AUG20
1832 - Birth of Thaddeus Sobieski Coulincourt Lowe, also known as Professor T. S. C. Lowe, American Civil War aeronaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaddeus_S._C._Lowe
1895 - Birth of John Theobald Milne, British WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Theobald_Milne - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/england/milne.php
1899 - Birth of George Henry Benjamin Smith, British WWI flying ace
http://theaerodrome.com/aces/england/smith4.php
1908 - Robert Gastambride becomes the 1st passenger flown in a monoplane on board of the Antoinette II.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastambide-Mengin_monoplane
1909 - 1st test flight of the German non-rigid airship 'Erbslöh' over Leichlingen. It hovered 100m.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erbsl%C3%B6h_(Luftschiff)
1910 - 1st U.S. Army experiments with firing a rifle from an airplane takes place when Lt. Jacob Earl Fickel conducts firing trials from a Curtiss biplane piloted by Curtiss himself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Earl_Fickel#Notability
1912 - Birth of František Fajtl, WWII Czech fighter pilot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franti%C5%A1ek_Fajtl - http://cieldegloire.com/002t_fajtl_f.php
1914 - Birth of Raymond Towers "Ray" Holmes, British fighter pilot who was feted by the press as a war hero who saved Buckingham Palace from being severely damaged by German bombing during the Battle of Britain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Holmes - http://www.bbm.org.uk/as-holmes.htm
1915 - 1st sustained bombing offensive is made against Austria-Hungary by Italian Caproni Ca2 3-engined biplanes.
1918 - Death of Johann Schlimpen, German WWI flying ace, killed in action.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/schlimpen.php
1919 - 1st flight of the Zeppelin LZ-120 'Bodensee', German civilian dirigle airship
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Zeppelins#Zeppelins_constructed_after_World_War_I
1923 - 1st flight (tethered) of the USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 1st of 4 US Navy rigid airships, based on Zeppelin bomber L-49 (LZ-96).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Shenandoah_(ZR-1)
1932 - 1st flight of the Bleriot-SPAD 91-8, French biplane fighter prototype, evolution of the SPad-91 with a supercharged engine.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/bleriot_s-91-7.php - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9260
1935 - 1st flight of the Hawker Fury MKII, evolution of the Fury I, British biplane fighter aircraft.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/hawker_fury.php
1935 - Boeing prototype B-17, designated Model 299, with Boeing chief test-pilot Leslie Tower at the controls, flew from Seattle to Wright Field in nine hours and three minutes at an average cruising speed of 252 miles per hour (406 km/h).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-17_Flying_Fortress#Development
1936 - 1st flight of The Tupolev ANT-35, Soviet twin-engined light transport monoplane that entered service with Aeroflot in 1937 as the Tupolev PS-35.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_ANT-35
1938 - Birth of Jean-Loup Jacques Marie Chrétien, French engineer, French air force pilot, test pilot and CNES astronaut, Chrétien 1st Frenchman and the 1st western European in space
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Loup_Chr%C3%A9tien
1939 - The last rigid airship, the Graf Zeppelin (LZ 130) makes its last flight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graf_Zeppelin_(LZ_130)#Flights_25_to_30
1942 - Death of István Horthy de Nagybánya, eldest son of Hungarian Regent Admiral Miklós Horthy, Politician and WWII fighter pilot, killed in an unexplained crash of his MÁVAG Héja on take off.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istv%C3%A1n_Horthy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%81VAG_H%C3%A9ja
1943 - Death of Chiyoji Saito, 2nd sino-japanese war and WWII japanese fighter ace, killed in action over Wewak.
http://www.cieldegloire.com/010_saito_c.php
1944 - USAAF B-29 "Cait Paomat" was damaged by anti-aircraft gunfire during a raid on the Yawata Iron Works, and forced to divert to Soviet Union. It was not returned and used in the Tu-4 Bull development effort.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-29_Superfortress#Soviet_copying_of_the_B-29
1947 - US Navy commander Turner Foster Caldwell, with the Douglas Skystreak prototype D-558-1, sets a new world airspeed record of 640 mph (1,031 km/h).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Skystreak#Operational_history
1948 - Birth of Barbara Ann Allen Rainey, 1st female pilot in the U. S. armed forces, 1st woman to be designated a Naval aviator and 1st Navy woman to qualify as a jet pilot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Allen_Rainey
1953 - 17 Republic F-84G Thunderjet utilizing aerial refueling flew from the USA to the UK. The 4,485-mile (3,900 nmi, 7,220 km) journey was the longest-ever nonstop flight by jet fighters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_F-84_Thunderjet#Operational_history
1954 - Air Force Lt. Col. John Paul Stapp made his second run on the Sonic Wind 1 rocket sled, at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, attaining a speed of 735 feet per second.
http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?id=A19680015000
1955 - Col. Horace A. Hanes flew a North American F-100C Super Sabre to set the 1st supersonic world speed record of 822.135 mph (714.416 kn, 1,323.098 km/h).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackay_Trophy#1950s - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-100_Super_Sabre#Notable_achievements
1960 – Korabl-Sputnik 2 (Known as Sputnik 5), Soviet satellite with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mices, 2 rats and a variety of plants, 1st spaceflight to send animals into orbit, returns his passengers safely to Earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_5 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_space_dogs#Belka_and_Strelka
1963 - 1st flight of The British Aircraft Corporation One-Eleven, also known as the BAC-111, BAC-1-11 or BAC 1-11, British short-range jet airliner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAC_One-Eleven
1969 - 1st flight of The FMA IA 58 Pucará (Quechua: Fortress), Argentine ground-attack and counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft, low-wing two-turboprop-engined all-metal monoplane with retractable landing gear.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FMA_IA_58_Pucar%C3%A1
1970 - 1st flight of The Sikorsky S-67 Blackhawk, American private-venture, prototype attack helicopter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_S-67_Blackhawk
1971 - Death of Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas (or Rashid Minhas Shaheed), NH, Pakistanese Air force pilot, in the crash of his T-33 trainer hijacked by a Bengali Instructor pilot, Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahmanin who was trying to join The Bangladesh Air Force duting the liberation war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashid_Minhas - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matiur_Rahman_(military_pilot)
1975 - Launch of Viking 1, Nasa Spacecraft to Mars.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_1
1977 – Launch of Voyager 2 , NASA spacecraft to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_2
1978 - 1st flight of the Aérospatiale 'Fouga' 90, French 2 seat jet trainer prototype, evolution of the Fouga 'Magister'.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9656
1978 - 1st flight of the British Aerospace Sea Harrier, British naval VTOL/STOVL jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft, development of the Hawker Siddeley Harrier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Aerospace_Sea_Harrier
1986 - 1st test-flight of a propfan engine (hybrid between a turbofan and a turboprop), the General Electric GE-36.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/August_in_aviation/August_20
1992 - 1st flight of The HAL Dhruv, Indian utility helicopter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_Dhruv
1992 - Death of Walter Grabmann, Spanish war and WWII German flying ace
http://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=711
2002 - 1st flight of The KAI T-50 Golden Eagle, South Korean supersonic advanced trainer and multirole fighter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KAI_T-50_Golden_Eagle
2008 - Death of Ed W. "Too Tall" Freeman, US Army helicopter pilot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Freeman
2008 – Spanair Flight 5022 McDonnell Douglas MD-82, from Madrid to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport. 146 people are killed in the crash, and 8 more die later. Only 18 people survive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanair_Flight_5022
2011 - Jon Egging, British member of the RAF Aerobatic team 'Red Arrows' is killed in the crash of his BAEC Hawk T-1 during the Bournemouth Air Festival.
2011 - First Air Flight 6560 Boeing 737-200C, crashed near Resolute Bay, Nunavut, Canada. Of the 15 people on board, there were three survivors