Fort Towson

Born in Mannheim, Wick joined the Luftwaffe in 1936 and was trained as a fighter pilot. He was assigned to Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen" (JG 2—2nd Fighter Wing), and saw combat in the Battles of France and Britain. Promoted to Major in October 1940, he was given the position of Geschwaderkommodore (wing commander) of JG 2—the youngest in the Luftwaffe to hold this rank and position. He was shot down in the vicinity of the Isle of Wight on 28 November 1940 and posted as missing in action, presumed dead. By then he had been credited with destroying 56 enemy aircraft in aerial combat, making him the leading German fighter pilot at the time. Flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109, he claimed all of his victories against the Western Allies.

The VZ-9 Avrocar (full military designation VZ-9-AV) was a Canadian VTOL aircraft developed by Avro Aircraft Ltd. as part of a secret U.S. military project carried out in the early years of the Cold War.^[1] The Avrocar intended to exploit the Coandă effect to provide lift and thrust from a single "turborotor" blowing exhaust out the rim of the disk-shaped aircraft to provide anticipated VTOL-like performance. In the air, it would have resembled a flying saucer. Two prototypes were built as "proof-of-concept" test vehicles for a more advanced USAF fighter and also for a U.S. Army tactical combat aircraft requirement.^[2] In flight testing, the Avrocar proved to have unresolved thrust and stability problems that limited it to a degraded, low-performance flight envelope; subsequently, the project was cancelled in 1961.

• Diameter:18 ft (5.486 m)
• Height: 3 ft 6 in (1.1 m)
• Engines: 3 x Turbomeca Marboré Continental J69-T-9
• Max Speed: 300 mph (482 km/h)
• First Flight: 12 November 1959
• Number built: 2

April 27

• 2013 – The Boeing 787 Dreamliner makes its first passenger-carrying flight since the worldwide grounding of Dreamliners in January 2013, when a packed Ethiopian Airlines 787 flies from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Nairobi, Kenya. Boeing vice president Randy Tinseth is among the passengers.^[3]

• 2012 – A Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, accompanied by a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) T-38 Talon chase plane, carries the Space Shuttle Enterprise from Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, making low-level flybys of New York City-area and Long Island landmarks. Enterprise, replaced by the Space Shuttle Discovery at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, is to be placed on display at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York.^[4]

• 2012 – A team of scientists and engineers stages an experimental crash of the Boeing 727-200 XB-MNP in a desert near Mexicali, Mexico. The crash is filmed for a television documentary. It is only the second such experiment in history, the only previous one having been the 1984 Controlled Impact Demonstration.

• 2011 – First flight of the Boeing Phantom Ray

• 2011 – NATO airstrikes mistakenly kill 11 Libyan rebels and wound two in Misrata.^[5]

• 2009 – Indonesian airline Linus Airways suspends operations as it has no aircraft to operate.

• 2009 – Magnicharters Flight 585, operated by Boeing 737-2 K9 XA-MAF is damaged beyond economic repair when it makes a belly landing at Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla International Airport, Mexico. There are four injuries during evacuation by the 116 people on board.

• 2008 – Eos Airlines files for bankruptcy and ceases all operations.

• 2007 – A Russian military Mil Mi-8 transport helicopter crashes near Shatoy, Chechnya in Russia. The incident occurred during the Battle of Shatoy and killed the crew and 17 spetsnaz (Russian special forces) soldiers on board.

• 2005 – First flight of the Airbus A380 from Toulouse, France.

• 2002 – Final successful telemetry is received from the Pioneer 10 space probe, floating nearly 7.5 billion miles from earth. After its launch in 1972, Pioneer 10 became the first probe to travel through the asteroid belt and the first to make direct observations of Jupiter.

• 1995 – While performing ACM near the Hawaiian Islands, the starboard engine of Grumman F-14A-115-GR Tomcat, BuNo 161273, 'NH 116', of VF-213 from the USS Abraham Lincoln, suffers catastrophic compressor stall, severing hydraulic and fuel lines. Pilot Lt. Cdr. John Stacy Bates and RIO Lt. M. Crawford successfully eject and are rescued by a helicopter of HS-6.

• 1993 – 1993 Zambia national football team air disaster: A Zambian Air Force de Havilland Canada DHC-5D Buffalo, AF-319, crashed shortly after take-off from Libreville, Gabon. One engine caught fire and failed; the tired pilot then shut down the wrong engine, causing a complete loss of power during the climb and leading to a crash 500 metres offshore. The plane was carrying the Zambia national football team to a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Senegal. All 30 on board, including 18 players, the coach, and team support staff, were killed.

• 1991 – First flight of the Eurocopter Tiger

• 1986 – First flight of the Partenavia Mosquito

• 1982 – CAAC Flight 3303, a Hawker Siddeley Trident 2E, crashes into a mountain near Yangsuo, China, while on approach to Guilin Qifeng Airport in heavy rain. All 112 people on board die. The Chinese media report that the plane, which had taken off in Guangzhou, crashed when the pilot attempted to fight off an armed hijacker.^[6]

• 1980 – Thai Airways Flight 231, a Hawker Siddeley HS 748, crashes while on approach to Don Mueang International Airport in severe weather, killing 44 of 53 on board.

• 1977 – An Aviateca Convair 240 crashes near Guatemala City, Guatemala, due to a maintenance error, killing all 28 people on board.

• 1976 – American Airlines Flight 625, a Boeing 727, crashes on approach to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, killing 37 of 88 people on board.

• 1974 – Engine number four of an Aeroflot Ilyushin IL-18 (SSSR-75559) suffers an un-contained failure, bringing down the plane near Leningrad and killing all 118 people on board.

• 1972 – US Air Force F-4 Phantoms destroy the Thanh Hoa bridge with laser-guided bombs.

• 1969 – President of Bolivia René Barrientos dies in a helicopter crash in the canyon of the Arque River in Bolivia.

• 1967 – U. S. Navy aircraft strike Kep airfield in Cambodia and U. S. Air Force aircraft attack Hòa Lạc airfield in southern South Vietnam.

• 1965 – Ryan XV-5A Vertifan, 62-4505, noses over from 800 feet (244 m) and crashes at Edwards AFB, California, during a demonstration in front of several hundred reporters, military personnel, and civilians. Ryan test pilot Willis Louis "Lou" Everett, flying at 180 knots, prepares to transition from conventional flight to fan mode but the aircraft unexpectedly pitches down. Everett attempts low-altitude ejection but seat fails, his chute snags on the high tail, and he is killed.

• 1963 – (April 2-May 20 – U. S. Marine Corps transport helicopters are heavily involved in airlifting South Vietnamese troops during Operation Bach Phuong XI, a South Vietnamese offensive against Viet Cong forces near Do Xa, South Vietnam.

• 1963 – The U. S. Marine Corps loses its first aircraft to enemy action in Vietnam, a UH-34D transport helicopter shot down by Viet Cong ground fire near Do Xa, South Vietnam.

• 1955 – First flight of the Sud Aviation Caravelle

• 1952 – First flight of the Tupolev Tu-16.

• 1951 – Convair B-36D-25-CF Peacemaker, 49-2658, of the 436th Bomb Squadron, 7th Bomb Wing, Carswell AFB, Texas, collides with F-51D-25-NT Mustang, 44-84973, of the 185th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Oklahoma Air National Guard, out of Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma City, during gunner training NE of Perkins, Oklahoma, 55 Miles NE of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Mustang pilot Lt. Fred Black killed, as well as 13 of 17 B-36 crew.

• 1947 – A United Airlines Douglas DC-6 becomes the first DC-6 to be placed in overseas service when it flies from San Francisco, California, to Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii.

• 1945 – (27-28) The fourth Japanese Kikusui attack on ships off Okinawa includes 115 kamikazes. They sink an ammunition ship and damage four destroyers and the hospital ship USS Comfort (AH-6).

• 1945 – First flight of the Pilatus P-2

• 1944 – The only Japanese air reaction to the U. S. Hollandia landings—a night raid by three planes—torpedoes and damages a cargo ship.

• 1943 – No. 405 (Bomber) Squadron, now transferred to No. 8 Pathfinder Group (RAF), carried out its first Pathfinder operation.

• 1941 – Evacuating British troops from Greece, the Dutch troopship Slamat is sunk by German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers. The British destroyers HMS Diamond and HMS Wryneck rescue 700 survivors before themselves being sunk by the Stukas. Only 50 men ultimately survive from the three ships.

• 1941 – HMS Argus flies off 23 RAF Hurricanes to Malta.

• 1932 – Imperial Airways commences a regular passenger service to Cape Town.

• 1929 – Squadron Leader A. G. Jones-Williams and Flight Lieutenant N. H. Jenkins complete the first non-stop flight from England to India; they fly the 4,130 miles in 50 hours, 37 min in a Fairey Long-Range Monoplane.

• 1918 – The United States Department of War creates a Division of Military Aeronautics responsible for the training of United States Army aviation personnel and units.

• 1913 – Robert G. Fowler makes first flight across the Isthmus of Panama. Technically this is the first flight from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

• 1905 – Sapper Moreton of the British Army's balloon section is lifted 2,600 ft (792 m) by a kite at Aldershot under the supervision of the kite's designer, Samuel Cody

• 1839 – John Wise (balloonist), an American, introduces the balloon ripping-panel, a glued section that the pilot can pull open for quick emptying of the balloon after landing. This prevents the balloon from being dragged along the ground.

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