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On This Day: April 18

Aviation events for April 18

1916: The first all-American air squadron in Europe is formed at the French spa town of Luxevil-les-Bains. Nieuport Squadron Nº 124, unofficially know as the "Escadrille Américaine" [American Squadron], is composed of volunteers who will be under the command of a French captain, Georges Thénault.
 
1917: William E. Boeing’s Pacific Aero Products Company is renamed the “Boeing Airplane Company.”
 
1942: Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle leads the first US attack on the Japanese mainland, leading a force of sixteen B-25 Mitchells flying from the USS Hornet against targets in and around Tokyo in what comes to be known as the "Doolittle Raid".
 
1943: Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when T1-323, his Mitsubishi G4M, is ambushed by USAAF P-38 Lightnings over Bougainville.
 
1950: First flight of the Convair XP5Y-1 BuNo 121455 - first turboprop-powered flying boat to fly.
 
1952: The biggest jet bomber ever built, the Convair YB-60, makes a successful first flight at Carswell Air Force Base at Fort Worth, Texas.
 
1955: Albert Einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
 
1958: US Navy Lieutenant-Commander George Watkins flies from Edwards Air Base in California to a world record absolute altitude within the atmosphere of 76,932 feet in a Grumman F11F-1 Tiger.
 
1967: Aeroflot and Japan Air Lines jointly inaugurate a Moscow-Tokyo service.
 
1977: The Vickers Viscount becomes the first turboprop airliner to see 25 years in service.
 
1980: Air Zimbabwe is formed.
 
1986: Marcel Bloch, 94, dies. Under his professional name of Marcel Dassault he was the most famous of France’s airplane designers.
 
1988: The U.S. Navy conducts Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian forces and facilities in the Persian Gulf. A-6E Intruders from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) sink a speedboat, assist surface ships in sinking the frigate Sahand, and cripple the frigate Sabalan. Two Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force F-4 Phantom fighters approach the guided-missile cruiser USS Wainwright (CG-28), which damages one of them with a surface-to-air missile.
 
 
 

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