JAN19
1784 - One of the largest hot-air balloon ever made, called 'Le Flesselle' by the Montgolfier brothers, makes an ascent at Lyon, France. The balloon's capacity is 700,000 cubic feet and it goes up to 3,000 feet
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A8res_Montgolfier#Dans_le_m.C3.AAme_temps_.C3.A0_Lyon
1879 - Birth of Harold Blackburn, British aviation pioneer, aircraft designer, test pilot, WWI pilot in Egypt, 1st pilot to carry newspapers for commercial sale by air 1st to pilot a scheduled airline service in Great Britain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Blackburn_(pioneer_aviator)
1883 - Birth of James McKinley Hargreaves, Scottish WWI flying ace, One of the 1st Aces in history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_McKinley_Hargreaves - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/scotland/hargreaves.php
1888 - Birth of Millard Fillmore Harmon Jr.American WWI pilot and Lieutenant General in the USAAF during the Pacific campaign in WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millard_Harmon
1893 - Birth of Maurice Joseph Emile Robert, French WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Robert - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/robert.php
1895 - Birth of Ivan Alexandrovich Orlov, Russian WWI flying ace, Self Glider and Aircraft designer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Orlov_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/russia/orlov.php
1895 - Birth of Air Marshal Sir Arthur "Mary" Coningham, Royal Flying Corps flying ace during WWI, Conningham was later a senior Royal Air Force commander during WWII, as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief 2nd Tactical Air Force and subsequently the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Flying Training Command.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Coningham_(RAF_officer) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/australi/coningham.php
1896 - Birth of Smith J. DeFrance, Amrican WWI aviator and engineer who played a major role in wind tunnel design and experimentation before and during the birth of the Space Age.
http://www.astronautix.com/astros/defrance.htm
1898 - Birth of Carl-August von Schoenebeck, German WWI flying ace, Raid pilot, Arado test pilot and WWII high ranking officer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl-August_von_Schoenebeck - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/schoenebeck.php
1898 - Birth of Basil Henry Moody, South African WWI Flying ace.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/safrica/moody1.php
1899 - Birth of George Ebben Randall, British WWI Flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Randall - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/randall2.php
1910 - Lieutenant Paul Ward Beck drops sandbag "bombs" over Los Angeles from an aeroplane piloted by Louis Paulhan.
http://rafmuseum-1.titaninternet.co.uk/milestones-of-flight/world/1910.cfm
1915 - 1st Zeppelin raid on the UK by the German Navy. They bomb the towns of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn in the United Kingdom killing more than 20, in the 1st major aerial bombardment of a civilian target.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin#1915_bombing_raids
1915 - Birth of Ennio "Banana" Tarantola, Spanish War and WWII italian flying ace.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ennio_Tarantola - http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/italy_tarantola.htm
1915 - During the Night, Zeppelins L.3 and L.4 dropped twenty-four 50 kg high explosive bombs and ineffective 3 kg incendiaries on Great Yarmouth, Sheringham, 1st Zeppelin raid over UK.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin#History
1918 - Birth of Tadeusz Góra, Polish glider pilot and WWII pilot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadeusz_G%C3%B3ra
1919 - Jules Védrines claims an FF25,000 prize by landing an aircraft (a Caudron G-3) on the roof of a department store in Paris. Védrines is injured and his aircraft is damaged beyond repair in the hard landing in a space only 28 m x 12 m (92 ft x 40 ft).
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_V%C3%A9drines
1923 - The De Bothezat helicopter lifted 2 persons to a height of 1.2 metres
http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/bothezat.php
1923 - 1st flight of The Armstrong Whitworth Wolf, British two-bay reconnaissance biplane of unorthodox design, with the fuselage mounted between the two sets of wings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_Whitworth_Wolf
1926 - Death of Leopoldo Eleuteri, Italian WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopoldo_Eleuteri - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/eleuteri.php
1937 - Flying a redesigned H-1 Racer featuring extended wings, Howard Hughes set a new transcontinental airspeed record by flying non-stop from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds (beating his own previous record of 9 hours, 27 minutes). His average speed over the flight was 322 mph (518 km/h)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Hughes#Aviator_and_engineer
1939 - The Yugoslav Rogožarski IK-3 fighter prototype, piloted by Capt. Milan Pokorni, fails to recover from terminal velocity dive out of Zemun airfield, destroying airframe and killing the pilot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogo%C5%BEarski_IK-3#Design_and_development
1946 - Birth of Alexandr Vladimirovich Shchukin, Russian air force pilot, civilian Buran test pilot, and aerobatic pilot.
http://www.astronautix.com/astros/shchukin.htm
1946 - 1st fligth (Glide) of The Bell X-1, originally designated XS-1, joint NACA-U.S. Army/USAF supersonic research project, 1st of the so-called X-planes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X-1 - http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/bell_x-1.php
1947 - 1st flight of The Fiat G.212, Italian three-engine airliner, enlarged development of Fiat's earlier G.12 transport.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_G.212
1949 - 1st flight of the Fouga CM.100, French high-wing cantilever monoplane of conventional configuration with fixed tricycle undercarriage airliner prototype, issued from the Glider assault CM.10 by adding two SNECMA 12S piston engines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fouga_CM.10 - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=2148
1950 - 1st flight of The Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck (affectionately known as the "Clunk"), Canadian jet interceptor/fighter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_CF-100_Canuck
1955 - 1st flight of the SNCAN NC-856N 'Norclub', french 4 seat ungainly high-wing, strut-braced monoplane with a fully enclosed cabin and fixed, tailwheel undercarriage touring prototype aircraft, civilian version of the NC-856A.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=10242
1956 - 1st flight of The Supermarine Scimitar (type 544), British naval fighter aircraft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Scimitar
1960 - Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 871 Sud Aviation Caravelle 'Orm Viking' crashed on approach 6 nautical miles from Esenboga International Airport, Turkey killing all 42, 1st fatal crash of a Caravelle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_Airlines_System_Flight_871
1960 - 1st flight of the Convair 580 Super Convair, reengined version of the Convair 440, American twin engine arliner.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_580
1965 - Suborbital flight of Gemini 2, US unmanned mission intended as a test flight for the Gemini spacecraft's heat shield.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_2
1968 - Death of Gaetano Arturo Crocco, Italian scientist and aeronautics pioneer, founder of the Italian Rocket Society,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaetano_Arturo_Crocco
1968 - Lieutenant junior grade Clyde Everett Lassen makes a daring rescue of downed fliers in North Vietnam with his Kaman SH-2 Seasprite, becoming the only U. S. Navy helicopter pilot to be awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Everett_Lassen
1973 - 1st flight of the Fournier RF-8, french Twin seat touraing trainer aircraft.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1698
1975 - Death of Antonio Reali, Italian WWI fighter ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Reali - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/reali.php
1978 - Launch of Progress 1, Soviet unmanned Progress cargo spacecraft to resupply the Salyut 6 space station, maiden flight of the Progress spacecraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_1
1983 - Death of Ham , also known as Ham the Chimp and Ham the Astrochimp, 1st chimpanzee launched into outer space in the American space program.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_the_Chimp
1990 - STS-32, Space Shuttle Columbia mission, is back on earth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-32
1991 - Death of Paul F. Bikle, American Engineer, Record setting glider pilot and Director of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bikle
1993 - STS-54, space shuttle Endeavour is back on earth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-54
2006 – A Slovak Air Force Antonov An-24 crashed near the village of Hejce and town of Telkibánya, Hungary, after the aircraft had strayed 3 km (1.9 mi) off the flight path outlined in the flight plan after Slovak air traffic controllers had taken over the flight from Hungarian controllers, killing 42 over 43.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Slovak_Air_Force_Antonov_An-24_crash
2006 - Jet Airways announces its purchase of Air Sahara, creating the largest domestic airliner in India.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JetLite
2006 - Launch of New Horizons, NASA robotic spacecraft mission to the dwarf planet Pluto. It is expected to be the 1st spacecraft to fly by and study Pluto and its moons, Charon, Nix, and Hydra. NASA may also attempt flybys of one or more other Kuiper belt objects.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Horizons
2010 - Japanese flag carrier Japan Airlines files for protection from bankruptcy.