DEC16

1944 - Death of Shirotaro Kashima, Japanese WWII flying ace, killed in action.

http://acesofww2.com/japan/

1944 - Beginning of The Battle of the Bulge (also known as the Ardennes Offensive and the Von Rundstedt Offensive).To support the offensive, the Luftwaffe had assembled some 2,460 combat aircraft, including 1,770 single-engine fighters.

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

1944 - Largest loss of life in a single attack of V2 occurs at Antwerp, Belgium, when the roof of a crowded cinema was struck, leaving 567 dead and 291 injured.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2#Operational_history

1948 - Royal Australian Navy Aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney (R17) is commissioned, 1st aircraft carriers of the RAN.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Sydney_(R17)

1949 - 1st flight of The Nord 2200, French jet fighter prototype developed as a shipboard fighter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_2200 - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1037

1949 - 1st flight of the Rey R-1, French twin engine low wing monoplane prototype designed with a flexible wing to absorb gusts.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=5920

1951 - 1st helicopter powered by a gas-turbine engine flies successfully. The Kaman K-225 uses a turbine that makes for a lighter, simpler, more powerful engine compared to a conventional piston engine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter#Turbine_age

1952 - North Central Airlines is founded from Wisconsin Central Airlines after it moved from Wisconsin to Mineapolis.

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

1953 - 1st flight of The Sud-Ouest S.O.1221 Djinn, French 2 seat light helicopter issued from the 1220 prototype. The rotors were driven by compressed-air jets at the end of each blade.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sud-Ouest_Djinn - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=2157

1953 - 1st flight of Sud Aviation (SNCASO) S.O. 4050-02 Vautour IIA, French Single-seat ground-attack jet aircraft prototype.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sud_Aviation_Vautour#Variants - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=2874

1953 - 1st flight of the Dassault MD-454 Mystère IVB, Improved version of the French fighter with a Radar and afterburner.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Myst%C3%A8re_IV#Myst.C3.A8re_IV_B - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1015

1954 - Death of Maurice Colliex, French engineer, Early aviator, aircraft designer, test pilot and WWI pilot.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Colliex - http://www.earlyaviators.com/ecolliex.htm -

http://aviation.maisons-champagne.com/dir.php?centre=04-bio-colliex&menu=11

1956 - Death of René Couzinet, French engineer and aircraft designer.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Couzinet

1957 - 1st flight of The Antonov An-12 'Cub', Soviet four-engined turboprop transport aircraft, military version of the Antonov An-10.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-12

1959 - China Airlines (CAL), flag carrier and the largest airline of Republic of China, is formed.

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

1960 - While approaching New York's Idlewild Airport, United Airlines Flight 826 Douglas DC-8 collides with TWA Flight 266 Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation in a blinding snowstorm over Staten Island, killing 134.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_New_York_air_disaster

1965 - Launch of Pioneer 6, NASA space probe, designed to measure large scale magnetic phenomena and particles and fields in interplanetary space.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_6,_7,_8,_and_9

1965 - Gemini 6A is back on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_6A

1966 - Death of Andre René Celestin Herbelin, French WWI flying ace

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Herbelin - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/france/herbelin.php

1971 - End of the Indo Pakistani war, The Indian Air Force lost 72 aircrafts and the Pakistan Air Force 94 aircrafts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistan_War

1979 - Launch of Soyuz T-1, unmanned Soviet space flight,test flight of a new Soyuz craft which docked with the orbiting Salyut 6 space station.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_T-1

1979 - British Airways Concorde lands in London after flying from New York in less than three hours (2 hours 58 minutes) at an average speed of 1,172 mph.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/December_in_aviation/December_16

1980 - Death of Hellmuth Walter, German engineer who pioneered research into rocket engines and gas turbines.

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

1990 - Death of Douglas Campbell, American aviator and WWI flying ace, 1st American aviator flying in an American unit to achieve the status of ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Campbell_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/campbell1.php

1994 - 1st flight of The Antonov An-70, russian four-engine medium-range transport aircraft, and 1st large aircraft to be powered by propfan engines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-70

1998 - 1st time that women flew combat sorties as US Navy strike fighter pilots and 1st combat use of the B-1B bomber during Operation Desert Fox – The USAs and UK bomb targets in Iraq.

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

2000 - 1st flight of the Lockheed-Martin X-35C, Navy version of the American Joint Strike Fighter

http://www.history.navy.mil/museums/paxmuseum/x35/x35.htm

2006 - Launch of Genesat 1, miniature laboratory for in-space biologics experimentations.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/missions/2007/genesat1.html

2009 - Flyglobespan, British low-cost airline, Ceased operations.

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