FEB24
1808 - Birth of John Wise, American pioneer in the field of ballooning. He made over 400 flights during his lifetime and was responsible for several innovations in balloon design, He made the 1st official airmail delivery run for the US Post Office
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wise_(balloonist)
1889 - Birth of Thomas Sydney Sharpe, British WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sharpe_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/sharpe2.php
1898 - Birth of Kurt Waldemar Tank, German aeronautical engineer and test pilot, heading the design department at Focke-Wulf from 1931-45. He designed several important aircraft of WWII, including the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter aircraft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Tank
1898 - Birth of Gerald Frank Anderson, South African WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Frank_Anderson - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/safrica/anderson2.php
1899 - Birth of Mikhail Mikhaylovich Gromov, famous Russian aviator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Gromov_(aviator)
1911 - 1st amphibian demonstration is made by Glenn Curtiss with his Model D at North Island by taking off and alighting on both land and water
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Curtiss#Naval_aviation
1913 - Death of Wilhelm Kress, Austrian pioneer in aviations and constructor of aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Kress
1921 - 1st flight of the Douglas Cloudster, American single-bay equal-span biplane aircraft, only product of the Davis-Douglas Company designed to make the 1st non-stop flight coast-to-coast across the United States which failed due to engine failure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Cloudster
1921 - Lieutenant William D. Coney completes a transcontinental solo flight from Rockwell Field, San Diego to Jacksonville, in 22 hours and 27 minutes flying time with a De Havilland DH-4.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Air_Service#Advances_in_aviation
1925 - Death of Joseph Leonard Maries "John" White, Canadian WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Leonard_Maries_White - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/white4.php
1929 - 2nd and last Parnall Pipit, British single-engined, single-seat naval fighter prototype, is destroyed after a crash as it encountered flutter strong enough to break the fin and rudder from the fuselage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parnall_Pipit#Design_and_development
1931 - 1st flight of The Short S.17 Kent, British 4-engined 15-seat biplane luxury flying-boat airliner with Chief Test Pilot John Lankester Parker.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Kent
1932 - 1st flight of The Latécoère 501, 3 engine Flying boat built in France for use on the transatlantic mail route to South America.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lat%C3%A9co%C3%A8re_500 - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=974
1932 - French Paul Codos and Robida land the Breguet Bre 330 n°1 Bis in Paris after a 76hr and 17 Min trip back from Hanoi, Beating the previous record of Costes and Bellonte
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9719
1935 - 1st flight of The Heinkel He 111, German aircraft designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Often described as a "Wolf in sheep's clothing",it masqueraded as a transport aircraft, but its purpose was to provide the Luftwaffe with a fast medium bomber.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_111
1940 - 1st flight of The Hawker Typhoon ('Tiffy') , British single-seat fighter-bomber.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Typhoon
1941 - 1st flight of the Bristol Bisley, British light bomber, Modified Bristol Blenheim which finally became the Blenheim V.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/bristol_blenheim.php
1943 - Death of Paul Gildner, German WWII night fighter ace, killed in the crash of his Messerschmitt Bf 110 G-4 following engine failure and fire near Gilze en Rijen in the Netherlands
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Gildner - http://www.cieldegloire.com/001_gildner_p.php
1945 - Death of James Herbert Knight, American pilot who made the 1st overnight transcontinental air mail delivery, Airliner pilot and vice-president of United Airlines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_H._Knight - http://earlyaviators.com/eknight.htm
1949 - 1st flight of The SIAI-Marchetti SM.102, Italian light transport cabin monoplane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIAI-Marchetti_SM.102
1950 - 1st flight of The Percival P.56 Provost, British trainer for the Royal Air Force, side by side seating, low-wing, monoplane with a fixed, tailwheel undercarriage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percival_Provost
1954 - 1st flight of the Dassault MD-450 Barougan, modified version of the Md-450 Ouragan for rough-field operation with the two-wheel main landing gear with low-pressure tires retracting into a fairing added under the wing roots, and a brake parachute
http://www.aviastar.org/gallery/143.html
1955 - A Convair R3Y Tradewind, American turboprop-powered flying boat, flew coast-to-coast at an average speed of 649km/h on delivery to the Navy Test Center at Patuxent River, Maryland.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/convair_tradewind.php
1955 - 1st flight of The Boeing CIM-10 Bomarc, only surface-to-air missile (SAM) ever deployed by the USAF.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIM-10_Bomarc
1957 - Scandinavian Airline Services (SAS) opens the 1st regular scheduled service from Europe to the Far East over the North Pole, with departure from Copenhagen, Denmark and Tokyo, Japan; the DC-7C aircraft will circle the pole en route
1965 - 1st flight of the prototype H-295 Super courier, light C/STOL utility aircraft, developped from the Helio Courier.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/helio_courier.php?p=1
1969 - Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 104 Handley Page Dart Herald port-side engine failed, leaving its propeller windmilling and the aircraft in a shallow descent just after take off. It belly-landed in a small clearing and skidded into a creek. The aircraft broke into three parts and caught fire, killing all 36 on board.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_Eastern_Air_Transport_Flight_104
1969 - Launch of Mariner 6, US robotic interplanetary probe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_program
1984 - 1st flight of the Boeing 737-300, short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner, 1st model of the 737 Classic series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_737
1985 - Dornier Do-228-100 'Polar 3' of the Alfred Wegener Institute on a return flight (together with Do-228 "Polar 2") to Germany following a South Pole expedition, is shot down by guerillas of the Polisario Front over West Sahara, all 3 on board are killed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornier_Do_228#Accidents - http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19850224-0&lang=en
1989 - A piece of fuselage detaches from a United Airlines Flight 811 Boeing 747 causing an explosive decompression over Hawaii. Nine people are sucked to their deaths.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_811
1999 – A China Southern Airlines Tupolev TU-154 airliner crashes on approach to Wenzhou airport in eastern the People's Republic of China, killing 61.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TU-154#Incidents_and_accidents
2003 - 1st flight of the Boeing 777-300ER (Extended Range), American long-range wide-body twin-engine jet airliner, refined version of the 777 family and best-selling 777 variant.
http://www.boeing.com/history/chronology/chron17.html
2006 - Death of William Dennis Weaver, American actor, best known for his work in television, including roles on Gunsmoke, as Marshal Sam McCloud on the NBC police drama McCloud, and the 1971 TV movie Duel, and also a WWII pilot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Weaver
2007 - Death of Alexander Adolphus Dumfries Henshaw, British air racer and test pilot for Vickers Armstrong in WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Henshaw
2011 - Last flight of Space Shuttle Discovery: STS-133 is launched.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-133
2012 - Air Zimbabwe ceases operations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Zimbabwe
2012 - Launch of MUOS-1, (Mobile User Objective System), 1st of a serie of geosynchronous satellite being developed for the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to provide global satellite communications (SATCOM) narrowband (64 kbit/s and below) connectivity for communications use by the United States and allies.