Model Aircrafts and Ships

January 25 1990 – Avianca Flight 52 crashes, killing 73 passengers.

The Avianca Flight 52 was a regularly scheduled flight from Bogotá to New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport.

Boeing 707-320: Pan Am

On the 25^th of January 1990, the aircraft performing the Avianca Flight 52 was a Boeing 707-321B and it was registered as HK-2016, crashed in Cove Neck in New York. The cause of the crashed was fuel starvation and pilot error. This results to the killings of 73 passengers and crew on board, and injured 85 others.

Douglas DC-3 Crashed

January 25 2001 - A 50-year-old Douglas DC-3 crashes near Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela killing 24.

Douglas DC-3: United Airlines

The Douglas DC-3 was an airliner and transport aircraft. It was generally regarded as one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made due to its lasting impact on the airline industry and during the Second World War.

On the 25^th of January 2001, Rutaca Flight 224 crashed near the Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela. The aircraft performing this flight was the Douglas DC-3 and it has 24 people on board and that includes the 20 European tourists. There was no survivors on the said crashed. And the identities and nationalities of the passengers weren’t immediately known together with the cause of the crash.

January 24 1888 – a German aircraft designer and manufacturer Ernst Heinkel was born.

Ernst Heinkel was born in Grunbach, Germany on the 24^th of January 1988. He started as an apprentice machinist at a foundry. He became interested with aviation through his fascination with zeppelins, a type of rigid airships.

In 1909, he attended an international airshow in Frankfurt am Main. In 1910, he built his first aircraft but unfortunately it crashed and burned. Still he did not loose confidence but rather he continue his work and then he became chief designer for the Albatros Aircraft Company located in Berlin just before the beginning of the First World War.

In Albatros, he designed the Albatros B-II. It was an unarmed reconnaissance biplane during the First World War. He left the Albatros and he designed several seaplanes for Hansa-Brandenburg Company in 1914. Later he was appointed as head designer in a re-established Caspar-Werke but left due to a dispute on ownership of a design.

In 1922, Heinkel established the Heinkel-Flugzeugwerke company. He looked for overseas contracts and so some of his seaplane designs are being licence-built in Sweden.

Heinkel He 111

Adolf Hitler came to power and the designs of Heinkel’s firm formed a vital part of the Luftwaffe’s growing strength that leads up to the Second World War. The design includes Heinkel He 59, a trainer, transport, ambulance, torpedo bomber type of aircraft; Heinkel He 115, a three seats torpedo bomber aircraft; and the Heinkel He 111, medium bomber and perhaps the most famous symbol of the German side of the Battle of Britain.

On the 30^th of January 1958, Ernst Heinkel died in Stuttgart, Germany.

January 22 1992 – Space Shuttle program: STS-42 Mission - Dr. Roberta Bondar becomes the first Canadian woman in space.

Mission STS-42 Insignia

The Space Shuttle mission STS-42 was a flight of Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off an hour late of the schedule due to weather constraints on the 22^nd of January 1992. The STS-42 main mission was to study the effects of microgravity on a variety of organisms. The duration of the mission was 8 days, 1 hour, 14 minutes, and 44 seconds.

The STS-42 crew includes West Germany’s first astronaut, Ulf Merbold; and Canada’s first woman astronaut, Roberta Bondar. The mission of the STS-42 required the around-the-clock monitoring experiments and so they are divided into a red and a blue team.

Blue Team

Ronald J. Grabe – Commander

Stephen S. Oswald – Pilot

Norman E. Thagard – Mission Specialist 1

Roberta L. Bondar – Payload Specialist 1

Red Team

David C. Hilmers – Mission Specialist 2

William F. Readdy – Mission Specialist 3

Ulf Merbold – Payload Specialist 2

Space Shuttle Discovery

The STS-42 was a flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery and the first of two flights of it. The Space Shuttle Discovery has an Orbiter Vehicle Designation of OV-103. It was one of the three currently operational spacecraft in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA. It was the third operational orbiter and the oldest orbiter in the service. It performed research and International Space Station (ISS) assembly missions.

January 22 1973 - A chartered Boeing 707 exploded in flames upon landing at Kano Airport, Nigeria killing 176.

Boeing 707 (Pan American World Airways)

The Boeing 707 was a four-engine commercial passenger jet airliner. It dominated passenger air transport in 1960s. It was based on an aircraft known as 367-80. It was called the Dash 80 within Boeing.

On the 22^nd of January 1973, the Boeing 707 encountered an accident. The Boeing 707 operated by Royal Jordanian Airlines had been chartered by Nigeria Airways to fly pilgrims back to Jeddah to Lagos. Due to bad weather at Lagos, the crew was forced to divert to Kano Airport, Nigeria. Unfortunately, the right main gear leg collapsed after touchdown as it hit a depression in the runway. It turned 180 degrees and skidded off the side of the runway, caught fire, and exploded. This accident result to the killing of 176 people onboard.

Commercial Service of Concorde

January 21 1976 - Commercial service of Concorde begins with London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes.

Concorde: British Airways

The Concorde was a supersonic airliner type of aircraft. It was the more successful of the only two supersonic passenger airliners that operated commercially. Its primary users are the British Airways, the largest airline and flag carrier of the United Kingdom; and the Air France, one of the largest airlines in the world.

Concorde: Air France

Its maiden flight was on the 2^nd of March 1969 and it was piloted by Andre Turcat. It was introduced commercially on the 21^st of January 1976. It flew regular transatlantic flights from London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle to New York JFK and Washington Dulles.

Concorde set many other records but as a result of the type’s only crash on the 25^th of July 2000, world economic effects arising from the 9/11 attacks, its operations has been ceased. And on the 26^th of November 2003, its last flight occurred.

USS Nautilus (SSN-571) Launched

The USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was the first operational nuclear-powered submarine in the world. It was also the first vessel to complete a submerged transit across the North Pole.

The Congress of the United States authorized the construction of a nuclear-powered submarine for the US Navy in July 1951. And on the 12^th of December 1951 the name of the submarine was announced by the US Department of Navy as the Nautilus and it will carry the hull number SSN-571.

On the 21^st of January 1954, it was christened and launched into the Thames River in Connecticut. It was sponsored by Mamie Eisenhower, wife of the former General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

January 18 1969 – United Airlines Flight 266 crashes into Santa Monica Bay resulting in the loss of all 32 passengers and six crew members.

The Flight 266 was scheduled to flight from Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California to General Mitchell International Airport, Milwaukee, Wisconsin via Stapleton International Airport, Denver Colorado. It has a total of 38 people on board as they are 32 passengers and 6 crews.

Approximately four minutes after takeoff, 11.5 west of LAX, it crashed into Santa Monica Bay, Pacific Ocean. The incident caused to the loss of the 38 people on board, all the passengers and crews. The incident was due to mechanical failure when two minutes into its flight, a fire warning in no.1 engine was reported by the pilot and shut it down. It departed with inoperable generators and afterwards the remaining generator overloaded and also shut down that result to the loss of electrical power.

United Airlines Aircraft: Douglas DC-3

During that time battery powered back up source was not required on commercial aircraft but because of the accident the Federal Aviation Administration require all transport category aircraft to have backup instrumentation installed and powered by independent source of the generators.

Other Events of January 18

1919 – World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France.

World War I Aircraft: Nieuport 17 (Allied)

The Paris Peace Conference was a conference organized by the victors of the First World War to negotiate the peace treaties between the Allied and Associated Powers and the defeated Central Powers.

It was opened in the Palace of Versailles in France on the 18^th of January 1919 and it was attended by participants from 25 nations.

T-38 Talon: replaced after the infamous incident Diamond Crash that killed four members of the team’s six demonstration pilots.

1982 - U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds: "Diamond Crash" kills four team members.

Martin 4-0-4: Eastern had the largest fleet with 60 type in operation

1991 - Eastern Air Lines goes out of business after 62 years, citing financial problems.

Palomares Hydrogen Bombs Incident

January 17 1966 – A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping four 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea in the Palomares hydrogen bombs incident.The B-52G Bomber of the US Air Force Strategic Air Command runs into a KC-135 Stratotanker during mid-air refueling over the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Spain.

Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm

“The great duel, the mother of all battles has begun. The dawn of victory nears as this great showdown begins.”- Saddam Hussein

January 17 1991 – Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning. Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.

The massive air campaign codenamed Operation Desert Storm was launched by the coalition the day after the deadline set in Resolution. It began when eight (8) United States AH-64 Apache helicopter and two (2) MH-53 Pave Low helicopters destroyed Iraqi radar sites near the Iraqi-Saudi Arabian border.