo taken on March 15, 1929, a quartet of NACA staff conduct tests on airfoils in the Variable Density Tunnel. (In 1985, the Variable Density Tunnel was declared a National Historic Landmark.) Eastman Jacobs is sitting (far left) at the control panel'.
http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/IMAGES/SMALL/GPN-2000-001242.jpg

[Kitbag]

PPRuNe Pop quote 'Errrrrr! Hate to intervene but I think we are getting out of synch here. The title of this forum includes the word HISTORY. Some of the facts and events are hardly that! Yesterdays - last month and last year, and even recent years don't fall into the category at all for example.

I suggest the interest in 'yesterdays' is best stirred by events of 50 years or more.'

I really feel you should be taken to task over this statement, especially in the rapidly advancing world of aviation. Are you seriously suggesting we should ignore just under 50% of all events that occurred since the first successful powered flight. In your timeframe anything since 1957 is discarded- I'm afraid I couldn't subscribe to such a restriction, and nor should anyone else be asked to do so. Non stop circumnavigation of the planet, high speed civil and military aviation, advances in avionics, Vietnam War, GW 1 & 2, Concorde, Hijackings and countless other events of note many of which may affect our future all removed if you have your way.:=

[PPRuNe Pop]

Kitbag.

Aviation History and Nostalgia is the name of this forum. Which I started a few years ago.

Non stop circumnavigation of the planet, high speed civil and military aviation, advances in avionics, Vietnam War, GW 1 & 2, Concorde, Hijackings and countless other events of note many of which may affect our future all removed if you have your way.:=

Over the whole of this site is opportunities for people to have the threads like Concorde, hijacking, current military aviation and the others you mention. They have all had an airing at one time or another. I do wonder therefore if you have even noticed such threads.

History in aviation covers many years and is FULL of many staggering events. But history is history NOT yesterdays news - that, will find its way on to PPRuNe as it always does. That is not what this forum is about. Anyone under this one single thread, or the many others here, can re-count many marvellous aviation moments, and do. But we do on this forum want to bask in the glory of the past more than the future.

And as for "having my way." You have missed the point entirely, but I hope you can now see what the point of this forum is. Have a good look round and see. You might be surprised.

Finally, I am not stipulating 50 years as the start or finish point, just that the years since 1950 saw the re-birth of aviation and the start of a period in our history which laid the bricks for aviation to be where it is today. God knows, we gave away a lot of what we did but WE DID IT!

[seacue]

March 16

1907 - Charles Voisin makes the first flight in France by a Frenchman when he flies his Voisin Delagrange a distance of almost 200 feet at Bagatelle.

1937 - The Fokker G.I had its first flight at Welschap, Eindhoven on March 16, 1937.
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/a/ad/250px-Fokker_g1.gif

1996 - After 76 years of operation, Fokker enter bankruptcy.

[seacue]

March 19

1901 - Wilbur Wright wrote Octave Chanute for advice on anemometers. Wright asks Chanute about the merits of a pressure gauge versus a Robinson [cup] anemometer.

1909 - The International Aero and Motor-Boat Exhibition opens in London. Among the exhibits is a Wright airplane for sale at $7,000.

1952 - First flight of F-86F

[Kitbag]

I know I posted on this forum this morning but it seems to have been deleted, presumably by a Mod. Would whoever it was be kind enough to PM me with their reasons as I'm sure that whatever I said was quite reasonable. I wouldn't like to cross the line but it would be nice to know where that line is in the first place.

Regards

PS I did say thank you to seacue and evansb for posting some very interesting events on this thread, lets hope you get to see this!

[TyroPicard]

Eighty years ago on May 20, 1927, at 0754 Eastern Daylight Time, Charles A. Lindbergh took off in his Ryan M-2 Spirit of St. Louis on his epic flight to Paris.
Eleven hours and 1100 miles later he was over Newfoundland; he deviated slightly South of his planned great circle route to overfly St. John's, which he did by diving down over the harbour and flying out through the gap, with a mere 2,000 miles to go to Ireland.
The aircraft:
Empty 2150 lb.
Useful Load 3100 lb
Gross weight 5250 lb.
Fuel 450 gal. (Design limit 425 gal! )
Range 4210 miles
Design/Engineering took 850 man-hours
Construction took 3,000 man-hours
Cost $10,850.

[merlinxx]

Merlin got his first airport job at LGW in May 1964. Since then been all over and worked for most all types of airlines and business aviation ops. Do I still love it, you better believe it, even farting around in KAN & LOS on early HAJ work in the late 60s. Sincerest thanks folks for a terrific industry/life and countless dear friends around the world.

[TyroPicard]

After eighteen hours over the North Atlantic, Lindbergh crossed the Irish coast near Valentia and Dingle Bay, only three miles off track! Over France he ate a sandwich to celebrate, his first food since take-off. That evening he landed in the dark, with no airfield lighting, at Le Bourget, Paris.
After thirty-three and a half hours of flight fuel remaining was 85 gallons, enough for a further 1040 miles.
Prize money: $25,000 had been offered on 22 May, 1919 by Mr. Raymond Orteig of New York City.

[evansb]

May 24, 1976. The first Concordes to visit the United States arrived at Washington D.C.'s Dulles International Airport. The British Airways flight departed London, and the Air France flight departed Paris at the same time. The two aircraft co-ordinated their flights so that they both appeared simultaneously in the skies over the U.S. capital. The British Concorde landed on runway 01 left, and the French aircraft on 01 right.


May 24, 1988. British Airways takes over British Caledonian. BA has reputedly paid $450 million USD for BCal. BA picks up 10 Airbus A320s in the deal, originally intended for BCal, the launch customer for the first single-aisle product from the European consortium.



May 24, 1956. Lockhaven, PA. Piper's first low-wing single-engine, mass-produced product, the PA-24 Commanche takes flight. Performance exceeds that of the twin-engine PA-23 Apache. Starting out at 180-hp, it will eventually have a 400-hp version.

[Hugh Spencer]

On 25th May 1945 went on a fighter affiliation exercise with my crew in Lancaster Mk 1 QR-M, take off 1120, landed 1225. Still keeping ready after VE Day, maybe required to go to Far East.

[Hugh Spencer]

May 25 1969, Thor Heyerdahl set sail from Safi, Morocco in Ra, in a boat made of 12 tons of papyrus reeds, with a crew of seven to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

[evansb]

May 25, 1961. U.S. President John F. Kennedy proclaims a manned landing on the moon as an objective for the space progamme.

May 25, 1953. North American Aviation test pilot George Welch flew the YF-100 Super Sabre for the first time, exceeding Mach 1 on its initial flight.

May 25, 1927. Lt. James Doolittle performs what is perhaps the first successful outside loop.

[Hugh Spencer]

May 26th 1940, a strange armada of destroyers, ferries, fishing boats and pleasure craft set sail to rescue 380,000 trapped Allied troops from the beaches at Dunkirk.

[PPRuNe Pop]

By coincidence I have been reading of the evacuation from Dunkirk and got a real jolt when I tried to visualise 380,000 men. Just that!

It was a magnificent effort when future historians will regurgitate the event, as they do, to tell how so many small boats lifted those men from the jaws of the inevitable prison camps or worse.

Awesome!