SEP15

1916 - 1st submarine to be sunk by an aircraft if the french 'Foucault' near Cattaro, italy by 2 austrian Lohner Flying boats. The Flying Boats landed on the surface of the water taxied over to where the Crew of the Submarine were floating in the water, and the sailors were allowed to cling to the hulls and the floats of the flying boats, until an Austrian Torpedo Boat arrived to pick them up, not a single life had been lost.

http://14-18-marine-livredor.wifeo.com/perte-du-sous-marin-foucault.php

1917 - Death of Kurt Wolff, Imperial Germany's WWI fighter ace, shot down in his Fokker Triplane prototype by british flying ace Norman Miers MacGregor, 1st Fokker DR.I downed in WWI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Wolff_(aviator)#Final_fight - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/wolff2.php

1917 - Death of Arthur Rex Hurden Noss, British WWI flying ace (as observer-gunner), from injuries after a flying accident.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Noss - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/england/noss.php

1918 - Birth of Phillip 'Phil' John Lamason, RNZAF WWII bomber pilot who rose to prominence as the senior officer in charge of 168 Allied airmen taken to Buchenwald concentration camp, Germany.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Lamason

1918 - British WWI fighter ace Owen Morgan Baldwin scores 5 victories on that single day with his Sopwith Camel.

http://theaerodrome.com/aces/england/baldwin.php

1926 - Death of Georg Meyer, German WWI fighter ace.

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/meyer2.php

1927 - Birth of Rudolf Anderson, Jr., USAF pilot and officer and 1st recipient of the Air Force Cross.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Anderson

1929 - 1st flight of the Junkers A 48, German two seat single engined trainer monoplane.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_A_48

1935 - Alexander de Seversky, with a Wright Cyclone powered SEV-3 amphibian monoplane, set a record of 230 mph (370.8 km/h)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_P._de_Seversky#Seversky_Aircraft_Corporation - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seversky_SEV-3

1938 - Death of Kiyoto Koga, Sino Japanese war flying ace, killed in the crash of his Yokosuka during a night training flight.

http://www.cieldegloire.fr/010_koga_k.php

1938 - Air Training Command of the RCAF is formed, with headquarters at Toronto, Ontario.

http://canadianaviationhistory.pbworks.com/w/page/13801125/On%20this%20day%20in%20Canadian%20Aviation%20History%20September

1939 - Death of Kenji Shimada and Bunji Yoshiyama, 2nd sino-japanese war japanese fighter aces, disappearing with their Ki-27s while chasing I-16s.

http://www.cieldegloire.com/010_shimada_k.php - http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunji_Yoshiyama

1939 - Jacqueline Cochran set an international record for 1,000 kilometers of 305.9 mph with a Seversky Sev-S2 Monoplane.

http://fandavion.free.fr/Cochran%20Jacqueline.htm

1940 - During the Battle of Britain day (Largest and most concentrated attack against London in the hope of drawing out the RAF into a battle of annihilation), Raymond Towers "Ray" Holmes of No. 504 Squadron RAF rammed with his Hawker Hurricane a German bomber he believed was going to bomb the Palace. Holmes had run out of ammunition and made the quick choice to ram it. Holmes bailed out. Both aircraft crashed. In fact the Dornier Do 17 bomber was empty. It had already been damaged, two of its crew had been killed and the remainder bailed out. Its pilot, Feldwebel Robert Zehbe, landed only to die later of wounds suffered during the attack. During the Dornier's descent, it somehow unloaded its bombs, one of which hit the Palace. It then crashed into the forecourt of London Victoria station.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckingham_Palace#Modern_history

1940 - 1st flight of The Miles M.20 , British WWII fighter prototype designed as a simple and quick-to-build 'emergency fighter' alternative to the RAF's Spitfires and Hurricanes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_M.20

1941 - Birth of Miroslaw Hermaszewski, Polish Air Force pilot, cosmonaut and 1st Pole in space.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miros%C5%82aw_Hermaszewski

1942 – US Navy aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7) is torpedoed at Guadalcanal by Japanese submarine I-19.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Wasp_(CV-7)#Loss

1942 – German Luftwaffe fighter ace Hans-Joachim Marseille shoots down 7 British Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk fighters on a single mission over North Africa. Among them is his 150th aerial victory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Joachim_Marseille#Victory_claims_and_notable_actions

1942 – The USAAF Air Transport Command establishes the 319th Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD), a 2nd organization of civilian women ferry pilots and rival of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) established five days earlier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_Flying_Training_Detachment

1944 - During operation Paravan, a "Tall Boy" 12,000 lb (5,455 kg) bomb launched by a RAF 617 squadron Lancaster, hit near the bow of the Tirpitz and caused considerable damage. The shock-wave from the hit damaged the battleship's engines, the Germans converted the ship for use as a semi-static heavy artillery battery

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paravane

1948 – A North American F-86A-3 Sabre with Maj. Richard L. Johnson, USAF, sets the world aircraft speed record at 671 miles per hour (1,080 km/h).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_airspeed_record

1952 - 1st flight of the 2nd prototype Breguet Br 960-02 'Vulture' (or Br 965), French prototype mixed power carrier-based attack aircraft.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breguet_Br.960_Vultur - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9295

1954 - Death of Raimund Nimführ, Austrian aviation pioneer

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raimund_Nimf%C3%BChr

1959 - 1st flight of the Lockheed AL.60 'Conestoga', four to six-seat light utility transport aircraft, only American-built prototype, which will be developped and produced by Aermacchi (LASA-60, AL-60).

http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/lok_al-60.php - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aermacchi_AL-60

1960 - Tasman Empire Airways retires its last flying boat from service.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/September_in_aviation/September_15

1966 - Death of Reinhold Platz, German aircraft designer and manufacturer in service of the Dutch company Fokker.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhold_Platz

1966 - Gemini 11, Nasa Spacecraft, is back on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_11

1968 - Launch of Zond 5, Soviet unmanned version of Soyuz 7K-L1 manned moon-flyby spacecraft, launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik (68-076B) in Earth parking orbit to make scientific studies during a lunar flyby and to return to Earth with a biological payload of two russian tortoises, wine flies, meal worms, plants, seeds, bacteria, and other living matter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zond_5

1969 - 1st flight of The Cessna FanJet500 (renamed later as Cessna Citation I), American turbofan-powered small-sized business jet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_Citation_I

1971 - Death of Frederick Elliott Brown, Canadian WWI flying ace and RCAF WWII flying instructor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Elliott_Brown - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/brown5.php

1974 – Air Vietnam flight 706 Boeing 727-121C is hijacked, and crashed while attempting to land, killing all 75 on board. it has been speculated that the hijacker caused the crash by setting off his grenades after the pilots refused to give in to his demands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Vietnam_Flight_706

1975 - Death of Pavel Osipovich Sukhoi, Soviet aerospace engineer who designed the Sukhoi military aircraft and founded the Sukhoi Design Bureau.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Sukhoi

1975 - Death of Franco 'Robur' Bordoni-Bisleri, Italian WWII fighter ace and racing car driver, in the crash of his SIAI Marchetti F.260 while flying in a heavy storm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco_Bordoni

1976 - Launch of Soyuz 22, Soviet manned spaceflight, earth-sciences mission using a modified Soyuz spacecraft. Some observers speculated that is was also a mission to observe NATO exercises near Norway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_22

1977 - Death of Ronald Sykes, British WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Sykes - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/sykes.php

1978 - Death of Wilhelm Emil "Willy" Messerschmitt, German aircraft designer and manufacturer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Messerschmitt

1979 - Death of John Arthur Macready, American test pilot and aviator. He was the only three-time recipient of the Mackay Trophy, receiving the trophy three consecutive years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Macready

1987 - A Eurocopter Panther sets new time-to-altitude records for helicopters in its class

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/September_in_aviation/September_15

1988 - Ethiopian Airlines Flight 604 Boeing 737-260 caught fire during a belly landing at Bahir Dar Airport, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, killing 35 over 104.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Airlines_Flight_604

1991 - 1st flight of The Boeing (formerly McDonnell Douglas) C-17 Globemaster III, US large military transport aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_C-17_Globemaster_III

1997 - 1st of World Air Games organized by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (World Air Sports Federation - FAI) and the 10th FAI World Rally Flying Championship, begins in Selçuk, Turkey.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_World_Air_Games - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_FAI_World_Rally_Flying_Championship

2007 - An Eurocopter AS350 crashed 1 mile north of Lanark, Scotland, killing its pilot, Colin Steele McRae, famous Scottish rally driver.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_McRae#Death

2010 - Test pilot Kevin Bredenbeck achieved Sikorsky's design goal for the X2 prototype when he flew it at a speed of 250 knots (290 mph; 460 km/h) in level flight, an unofficial speed record for a helicopter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_X2