This Date in Planelopnik History: Speed Round

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 03/24/2015 at 13:45 • Filed to: planelopnik, planelopnik history

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This is today’s Planelopnik History Speed Round , getting you caught up on milestones and important historical events in aviation from March 21 to March 24.

March 21, 1971 – First flight of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! helicopter, a British-built multi-purpose military helicopter . The Lynx was adopted by the armed forces of over a dozen nations, and primarily serves in the battlefield utility, anti-armor, search and rescue and anti-submarine warfare roles.

March 21, 1958 – Maiden flight of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Less than a month later, the Arrow broke the sound barrier, flying at Mach 1.5 at an altitude of 50,000 ft. However, the Canadian government, in a move that is controversial to this day, canceled the project before before the Arrow entered production.

March 21, 1946 – A major reorganization of the United States Army Air Forces created the Strategic Air Command, the Air Defense Command, and the Tactical Air Command.

March 22, 1989 – An !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , carrying the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! orbiter, sets a total of 106 world and class records during a 3 hour, 30 minute flight. Its total weight at take-off was 1,120,400 pounds.

March 22, 1979 – The first flight of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The Aurora is based on the P-3 Orion, and was originally built with the electronics suite from the Lockheed S-3 Viking. It is Canada’s only strategic Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft.

March 22, 1919 – L ignes Aériennes Farman (Farman Airlines) opens the first regular international commercial route between Paris and Brussels, operating a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Farman operated until 1933 when its assets were incorporated into the newly created Air France airline.

March 23, 1948 – First flight of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a carrier-based all-weather night fighter built for the United States Navy and Marine Corps . It served in Korea, claiming several Soviet-built MiG-15s during nighttime engagements.

March 24, 1944 – Flight Sergeant Nicholas Alkemade, an RAF tail gunner serving in an !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , jumped out of his burning aircraft without a parachute during a raid on Germany . Alkemade fell 18,000 feet into a forest, where tree branches slowed his fall, before coming to rest in deep snowdrift. Alkemade survived the fall with severe bruising and a sprained leg. He was captured, and finished the war as a POW in Stalag Luft III. Alkemade died in 1987.

Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. > ttyymmnn 03/24/2015 at 13:51

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Did this thing ever go up in a manned config?

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. 03/24/2015 at 13:53

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Nope.

ttyymmnn > Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. 03/24/2015 at 13:58

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Buran completed one unmanned flight into space before being scrapped when the USSR dissolved in 1993.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > ttyymmnn 03/24/2015 at 14:24

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One lucky SOB

ttyymmnn > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 03/24/2015 at 14:33

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Well, when you jump out of a burning airplane at 18ooo feet, you've pretty much consigned yourself to fate. There's no way he thought he might survive. But I imagine plunging through freezing air is preferable to being burned alive. So it was probably a pretty easy decision. But if you survive something like that, you know you're on borrowed time. I would go out and buy a Powerball.

He's not the only one to survive a fall from an airplane at altitude without a parachute. Back in 1972, Vesna Vulovi was a flight attendant on JAT Flight 367 when an alleged terrorist bomb exploded and caused the plane to break up. Vulovi remained in the center section of the plane which fell 33,000 feet. She suffered a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae (one crushed completely) that left her temporarily paralyzed from the waist down, and two broken legs. She was in a coma for 27 days. Not exactly the same sort of fall as Alkemade, but she holds a World Record for it.