April 15 in aviation: the first regular service to Canada, the first flight of Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma.

On April 15, 1947, BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) launched the first regular service to Canada. It is a weekly flight operated by a Lockheed Super Constellation, from London to Montreal.

Other aviation events on April 15.

The first flight of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.

On April 15, 1952, the first flight of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress took place.

2 Boeing B-47 Stratojet bombers suffered a major accident.

On April 15, 1958, two Boeing B-47 Stratojet bombers of the Strategic Air Command suffered major accidents.

The first flight of Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma.

On April 15, 1965, the first flight of Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma took place. Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma is a transport / utility helicopter with two blades and two engines. The Puma was originally built by Sud Aviation in France and continued to be built by Aérospatiale. It was also built under license in Romania under the name of IAR 330. In South Africa, two unlicensed derivatives were produced, Denel Rooivalk and Atlas Oryx. Puma was a commercial success and was quickly developed into more advanced models, such as the AS332 Super Puma and AS532 Cougar, manufactured by Eurocopter in the early 1990s. These Puma descendants remain in production in the XNUMXst century.

Air China flight 129 crashed on a hill.

On April 15, 2002, Air China 129, a Boeing 767-200ER, crashed on a hill during an attempt to land in Busan, South Korea, in foggy conditions. Of the 155 passengers and 11 crew members on board the aircraft, only 38 survived.

Flight 122 Hewa Bora Airways crashed in a square near Goma.

On 15 April 2008, Flight 122 Hewa Bora Airways, a Douglas DC-9 plane, crashed in a market near Goma, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 40 people, including three passengers.