DEC09

1916 - Birth of Curtis Pitts, American aircraft designer, known for a series of popular aerobatic biplanes as the Pitts Special.

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

1918 - Birth of Alvin Swauger White, American test pilot, engineer, and USAF astronaut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_S._White

1925 - The 111th Observation Squadron, Texas National Guard, suffers its 1st casualties when Capt. Emil Wagner and Lt. Luke McLaughlin put a Curtiss JN-6H, 38105, into a steep dive whereupon the port wing collapses and the airframe plummets to the ground at Ellington Field, Texas. Both crew survive the impact but die later in a Houston hospital.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_military_aircraft_(1925%E2%80%931934)

1930 - Death of Paul Frank Baer, American WWI flying ace who scored the 1st aerial victory ever for American military aviation, killed in the crash of his floatplane which struck on take off the mast of a junk on the Yangtze River. He was an Aeronautic inspector and Commercial pilot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Frank_Baer - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/baer.php

1931 - Death of Romeo Popescu, Romanian aviator, while attempting to break the 500km closed-circuit speed record with a I.A.R. CV-11, Romanian fighter prototype, IAR's 1st original aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAR_CV_11

1933 - Jersey Airways, airline operating air services to and from the Channel Islands, is formed.

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

1935 - 1st flight of The Curtiss SBC Helldiver, American two-place scout bomber, last military biplane procured by the US Navy.

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

1936 - Death of Juan de la Cierva y Codorníu, 1st Count of De La Cierva, Spanish civil engineer, pilot and aeronautical engineer, who invented a single-rotor type of aircraft that came to be called autogyro. He died in the crash of a KLM Douglas DC-2-115E at Croydon just after take off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_de_la_Cierva - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_KLM_Croydon_accident

1941 - Death of Arthur Stewart King Scarf, British WWII Bomber pilot, from injuries after he crash landed his Bristol Blenheim I severly damaged by japanese fighters over Singora airfield in Thailand.

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

1951 - 1st flight of The Fiat G.80, Italian military trainer and Italian's 1st true jet-powered aircraft

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_G.80

1956 – Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810 Canadair North Star, crashes near Hope, British Columbia, Canada, after encountering severe icing and turbulence over the mountains, killing all 62 people on board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Canada_Air_Lines_Flight_810

1959 - A Kaman H43B 'Huskie' rescue helicopter sets a new helicopter altitude record of 9,097 metres (29,846 feet) flown by USAF pilots William J. Davis and Walter J. Hodgson.

http://rafmuseum-1.titaninternet.co.uk/milestones-of-flight/world/1959.cfm

1965 - A fireball is seen from Michigan to Pennsylvania; witnesses report something crashing in the woods near Pittsburgh

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

1968 - Death of Arthur Bradfield Fairclough, Canadian WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Bradfield_Fairclough - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/fairclough.php

1970 - Death of Artem Ivanovich Mikoyan, Soviet aircraft designer who, In partnership with Mikhail Iosifovich Gurevich, designed many of the famous MiG military aircrafts.

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

1971 - Indian Airlines Hawker Siddeley HS 748 in reduced visibility during daylight hours, flew into high terrain about 50 mi (80 km) from Madurai airport, killing 21 over 31.

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19711209-0 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Siddeley_HS_748#Accidents_and_incidents

1973 - 1st flight of the Lefebvre MP-204 'Busard', French single-seat racing aircraft prototype for homebuilding.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lefebvre_Busard - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9588

1982 - 1st flight of the Cessna 208 Caravan, American single turboprop engine, fixed-gear short-haul regional airliner and utility aircraft.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/cessna_208.php

1982 - Aeronor Flight 304 Fairchild F-27 crashed near La Florida Airport, in the Chilean city of La Serena, killing all 46 after it suffered a malfunction in one of its motors on approach.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeronor_Flight_304

1988 - 1st flight of The Saab JAS 39 Gripen, swedish lightweight single-engine delta wing and canard configuration with relaxed stability design and fly-by-wire technology multirole jet fighter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_JAS_39_Gripen

1992 - STS-53, Space Shuttle Discovery mission in support of the United States Department of Defense, is back on earth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-53

1995 - Death of Douglas Corrigan, American aviator, nicknamed "Wrong Way" after a transcontinental flight from Long Beach, California, to New York. He flew from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, to Ireland, though his flight plan was filed to return to Long Beach. He never publicly admitted to having flown to Ireland intentionally.

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

2002 - 1st flight of The Diamond DA42 Twin Star, Austrian four seat, twin engine, propeller-driven molded largely of composite materials airplane

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_DA42

2006 - Launch of STS-16, Space shuttle Discovery mission to the ISS, with Arne Christer Fuglesang, 1st swedish in space.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-116

2008 - Death of Yury Nikolayevich Glazkov, Soviet Air Force officer and cosmonaut.

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

2010 - The South African National Space Agency (SANSA), South Africa's government agency responsible for the promotion and development of aeronautics and aerospace space research, is founded.

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