FedEx Begins Flying Packages, Woman Pilot Circumnavigates Globe: April 17th in Aviation History
Tags: Apollo 13, Bleriot XI, FedEx, Howard Hughes, Jerrie Mock, Lockheed Constellation, N8FE, Sikorsky, Sikorsky CH-53D, TWA, Venezuelan Air Force, Western Air Express, Western Airlines
1970 – The crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft and its four astronauts return to earth safely after suffering an explosion enroute to the moon.
1970 – Sikorsky flies a CH-53D helicopter from London to Paris to demonstrate that modern helicopters can provide reliable inter-city services.
1964 – Jerrie Mock becomes the first female pilot to successfully circumnavigate the globe, landing her Cessna 280 in Columbus, Ohio, after 29 days of flying covering 22,860 miles.
1944 – Howard Hughes and TWA president Jack Frye fly a Lockheed Constellation from Burbank to Washington, DC, setting a transcontinental speed record of 6 hours 57 minutes.
1926 – Western Air Express begins operations with flights between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. They would later change their name to Western Airlines, flying until 1987 when they would merge with Delta Air Lines.
1920 – The Venezuelan Air Force is formed.
1913 – British aviation pioneer Gustav Hamel flies nonstop from Dover, England to Cologne, Germany in 4 hours 18 minutes aboard a Blériot XI.
