APRIL30

1886 - Birth of René Alphonse Pelissier, French WWI flying ace

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/pelissier.php

1891 - Chuhachi Ninomiya hand launched a rubber-band-powered monoplane with a four-bladed pusher propeller and three-wheeled landing gear. It flew about 36 metres.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%ABhachi_Ninomiya#Idea_for_flying

1893 - Birth of Viktor Schobinger, German WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Schobinger - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/schobinger.php

1893 - Birth of Roy Chadwick, British aircraft designer for Avro.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Chadwick

1895 - Birth of Otto Walter Höhne, German WWI flying ace, 1st pilot to score a victory while flying the Fokker D.I.. He also served in WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_H%C3%B6hne - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/hohne.php

1895 - Birth of Herbert James Hamilton, British WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Hamilton - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/hamilton1.php

1896 - Birth of Edgar Charles Johnston, Australian WWI fighter ace and leading member in civil aviation in Australia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Johnston - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/australi/johnston1.php

1897 - Birth of Percival Hopkins Spencer, American inventor, aviation pioneer, test pilot and businessman.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percival_H._Spencer

1904 - The St. Louis exposition opens. Octave Chanute exhibits a replica of his biplane glider of 1896, which he launches by using an electric winch

http://avstop.com/news/chanute.html

1909 - John Theodore Cuthbert Moore Brabazon (later Lord Brabazon of Tara) makes the 1st accredited aeroplane flight by an Englishman in England. He flies his Voisin biplane over a distance of about 137 metres (450 feet) at Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-civil-aviation/1909.aspx

1909 - Casey Baldwin and JAD McCurdy formed the first Canadian aviation company, the Canadian Aerodrome Company, at Baddeck NS with the assistance of Alexander Graham Bell.

http://canadianaviationhistory.pbworks.com/w/page/13801114/On-this-day-in-Canadian-Aviation-History-April

1911 - 1st test flight of Jan Kašpar's own functional aircraft called JK, from Pardubice to Chrudim and back.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Ka%C5%A1par

1915 - German Navy Zeppelin L9, commanded by Kapitan Mathys, makes an attack on 3 British submarines, damaging the conning tower of one of them.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/world-aviation/1915.aspx

1916 - Birth of Otto “Otsch” Bertram, German Spanish war and WWII fighter ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Bertram - http://www.luftwaffe.cz/bertram.html - http://www.cieldegloire.com/001_bertram_o.php

1917 - Death of John Joseph "Jack" Malone, Canadian WWI flying ace, Killed in action in his Sopwith pup.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Joseph_Malone - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/malone.php

1919 - 1st flight of The Avro 534 Baby (originally named the "Popular"), British single-seat light sporting biplane

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Baby

1924 - Douglas World Cruiser biplane 'Seattle'(variant of the Navy’s DT-2 torpedo bomber) attempting the first around-the-world airplane flight, crashed in dense fog on a mountainside near Port Moller on the Alaska Peninsula

http://didyouknow.org/flight/

1926 - Death of Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman, American civil aviator. She was the 1st female pilot of African American descent and the 1st person of African American descent to hold an international pilot license. She did not put on her seatbelt because she was planning a parachute jump for the next day and wanted to look over the cockpit. Her Curtiss JN-4 entered a spin and she was thrown out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Coleman

1928 - Birth of George Gerster, Swiss journalist and pioneer aerial photographer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Gerster

1931 - 1st flight of the Latécoère 440 (Float version), 3 seat single-engined, high-winged floatplane prototype built as a coastal defence aircraft for the French Navy

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=874 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lat%C3%A9co%C3%A8re_440

1942 - 1st flight of The Fiat G.55 Centauro, Italian single-engine single-seat fighter, probably the best type produced in Italy during WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_G.55

1945 - Birth of Michael John Smith, usually known as Mike Smith, American astronaut, pilot of the Space Shuttle Challenger when it was destroyed during the STS-51-L mission

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Smith_(astronaut)

1947 - 1st flight of the SNCAN Nord 2100 'Norazur', French high-wing cantilever monoplane twin engine pusher configuration civil transport monoplane prototype.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9556

1947 - Harold Brownlow Morgan "Micky" Martin and Edward Barnes Sismore takes off in a De Havilland Mosquito for a new London-Cape Town speed record.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-military-aviation/1947.aspx

1950 - 1st Flight of the Sud-Est SE 2410 Grognard, French single-seat, low-level ground-attack prototype jet aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sud-Est_Grognard - http://www.aviafrance.com/s-n-c-a-s-e-se-2410-grognard--aviation-france-1048.htm

1951 - No. 404 Squadron was reformed at Greenwood, NS and equipped with Avro 683 Lancaster 10MR aircraft.

http://canadianaviationhistory.pbworks.com/w/page/13801114/On-this-day-in-Canadian-Aviation-History-April

1955 - Death of John Henry Towers, USN admiral and pioneer Naval aviator.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_Towers

1957 - Birth of Duane Gene "Digger" Carey (Lieutenant Colonel, USAF), engineer and former NASA Astronaut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duane_G._Carey

1957 - 1st flight of Sud-Ouest SO 4050 Vautour II-A, single-seat tactical fighter bomber (Production for French Airforce)

http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/so_vautour.php

1958 - 1st flight of The Blackburn Buccaneer, British low-level subsonic strike aircraft with nuclear weapon delivery capability.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Buccaneer

1962 - 1st official flight of the Lockheed A-12,reconnaissance aircraft built for the Central Intelligence Agency, flown by Louis Wellington 'Lou' Schalk, Jr , chief test pilot for the Lockheed Corporation's Skunk Works.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-12_Oxcart

1963 - American Betty Miller takes off for the 1st transpacific solo flight by a woman. The 4-stop flight is from Oakland in California to Brisbane in Australia.

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1963/1963%20-%201393.html

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/world-aviation/1963.aspx

1967 - Crash of a Douglas C-133B-DL Cargomaster. Just after takeoff, power was lost and airplane was ditched approximately 34 miles off the east coast of Okinawa

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19670430-0

1971 - Death of Pierre Armand Wertheim (Wertheimer), French WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Wertheim - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/wertheim.php

1973 - Death of Georges Charles Marie François Flachaire, French WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Flachaire - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/flachaire.php

1976 - Launch of The Naval Ocean Surveillance System (NOSS-1), also called White Cloud and PARCAE, American Military naval signals reconnaisance satellites operating in clusters and which main purpose was the tactical geolocation of Soviet fleet assets during the Cold War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Ocean_Surveillance_System

1981 - Peoplexpress Airlines commenced operations.(also known as People Express Travel, U.S. no-frills airline that operated from 1981 to 1987, when it merged into Continental Airlines)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoplexpress_Airlines

1982 - Operation Black Buck begins: 1st of seven extremely long-range ground attack missions by Royal Air Force Vulcan bombers of 44 Squadron from RAF Ascension Island against Argentine positions in the Falkland Islands

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_Buck#Black_Buck_One

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-military-aviation/1982.aspx

1985 - 1st flight of The British Aerospace/McDonnell Douglas Harrier II, second-generation vertical/short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) jet aircraft, British variant of th McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Aerospace_Harrier_II

1987 - 1st flight of The Promavia F.1300 Jet Squalus, Italian two-seat light jet trainer prototype.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promavia_Jet_Squalus

1993 - The B01, only prototype of the two-seat B variant (Dassault Rafale), made its 1st flight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Rafale

1996 - USAF unveil The Northrop Tacit Blue technology demonstrator aircraft, stealth low observable surveillance aircraft with a low probability of intercept radar and other sensors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Tacit_Blue

1997 - 1st Flight of a Mi-28N modified version of the 1st Mi-28 prototype (012)

http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/mi-28.php

2004 - Soyuz TMA-3, Russian mission to the ISS, is back on earth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TMA-3

2006 - Song's final flight #2056 departed from Las Vegas McCarran International Airport to Orlando International Airport.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_(airline)

2009 - The Pilot of a Beriev Be-103 was unaware that his landing gear was down and landed the amphibian plane in the bay. (Biscayne Bay, Venetian Islands, FL)

http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=69489