APRIL25
1868 – Birth of John Bevins Moisant, American aviator. He designed, built and flew the 1st metal aircraft, an experimental aluminium plane, in 1909.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bevins_Moisant
1889 - Birth of Arthur Hicks Peck, British WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Peck - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/peck.php
1893 - Birth of Ludwig Hautzmayer, Austro-Hungarian WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Hautzmayer - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/austrhun/hautzmayer.php
1896 - Birth of Cyril Askew Eyre, British WWI flying ace
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/eyre.php
1912 - 1st flight of the Zeppelin LZ-12, german airship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Zeppelins#Zeppelins_finished_before_World_War_I
1914 - 1st US heavier-than-air aircraft to see military action is a Curtiss Model F AB-3, launched from USS Birmingham on a scouting mission over Veracruz.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_Model_F#Operational_history
1915 - Birth of Luigi Rovelli, Italian WWII bomber pilot.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Rovelli_(pilota)
1916 - Birth of Giuseppe Ruzzin, Spanish war and WWII italian flying ace.
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/italy_ruzzin.htm
1917 - Death of Sebastian Festner, German WWI flying ace, killed in action in his Albatros D.III
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Festner - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/festner.php
1918 - Death of Stanley Wallace Rosevear, Canadian WWI fighter ace, Killed in action in his Sopwith Camel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Wallace_Rosevear - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/rosevear.php
1918 - Belgium's top-scoring ace, Willy Coppens, claims his 1st victory, a Rumpler two seater.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Coppens - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/belgium/coppens.php
1918 - Death of Stephen Potter, US Navy officier and early Naval aviator, 1st American naval aviator to shoot down a German plane, Killed in action over the North sea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Potter_(American)
1922 - 1st flight of the Stout ST-1, twin engine torpedo bomber built for the US Navy. It pioneered American use of metal construction and "thick wing" design.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stout_ST-1
1927 - 1st flight of the PWS-1, Polish two-seat fighter and reconnaissance aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PWS-1
1928 - Death of Floyd Bennett, American aviator who piloted Richard E. Byrd on his attempt to reach the North Pole in 1926.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Bennett
1932 - 1st flight of the SPCA 81, French single-engined high-wing cantilever monoplane with a fixed tailskid landing gear, colonial transport aircraft, specifically for police duties, re-engined version of the SPCA 80
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=4571 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPCA_80
1934 - American airwoman Laura Ingalls complete a solo flight round South America, having flown a distance of 27,359 kilometres (17,000 miles) in a Lockheed Air Express.
1936 - 1st flight of the Mauboussin M-40 'Hémiptère', French single seat wooden tourer light aircraft prototype with unequal span tandem wings
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9597 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauboussin_H%C3%A9mipt%C3%A8re
1936 - 1st flight of the Potez 630, a twin-engined aircraft developed for the Armée de l'Air
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potez_630 - http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/potez-630.php
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=112
1937 - Death of Clement Joseph 'Clem' Sohn, American airshow dare-devil who perfected a way of gliding through the air with a home-made wingsuit, when his parachute did not open during a Show at in Vincennes, France.A crowd of 100,000 watched him frantically tug on the ripcord of his emergency chute, but that failed too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clem_Sohn
1939 - 1st flight of the Arsenal VG-33, French light fighter aircraft developped from the VG-30.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenal_VG-33 - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=274 - http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenal_VG_33#Arsenal_VG_33
1940 - 1st flight of the Latécoère 298E, French 3 seat low wing scout seaplane prototype, Observation variant of the 298, with weapon fixation replaced by an observor's gondola.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=5551
1940 – Oberfeldwebel Hermann Förster is the 1st German night fighter pilot to shoot down a British bomber during WWII. Flying a Messerschmitt Bf 109D-1, he downs a Handley Page Hampden laying naval mines off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/April_in_aviation/April_25
1944 - 1st combat rescue by helicopters in the U.S. Army Air Forces: Lt Carter Harmon flying a Sikorsky YR-4 rescued 4 men from the jungle in Burma.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Rescue_Service#Origins
1945 - Me 262A, W.Nr.500071 "White 3", III./JG 7, flown by Hans Guido Mutke, while a pilot of 9. Staffel/JG 7, was confiscated by Swiss authorities after Mutke made an emergency landing in Switzerland due to lack of fuel (80 litres were remaining, 35 litres were usually burnt in one minute). Plane is in display at Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_262
1945 - The last bombing attack was carried out by No. 6 (RCAF) Group with 192 aircraft dropping over 902 tons of bombs on Wangerooge Island.
1947 - 1st flight of the initial production version of the Handley Page H.P.67 Hastings general-purpose long-range transport.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/handley_hastings.php
1948 - A North American YP-86, Prototype of the american jet fighter F-86 Sabre, exceed Mach 1 in a shallow dive.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/na_sabre.php
1949 - Bristol Type 171 "Sycamore" was granted a Certificate of Airworthiness - the 1st awarded to a British helicopter.
http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/bristol_sycamore.php
1951 - Cubana de Aviación Flight 493, a Douglas DC-4 , collided in mid-air over Key West with a US Navy Beechcraft SNB-1 Kansan, killing all 43 aboard both aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubana_de_Aviaci%C3%B3n_Flight_493
1952 - 1st flight of the Gyrodyne GCA-2C, Evolution of the GCA-2, American all-metal prototype helicopter, with a coaxial twin rotor layout, 5-seat cabin and rounded fuselage with twin fins.
http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/gyrodyne_gca-2c.php
1955 - 1st flight of the FFA P-16, a Swiss prototype ground attack jet fighter designed to replace the piston-engined types then in service with the Swiss Air Force
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FFA_P-16
1956 - 1st flight of the Bensen B-8 Gyro-Boat, The Gyro-Boat is a further variant of the Gyro-Glider, in which the basic free-turning rotor system, known as the Roto-sail, is mounted on any standard small dinghy.
http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/bensen_gyroboat.php
1958 - The Breguet 1001 Taon, French prototype jet strike fighter aircraft, set an international speed record for a 1,000 km (620 mi) closed circuit, it achieved a speed of 1,046.65 km/h (650.36 mph) at 7,620 m (25,000 ft)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breguet_Taon
1960 - Death of Georges Pierre Blanc, French WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Blanc_(pilot) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/blanc.php
1961 - Birth of Frank, Viscount De Winne, Belgian Air Component officer and ESA astronaut
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_De_Winne
1962 - Death of François Paul Delzenne, French WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Delzenne - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/delzenne.php
1962 - 1st flight of the Beagle Terrier Series 2, british three-seat touring and training monoplane.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/beagle_terrier.php
1966 - Death of Corrado Gex, italian aviator and politician, 1st pilot authorized to land on a glacier, Killed in the crash of his Pilatus Porter while attempting to land near Castelnuovo di Ceva.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrado_Gex
1967 - 1st NASA flight of the XB-70A with Air Force Col. Joe Cotton and NASA research pilot Fitz Fulton at the controls. The XB-70 flights investigated the stability and handling qualities of large, delta-wing aircraft flying at high rates of speed.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/about/Dryden/60.html
1967 - Death of Benjamin Delahauf Foulois, United States Army general who learned to fly the 1st military planes purchased from the Wright Brothers. He became the 1st military aviator as an airship pilot, and achieved numerous other military aviation "firsts". He led strategic development of the Air Force in the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Foulois
1970 - 1st flight of The Hispano HA-220 Saeta (C.10), single seat version of the HA-200 (two-seat advanced jet trainer), for the ground-attack role.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispano_HA-200
1971 - Death of Marius Jean Paul Elzeard "Marc" Ambrogi, French WWI fighter ace and WWII fighter pilot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marius_Ambrogi - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/ambrogi.php
1972 - Hans-Werner Grosse set a free distance world record of 1,460.80 km from his home city of Lübeck (Germany) to Biarritz (France) in a Schleicher ASW 12, It was not broken until 9 January 2003 (by Klaus Ohlmann in Argentina)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Werner_Grosse
1972 - French Air Force test pilot Gilbert Klopfstein hijack a French Air Force Nord 262 equiped with Klopfstein's own prototype head-up display. On a test mission north of Scotland Klopstein headed to Sondreström where he refueled and reached later Washington via Frobisher, Goose bay and Loring. With the help of the USAF and the MIT he succesfully demonstrated his invention known today as the 'Klopfstein Display' and becomming the father of the actual modern head-up display. Afraid of consequences at his return, USAF and MIT gave him a pre-print of the report. Landing back in France, in front of the Mitary Police, He just gave the pre-print to his chief and walked away. No arresting orders were given.
http://www.headupflight.net/gilbert/gilbert2.htm
1973 - Death of Ferruccio Ranza, WWI italian fighter Ace and WWII high ranking officer
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferruccio_Ranza - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/ranza.php
1978 - The Aerospatiale SA.330J "Puma" became the 1st helicopter outside the Soviet Union to be certificated for all-weather operations, including flight in icing conditions.
http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/puma.php
1980 - Dan-Air Flight 1008, a Boeing 727–100 crashed in Tenerife. All on board were killed when the aircraft hit terrain while circling.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan-Air_Flight_1008
1983 - 1st flight of the Dornier DO-24 ATT, German flying boat issued from the 1930's Do-24 designed to test the high seas capability of an amphibious, economical aircraft, fitted with an advanced technology wing cut from a single piece of aluminum spar to simplify production efforts with improved PT6A-45Bs.
http://www.do-24.com/index.php?the-do-24att
1983 – Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto's orbit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_10
1986 - 1st flight of Air Tractor AT-500, American agricultural aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Tractor_AT-501
1989 - 1st flight of the 1st production Beechcraft Starship
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_Starship
1990 - The Hubble Space Telescope is deployed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-31
1996 - Chilean Airline Ladeco ceased operations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladeco
2002 - Launch of Soyuz TM-34, russian space mission to the ISS with Mark Shuttleworth, South African entrepreneur, 2nd self-funded space tourist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TM-34 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Shuttleworth
2006 - Launch of EROS-B, Israeli commercial Earth observation satellites, also used to monitor Iran's developing nuclear program for potential threats to Israeli security.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EROS_(satellite)#EROS_B
2008 - Launch of Tianlian I, Chinese data tracking and relay communications satellite
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianlian_I
2009 - 1st Flight of Boeing P-8 Poseidon, (modified from the 737-800) with an Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and anti-surface warfare (ASuW) role.