April 26

• 2012 – A Kamov Ka-26 helicopter crashes in Tulcea County, Romania, killing all five Ukrainians on board.^[1]

• 2009 – Douglas DC-3 C N136FS of Four Star Air Cargo is destroyed by fire at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, Puerto Rico.

• 2009 – The third flying prototype of the Sukhoi Su-35, 04 (?), is destroyed during a high-speed taxi test just before its first flight at Komsomolsk-na-Amur/Dzemgi Airfield. Aircraft apparently ran off end of runway, hits obstacle, burns, destroying it. Test pilot Eugene Frolov ejects safely and is unhurt. This was actually the fourth prototype, but 03 is purely for ground testing.

• 2004 – OH-58D(I) Kiowa 91-0567 from P Troop, 4th Squadron, 2d ACR made emergency landing at Kut after engine problem and burned out. Both crewmembers safe.

• 2002 – First flight of the Extra EA-500

• 2001 – Pilot Sean Loutitt lands in Chile after a daring two-day flight to the South Pole in a Twin Otter to rescue an ailing U. S. scientist. It was the first rescue of its kind in the harsh Antarctic winter.

• 1995 – A Mikoyan MiG-29 sets a new FAI class C-1 h world altitude record of 90,092 ft.

• 1994 – China Airlines Flight 140, an Airbus A300, crashes while landing at Nagoya, Japan as a result of pilot error. 264 people of the 271 on board died.

• 1993 – Indian Airlines Flight 491, a Boeing 737, strikes a large vehicle on a road just outside Aurangabad airport and crashes subsequently, killing 55 of the 118 people on board.

• 1993 – Launch: Space Shuttle Columbia STS-55 at 10:50 am EDT. Mission highlights: Spacelab-D2, Germany funded mission.

• 1987 – The first full-scale prototype of Saab’s hi-tech JAS 39 Gripen fighter is unveiled in Sweden.

• 1984 – United States Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert M. Bond (1929–1984), Vice Commander of Air Force Systems Command, is killed in a high-speed ejection from a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 of the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron, out of Groom Lake, Nevada at 1018 hrs., which was initially reported to be an F-117A Stealth fighter. The MiG impacted on Little Skull Mountain on the remote Nellis AFB range in a high-speed 60-degree dive. Following this accident, officers of General rank were prohibited from test flying. The Air Force is also forced to admit that it is flying Soviet bloc aircraft.

• 1982 – A CAAC Trident 2E crashes into a mountain in Guilin, killing all 112 people on board. The Chinese media report that the plane, which had taken off in Guangzhou, crashed when the pilot attempted to fight off an armed hijacker.

• 1982 – SFC Clifford Wilson Strickland is picked up by an Lockheed MC-130 Combat Talon of the 7th Special Operations Squadron at CFB Lahr, Germany, during Flintlock 82 exercise, using the Fulton STARS recovery system, but falls to his death reportedly due to faulty equipment in 1400 hrs accident. This will be the last ever attempt to utilize the Skyhook system.

• 1978 – Possibly due to engine trouble, a United States Navy P-3 Orion patrol aircraft (BuNo 152724) of Patrol Squadron 23 (VP-23) crashes in the Atlantic Ocean near Naval Air Facility Lajes in Lajes in the Azores, killing the crew of seven.

• 1970 – Introduction: Lockheed L-1011 TriStar

• 1970 – First flight of the FMA IA 50 Guaraní II

• 1962 – First flight of the Lockheed A-12.

• 1954 – Northrop N-69 Snark, GM-11111, launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida, crashes 3,000 yards from launcher, just after the booster rockets separate, due to loss of electrical power.

• 1951 – First flight of the Lockheed X-7

• 1949 – Flying continuously in their Aeronca Chief light aircraft for 1,008 hours, and one minute (just over six weeks). Dick Reider and Bill Barris set a world endurance record for a flight-refueled aircraft in the U. S They received food and fuel handed up from a speeding vehicle four times a day.

• 1949 – First flight of the 2nd prototype McDonnell XF-88A Voodoo long-range, twin-engine jet fighter aircraft.

• 1945 – During a training exercise, a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress 43-38859 collided in mid-air with another B-17G 44-8687. #859 crash-landed and was repaired. #687 was destroyed, with only 2 crew escaping and surviving the incident.

• 1945 – (Overnight) – 563 bombers of the Soviet Air Force’s 18th Air Army strike Berlin.

• 1943 – The British employ Ground Grocer, the first device capable of jamming the airborne Lichtenstein radar employed by German night fighters. Ground-based, Ground Grocer’s range is limited by the curvature of the earth, placing most German night fighter operations below its coverage.

• 1943 – 3rd prototype of Bell P-63 Kingcobra, the XP-63A, makes its first Flight.

• 1942 – First flight of the North American XB-28

• 1937 – Luftwaffe bombers of Legion Condor attack Guernica

• 1937 – Four Heinkel He.111 and 23 Junkers Ju 52 bombers of the German Condor Legion attack Guernica, Spain, in the first example of “carpet bombing” to demoralize a civilian population. Over three hours, the bombers drop 45,000 kg (99,207 lbs) of bombs, destroying 70% of the city and killing at least 1,000, and perhaps as many as a third (over 1,600 people) of its inhabitants. Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Heinkel He 51 fighters also strafe the town to kill any inhabitants they see. The town burns for three days. The damage shocks Spanish Nationalist military leaders, and the Condor Legion engages in no further area bombing during the Spanish Civil War.

• 1924 – Imperial Airways makes its first scheduled flight, from Croydon Aerodrome to Paris, using a de Havilland DH.34.

• 1917 – The Pacific Aero Products Company is renamed the Boeing Airplane Company.

• 1915 – 2nd Lt William Rhodes-Moorhouse is the first airman to receive the Victoria Cross (posthumous).

• 1896 – Ernst Udet, WWI pilot and film actor, Luftwaffe officer, was born (d. 1941). Udet was the second-highest scoring German flying ace of World War I. He was one of the youngest aces and was the highest scoring German ace to survive the war (at the age of 22). His 62 victories were second only to Manfred von Richthofen, his commander in the Flying Circus.