1903 (THURSDAY)
UNITED STATES: Orville and Wilbur Wright pilot a powered heavier-than-air aircraft for the first time at Kill Devil Hill, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Controlling the aircraft for pitch, yaw, and roll, Orville completes the first of four flights, soaring 120 feet (37 meters) in 12 seconds or 6.8 miles per hour (10,9 kilometers per hour). Wilbur completes the longest flight of the day: 852 feet (260 meters) in 59 seconds or 9.8 miles per hour (15,8 kilometers per hour). The brothers launch the airplane from a monorail track against a wind blowing slightly more than 20 miles per hour (32 kilometers per hour).
1925 (MONDAY)
UNITED STATES: After a seven-week trial, the Army convicts Colonel William "Billy" Mitchell of violating the 96th article of war by having made "insubordinate" statements. When the Navy rigid airship USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) crashed in a storm on 3 September 1925 killing 14 of the crew, Mitchell issued his famous statement accusing senior leaders in the Army and Navy of incompetence and "almost treasonable administration of the national defense" leading to his court martial. Sentenced to five years’ suspension of rank, pay, and command, he resigned from the Army shortly thereafter. Mitchell died of a variety of ailments including a bad heart and influenza in a hospital in New York City on 19 February 1936 at age 57. In 1946, President Harry S. Truman posthumously bestowed a special medal on Mitchell in recognition of his foresight in aviation and in 1955, the U.S. Air Force voided Mitchell's court martial. In 1957, his son petitioned to have the court martial verdict set aside , which the Air Force denied while expressing regret about the circumstances under which Mitchell's military career ended.
1935 (SATURDAY)
UNITED STATES: The Douglas DST-114 (msn 1494, civil registration NX14988) makes its first flight at Clover Field, Santa Monica, California. The DST (Douglas Sleeper Transport), the first version of the famed Douglas Commercial Model 3 (DC-3), is a stretched and widened Douglas Commercial Model 2 (DC-2). The aircraft has fourteen 36-inch (91,4 centimeter) wide double seats which can be converted to seven lower berths and seven 30-inch (76,2 centimeter) upper berths which fold up into the ceiling when not in use. The aircraft can accommodate 14 passengers in a sleeper configuration and 28 passengers during the day. The most significant identifying feature of the DST is the four small upper windows on each side of the fuselage above the first, third, fifth and seventh main windows.
1938 (SATURDAY)
ITALY: The Government sends a diplomatic note to the French indicating that the Franco-Italian Agreement of 7 January 1935 is invalid because the two states had not exchanged ratifications. The French government rejects this position. In this treaty, Italy agrees to support French opposition to German rearmament in exchange for French concessions in Africa. It is signed before Italy invaded Ethiopia on 3 October 1935.
December 17th, 1939 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The admiralty announces that 61 men of HMS Exeter's crew died during the Battle of the River Plate.The first Canadian troops to reach Britain, 7,400 men of the First Division, landed at Liverpool. Three months ago Canada was a country with a permanent army of 4,500 men, five mortars and 16 tanks. The Canadians are under the command of Major-General McNaughton and they arrived in five liners. Officers slept in suites and men in first class cabins.
Five ocean liners carrying 7,450 men of the 1st Canadian Division under the command of Major General Andrew McNaughton, arrives at Liverpool. Officers slept in suites and men in first class cabins. Unknown to them, they had narrowly escaped what could have been a major sea disaster. The passenger liner SS Samaria, showing no lights, had passed right through the convoy unaware of the its position! It struck the radio antenna of the escorting aircraft carrier HMS Furious (47) on her port side, struck a glancing blow on the port side of the next ship astern, the liner SS Aquitania, then passed close down the starboard side of the third and fourth ships sailing in line ahead. If the SS Samaria had collided head on with HMS Furious, the ships following would have all crashed into her. Three months ago Canada was a country with a permanent army of 4,500 men, five mortars and 16 tanks..
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan agreement is signed today by the governments of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with flight schools to initially be in Canada under the supervision of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The Avro Anson is the first training type to be chosen. This CDN$1.281 billion (CDN$17.88 billion in year 2005 dollars) program to train pilots, navigators, wireless operators and gunners from the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Instructors from the Royal Canadian Air Force working at 107 schools and 184 ancillary units across Canada, will eventually train 130,000 Allied aircrew.
RAF Fighter Command: Two enemy aircraft attacked off the east coast. A small British motor vessel was sunk; damage and casualties in fishing trawlers. Aircraft driven off.
RAF Bomber Command: 'Security Patrols' - Hornum - Borkum. 10 Sqn. Six aircraft. Flares dropped over Borkum. Searchlights very active, but Flak light. Two enemy aircraft seen but did not attack.
FRANCE: Western Front: An increase in German reconnaissance flights is reported.
GERMANY: The German Propaganda Minister, Dr. Josef Goebbels">Göbbels, describes the arrival of Australian destroyers at Malta as a “consignment of junk” and Australia’s “Scrap Iron Flotilla.”
FINLAND: The army claims that it has smashed two Russian divisions, taken 36,000 men prisoner and has a further 20,000 surrounded.
U.S.S.R.: Soviet submarine SC-406 launched.
GIBRALTAR: U.S. freighters SS Meanticut and SS Excalibur are detained by British authorities.
PARAGUAY: Montevideo: As Allied Hunting Groups converge on the River Plate, Capt. Langsdorff takes the Graf Spee out into the estuary. Unable to complete repairs of the Graf Spee within the allotted time of 72 hours, unable to dash across the harbour to Argentina, under strict orders by OKM not to go into internment in Uruguay, and wishing to avoid being taken by the British ships waiting and arriving in the region, Kpt.z.S. Langsdorff ordered his ship outside the harbour of Montevideo and to prepare to be scuttled.
Only HMS Cumberland has actually arrived by this time, but British propaganda on the BBC gave the impression that the most powerful ships in the fleet, including an aircraft carrier, were bearing down on the Plate. Langsdorff had asked for instructions and Hitler himself had said that he had only two, scuttle or fight it out on the open sea. Just before the three mile limit the ship stopped and the crew took to the lifeboats and transferred to the German merchant ship Tacoma, and later to various Argentine tugs - all of which were soon after interned by Uruguayan authorities. The crew was under orders not to be interned in Uruguay, so with the permission of the Uruguayan authorities, they were transferred to Argentina, which was not under British influence and pressure as was Uruguay, and they spent the rest of the war there. Minutes later, just after sunset (1952 hours), came a series of shattering explosions and flames as the Graf Spee is blown up by a series of charges. The ship settled on the river bed, her upper decks above the water and still burning. (Navynews)
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-59 sank SS Bogö and Jaegersborg.