January 8 – At a substantial financial loss, sells its hub at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to USAir. The sale leaves Midway Airlines with only its original hub, at Chicago Midway International Airport in Chicago, Illinois.
Midway Airlines
January 9 – files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to increasing fuel costs.[1] It continues to fly, however, operating 80 daily flights by the summer of 1991[2]
L'Express Airlines
January 16 – is dissolved after 64 years of operation. Many of its remaining assets are parceled out to American and Continental Airlines.
Eastern Air Lines
January 17 – begins as U.S.-led forces attack Iraq in a massive air assault after a United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from occupied Kuwait passes unheeded. United States Air Force, United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, Royal Air Force, French Air Force, and other Coalition aircraft participate. The F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter makes its first successful combat sortie, destroying an Iraqi telecommunications facility.[3] U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers based at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, fly a non-stop 35-hour, 14,000-mile (23,000 km) round-trip mission to strike Iraqi targets, the longest combat mission in history up to that time, and employ the AGM-86 Air-Launched Cruise Missile in combat for the first time.[4] The Iraqi national integrated air defense system collapses within the first two hours after shooting down only one Coalition aircraft (a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet), and the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has its commander executed.[5] During the first 14 hours of the bombardment, the attacking aircraft fly more than 1,000 sorties and drop 18,000 tons (16,329,493 kg) of explosives; they lose three of their number – one American, one British, and one Kuwaiti plane – during the day, all to Iraqi ground fire.[6][7] Iraq loses 10 aircraft in air-to-air combat during the day.[8]
Operation Desert Storm
January 21 – The commissions the "heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser" Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov. A hybrid ship combining the capability of a Western aircraft carrier to operate high-performance fighters for fleet air defense with the heavy shipboard antiship missile armament of Soviet guided-missile cruisers, she is the first Soviet or Russian ship with a full-length flight deck similar to that of Western aircraft carriers and the only such ship ever to be built prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Soviet Union
January 21 – An Iraqi shoots down a U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat and a United States Army attack helicopter is lost to non-combat causes in the Gulf War.[9] Coalition aircraft have flown more than 4,000 sorties against Iraqi forces since Operation Desert Storm began, targeting command-and-control centers, airfields, and Scud short-range ballistic missile launchers.[10] They now shift their focus to Iraqi positions around Basra and along the Iraq-Kuwait border.[11]
surface-to-air missile
January 22 – In the Gulf War, Iraqi downs a Royal Air Force Tornado ground-attack aircraft and the U.S. Army loses an attack helicopter to non-combat causes.[12] Four U.S. Navy A-6E Intruders disable an Iraqi Navy T43 class minesweeper.[13]
antiaircraft artillery
January 23 – Iraqi antiaircraft fire downs a U.S. Air Force over Kuwait, and a United States Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II and a U.S. Army attack helicopter are lost to non-combat causes.[12] U.S. Navy A-6E Intruders attack Iraqi ships, disabling a tanker, sinking a Winchester-class hovercraft refueling from the tanker, and sinking a Zhuk-class patrol boat.[13]
F-16 Fighting Falcon
January 24 – Iraqi ground fire shoots down another RAF Tornado, over , Iraq.[12] Flying an F-15C Eagle, Royal Saudi Air Force Captain Ayedh al-Shamrani, using AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, shoots down two Iraqi Air Force Mirage F1 jets as they approach British Royal Navy ships in the Persian Gulf.[14] U.S. Navy aircraft attack Iraqi Navy ships; A-6Es sink a Zhuk-class patrol boat and Spasilac-class minelayer and cause a minesweeper taking evasive action to strike an Iraqi mine and sink, and a force of A-6Es and F/A-18 Hornets hit four ships in an attack on Umm Qasr naval base.[13] U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell announces that during the first week of air attacks on Iraq, Coalition air forces have flown more than 10,000 sorties, knocked out 61 of Iraq's 66 airfields, and shot down 19 Iraqi aircraft in air-to-air-combat, losing 16 of their own number – all to ground fire.[15]
Basrah
January 26 – U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles of the shoot down three Iraqi MiG-23s using AIM-7 Sparrow missiles.[16] U.S. Navy A-6Es attack Kuwait Harbor, hitting an Iraqi patrol boat, and elsewhere hit an Iraqi TNC-45 fast attack boat, leaving both boats burning.[13] The U.S. Navy loses an F/A-18C Hornet to non-combat causes.[12]
33rd Tactical Fighter Wing
January 27 – Two U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles of the shoot down two Iraqi MiG-23s and two Iraqi Mirage F1s 60–100 miles (97–161 km) south of Baghdad using Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles.[16] United States Central Command claims that Iraqi naval losses thus far in the Gulf War total one oil platform, two patrol boats, one tanker, and four unidentified ships presumed sunk and four mine warfare ships, one hovercraft, three patrol boats, and two unidentified vessels confirmed as sunk.[17] Coalition aircraft have inflicted most of the losses.
53rd Tactical Fighter Squadron
January 28 – Iraqi antiaircraft artillery shoots down a U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II over , and a U.S. Army attack helicopter is lost to non-combat causes.[12]
Faylakah Island
January 28–29 – U.S. Navy A-6Es conduct two days of attacks on Iraqi ships in , at the Umm Qasr naval base, and in Kuwait Harbor.[13]
Bubiyan Channel
January 29 – U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles of the 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing shoot down two Iraqi MiG-23s using Sparrow missiles. After a British frigate detects 17 Iraqi small boats in the Persian Gulf carrying commandos for use in a seaborne assault during the Battle of Khafji, Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Lynx helicopters attack them with Sea Skua missiles. Soon more Lynxes and Royal Navy Sea King Commando and U.S. Navy LAMPS III helicopters – with some of the helicopters using door machine guns and hand grenades – and Royal Air Force Jaguar and U.S. Navy carrier-based A-6E Intruder bombers join in. The attacks sink 14 of the boats and drive the other three ashore, preventing the planned commando operation.[18]
[12]
January 30 – Fleet Air Arm Lynx helicopters (employing Sea Skuas), Royal Air Force Jaguars, and U.S. Navy A-6Es (using ) attack an Iraqi naval convoy made up of a minesweeper, three fast-attack craft, and three landing craft carrying troops and ammunition, breaking up the second and final seaborne component of Iraqi forces in the Battle of Khafji.[19] The Coalition reports that thus far in the Gulf War it has destroyed or disabled 46 Iraqi naval vessels, although another report at about this time claims the total is about 60.[17] Coalition aircraft have inflicted most of the losses.
Rockeye cluster bombs
January 31 – An Iraqi shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile hits a U.S. Air Force AC-130H Spectre gunship over Kuwait during the Battle of Khafji; the aircraft crashes into the Persian Gulf, killing all 14 on board.[12] It is the largest Coalition loss of life in a single aviation incident during the Gulf War.[20]
Strela 2
Cessna Citation VI
Westland 30
Deadliest crash[edit]
The deadliest crash of this year was Nigeria Airways Flight 2120, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8 which crashed near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 11 July, killing all 261 people on board.
Lambert, Mark (ed.) Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1991–92. Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Defence Data, 1991. 0-7106-0965-5.
ISBN
Lambert, Mark (ed.) Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1992–93. Coulsdon, Surry, UK: Jane's Data Division, 1992. 0-7106-0987-6.