This Date in Aviation History: April 20 - April 22

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 04/22/2016 at 12:35 • Filed to: planelopnik, planelopnik history

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Welcome to This Date in Aviation History , getting you caught up on milestones, important historical events and people in aviation from April 20 through April 22.

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April 21, 1918 – The death of Manfred von Richthofen. When the First World War broke out in 1914, the airplane was still in its infancy. The Wright Brothers had made the First Flight just eleven years earlier, and when the first airplanes were used in the war they were flown for reconnaissance, and the early planes were called scouts. Opposing pilots often shared a friendly wave as they crisscrossed the skies over the battlefield. But it wasn’t long until those amicable greetings turned hostile and aircrews started carrying pistols and rifles into the air. Then machine guns were mounted on the aircraft, and the fighter plane was born. Fighter pilots became a breed apart from other fighting men, enjoying the prestige and gallantry of their craft, and one man would become the iconic fighter pilot, both feared and respected by his enemy. That man was Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron. Manfred von Richthofen was born to an aristocratic Prussian family in what is now a part of Poland. Richthofen began the war as a cavalry reconnaissance officer, and as the war stagnated and the cavalry became little used, he transferred to the Imperial German Army Air Service, later called the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and began flying as a reconnaissance officer in August 1915. Following a chance meeting with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , who many consider to be the father of German fighter tactics, Richthofen began training to be a pilot. Richthofen met Boelcke again the following year when the ace was looking for pilots to form a new squadron, Jagdstaffel 2, or Jasta 2. It was here that Richthofen scored his first kill on September 17, 1916. Soon, Richthofen was leading his own fighter group, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and then was appointed to head the larger !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , better known as the Flying Circus. Richthhofen flew numerous aircraft during his time in the war, but he is most closely associated with the iconic !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Dreidecker triplane. However, Richthofen only scored roughly 20% of his career kills in that aircraft. Before that, he flew the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , then the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . He scored the bulk of his victories in the D.III, and it was this aircraft that he first painted red. A brilliant leader and tactician, Richthofen’s unit was soon one of the most effective in the war. In the month April of 1917, he shot down 22 British aircraft, including four in one day. He would finish the war with 80 confirmed victories, making him the leading ace of WWI, and the second leading ace of all time behind !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , who claimed a staggering 352 victories during WWII. On July 16, 1917, Richthofen was seriously wounded when he was shot in the head. He managed to land his plane, and after a brief convalescent leave he returned to flying, though the wound caused him nausea and headaches. The end of the Red Baron finally came on April 21, 1918, when he was shot through the heart and lungs during a dogfight. Though he managed to land his plane, he soon succumbed to his wounds. Controversy immediately swirled around his death. The RAF first credited Captain !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a Canadian pilot flying for the Royal Navy Air Service, with the victory. But a post-mortem of Richthofen showed that he had been killed by a single !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! round that was most likely fired from the ground. Who actually fired the fateful shot is still open to much debate and will likely never be resolved. Richthofen was buried in Amiens, France with full military honors by members of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . In 1975, his remains were moved to a family cemetery plot in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Richthofen photo by C.J. Dühren, Dr.1 photo by J. Klank via !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

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Short Take Off

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April 20, 1978 – Korean Air Lines Flight 902 is shot down by Russian fighters. The downing of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1983 is much more memorable, but it was not the first Korean airliner shot down by Russian fighters. On a flight from Paris to Anchorage, Alaska, the crew of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (HL7429) made an error in calculating !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! as they neared the North Pole and turned back towards Russia. Russian fighter pilots initially identified the flight as a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! reconnaissance plane, but the pilots then realized it was a civilian airliner. The Russians claimed that the crew ignored attempts at communication, and the order was given to shoot the plane down. One missile struck the airliner’s wing, and the pilots made a crash landing on a frozen lake near the Finnish border. Two passengers died, and the remaining passengers and crew were detained for two days before their release. The Russian government billed South Korea $100,000 for expenses related to the care of the passengers. (Photo via !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

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April 20, 1964 – The first flight of the Lockheed L-100 Hercules, the civilian variant of the famous military cargo aircraft. The idea of a civilian Hercules began in 1959 with an order from Pan Am for twelve of Lockheed’s planned GL-207 Super Hercules, but that project was eventually canceled. Instead, Lockheed chose to develop a variant of the C-130E, producing it in three lengths designated L-100, L-100-20 and L-100-30. A total of 114 of all types were completed by 1992 when production ended. Lockheed has announced plans to further upgrade the L-100 by using the modernized C-130J Super Hercules to produce the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , with its first flight expected in early 2017. (Photo by Bob Garrard via !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

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April 20, 1916 – The Lafayette Escadrille, a squadron of American fighter pilots flying for France in WWI, is deployed. Prior to America’s entry into WWI, US pilots went to Europe to fight for the Allies. Named in honor of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , who fought for the United States in the Revolutionary War, the group was originally called the Escadrille Américaine, and wore French uniforms and had French commanders. With so many Americans arriving in France to fight, a larger group was formed, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and the Lafayette Escadrille was officially disbanded on February 8, 1918. Some of its members transferred to American air units, while others trained incoming US pilots. (Photo author unknown)

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April 21, 1964 – The first flight of the HFB-320 Hansa Jet, a ten-seat business jet manufactured by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that is notable for its use of a forward-swept wing. This arrangement allows the wing spar to pass through the fuselage behind the passenger compartment, providing more internal space for passengers or cargo. It is the only example of a civilian aircraft to use such a wing configuration. Only 47 were built before production ceased in 1973, with almost half of the aircraft being purchased and operated by the German Air Force. (Photo via !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

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April 21, 1956 – The first flight of the Douglas F5D Skylancer, a fighter designed for the US Navy originally conceived as an upgrade to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . While beginning simply as an upgrade to the Skyray, the Skylancer soon became different enough to warrant its own designation. Aside from its larger size and more powerful engine, the F5D had numerous aerodynamic enhancements to increase its speed, including application of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Possibly due to political pressure, the Skylancer was canceled in favor of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! after only four were built, with the completed aircraft being used for testing by the Air Force and NASA. (NASA photo)

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April 21, 1933 – The first flight of the USS Macon (ZRS-5), a rigid airship operated by the US Navy that served as a reconnaissance platform and flying aircraft carrier. The Macon and her sister ship !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (ZRS-4) were the largest helium-filled airships in the world, and both could launch and recover five !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! scout planes or two-seat !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! training aircraft. The Macon served for only two years before she was damaged in a storm and crashed of the California coast, resulting in the loss of two members of her 76-man crew. (US Navy photo)

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April 22, 2016 – The first flight of the Mitsubishi X-2 Shinshin, an experimental aircraft to test and develop stealth fighter technologies and the first stealth aircraft to be develop by Japan. Following the US ban on exports of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , Japan was forced to develop their own 5th generation fighter. The X-2 is similar in design to its American counterpart, and features !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for enhanced maneuverability and a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! flight control system. It will also feature “Self Repairing Flight Control Capability” in which the aircraft detects damage to flight surfaces and alters the computer flight assist parameters to calibrate flight. The Japanese government has not announced plans for procurement. (Japan Ministry of Defense photo)

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April 22, 1965 – The first flight of the Transavia PL-12 Airtruk, an agricultural aircraft that was developed from the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The Airtruk’s main duty is to provide !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of farm fields, but it has also been converted for use as a cargo aircraft, aerial ambulance, or passenger aircraft, with pilot and one passenger above and four passengers below. The Airtruk is powered by a single six- or eight-cyinder engine, and has the capacity for up to one metric ton of cargo. Transavia built 118 Airtruks between 1966-1993, though only a small handful remain airworthy today. (Photo by RuthAS via !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

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Recent Aviation History Posts

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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!!! .

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MonkeePuzzle > ttyymmnn 04/22/2016 at 12:51

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The Russian government billed South Korea $100,000 for expenses related to the care of the passengers

the balls on that nation!

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > MonkeePuzzle 04/22/2016 at 12:53

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Also, $100,000 to take care of all the passengers? I don’t think so... I would say that they weren’t taken very good care of.

But then this is Russia and that goes without saying.

MonkeePuzzle > ttyymmnn 04/22/2016 at 12:54

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allows the wing spar to pass through the fuselage behind the passenger compartment,

that’s some very smart thinking. obviously as it isnt a standard, one has to assume the forward swept wing performs poorly

MonkeePuzzle > ttyymmnn 04/22/2016 at 12:55

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I appreciate all the extra links in the articles, off to wikipedialand I go for some time now :)

MonkeePuzzle > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 04/22/2016 at 12:57

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right, I have some strong doubts that feeding passengers gruel for a 2 days cost $100k

Cé hé sin > ttyymmnn 04/22/2016 at 13:01

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er....that German guy was the Baron von Richthofen with a second H.

The current Baron (Freiherr auf deutsch) was the German ambassador to the UK in the 1990s. Technically he’s not a Baron as Germany has abolished titles, not that anybody pays the slightest attention to the ban.

ttyymmnn > Cé hé sin 04/22/2016 at 14:14

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At least I was consistent. Thanks for pointing that out.

ttyymmnn > MonkeePuzzle 04/22/2016 at 14:19

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JayhawkJake, one of Oppo’s resident aero engineers, did an article on the HansaJet a while ago. Wow, it’s almost three years ago!

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/jayhawk-jakes-…

user314 > ttyymmnn 04/22/2016 at 14:27

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Love the Airtruk! It’s such a quirky little plane, but it’s so well engineered for what it does.

MonkeePuzzle > ttyymmnn 04/22/2016 at 14:48

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aww, jayhawkjake, done think I’ve seen him around these parts in sometime, he used to contribute some fine aeronautical content

ttyymmnn > MonkeePuzzle 04/22/2016 at 15:00

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He did. But he’s been pretty busy of late. It looks like he’s got J alopnikesque blog project going as well. He posted something yesterday.

ttyymmnn > user314 04/22/2016 at 15:02

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An Airtruk made an appearance in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome , an otherwise forgettable movie. With the actual plane looking like it was bolted together with afterthought parts of other planes (which it was), it was perfect for the role.