Been so damn busy this weekend, did not get a chance to update this. So here goes...
December 1
2001 – Captain Bill Compton brings Trans World Airlines Flight 220, an MD-83, into St. Louis International Airport bringing to an end 76 years of TWA operations following TWA's purchase by American Airlines.
1981 - A Yugoslavian Inex Adria Aviopromet DC-9 crashes in Corsica killing all 180 people on board. ATC thought the aircraft was over water, when it reality it was over mountains, and its wing clipped a summit as it descended, causing an uncontrolled dive to the ground.
1974 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231, crashes northwest of John F. Kennedy International Airport.
1974 - TWA Flight 514, a Boeing 727, crashes northwest of Dulles International Airport killing all 92 people on board.
1969 – The first legislation to limit aircraft noise levels at airports is introduced in U.S. Federal Air Regulation, Part 36.
1945 – Avro Canada Ltd was formed and took over the facilities of Victory Aircraft Ltd at Malton, Ontario. They began with about 400 key personnel who had been kept on from the wartime production programme.
1944 – No. 2 Air Command, established at Winnipeg, took over duties of Nos. 2 and 4 Training Commands disbanded on 30 November.
1941 – The Civil Air Patrol is created by Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York City and Director of the Office of Civilian Defense, with the signing of Administrative Order 9.
1938 – Non-Permanent Active Air Force was renamed the Auxiliary Active Air Force.
1934 – The first airway traffic control center is opened in Newark, N.J., operated by staff of Eastern Air Lines, United Air Lines, American Airlines and TWA.
1933 – Indian National Airways commences the first daily service in India, between Calcutta and Dacca.
1925 – The Boeing Airplane Co. delivers the first of 10 FB-1s to the Navy. This one-seat land biplane is the Navy version of the Army PW-9 fighter. The last will be delivered Dec. 22.
1783 – Jacques Charles and his assistant Nicolas-Louis Robert make the first flight in a hydrogen-filled balloon (La Charlière). They travel from Paris to Nesles-la-Vallée, a distance of 43 km (27 mi). On his second flight the same day, Charles reached an altitude of circa 3,000 m over Nesles-la-Vallée.
December 2
1993 – Space Shuttle Enterprise launches at mission STS-61, intended to repair the Hubble Telescope, which had a problem with its optical system.
1986 – Pacific Western Airlines merged with Canadian Pacific Airlines to form Canadian Airlines.
1986 – A Concorde airliner carrying 94 passengers returns to Charles de Gaulle airport after an 18-day round-the-world journey; total flying time amounted to 31 hours 51 minutes.
1980 – The first Chinook HC1 helicopters for the RAF were officially handed over in a ceremony at RAF Odiham.
1976 – The Boeing 747 SCA, an ex-American Airlines airliner which has been adapted to carry the US reusable space shuttle, makes its flight.
1968 – Wien Consolidated Airlines Flight 55, a Fairchild F-27B registered N4905, crashed into Pedro Bay, Alaska due to structural failure after extreme turbulence, killing all 39 on-board. The fatigue was exacerbated by cracks on the aircraft from poor maintenance.
1965 – The USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclear-powered warship to see combat, laying the smackdown on Viet Cong near Bien Hoa.
1945 - First flight of the Bristol 170 Freighter G-AGPV.
1943 – First Canadian-built Mosquito aircraft saw action over Berlin with RAF 139 Squadron.
1943 - Grumman XF7F-1, prototype of the F7F Tigercat.
1939 – New York's La Guardia Airport opened for service!
1937 – The Boeing XB-15 is delivered to the Army. It will set several records, including a climb to 8,200 feet with a 31,205-pound load. In 1939 it will carry relief supplies to victims of an earthquake in Chile.
1937 - Brewster XF2A-1 (company designation B-139), prototype of the Brewster F2A Buffalo
December 3
2005 – XCOR Aerospace makes the first ever manned rocket aircraft delivery of US Mail in Mojave, California.
2004 – The 500th 777 is rolled out. The 777 will reach 500 airplanes delivered faster than any other twin-aisle airplane in history.
1999 – NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.
1990 – Northwest Airlines Flight 1482 (a DC-9 registered N3313L) collides with Northwest Airlines Flight 299 (a 727-200 registered N287US) on a runway in Detroit, killing 8 people about Flight 1482. The DC-9 made two wrong turns, putting them on a runway that the 727 was using to depart. The DC-9 was destroyed completely by fire, and the 727 was able to stop safely and only experienced wingtip damage.
1973 – Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter. these photos would later be rejected on Airliners.net for "baddistance".
1971 – The Canadian Forces began accepting deliveries of Bell "Kiowa" helicopters. These were sent to replace several older fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.
1970 – 37 Squadron Special Flight 602; in Yukon 106922,; flew families and members of the Quebec FLQ Organization to Cuba. Their exile to Cuba was a trade off for the release of kidnapped James Cross and exemption from prosecution for the murder of Pierre Laporte.
1958 – An aircraft exchange, which will function like the stock markets and commodity exchanges, opens in New York.
1945 – A de Havilland Sea Vampire fighter becomes the first purely jet-powered airplane to operate from an aircraft carrier, when Lieutenant-Commander E. M. "Winkle" Brown lands his aircraft on the HMS Ocean in England.
December 4
1991 – Pan Am World Airways went out of business after 64 years of service. The sudden shutdown of this aviation pioneer stranded many passengers and left about 9,000 employees out of work.
1984 – Kuwait Airways Flight 221, flying from Kuwait City to Karachi, Pakistan, is hijacked by four Lebanese men and diverted to Tehran. Four hostages are killed and dumped on the tarmac, and the remaining passengers, especially Americans, are tortured every 5 minutes. Iranians eventually raid the aircraft and rescue all, but the hijackers were later released.
1983 – In response to the attack on US bases in Beirut, US Navy A-6 Intruders attack targets in Libya.
1977 – Malaysian Airlines Flight 653, a Boeing 737-2HC registered 9M-MBD, crashes at Tanjung Kupang Johor in Malaysia, killing all 100 on-board. The aircraft had been hijacked and the cause of the crash itself is still unknown. The aircraft went down in a swamp, nearly straight-down, and there was not one recognizable body found.
1974 – Martinair Flight 138, a DC-8-55 registered PH-MBH, flying from Indonesia to Sri Lanka, crashes while on approach to Colombo-Bandaranaike Airport. The aircraft hit Anjimalai Mountain after descending below the minimum safe altitude, killing all 191 on-board.
1965 – The 1965 Carmel mid-air collision occurred when Eastern Air Lines Flight 853 (N6218C), a Lockheed Super Constellation en route from Boston Logan International Airport to Newark International Airport, collided in mid-air with Trans World Airlines Flight 42 (N748TW), a Boeing 707-131B en route from San Francisco International Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport, over Carmel, New York, USA. TWA Flight 42 made an emergency landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport, while Eastern Air Lines Flight 853 was forced to make a crash landing on Hunt Mountain near Danbury, Connecticut. Three passengers died, plus the Constellation's pilot, Captain Charles J. White, who had returned to the aircraft's cabin to help the last passenger.
1965 – Gemini 7 launched.
1961 – The National Air and Space Museum receives the Douglas C-54 transport "Sacred Cow" used by US Presidents Roosevelt and Truman.
1958 – The last Avro CF-100 was rolled from the production line at Malton, Ontario.
1955 – Glenn L. Martin, founder of the Glenn L. Martin Company, dies at the age of 69
1945 – Roberta Bondar, Canadian astronaut, was born. Roberta Lynn Bondar, PhD, DSc, MD, is Canada's first woman astronaut and the world's first neurologist in space.
1944 - First flight of the Bristol Brigand.
1930 – Canadian Cub I was first flown for 90 minutes, at St Hubert Airport, by E.J. Cooper.
1912 – Pappy Boyington, American pilot, is born (d. 1988). Colonel Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, USMC, was an American fighter ace. He commanded the famous U.S. Marine Corps squadron, VMF-214 ("The Black Sheep Squadron") during World War II. Boyington became a prisoner of war later in the war. He was awarded the Navy Cross and the Medal of Honor.
1908 – The Englishman J.T.C. Moore-Brabazon (later Lord Tara of Brabazon) makes a flight of 1,350 ft. in a Voisin biplane at Issy-les-Moulineaux in France. He becomes one of the guiding lights of early British aviation and is issued the first British pilot's license, then called an aviator's certificate.
1894 – German meteorologist Arthur Berson climbs up with a balloon to 9,155 m