AUG15

1935 - Death of Wiley Hardeman Post, famed American aviator, 1st pilot to fly solo around the world. Uncertain of his position in bad weather on his way to point Barrow, he landed in a lagoon to ask directions. On takeoff, the engine failed at low altitude, and the aircraft (an Hybrid built as a mix of the fuselage of an airworthy Lockheed Orion and the wings of a wrecked experimental Lockheed Explorer), uncontrollably nose-heavy at low speed, plunged into the lagoon. His passenger William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers American cowboy, vaudeville performer, humorist, social commentator and motion picture actor was killed with him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiley_Post#Final_flight_and_death - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Rogers#Aviation_and_death

1935 - 1st flight of The Seversky P-35, American fighter aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seversky_P-35

1937 - Lufthansa begins seaplane services between the Azores and New York with the assistance of seaplane tenders stationed along the route.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/August_in_aviation/August_15

1939 - During a mass formation dive bombing demonstration for high ranking commanders of the Luftwaffe at Neuhammer training grounds near Sagan, 13 Ju 87s and 26 crew members were lost when they crashed into the ground almost simultaneously. The planes dived through cloud, expecting to release their practice bombs and pull out of the dive once below the cloud ceiling, unaware that on that particular day the ceiling was too low and unexpected ground mist formed, leaving them no time to pull out of the dive

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Ju_87#Second_World_War

1940 - "The Greatest Day" of the Battle of britain. The Luftwaffe mounted the largest number of sorties of the campaign.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Britain#Main_assault

1940 - 1st RCAF victory in the Battle of Britain was scored by S/L Ernest Archibald "Ernie" McNab who destroyed a Dornier Do 17 while with No. 111 Squadron RAF.

http://www.acesofww2.com/Canada/aces/McNab.htm - http://cieldegloire.com/003_mc_nab_e_a.php

1942 - The Pathfinder Force (PFF) is formed, under the command of Group Captain D.C.T. Bennett, as a specialised target-marking force within RAF Bomber Command

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-military-aviation/1942.aspx

1944 - 1st air-to-air victory by a jet is scored by Feldwebel Helmut Lennartz, shooting down a B-17 Flying Fortress in a Messerschmitt Me 262.

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

1945 - 1st flight of the Ilyushin Il-12 'Coach', Soviet twin-engine cargo aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-12

1945 - Birth of Charles Barbin “Chuck” DeBellevue, USAF officer, 1st Air Force Weapon Systems Officer (WSO) to become a flying "Ace"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_B._DeBellevue

1945 - Death of Matome Ugaki, admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during WWII, shot down in his Yokosuka D4Y near Okinawa during the last Kamikaze mission.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matome_Ugaki#Final_mission

1947 - The Pakistan Air Force is formed.

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

1947 - Birth of Manley Lanier "Sonny" Carter, Jr., American physician, professional soccer player, Naval officer, and NASA astronaut.

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

1947 - 1st flight of The Piasecki HRP-1 Rescuer (aka Harp), US tandem-rotor transport or rescue helicopter developped from the Piasecki PV-3.

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

1949 - 1st North Vietnamese service aircraft flight is made with a Tiger Moth, initially a private property of the emperor Bao Dai.

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

1949 - Birth of Beverly Lynn Burns, American airliner pilot, 1st woman to captain the Boeing 747 jumbo jet.

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

1951 - Test pilot Bill Bridgeman reaches a record altitude of 79, 494 ft. in the #2 Douglas D-558-II rocket research aircraft, although this does not qualify for FAI (Federal Aeronautique Internationale) recognition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Skyrocket#Operational_history

1952 - 1st flight of the Poulin JP-30, French single-seat agricultural aircraft prototype.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poulin_JP-30 - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=2855

1953 - Death of Ludwig Prandtl, German scientist, pioneer in the development of rigorous systematic mathematical analyses which he used for underlying the science of aerodynamics, which have come to form the basis of the applied science of aeronautical engineering.

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

1953 - French aviatrix Jacqueline Auriol is the 1st european woman to break the sound barrier with a Mystère II.

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

1956 - 2nd prototype of the The FFA P-16 (Swiss prototype ground attack jet fighter) breaks the sound barrier for the 1st time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FFA_P-16#Testing_and_evaluation

1959 - 1st untethered flight of The Kamov Ka-22 Vintokryl 'Hoop', soviet rotorcraft, experimental transport aircraft combining the capabilities of a helicopter for vertical take-off and landing with those of a fixed-wing aircraft for cruise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamov_Ka-22

1959 - Birth of Scott Douglas "Scooter" Altman, US Navy test pilot and NASA astronaut.

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

1961 - 1st flight of The Beagle B.206 'Basset', British two-seat twin-engined liaison and communication aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beagle_B.206

1962 - Vostok 3 and 4 are back on earth. Cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev (Vostok 3) orbited the Earth 64 times over nearly four days in space, a feat which would not be matched by NASA until the Gemini program. Also 1st time that more than one manned spacecraft were in orbit at the same time and that a ship-to-ship radio contact was established.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_3 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_4

1967 - Death of Sidney Joseph "Jack" Cottle ("the man with the funny elbows"), british WWI fighter ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Cottle - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/cottle.php

1969 - Death of Amyas Eden Borton, British WWI pilot, Raid pilot and Air Officer Commanding the RAF's Inland Area before WWII.

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

1969 - Birth of Scott Douglas "Scooter" Altman, USN test pilot and NASA astronaut.

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

1976 - SAETA Flight 232 Vickers Viscount 785D crashed on the Chimborazo Volcano, ecuador, killing all 59. Reported missing, the wreckage was found only 6 years later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAETA_Flight_232 - http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19760815-0

1983 - Death of Robert Kenneth Whitney, Canadian WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kenneth_Whitney - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/whitney.php

1988 - 1st flight of The PZL Bielsko SZD-55, Polish Standard Class sailplane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL_Bielsko_SZD-55

1989 - Death of Minoru Genda, well-known Japanese military aviator and politician. He is best known for planning the Pearl Harbor attack.

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

1990 - Death of Ivan Alekseyevich Lakejev, Soviet fighter ace who fought during Spanish War, Soviet–Japanese war and WWII.

http://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Aleksejevi%C4%8D_Lakejev

1997 - The General Atomics ALTUS I, American unmanned aerial vehicle designed for scientific research, reached an altitude of 43,500 feet during its last flight, a record for a remotely operated aircraft powered by a piston engine

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

2001 - The Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei (German for German Zeppelin shipping company) has successfully offers joyrides with Zeppelin NT airship.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin_NT#Range_of_application

2006 - 1st flight of The Boeing EA-18G Growler, American carrier-based electronic warfare aircraft, specialized version of the two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_EA-18G_Growler

2011 - Death of Ralph Dayton Albertazzie, US Air force pilot, pilot of Air Force One during the Nixon administration, who flew the president on a historic trip to China in 1972.

http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/566266/Ralph-D--Albertazzie.html?nav=5007