APRIL08
1877 - Birth of Celestino Usuelli Italian aviation pioneer.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestino_Usuelli
1885 - Birth of Celestino Rosatelli, Italian aeronautics engineer. Rosatelli designed some of most advanced aircraft of his time, such as the Fiat CR.42 and Fiat BR.20.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestino_Rosatelli
1885 - Birth of Mario Cobianchi, Italian Aviation pioneer, author and aircraft designer.
http://earlyaviators.com/ecobianc.htm
1885 - Birth of Blanche Stuart Scott, also known as Betty Scott, possibly the 1st American woman aviator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanche_Stuart_Scott
1886 - Birth of Horace Percy Lale, British WWI fighter ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Percy_Lale - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/lale.php
1893 - Birth of Tiny Broadwick , or Georgia Broadwick, American pioneering parachutist. She was nicknamed 'Tiny', as she weighed only 85 pounds (39 kg) and was 4 feet (1.2 m) tall.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Broadwick
1896 - Birth of Antonio Riva, Italian pilot and WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Riva - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/riva.php
1898 - Birth of Arthur William Wood, British WWI flying ace
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/wood1.php
1910 - Birth of Koshiro Yamashita, Japanese China war and WWII flying ace.
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/japan_yamashita.htm
1913 - Lewis Hyde Brereton on a training flight from North Island, San Diego, California, in Curtiss F floatplane, Signal Corps 15, with Rex Chandler crashes. Chandler is knocked unconscious and drowns.
1914 - 1st flight of The Wight Pusher Seaplane, British twin-float patrol seaplane , unequal-span pusher biplane with five-bay wings mounted on two long floats.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wight_Pusher_Seaplane
1917 - Birth of José María Bravo Fernández-Hermosa, Spanish Republican Flying ace of the Spanish war who also served with the Soviet Air force in WWII
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mar%C3%ADa_Bravo
1917 - Death of Wilhelm Frankl, German WWI fighter ace, killed in action in his Albatros D.III.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Frankl - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/frankl.php
1920 - 1st flight of The de Havilland DH.18, single-engined British biplane transport aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_DH.18
1930 - 1st flight of The Bartel BM-6, Polish biplane trainer fighter aircraft prototype.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartel_BM-6
1931 - Amelia Earhart climbs to a record altitude of 18,415 feet in a Pitcairn PCA2 autogyro at Willow Grove, near Philadelphia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcairn_PCA-2 - http://www.gyroplanepassion.com/Amelia_Earhart.html
http://www.ameliaearhart.com/about/achievements.html
1936 - Death of Chuhachi Ninomiya, Japanese aviation pioneer and aircraft designer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%ABhachi_Ninomiya
1939 - 1st flight of the Bloch MB-153, French low-wing, all-metal monoplane fighter aircraft prototype issued from the MB-152.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloch_MB.150_%C3%A0_MB.157#Des_moteurs_am.C3.A9ricains_pour_les_MB.153_et_MB.154 - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=10163&ID_CONSTRUCTEUR=213
1941 - 1st flight of the Nakajima G5N Shinzan, Japanese four-engined long-range heavy bomber prototype developped from the american Douglas DC-4E airliner prototype which was purchased by Nippon Koku K.K. (Japan Airlines Co) and clandestinely handed over to the Nakajima Aircraft Company for dismantling and inspection.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakajima_G5N
1942 - 1st mission "over the hump". Flying from the RAF airfield at Dinjan, Lt. Col. William D. Old used a pair of borrowed DC-3s to ferry 8,000 U.S. gallons (30,000 liters) of aviation fuel intended to resupply the Doolittle Raiders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hump#Haynes.2C_1942
1942 - Death of Katsumi Anma, Japanese Sino-Japanese war and WWII flying ace, Killed in action in his Nakajima Ki-43.
http://www.cieldegloire.com/010_anma_k.php
1943 - On its 1st mission, USMC pilot James Elms Swett shot down 7 Japanese Aichi D3A 'Val' dive bombers with his F4F Wildcat during the largest Japanese air attack since the attack on Pearl Harbor, targeting U. S. shipping in Ironbottom Sound off Guadalcanal and Tulagi.177 Japanese Rabaul-based aircraft – 67 Aichi D3 A (Allied reporting name “Val”) dive bombers escorted by 110 Zeroes. They sunk a US destroyer, a New Zealand corvette, and a US tanker. 76 US fighters intercepted the Japanese, losing 7 of their number while shooting down 12 Vals and an estimated 27 Zeroes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E._Swett#Medal_of_Honor_action
1943 - 1st flight of The Douglas BTD Destroyer, American torpedo bomber developed for the United States Navy during World War II. It was the first Navy aircraft to have tricycle landing gear
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_BTD_Destroyer
1945 - Death of Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, (born Melitta Schiller), German aviatrix who served as a test pilot for the German Luftwaffe before and during WWII. She was shot down by a US Fighter while transferring a small Bücker Flugzeugbau Bü 181 Bestmann trainer to Southern Germany.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melitta_Schenk_Gr%C3%A4fin_von_Stauffenberg
1945 - 1st flight of The Rikugun Ki-93, prototype Japanese twin-engined fighter aircraft armed with large calibre cannon to serve in the anti-shipping or bomber-destroyer roles. Damaged on its maiden flight, It will be destroyed by American bombing before it could be flown again.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikugun_Ki-93
1950 - Soviet Lavochkin La-11 (long-range piston-engined Soviet fighter aircraft.) shoots down an American PB4Y Privateer over the Baltic Sea with all 10 crew lost.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavochkin_La-11
1954 – South African Airways Flight 201 de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1 desintigrates in flight and crashes into the mediterranean sea during night killing 21 people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Airways_Flight_201
1954 - A RCAF Harvard Mark II collided in midair with a TCA Canadair North Star (development of the Douglas C-54 / DC-4 aircraft.) over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 36 people on the aircraft and one person on the ground.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadair_North_Star
1957 - 1st flight of the 2nd prototype SNECMA C.400 P2 Atar Volant, French research vehicle comprising an Atar 101 DV turbojet (2,900kg of thrust) with jet-deflection nozzle for directional control, mounted vertically inside a nacelle, on a tubular four-wheel undercarriage.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/snecma_atar.php
1959 - Death of Mario de Bernardi, Italian WWI fighter pilot, seaplane air racer of the 1920s, and test pilot of early Italian experimental jets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_de_Bernardi_(pilot)
1959 - Edward Hamilton "Easy Ed" Taylor established the Official World Speed Record for the 1000-km closed course (700.047 mph) in a RF-101C, at Edwards AFB, California.
http://www.aero-web.org/specs/mcdonnel/rf-101c.htm
1961 - Launch of Discoverer 23 (Corona 9016A), American area survey optical reconnaissance satellite
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discoverer_23
1964 - Launch of Gemini 1, 1st unmanned test flight of the Gemini spacecraft in NASA's Gemini program to test the structural integrity of the new spacecraft and modified Titan II ICBM., 1st test of the new tracking and communication systems for the Gemini program, it provided training for the ground support crews for the 1st manned missions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_1
1965 - 1st flight of the Fauvel AV-221, French unorthodox two-seat side by side tailless motor glider featuring wings with a slight forward sweep.
http://www.nurflugel.com/Nurflugel/Fauvel/e_AV221.htm - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fauvel_AV.22
1967 - 1st flight of The Beagle B.121 Pup, British 2-4 seat single-engined training and touring aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beagle_Pup
1968 – BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after take off. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOAC_Flight_712 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Jane_Harrison
1970 - Israeli Air Force F4 Phantom II fighter bombers carried out a raid on a school in Bahr el-Baqar Sharqia Governorate, Egypt. Of the 130 school children who attended the school, 46 were killed, and over 50 wounded, many of them maimed for life. The school itself was completely demolished, in what is called Bahr el-Baqar massacre.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahr_el-Baqar_massacre
1970 - American Satellites Vela 6A and 6B, used to look for correlations between gamma-ray bursts and X-ray events, are launched.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vela_(satellite)#Vela_6A_and_6B
1971 - Death of Fritz Adam Hermann Opel (Von Opel) German pilot and engineer remembered mostly for his spectacular demonstrations of rocket propulsion that earned him the nickname "Rocket Fritz".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_von_Opel
1981 - 1st flight of the SIAI-Marchetti SF-600TP, evolution of the SF.600 Canguro, Italian high-wing cantilever monoplane of conventional configuration with a fuselage of rectangular cross-section and a high-set tail.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/italy/siai_sf-600tp.php
1988 - Pacific Southwest Airlines makes its last flight and is incorporated in USAir.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Southwest_Airlines
1993 - Launch of STS-56, NASA Space Shuttle Discovery for special experiments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-56
1997 - STS-83, American Space Shuttle Columbia mission, is back on earth due to problem with Fuel Cell #2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-83
2000 - A Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey (American multi-mission, military, tiltrotor aircraft with both a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL), and short takeoff and landing (STOL) capability.) loaded with Marines to simulate a rescue, attempted to land at Marana Northwest Regional Airport in Arizona, stalled when its right rotor entered vortex ring state, rolled over, crashed, and exploded, killing all 19 on board.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell-Boeing_V-22_Osprey#Notable_accidents
2002 - Launch of STS-110, Space shuttle Atlantis mission to the ISS to install the S0 Truss segment, which forms the backbone of the truss structure on the station.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-110
2004 - Death of Hans Guido Mutke, fighter pilot for the German Luftwaffe during WWII. It is claimed that Mutke made the very 1st flight breaking the sound barrier in 1945, in a Me 262, though this claim is subject of controversy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Guido_Mutke
2006 - Soyuz TMA-7, transport mission for portions of the International Space Station (ISS), is back on earth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TMA-7
2008 - Launch of Soyuz TMA-12, Soyuz mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by a Soyuz FG rocket carrying Yi So-yeon, 1st korean and second Asian woman in space.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TMA-12
2009 - Soyuz TMA-13, Soyuz mission to the International Space Station (ISS), is back on earth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TMA-13
2010 - Launch of CryoSat-2, European Space Agency (ESA) environmental research satellite.