AUG04
1755 - Birth of Nicolas-Jacques Conté, French painter, balloonist, army officer, and inventor of the modern pencil.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas-Jacques_Cont%C3%A9
1807 - Andre-Jacques Garnerin in Paris, France makes the 1st night ascent in a balloon.
http://www.1902-encyclopedia.com/A/AER/aeronautics-2.html
1840 - A hot air balloon, took to the air for the 1st time in Canada when the "Star of the East", piloted by American aeronaut Louis Anselm Lauriat, rose into the sky over Saint John, New Brunswick.
1877 - Birth of Roger Sommer, French early aviator and aircraft designer.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Sommer
1878 - Birth of Charles de Nié Port (Nieuport), French aircraft designer and pilot, co-founder with his brother Edouard of the eponymous Nieuport aircraft manufacturing company, Société Anonyme Des Établissements Nieuport
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89douard_Nieuport
1890 - Birth of Henri Albert Péronneau, French WWI flying ace who also served in WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Albert_P%C3%A9ronneau - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/peronneau.php
1891 - Birth of William Joseph Baynes Nel, South African WWI flying ace
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/safrica/nel.php
1893 - Birth of Alfons Nagler, German WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfons_Nagler - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/nagler.php
1898 - Birth of Victor Emmanuel Groom, British WWI flying ace, WWII and post WWII high ranking officer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Groom - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/groom.php
1908 - Count von Zeppelin takes the L-Z4 attempting a 24-hour flight from Lake Constance, down the Rhine to Basel, then to Strasbourg and Mainz and back to Stuttgart, a total non-stop distance of 435 miles. But it landed near Echterdingen after 12 hours to repair an engine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Zeppelins
1921 - Birth of Geoffrey Wellum, British WWII fighter pilot, one of the youngest pilot of the Battle of Britain, test pilot on the Hawker Typhoon, based at Gloster Aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Wellum
1924 - A RAF Vickers Vulture amphibious bi-plane with Archibald Stuart MacLaren, William Noble Plenderleith and W.H. Andrews, makes a forced sea landing ending their round-the-world flight attempt from Calshot, UK.
http://www.wingnet.org/rtw/RTW001C.HTM
1924 - Birth of Vladimir Nikolayevich Benderov, Tupolev test pilot
http://www.astronautix.com/astros/benderov.htm
1924 - 1st flight of the Blériot Bl-105, French 4 engine biplane transport prototype, derivative of the SPAD S-45.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1668
1929 - 1st FAI International Tourist Plane Contest (Challenge 1929) conceived by the Aéro-Club de France starts in Paris. 55 aircraft from six countries: Germany (24 crews), Italy (12 crews), France (9 crews), United Kingdom (5 crews), Czechoslovakia (3 crews) and the Swiss (2 crews), entered the Challenge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenge_1929
1934 - 1st flight of the Latécoère 296, French single engine torpedo bomber floatplane prototype, evolution of the Laté 294.
http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=937
1935 - French Marcel Cogno is killed in his Farman F-1001, Pressurized prototype, when the cabin depressurized suddenly at 10400m.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9222
1939 - 1st flight of The Renard R-38, Belgian all-metal fighter prototype single seat aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renard_R-36
1943 - German submarine U-489 is sunk by a Canadian Sunderland flying boat of 420 Squadron, RCAF southeast of Iceland. The Sunderland was shot down, five of the eleven man crew were killed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-489
1943 - Death of Augustus Henry Orlebar, British WWI pilot, test pilot and air Racer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Orlebar - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/orlebar.php
1943 - Birth of Michael James McCulley, USN officer, NASA astronaut, and 1st submariner in space.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._McCulley
1944 - Beginning of Operation Aphrodite. Old B-17 and PB4Y are used as precision-guided munitions against bunkers and V1 sites, but the project was dangerous, expensive and unsuccessful.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Aphrodite
1944 - Death of Klaus Riedel, German rocket pioneer who joined Wernher von Braun for the V2 project.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Riedel
1954 - 1st flight of The English Electric Lightning P1A, British supersonic jet fighter aircraft, noted for its great speed and unpainted natural metal exterior finish, only all-British Mach 2 fighter aircraft.RAF pilots described it as "being saddled to a skyrocket"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Electric_Lightning#Design_and_development
1955 - Birth of Andrew Michael "Andy" Allen, USMC pilot and NASA Astronaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_M._Allen
1955 - Birth of Charles Donald "Sam" Gemar, US Army pilot and NASA Astronaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_D._Gemar
1960 - The X-15A sets an Unofficial world speed record of 3533 kph at 23809 m.
http://www.astronautix.com/thisday/august04.htm
1971 - British pilot Sheila Scott completes the 1st flight by a light plane from equator to equator via the North Pole. Flying in a Piper Aztec D, she covers 34,000 miles (54,718 km)
http://www.wingnet.org/rtw/RTW006E.HTM
1971 - 1st flight of the DC.01 'Rapace', French Light single seat racer monoplane.
http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=10211
1971 - 1st flight of the Agusta Westland AW109, Anglo-Italian light-weight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AgustaWestland_AW109
1992 - Death of William Mayes Fry, British WWI flying ace who also served in WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Mayes_Fry - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/england/fry.php
1995 - The Grob Strato 2C, German experimental high altitude research aircraft, set a world altitude record for manned piston-engined aircraft of 18,552 m (60,897 ft) on its last flight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grob_Strato_2C#Operational_history
1997 - 1st flight of the Aero L 159 ALCA (Advanced Light Combat Aircraft), Czech-built multi-role combat aircraft in a two seat version.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_L-159_Alca
1998 - Death of Yury Petrovich Artyukhin, Soviet Air Force Pilot and Cosmonaut
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Artyukhin
2007 - Launch of Phoenix, American robotic spacecraft for a space exploration mission on Mars.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_(spacecraft)
2009 - Bangkok Airways Flight 266, operated by an ATR-72 between Krabi and Koh Samui skidded off the runway, killing one of the pilots. The 68 passengers were evacuated.