DEC06

1917 - Death of Russell Winnicott, British WWI flying ace, killed in a mid-air collision in his S.E.5a.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Winnicott - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/england/winnicott.php

1920 - Birth of Dominic Salvatore "Don" Gentile, USAF WWII fighter ace and test pilot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Salvatore_Gentile - http://www.cieldegloire.com/014_gentile_d_s.php

1921 - Birth of George Frederick "Buzz" "Screwball" Beurling, most successful Canadian WWII fighter pilot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Beurling - http://cieldegloire.com/003_beurling_g_f.php - http://www.elknet.pl/acestory/beurling/beurling.htm

1924 - 1st flight of The Handley Page Handcross, British single-engined biplane day bomber prototype.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_HP.28_Handcross

1928 - North American Aviation, major US aerospace manufacturer, responsible for a number of historic aircraft, is founded.

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

1934 - 1st flight of The Hawker P.V.4 , British biplane prototype general-purpose military aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_P.V.4

1936 - Death of Ludwig Hautzmayer, Austro-Hungarian WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Hautzmayer - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/austrhun/hautzmayer.php

1936 - 1st flight of The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.29, British mid-wing cantilever monoplane single engined bomber prototype aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_Whitworth_A.W.29

1937 - 1st flight of the Amiot 340, 3 seat high wing twin engine monoplane medium bomber prototype.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=5690&ID_CONSTRUCTEUR=92

1939 - 1st flight of the Morane-Saulnier MS-435, 2 seat trainer version prototype developped from the MS-406 fighter.

http://www.aviafrance.com/morane-saulnier-ms-435-aviation-france-864.htm

1942 - Operation Oyster: a mixed force of light bombers from No.2 Group, RAF Bomber Command, led by Wing Commander J.E. Pelly-Fry, carries out an attack on the Philips radio and valve works in Eindhoven in the Netherlands

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

1944 - 1st flight of the Heinkel He 162 'Volksjäger' or 'Salamander', German single-engine, jet-powered fighter aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_162

1952 - Cubana de Aviación Douglas DC-4 stalled during the initial climb from Kindley Air Force Base in Bermuda, lost height and crashed tail first into the sea, killing 37 over 41.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1952_Bermuda_air_crash

1955 - 1st flight of the Bensen B-8M, American single-seat autogyro, refinement of the Bensen B-7.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bensen_B-8

1957 - Death of Robert Albert Charles Esnault-Pelterie, pioneering French aircraft designer and spaceflight theorist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Esnault-Pelterie

1957 - 1st flight of the 2nd and last prototype of The Saunders-Roe SR.53, British prototype interceptor aircraft of mixed jet and rocket propulsion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saunders-Roe_SR.53#Operational_history

1957 - 1st flight of The Lockheed Model 188 Electra , American 4 engined turboprop airliner, 1st large turboprop airliner produced in the USA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_L-188_Electra

1957 - Vanguard TV3, 1st attempt of the USA to launch a satellite into orbit around the Earth, Exploded on launch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard_TV3

1959 - Capt. Walter J. Hodgson flew a Kaman H-43B 'Huskie' helicopter at Bloomfield, Connecticut, to a 29,846-foot altitude record for Class E1D helicopters.

http://www.aero-web.org/history/events/1959.htm

1959 - The 2nd McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II (XF4H-1) performed a zoom climb to a world record of 98,557 ft (30,040 m) during operation Top Flight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_F-4_Phantom_II#World_records

1960 - The NAeL Minas Gerais (pennant number A 11), Colossus-class aircraft carrier, previously HMS Vengeance, is commissioned and is the 1st Brazilian aircraft carrier.

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

1963 - 1st flight of The Piper PA-32 Cherokee Six, American six or seven seat, fixed landing gear, light aircraft, development of the PA-28 Cherokee.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_PA-32

1963 - Robert W. Smith in a Lockheed NF-104A, American mixed power, high-performance, supersonic aerospace trainer, achieves an altitude of 120,800 ft (36,800 m).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_NF-104A#First_NF-104A

1965 - Luna 8, also known as Lunik 8, Soviet lunar space probe crashes on the moon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_8

1966 - 1st flight of The Shenyang BA-5, People's Republic of China radio-controlled target drone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenyang_BA-5

1973 - 1st flight of the production version of the Concorde

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde_(avion)#Les_essais

1984 - PBA Flight 1039 Embraer 110 Bandeirante crashed upon takeoff at Jacksonville, killing all 13 after a maintenance error, as the elevator cables had been cross-linked, causing the elevators to operate in reverse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PBA_Flight_1039

1988 - STS-27, Space shuttle Atlantis mission is back on earth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-27

1990 - An Italian Air force Aermacchi MB-326 crashes over a School after the pilot ejected.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strage_dell%27Istituto_Salvemini

1990 - Death of Victor Emmanuel Groom, British WWI flying ace, WWII and post WWII high ranking officer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Groom - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/groom.php

1991 - 1st flight of The Dornier 328, german turboprop-powered commuter airliner, Initially produced by Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH and later by Fairchild Aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornier_328

1993 - 1st flight of The Bombardier 415 Superscooper (formerly Canadair CL-415 SuperScooper), Canadian amphibious aircraft purpose-built as a water bomber.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_415

1997 – A Russian Antonov An-124 cargo plane operated by the Russian Air Force, crashed in a residential area after take-off in Irkutsk, Russia. All 23 people on-board and 44 people on the ground were killed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-124#Notable_accidents

1999 - Death of Rhulin Albert Thomas, American aviator, 1st deaf pilot to successfully fly solo across the US, without crashing along the way.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=58880963

2005 - Iranian Air Force C-130E Hercules crashed into a 10-floor apartment building in a residential area of Tehran after an unsuccessfully attempt to make an emergency landing at the city's Mehrabad International Airport due to engine problems killing all 94 on board, and 34 on ground.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Iranian_Air_Force_C-130_crash