AUG21
1879 - Birth of Claude Grahame White, English pioneer of aviation, and the 1st to make a night flight, founder of Grahame-White Aviation Co. Ltd.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Grahame-White
1887 - Birth of Marcel P. Viallet, French WWI flying ace
http://theaerodrome.com/aces/france/viallet.php
1891 - Birth of Stanley James Goble, Australian WWI flying ace and WWII senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Goble - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/australi/goble.php
1893 - Birth of Wilfred Austin 'Will' Curtis, Canadian WWI flying ace who served in the RCAF during WWII and ended as Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) post WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Curtis - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/curtis3.php
1894 - Birth of Andrew Edward McKeever, Canadian WWI two-seater flying ace,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Edward_McKeever - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/mckeever.php
1897 - Birth of Carlo Del Prete, Italian raid aviator and WWI pilot.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Del_Prete
1905 - Birth of Helmut Zborowski (Graf Helmut Philip Georg Alexander Rudo Zborowski), Austrian aviation and rocket engine designer.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Zborowski
1908 - 1st circle and turn performed by a monoplane is carried out by the Antoinette II (originally the Gastambide-Mengin II) .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastambide-Mengin_monoplane
1910 - 1st powered flight in Chile is made by César Copetta Brosi on a Voisin.
http://www.pilotosretiradoslan.cl/cronicas/Los%20Copetta1%5B1%5D.htm
1912 - Death of George W. Thompson, American self-taught aviator, and one of the 1st Coloradan flyers, at the Prowers County Fair at Lamar, Colorado. He hit a treetop which threw him out, to fall about 40 feet to the ground, with the aircraft falling upon him.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Thompson_(aviator)
1917 - Death of Eduard Ritter von Dostler, German WWI fighter ace, killed by the observer of a British R.E.8 he was attacking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Ritter_von_Dostler - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/dostler.php
1918 - 1st flight of The Nieuport-Delage NiD 29, French single-seat biplane fighter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nieuport-Delage_NiD_29
1918 - British WWI flying ace Francis James Ralph (as observer gunner of a Bristol F.2b flown by british fighter ace Horace Percy Lale) scores 4 on a single mission.
http://theaerodrome.com/aces/england/ralph.php - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/lale.php
1923 - 1st flight of The ANEC I, British single-engine ultralight aircraft, 1st aircraft with an inverted engine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANEC_I
1923 - 1st use of electric beacons mounted on the ground to provide sight direction for night flying is made in the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/August_in_aviation/August_21
1924 - 1st flight of the Fokker D XII, Single engine sesquiplane fighter prototype.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/holland/fokker_d-12.php
1928 - Death of Flaminio Avet, Italian WWI flying ace
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/avet.php
1928 - 1st flight of the SPAD S-92, French single seat biplane trainer.
http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=129
1929 - Nicholas B. “Nick” Mamer and and Arthur Walker lands back in Spokane after a 120 hours 1 minute 40 seconds flight using inflight refuelling to make the distance from Spokane to San Francisco, New York City and back with their Buhl Airsedan biplane 'Spokane Sun God'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Mamer - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buhl_Airsedan
1931 - 1st flight of The de Havilland DH.81 Swallow Moth, low cost sporting aircraft prototype, single engined two seat low-wing monoplane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Swallow_Moth
1932 - Birth of George William Samuel Abbey, US Air force pilot and director of the Johnson Space Center, the man most responsible for the international space station, enlisting partner nations to share the adventure — and the costs — of a permanent outpost in Earth orbit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Abbey
1942 - USMC Major John Lucian Smith scores the 1st aerial victory by a Henderson Field-based aircraft (Cactus Air Force), shooting down a Mitsubishi A6M Zero over Guadalcanal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cactus_Air_Force#August - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lucian_Smith
1942 - Death of Harry King Goode, British WWI fighter ace, killed in the crash of a Liberator as serving in the RAF Accident Branch.
http://theaerodrome.com/aces/england/goode.php - http://www.66squadron.co.uk/biogs/goode.htm
1943 - Death of Hilda Beatrice Hewlett, 1st British aviatrix to earn a pilot's licence, successful early aviation entrepreneur. She created and ran the 1st flying school in the UK.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilda_Hewlett
1943 - Death of John Joseph Seerley, Jr., American WWI flying ace who also served in WWII
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8507556 - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/seerley.php
1944 - 1st flight of The Grumman F8F Bearcat (affectionately called "Bear") , American single-engine naval fighter aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F8F_Bearcat
1953 – A new world’s altitude record of 83,235 feet is set by Marion Eugene Carl in the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket at a maximum speed of Mach 1.728.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Skyrocket#Operational_history
1955 - 1st flight of the photographic-reconnaissance version Grumman F9F-8P Cougar, US carrier-based fighter aircraft.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/grumman_cougar.php?p=1
1956 - US Navy Commander R. W. “Duke” Windsor sets a US national speed record over a 15 km (9.3 mi) course, averaging 1,015.428 mph (1,635.150 km/hr) at China Lake, California flying a Vought F8U-1 Crusader.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vought_F-8_Crusader#Operational_history
1957 - The USAF formally cancels the XF-103 Mach 3 interceptor program.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XF-103
1957 - 1st successful long flight (6,000 km) of the 1st intercontinental ballistic missile, Soviet R-7 Semyorka.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-7_Semyorka#Development
1961 - 1st civilian jet to make a supersonic flight is a Douglas DC-8, It broke the sound barrier at Mach 1.012 (660 mph/1,062 km/h) while in a controlled dive through 41,000 ft (12,497 m) and maintained that speed, for 16 seconds. The flight was to collect data on a new leading-edge design for the wing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-8#Production_and_testing
1963 - Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-124 ditched on Neva river, Leningrad, after fuel exhaustion as it was circling in order to expend fuel, decreasing the risk of fire in the event of a forced landing after landin gear problems.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1963_Aeroflot_Tupolev_Tu-124_Neva_river_ditching
1965 - Launch of Gemini 5 (officially Gemini V), US manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_5
1967 - 1st flight of The Antonov An-30 'Clank', development of the An-24 Soviet twin turboprop transport/passenger aircraft designed for aerial cartography.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-30
1970 - 1st flight of the Grumman American AA-5, american prototype of a family of all-metal, 4-seat, light aircraft used for touring and training.
http://www.airliners.net/aircraft-data/stats.main?id=235 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_American_AA-5
1972 - Death of Albert Achard, French WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Achard - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/achard.php
1972 - Launch of OAO-3 'Copernicus', NASA Orbiting Astronomical Observatory satellite which high-quality observations of many objects in ultraviolet light.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbiting_Astronomical_Observatory#OAO-3_.28Copernicus.29
1973 - 1st flight of the Aerosport Scamp, American small biplane designed for home building featuring an open cabin, tricycle undercarriage, and a T-tail.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerosport_Scamp
1974 - 1st flight of the Hawker Siddeley Hawk, British single-engine, advanced jet trainer aircraft (BAE Systems Hawk)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAE_Systems_Hawk
1974 - 1st flight of the 2nd and last prototype Northrop YF-17 (nicknamed "Cobra"), lightweight fighter aircraft designed for the USAF's Lightweight Fighter (LWF) technology evaluation program.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YF-17
1989 - Highly-modified Grumman F8F Bearcat 'Rare Bear' sets the piston-driven aircraft 3 km World Speed Record at 528.33 mph (850.26 km/h)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_Bear
1993 – NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Observer
1994 - Royal Air Maroc Flight 630 ATR 42-312 crashed approximately ten minutes after takeoff from Agadir – Al Massira Airport, killing all 44.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Air_Maroc_Flight_630
1995 - Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529 crashed near Carrollton, Georgia-USA, after the failure of the propeller due to undiscovered metal fatigue in one blade resulting from corrosion from chlorine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Southeast_Airlines_Flight_529
1996 - Launch of The Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer (FAST), NASA's Small Explorer (SMEX) spacecraft, designed to observe and measure the plasma physics of the auroral phenomena.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Auroral_Snapshot_Explorer
1998 – A Lumbini Airways de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 crashed in a mountainous region near Ghorepani, Nepal, killing all 18.
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19980821-0
1998 - Laima, a Phase 1 Aerosonde, completed a 2,031 mile (3,270 km) flight across the Atlantic Ocean from Newfoundland, Canada to Benbecula, an island off the coast of Scotland in 26 hours 45 minutes in stormy weather, using approximately 1.5 U.S. gallons (1.25 imperial gallons or 5.7 litres) of gasoline.. This was the 1st crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle,), and also the smallest aircraft ever to cross the Atlantic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAI_Corporation_Aerosonde
2007 - STS-118, Shuttle Endeavour is back on Earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-118
2007 - Death of Caroline Aigle, 1st woman fighter pilot in the French Air Force.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Aigle
2013 - Death of Charles Gordon Fullerton, USAF test pilot and NASA astronaut