This Date in Aviation History: October 3 - October 6

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 10/06/2015 at 11:35 • Filed to: Planelopnik, planelopnik history

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Welcome to This Date in Aviation History , getting you caught up on milestones and important historical events in aviation from October 3 through October 6.

October 4, 1957 – The launch of Sputnik 1. The eighteenth-month period from July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958 was celebrated as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a time when sixty-seven countries (but not China, who was protesting the inclusion of Taiwan and refused to participate) tried to transcend the divides of the Cold War and come together on scientific projects covering eleven Earth sciences, including ionospheric physics and other investigations into the near space around our planet. But since this was still the Cold War, the Soviet Union saw the IGY as the perfect opportunity to make a propaganda statement by launching into space the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1 ( Sputnik simply means satellite ). For a generation that was brought up on stories of space adventure and the wonders of science fiction, this was science relaity, and the American public was shocked that the Russians had beaten the US into space. As Sputnik 1 circled the Earth, it emitted radio pulses that could be tracked by amateur radio operators on the ground, a constant reminder that the Russians were directly overhead. Sputnik could also be seen from the Earth, and those who turned their binoculars and telescopes skyward could watch the Russian satellite pass overhead. In addition to the obvious propaganda coup that Sputnik provided the Russians, the basketball-sized satellite did perform some useful scientific experiments. As the satellite moved through the upper atmosphere, the drag it experienced helped to ascertain the density of the upper atmosphere, and the radio signals sent back to Earth provided useful information about the ionosphere. The radio signals lasted for 21 days before the batteries ran out, and Sputnik burned up on re-entry to the Earth’s atmosphere January 4, 1958, just three days after the US launched their own satellite, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which was actually the third satellite in space following the launch of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in November of 1957. Despite the intention of the IGY to bring nations together, the launch of Sputnik marked the launch of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , an entirely new competition between East and West, with America seemingly always one step behind, until the Apollo program put a man on the Moon. But the Russians would shrug and say they never wanted to go there anyway (but they sure !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ). (NASA Photo)

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October 6, 1977 – The first flight of the MiG-29. During the Vietnam War, the US Air Force discovered that using high speed fighter aircraft in the ground attack role left them vulnerable to attack from above. Air superiority became the watchword, as the US sought to regain control of the airspace over the battlefield in the way they had during the Korean War. By the late 1960s, the Air Force began its F-X program to develop a new fighter that could control the skies, bringing about the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and, to counter the threat perceived by this new American fighter, the Soviet Union, in 1969, began their own program to produce a new frontline air superiority fighter. Dubbed Perspektivnyy Frontovoy Istrebitel ( PFI , or Advanced Frontline Fighter ), the program called for an agile, long-range fighter with speed Mach 2+ speed and the ability to operate from rough or unimproved airstrips. This program was eventually split into two different types of aircraft, one heavy and one light, with Mikoyan given the task of producing the lighter aircraft, which would become the MiG-29. The MiG-29A entered service with the Soviet frontline forces in 1983, and was given the NATO designation Fulcrum. It bore a resemblance to the larger !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (and the American F-15, it must be said), though it is somewhat smaller than its American counterpart. It features intake flaps that can be closed during takeoff to prevent ingestion of debris from rough airstrips, widely spaced engines with the center area providing additional lift, and is armed with a single 30mm cannon in the wing root. Numerous missiles, rockets, and bombs can also be fitted to its six underwing hardpoints. The capabilities of the Fulcrum remained a mystery to the West until Western analysts and pilots were able to fly a number of them following the reunification of Germany in 1990 and also in 1997, when the US bought Moldova’s stock of MiG-29s to prevent their sale to Iran. They found the Fulcrum to be a capable dogfighter, notable for its helmet-mounted sight that could target an air-to-air missile while the aircraft’s nose was pointed in another direction. But it also had a relatively short range and a somewhat primitive cockpit that limited the pilot’s situational awareness of the battle space. Like most Russian warplanes, the Fulcrum has been continuously updated throughout its service life and exists in a myriad of variants, and now includes the substantially modernized !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! which remains in production. Over 1600 aircraft have been produced, and they can be found flying currently in the air forces of 26 nations. (Photo by Krasimir Grozev via !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

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Short Take Off

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October 3, 1985 – The first flight of the Space Shuttle Atlantis , the fourth and penultimate Space Shuttle produced. It’s first mission, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , delivered a classified Department of Defense payload to orbit and returned to Earth on October 7. Atlantis was also the last Shuttle to fly before the cancellation of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on July 8, 2011. (NASA Photo)

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October 4, 1968 – The first flight of the Tupolev Tu-154, a three-engine narrow-body airliner that was the mainstay of the Russian airline Aeroflot and 17 other nations. Since its introduction in 1972, the Tu-154 has carried half of all civilian passengers flown by Aeroflot. Aeroflot announced the retirement of the Tu-154 in 2010 after almost 40 years of service, with the last scheduled passenger flight of the type taking place in May 2015. (Photo by Aktug Ates via !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

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October 5, 1967 – The first flight of the Shin Meiwa US-1A, a large, amphibious STOL aircraft developed from the Shin Meiwa PS-1 and used by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force for maritime patrol, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and search and rescue (SAR). The hull of the US-1A is based on a refinement of the the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! hull design, and a special boundary layer control system helps to reduce the takeoff distance. In 23 years of service, the US-1A and her crews have reportedly saved 550 lives. (Photo by Richard Vandervord via !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

October 5, 1918 – French WWI pilot Roland Garros is shot down and killed. Eugène Adrien Roland Georges Garros was an aviation pioneer who competed in air races and set a world altitude record of 18,410 ft in 1911. During WWI, Garros helped develop a system of bullet deflectors that allowed gunnery through the propeller, and on August 3, 1914, Garros shot down a German Zeppelin, receiving credit for the first aerial victory in history. Garros was shot down and killed just one day short of his 30th birthday, and five weeks before the Armistice. Despite his fame, though, Garros was not officially an ace, having downed only 4 aircraft during the war.

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October 5, 1914 – The first air-to-air combat kill in history, when a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! pusher biplane of Escadrille VB24, piloted by Sgt. Joseph Frantz with observer Cpl. Louis Quénault, shot down a German !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! over Reims, France. Frantz fired nearly 100 rounds from his Hotchkiss machine gun, while the German observer returned fire with his rifle. After running out of ammunition, the French observer continued firing with his rifle, and the German plane crashed, killing both crewmen.

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October 6, 1983 – The first flight of the Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. The OH-58 Kiowa, a development of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , entered service in 1969 in response to an Army requirement for a light observation helicopter (LOH). The OH-58D variant was a product of the Advanced Helicopter Improvement Program (AHIP) which included improved radar for nap-of-the-earth flying, a quieter four-bladed rotor, and a mast-mounted sight (MMS) for sighting targets from behind the cover of terrain. (US Army photo)

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October 6, 1954 – The first flight of the Fairey FD.2, a British research aircraft that was built to explore the regimes of transonic and supersonic flight. The FD.2 was the first aircraft to exceed 1000 mph and held a world speed record for more than a year before being surpassed by the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The ogee delta wing shape developed for the FD.2 was later used on the Concorde, as was the characteristic droop nose.

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October 6, 1939 – The first flight of the Curtiss SO3C Seamew, a monoplane seaplane designed for the US Navy to replace the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Per the US Navy requirement, the Seamew could be equipped with either a float or landing gear. To address stability problems, the wingtips were curved upward, and the vertical stabilizer extended across the observer’s cockpit. Due to unresolved problems with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! inline V engine, the Seamew was withdrawn from frontline units in 1944 in favor of the older biplanes it was meant to replace. (US Navy photo)

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If you enjoy these Aviation History posts, please let me know in the comments. And if you missed any of the past articles, you can find them all at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

jariten1781 > ttyymmnn 10/06/2015 at 11:57

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I love nascent aerial combat. I like to think it pretty much went:

“We’ve got these flying thingamabobbers but what good are they?”

“Well Gen, we’ll throw a chap with a rifle in the back and put some grenades on the floor they can chuck over into trenches.”

“Sounds good...let me know if they hit anything”

ttyymmnn > jariten1781 10/06/2015 at 12:04

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That’s probably pretty accurate.

Viggen > ttyymmnn 10/06/2015 at 13:01

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October 6, 1977- So began Mikoyan’s downfall- an aircraft who in actual combat has done nothing but be shot out of the sky, whether by western aircraft or by the Sukhoi alternative. To this day, quality control issues, the RD-33 powerplant, and the Flanker have continued to plague the Fulcrum. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an attractive aircraft, but not my first choice in air to air combat, either at BVR or the merge.

Kiowa- “Such a cute little toy” said me, the Chinook mechanic. Regarding the name, all the OH-58Ds are Kiowa Warriors. AH-58 is an unofficial name. Despite what the now out of a job Air Cav will tell you, the Army does not have a light attack helicopter platform. The -58D is and always will be an armed scout helicopter. A badass one I’d have loved to have flown*.

*Just fly. Keep that Air Cav shit away from me. Quit trying to act hardcore. It’s not Vietnam, you’re not in Hueys, and you’re not Cav Scouts. Give up.

ttyymmnn > Viggen 10/06/2015 at 13:09

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all the OH-58Ds are Kiowa Warriors. AH-58 is an unofficial name

Duly noted and edited. Thanks. And thanks for the reply. Good stuff. I always appreciate it when somebody who know more than I do chimes in. It adds a lot to the article. Thanks for reading.

Viggen > ttyymmnn 10/06/2015 at 13:14

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I’m on leave right now so this is the first Date in Aviation History post I’ve been able to catch. I’ll be sure to read them from now on. Always fun to learn and relearn info.

ttyymmnn > Viggen 10/06/2015 at 13:24

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These posts drop every Tuesday and Friday at 12:35 ET. I’ve got to get cracking on Friday’s post! And there’s another “Planes You’ve (Probably) Never Heard Of” post coming up, hopefully on Thursday afternoon. Those are actually a bit more fun to write than the history posts, because they’re usually about obscure planes that never made production, or weird things that are just cool. Thursday’s is going to be about an ASW platform that I had never heard of. But I won’t tell you what it is....

Viggen > ttyymmnn 10/06/2015 at 13:35

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Thursday will be interesting then. ASW plane ‘eh? Hm...Could be the P-7, or something older.

ttyymmnn > Viggen 10/06/2015 at 13:39

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No hints! But it’s much older than the P-7. Which, I might add, I have spotted on one of my trips to Abilene. I play in the orchestra up there, and in my free time, I go out to Dyess AFB, smoke cigars and take pictures of airplanes (my other hobby). This was a real surprise catch.

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/suddenly-a-wil…