AUG06

1859 - Birth of Arthur Josef Stanislaus Berson, Polish meteorologist and pioneer of aerology.

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

1887 - Birth of Walter Alister Kirk, Australian WWI flying ace who served with the RAAF in WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Kirk - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/australi/kirk.php

1889 - Birth of George Churchill Kenney, WWI pilot and USAAF general during WWII, who was commander of the Allied air forces in the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) from August 1942 until 1945.

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

1895 - Birth of Frank Lucien Hale, American WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Hale - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/hale.php

1897 - Birth of Ludovic Marie René Arrachart, French military pilot and raid aviator.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludovic_Arrachart

1898 - Birth of Henry Arthur Frank Goodison, British WWI flying ace.

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/goodison.php

1899 - Birth of Thomas Cathcart Traill, British WWI flying ace and WWII high ranking officer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Traill - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/traill2.php

1909 - Birth of Iori Sakai, Japanese WWII and sino-japanese flying ace, Instructor and test pilot.

http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/japan_sakai.htm

1910 - An International aviation meeting opens at Lanark, Scotland, drawing a wide range of flyers and airplanes. In all, 22 competitors participate.

http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/wiki/1910_Lanark_Aviation_Meeting

1913 - Death of John Milton Bryant, early american Aviation Pioneer, one of the 1st American barnstormers, 1st air fatality ever in Canada killed in his seacraft in Victoria, British Columbia. He was married to Alys McKey Bryant, who was the 1st woman pilot to fly in Canada,

http://earlyaviators.com/ebryjohn.htm - http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6268353

1918 - Death of Peter Strasser, chief commander of German Imperial Navy Zeppelins during WWI, killed when the Zeppelin L-70 was shot down by a De Havilland DH-4 while flying the war's last airship raid over Great Britain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Strasser#Death_in_the_last_raid_over_Great_Britain

1918 - Birth of Harry R. Bolster, American WWII fighter pilot with the AVG (American Voluteer Group in China) and USAF test pilot.

http://www.cnac.org/bolster01.htm

1919 - 1st airmail flight over a major body of water in Australia is made by Captain Harry Butler in a Bristol monoplane named 'the Red Devil'.

http://www.ypct.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5603&Itemid=69

1920 - Death of Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator and military pilot, one of the pioneers of the Polish aviation, in the crash of his Fokker D.VII . He is credited with the 1st military flight in the history of the Polish Air Force

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

1921 - 1st flight of the SPAD S-42, French 2 seat training biplane.

http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=116

1922 - Birth of Sir Frederick Alfred Laker, British airline entrepreneur, best known for founding Laker Airways.

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

1925 - 1st flight of the Tupolev ANT-3, Soviet biplane Reconnaissance aircraft, Tupolev’s 1st practical plane.

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

1929 - French Ludovic Marie René Arrachart and Jean Rignot land their Breguet Bre 19 TR 'Bidon' Beijing (China), completing a propaganda flight from Paris.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breguet_19#Variants - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9872

1929 - Death of Florentin Bonnet, French WWI pilot , Test pilot and air racer, Killed in the crash of his Nieuport 62 in which he was training.

http://www.aerosteles.net/article.php?code=107

1931 - Amy Johnson, with Jack Humphreys lands her de Havilland DH 80A Puss Moth 'Jason II' in Tokyo after a 9 day journey from England.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-civil-aviation/1931.aspx

1934 - Death of Hermann Glauert, FRS, British aerodynamicist and Principal Scientific Officer of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough

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

1935 - Death of Karl Illner, Austrian aviation pioneer.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Illner

1937 - Spanish Civil War : A fierce dogfight over the town of Torrelavega results in the lost of a dozen republican fighters, worsening the aerial support of republicans in the North.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War_chronology_1937

1941 - 1st aerial ramming at night : Viktor Vasilevich Talalikhin flying a Soviet National Air Defense Forces Polikarpov I-16 fighter over Moscow, rammed a German Heinkel He.111 bomber after running out of ammunition, destroying both aircraft. Wounded by machine-gun fire from the German bomber, he parachuted to safety.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Talalikhin - http://www.cieldegloire.com/015_talalikhin_v_v.php

1944 - George Preddy, USAF fighter pilot shoot down 6 Messerschmitt Bf 109 with his P-51D on a single mission.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Preddy - http://cieldegloire.com/014_preddy_g_e.php

1945 - B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay drops "Little Boy" the 1st nuclear weapon used in warfare over the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

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

1945 - Death of Richard Ira "Dick" Bong, US highest-scoring air ace, (40 Japanese aircraft during WWII, all with the P-38 Lightning), while testing the P-80 Shooting Star. Primary fuel pump malfunctioned during takeoff, he cleared away from the aircraft, but was too low for his parachute to deploy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bong#Death - http://www.historynet.com/richard-ira-bong-american-world-war-ii-ace-of-aces.htm

1949 - 1st flight of The Nord 1402 Noroit, French reconnaissance and air-sea rescue flying-boat.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1465 - http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/nord_noroit.php

1950 - Birth of Winston Elliott Scott, USN pilot and NASA astronaut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_E._Scott

1952 - 1st flight of The Boulton Paul P.120, British research jet aircraft produced to investigate delta-wing aerodynamics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulton_Paul_P.120

1956 - 1st flight of The Beechcraft 95 Travel Air, American twin-engine development of the Beechcraft Bonanza.

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

1958 - 1st flight of The Bensen B-10 Propcopter, US unconventional VTOL aircraft. The pilot sat astride a beam that had an engine mounted at either end of it, each driving a rotor to provide lift. Each of these rotors was surrounded by a system of four pivotable vanes to direct its downwash, and linked to a control stick for the pilot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bensen_B-10

1959 - Birth of Mark Hanna, RAF air force pilot, Managing Director and co-founder of the Old Flying Machine Company along with his father Ray, displaying vintage aircrafts all around the world, One of Britain’s most experienced display pilots of historic military aircraft.

http://www.ofmc.co.uk/rayandmark.aspx

1961 - Launch of Vostok 2, Soviet space mission which carried cosmonaut Gherman Titov into orbit for a full day in order to study the effects of a more prolonged period of weightlessness on the human body

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_2

1962 - 1st flight of the Wassmer WA-23, French single seat competition glider prototype, Experimental development of the WA 22 with a new wing of 18 m (59 ft) span and aspect ratio 22.

http://historique-wassmer.pagesperso-orange.fr/page_19.html - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9979

1962 - Birth of Gregory Errol Chamitoff, American engineer and NASA astronaut.

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

1964 – 1st North Vietnamese Air Force jet fighter unit, Fighter Regiment No. 921 (the “Red Star Squadron”), arrives in North Vietnam after training in the

People’s Republic of China, bringing 36 MiG-17 and MiG-19 fighters to Phúc Yên airfield near Hanoi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_People's_Air_Force#1964-1974_.28North_Vietnam.29

1966 – Braniff Airlines Flight 250 BAC 1-11-203AE, due to in-flight structural failure caused by extreme turbulence, crashes in Falls City, NE killing all 42 on board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braniff_Airlines_Flight_250

1967 - Death of Clifford MacKay "Black Mike" McEwen, Canadian WWI fighter ace and senior commander in the RCAF during WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_McEwen - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/mcewen.php

1968 - Launch of Canyon 1, 1st of a serie of 7 United States spy satellites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canyon_(satellite)

1969 - The biggest helicopter ever built, the Soviet Mil V-12 secures a world lifting record for rotary-winged aircraft by carrying 40,205.5 kg (88,636 lb.) to a height of 2,255 m (7,400 ft.).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil_V-12#Design_and_development

1969 - Death of Robert Leon Henri Massenet-Royer de Marancour, French WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Massenet-Royer_de_Marancour - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/massenet-royer.php

1969 - Birth of Alejandro "Álex" Maclean, Spanish TV film producer and aerobatics pilot, who competed in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship under the number 36. Maclean was nicknamed "The Flying Matador".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro_Maclean - http://www.maclean.es/en/aircraft/

1971 - 1st flight of the Aérospatiale Gazelle, SA 341.1001 1st french production of the five-seat light helicopter with a longer cabin, an enlarged tail unit and an uprated Turbomeca Astazou IIIA engine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%C3%A9rospatiale_Gazelle

1975 - Death of Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón, Infante of Spain, Duke of Galliera, Spanish military aviator.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infante_Alfonso,_Duke_of_Galliera

1976 - Death of Werner Junck, German WWI flying ace, he helped to set German airline in Colombia and Venezuela, competitor in some FAI International Tourist plane challenges, chief pilot at the Albatros-Flugzeugwerke and chief pilot, head of the department of experimental Heinkel Flugzeugwerke, and WWII high ranking officer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Junck - http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Junck - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/junck.php

1979 - John D. Peterson, Jr., landed his Manta Pterodactyl Fledgling (Ultra light aircraft) at Hilton Head, South Carolina, coming from Long Beach, California, completing thus one of the earliest transcontinental flights in an ultralight aircraft, covering 5,152 km (3,200 miles) in 193-km (120-mile) hops.

http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?id=A19800372000

1981 - Death of Corradino D'Ascanio, Italian aeronautical engineer who designed the 1st production helicopter, for Agusta, and designed the 1st motor scooter for Ferdinando Innocenti.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corradino_D'Ascanio

1985 - STS-51-F, Space Shuttle Challenger mission, is back on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-51-F

1986 - 1st flight of The British Aerospace ATP, British short-range, low-noise, fuel-efficient twin turboprop airliner, evolution of the Hawker Siddeley HS 748.

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

1988 - Death of Anatoli Semyonovich Levchenko, soviet test pilot and cosmonaut.

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

1990 - 1st flight of the stealth version of the Bell OH-58 Kiowa Warrior, (OH-58X), American single-engine, single-rotor, military helicopters used for observation, utility, and direct fire support.

http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/bell_warrior.php

1991 - 1st flight of The Swift S-1, Polish single seat aerobatic glider.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swift_S-1

1993 - Death of Milton Orville 'Milt' Thompson, NASA research pilot, 1st person to fly a lifting body.

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

1996 - 1st flight of The Kawasaki OH-1 (nickname: "Ninja"), Japanese light military reconnaissance helicopter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_OH-1

1997 - Korean Air Flight 801 Boeing 747-3B5, crashes into the jungle in Guam on approach to airport, killing 228

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Flight_801

1998 - Pathfinder-Plus, US Lightweight, solar-powered, remotely piloted flying wing aircraft, was flown to a record altitude of 80,201 feet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Pathfinder#Pathfinder-Plus

2005 - Tuninter Flight 1153 ATR-72 heading from Italy to Tunisia runs out of fuel and crashes into the Mediterranean Sea, killing 16 of 39 on board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuninter_Flight_1153

2011 - A U.S. Boeing CH-47 Chinook military helicopter is shot down while transporting a quick Navy Seal reaction force attempting to reinforce an engaged unit of Army Rangers in Wardak province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Killing all 38 people on board

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Afghanistan_helicopter_shootdown

2011 - Launch of Astra 1N with an Ariane 5 launcher, satellite designed to provide digital television and radio broadcast services across Europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astra_1N

2012 - Mars Rover CURIOSITY (Nasa robotic space probe mission to Mars) which objectives include determining Mars' habitability, studying its climate and exogeology, and collecting data for future human missions, successfully landed in Gale Crater.

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