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On This Day: February 21

Aviation events for February 21

1911: A new 1910 Wright Type B Flyer owned by Collier’s magazine publisher Robert F. Collier, arrives at San Antonio, Texas on rent to the U.S. Army for $1.00 per month to supplement the aging Wright biplane first accepted on August 2, 1909.
 
1919: The prototype of the first US-designed fighter to enter large-scale production, the Thomas-Morse MB-3 (to be made by Boeing), makes its maiden flight.
 
1951: An English Electric Canberra becomes the first jet to make a crossing of the Atlantic without refueling, taking 4 hours 37 minutes.
 
1964: A Philippine Airlines Douglas DC-3 crashes on approach to Marawi City. The accident is blamed on pilot error.
 
1969: 1st launching of heavy N-1 rocket at Baikonur Kazachstan (explodes).
 
1970: Swissair Flight 330, a Convair CV-990 Coronado (HB-ICD) crashes when a bomb explodes nine minutes after departure from Zurich. The attempt to return the damaged aircraft to the airfield fails, and all 47 on-board are killed when the plane crashes into a wooded area.
 
1971: All Nippon Airways operates their first international flight, a 727 charter from Tokyo to Hong Kong.
 
1972: Luna 20 - USSR Lunar Lander launched. Landed on the moon and returned samples to the Earth. Landed on February 21, 1972 at Apollonius highlands located at latitude 3°32' N and longitude 56°33' E. 30 grams of lunar samples were returned to the Earth.
 
1973: Libyan Airlines Flight 114 is shot down over the Sinai Peninsula by an Israeli Air Force F-4 Phantom IIs after an airspace violation. The Boeing 727-224 (5A-DAH) became lost and ended up in the area that was occupied by Israeli during the Six-Day War. The intention of the 20mm cannon fire was to cripple the aircraft, and the emergency landing resulted in the deaths of 108 of the 113 on-board.
 
1979: Former astronaut Neil Armstrong climbs to 50,000 feet in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in just over 12 minutes in a Gates Learjet Longhorn 28, breaking five world records for business jets.
 
1979: Japan launches Hakucho x-ray satellite and Corsa-B (550/580 km).
 
1981: NASA launches Comstar D-4.
 
1981: Japan launches Hinotori satellite to study solar flares (580/640 k).
 
1984: Racing driver Henri Pescarolo and Air France pilot Patrick Fourticq land their Piper Malibu in Paris after a flight from New York, setting a speed record of 14 hours 2 minutes for a single-engined lift aircraft across the North Atlantic.
 
1996: Soyuz TM-23, launched into orbit.
 
2007: Adam Air Flight 172, a Boeing 737-300 (PK-KKV), experiences a hard landing that results in a bent and cracked fuselage in Surabaya, Indonesia. This led to the grounding of all Adam Air 737s, especially after the fatal crash of Flight 574 the previous month. All aboard survived with minor injuries.
 
2008: Continental adds 27 aircraft to its firm order positions at Boeing, including eight new 777s and 19 new 737NGs
 
2008: Santa Barbara Airlines Flight 518 crashes into the side of a mountain just after takeoff on a flight from Merida, Venezuela to Caracas. The ATR-42’s navigational equipment was failing when the aircraft crashed, killing all 46 aboard.
 
 
 

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