Tag: Aircraft

• Podcast

6th May 1937: Hindenburg Disaster sees the German passenger airship LZ 129 engulfed in flames following a mid-air explosion

• 6th May 2023
• Tagged as: Aircraft, Airship, America, Explosion, Germany, Hindenburg, Hydrogen, New Jersey, United States, USA, Zeppelin

The landing ropes were dropped at 7.21pm, and shortly afterwards the Hindenburg was engulfed by flames.

• Podcast

8th March 1910: First female pilot’s license awarded to French actress Raymonde de Laroche

• 8th March 2023
• Tagged as: Aircraft, Equality, Flight, France, Raymonde de Laroche, Women

Elise Raymonde Deroche was the daughter of a Parisian plumber.

• Podcast

2nd March 1965: The United States begins Operation Rolling Thunder alongside the Republic of Vietnam Air Force

• 2nd March 2023
• Tagged as: Air Strike, Aircraft, America, Bombing, Johnson, Operation Rolling Thunder, United States, USA, Viet Cong, Vietnam, Vietnam War, Vietnamese War

Operation Rolling Thunder lasted for three and a half years and saw hundreds of thousands of tons of bombs dropped on North Vietnam.

• Podcast

26th February 1935: Hitler formally establishes the Luftwaffe in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles

• 26th February 2023
• Tagged as: Aircraft, Germany, Goering, Hitler, Luftwaffe, Nazi, Soviet Union, Spanish Civil War, Treaty of Versailles, USSR

The German Empire established its first air force, the Fliegertruppe, in 1910 which saw extensive action in the First World War.

• Podcast

18th February 1930: Nellie Jay, better known as Elm Farm Ollie, becomes the first cow to fly and be milked in an aeroplane

• 18th February 2023
• Tagged as: Aeroplane, Aircraft, Airplane, America, Bovine, Cow, Flight, Milk, St Louis, United States, USA

Elm Farm Ollie gave a total of 24 quarts (23 litres) of milk which was then packed into paper cartons and dropped by parachute to the crowds at the St Louis International Air Show.

• Podcast

9th February 1969: First test flight of the Boeing 747 ‘Jumbo Jet’ at Paine Field in Washington State

• 9th February 2023
• Tagged as: Aeroplane, Aircraft, America, Boeing, Pan Am, Technology, Transatlantic, Travel, USA

The plane, named the City of Everett, left the Paine Field runway near Everett in Washington State – about 30 miles north of Seattle – and successfully performed a number of tests before landing at 12.50pm.

• Podcast

3rd February 1961: Operation Looking Glass begins its 29-year Cold War flight above the USA

• 3rd February 2023
• Tagged as: Aircraft, Atomic Bomb, Cold War, Nuclear, USA, USSR

Operation Looking Glass began flying an Airborne Command Post above the United States 24 hours a day.

• Podcast

1st November 1911: World’s first aerial bombing by Italian Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti on Turkish troops in Libya

• 1st November 2022
• Tagged as: Air Strike, Aircraft, Bombing, Explosion, Hague Convention, Italo-Turkish War, Italy, Libya, Ottoman Empire, Turkey, War

Although nobody was injured during Italy’s attack, the Ottoman Empire complained that aerial bombing contravened the Hague Convention.

• Podcast

23rd October 1911: Italian Carlo Piazza pilots the first aircraft to be used in war

• 23rd October 2022
• Tagged as: Aircraft, Italo-Turkish War, Italy, Libya, Technology, Turkey, War

Piazza made history’s first reconnaissance flight when he observed the Turkish lines from a Blériot XI aircraft.

• Podcast

28th May 1987: Mathias Rust, an 18-year-old amateur pilot from West Germany, illegally landed a private aircraft near Moscow’s Red Square

• 28th May 2022
• Tagged as: Aircraft, Border, Cold War, Flight, Russia, Soviet Union, USSR, West Germany

Rust approached Moscow in the early evening and, after passing the city’s ‘Ring of Steel’ anti-aircraft defences, touched down on a bridge next to St Basil’s Cathedral and taxied his aircraft into Red Square.