DEC01

1918 - Death of Remington Vernam, American WWI flying ace, from wounds received in action.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remington_Vernam_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/vernam.php

1919 - Birth of Ioan Marinciu, Romanian WWII flying ace

http://www.worldwar2.ro/arr/?article=713 - http://cieldegloire.fr/012_marinciu_i.php

1919 - Birth of John Connell Freeborn , British WWII RAF pilot. He was not only an ace but also held the distinction of having flown more operational hours than any other RAF pilot during the Battle of Britain.

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

1920 - 1st flight of the SPAD S-34-Bis, French twin seat side by side biplane tourer/trainer built for the French Navy.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=134

1920 - Birth of George Andrew Davis Jr., American fighter Ace during WWII and the Korean War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Andrew_Davis,_Jr. - http://cieldegloire.fr/014_davis_g_a.php

1921 - 1st flight of The US Navy dirigible (steerable airship) Goodyear C7.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/world-aviation/1921.aspx

1922 - Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugwerke A.G , German aircraft manufacturing company, is formed at Warnemünde.

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

1925 - The sole Dobi-I, Lithuanian High wing monoplane and 1st airplane of Lithuanian design, built by Jurgis Dobkevicius, is damaged in accident beyond repair.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobi-I

1931 - French René Lefèvre takes off from Paris with a Peyret-Mauboussin PM XI (two-seat high wing touring aircraft) for a 11000 Km flight to Tananarive, Madagascar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peyret-Mauboussin_PM_XI - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=7956

1932 - 1st flight of The Heinkel He 70 'Blitz', German low-wing single engine mail plane and fast passenger aircraft which setted some records.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_70

1932 - 1st flight of The Bernard 200T, French high wing 4 seat light touring aircraft prototype.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_200

1935 - 1st airway traffic control center is opened in Newark, N.J., operated by staff of Eastern Air Lines, United Air Lines, American Airlines and TWA.

http://www.faa.gov/news/communications/atc_anniversary/media/Celebrating%2075%20Years%20of%20Federal%20Air%20Traffic%20Control%2006-21-11.pdf

1941 - Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York City and Director of the Office of Civilian Defense, signs Administrative Order 9, creating the Civil Air Patrol.

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

1945 - 1st flight of The Republic RC-3 Seabee, American all-metal amphibious sports aircraft

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_RC-3_Seabee

1945 - Avro Canada Ltd was formed and took over the facilities of Victory Aircraft Ltd at Malton, Ontario.

http://canadianaviationhistory.pbworks.com/w/page/13801126/On%C2%A0this%C2%A0day%C2%A0in%C2%A0Canadian%C2%A0Aviation%C2%A0History%C2%A0December

1949 - 1st flight of The Tupolev Tu-80, Soviet 4 engine prototype for a longer-ranged version of the Tupolev Tu-4 bomber.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-80

1951 - Birth of Aleksandr Panayotov 'Sasha' Aleksandrov, Bulgarian pilot and cosmonaut.

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

1960 - Launch of Korabl-Sputnik 3 (or Vostok-1K No.3, also known as Sputnik 6), Soviet spacecraft carrying two dogs; Pcholka and Mushka ("little bee" and "little fly"; affectionate diminutives of "pchela" and "mukha", respectively), a television camera and scientific instruments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korabl-Sputnik_3 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_space_dogs#Pchyolka_and_Mushka

1961 - Death of Richard Paul Rothe, German WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Rothe - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/rothe.php

1961 - Britannia Airways, British charter airline, is founded.

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

1967 - Birth of Konstantin Mirovich Kozeyev, Russian cosmonaut.

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

1967 - Birth of Terry W. Virts, Jr., USAF pilot and NASA astronaut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_W._Virts

1969 - 1st legislation to limit aircraft noise levels at airports is introduced in U.S. Federal Air Regulation, Part 36.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/world-aviation/1969.aspx

1970 - 1st flight of The Dassault Mystère/Falcon 10, French early business jet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Falcon_10 - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9668

1970 - Death of Ruth Bancroft Law, pioneer American aviatrix, 1st woman to loop the loop in an airplane and 1st woman to make a night flight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Bancroft_Law - http://www.earlyaviators.com/eoliver.htm

1974 – TWA Flight 514 Boeing 727-231 crashes on approach with high crosswinds northwest of Dulles International Airport killing all 92 people on board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_514

1974 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231 Boeing 727-251, chartered to pick up the Baltimore Colts football team, crashes northwest of John F. Kennedy International Airport due to erroneous airspeed readings caused by atmospheric icing, killing 3.

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

1976 - 1st flight of The Ahrens AR 404, American high-wing monoplane powered by four turboprop engines civil transport aircraft prototype. In order to facilitate the loading and unloading of cargo, the fuselage was of constant rectangular section along almost its entire length, the main undercarriage was retracted into sponsons on the fuselage sides, and the tail included a loading ramp.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahrens_AR_404

1977 - Death of Eugenio Casagrande, conte di Villaviera, Italian aviation pionneer.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenio_Casagrande

1977 - 1st flight of Lockheed Have Blue, American stealth aircraft prototype that preceded the F-117 nighthawk.

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

1981 – Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308 McDonnell Douglas MD-81 crashes on Corsica's Mt. San Pietro near Ajaccio, killing all 180 people on board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inex-Adria_Aviopromet_Flight_1308

1984 - The Controlled Impact Demonstration (or colloquially the Crash In the Desert) Occurs. It was a joint project between NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aimed at acquiring data, as well as demonstrating and testing new technologies, with the intent of improving occupant crash survivability, by crashing a Boeing 720 aircraft.

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

1986 - Death of Ivan Trofimovich Yeremenko, Soviet Spanish war flying ace and WWII high ranking officer.

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

1988 - Death of Joseph Stewart Temple Fall Canadian WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stewart_Temple_Fall - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/fall.php

1989 - Launch of The International Astrophysical Observatory "GRANAT", Soviet space observatory developed in collaboration with France, Denmark and Bulgaria.

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

1991 - STS-44, Space Shuttle Atlantis mission, is back on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-44

1993 - Northwest Airlink Flight 5719 Jetstream 31 crashed into two ridges just east of Hibbing, killing all 18

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Airlink_Flight_5719

1995 - 1st flight of The Air Tractor AT-602, american agricultural aircraft of monoplane low-wing, taildragger configuration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Tractor_AT-602

2001 - Border Guard Service of Russia Flight 9064 Ilyushin Il-76TD right wing caught fire at 29000 feet. On an attempt for an emergency landing, fire on the wing got worse. The plane ended up hitting trees, causing it to break apart as it crashed at Novaya Inya Russia, killing all 18.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Forces_of_the_Russian_Federation_Flight_9064

2001 – Captain Bill Compton brings Trans World Airlines Flight 220, an MD-80, into St. Louis International Airport bringing to an end 76 years of TWA operations following TWA's purchase by American Airlines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_World_Airlines#2000s

2005 - Death of Raynham George 'Ray' Hanna, New Zealand born pilot in the RAF and a number of civilian companies. During his time in the RAF he was a founding member of the Red Arrows. He also founded the Old Flying Machine Company and regularly flew aircraft from his vintage warbird collection at airshows around the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Hanna - http://www.ofmc.co.uk/rayandmark.aspx

2006 - Death of Iyozoh Fujita, Japanese WWII flying ace and post WWII airliner pilot, Famous for having shot down 10 planes on a single mission over Midway.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iyozoh_Fujita - http://www.cieldegloire.com/010_fujita_i.php

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%97%A4%E7%94%B0%E6%80%A1%E4%B8%8E%E8%94%B5

2009 - Soyuz TMA-15, Russian manned spaceflight to the ISS, is back on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TMA-15

2012 - 1st flight of the Dassault nEUROn, experimental Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) developed with international cooperation, led by the French company Dassault Aviation.

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