JAN20

1888 - Birth of Jens Tryggve Herman Gran, Norwegian aviator, explorer and author, 1st pilot to cross the North Sea.

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

1889 - Birth of Alfred Mohr, German WWI flying ace

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/mohr.php

1889 - Birth of Allan Haines Loughead, later changed to Allan Haines Lockheed, American aviation pioneer and engineer. He formed the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company along with his brother, Malcolm Loughead that became Lockheed Corporation.

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

1890 - Birth of Pierre Henri Edmond Dufaur de Gavardie, French WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Dufaur_de_Gavardie - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/dufaur.php

1890 - Birth of Arthur Whitehair "Wiggy" Vigers, British WWI fighter ace, 3d ranking of theaces who flew the Sopwith Dolphin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Vigers - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/vigers.php

1892 - Birth of Ludwig Hanstein, German WWI fighter ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Hanstein - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/hanstein.php

1893 - Birth of Howard John Thomas Saint, Welsch WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Saint_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/wales/saint.php

1896 - Birth of Henry Eric Dolan, British WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Eric_Dolan - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/dolan.php

1896 - Birth of James Dudley Beane, American WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Beane - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/beane.php

1913 - Birth of Gheorghe Popescu-Ciocanel, Romanian WWII fighter ace

http://www.worldwar2.ro/arr/?article=726 - http://cieldegloire.com/012_popescu_ciocanel_g.php

1913 - Attempting to establish a new women's altitude record, Bernetta Miller is covered with oil and temporarily blinded when her oil flow indicator smashes. She makes a safe emergency landing in New York.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernetta_Adams_Miller#Aviation

1920 - Birth of Ferruccio Serafini, WWII italian fighter ace.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferruccio_Serafini

1928 - 1st flight of the Blériot Bl-127/3, French twin engine night Bomber prototype.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1166

1928 - Death of George Augustine Taylor, Australian artist, journalist, and aviation pioneer,1st person in Australia to fly in a heavier-than-air craft.

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

1930 - Birth of Buzz Aldrin (born Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr.), American mechanical engineer, USAF pilot and astronaut who was the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 11, 1st manned lunar landing in history.

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

1932 - Imperial Airways' Handley Page H.P.42 'Helena' leaves Croydon, England, for Paris on the 1st leg of the company's new mail service to Cape Town.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Airways#The_Africa_Route

1933 - Consolidated P-30 prototype XA-11 attack version crashed during flight testing at Wright Field, Dayton, killing Lieut. Irvin Alberta 'Bert' Woodring.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_P-30#Design_and_development - http://www.dmairfield.com/people/woodring_ia/index.html

1934 - 1st flight of The Boeing YP-29 (originated as the Model 264), US Fighter prototype, fully-cantilever wings, wing flaps, enclosed "greenhouse" canopy, and retractable undercarriage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_P-29

1938 - 1st flight of the Latécoère 523, 6 engine high wing monoplane reconnaissance Flying boat for the French Navy, Based on the 521, variant of the 522 airliner.

http://www.aviafrance.com/latecoere-523-aviation-france-930.htm

1938 - A Flight Refuelling Ltd Armstrong Whitworth AW.23 refuels an Imperial Airways Short Empire over Southampton Water

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-civil-aviation/1938.aspx

1940 - 1st flight of the Arsenal VG-34, French light fighter aircraft prototype developped from the VG-33.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=4586 - http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenal_VG_33#Arsenal_VG_34

1940 - 1st flight of the Breguet 694, French 3-seat twin engine reconnaissance aircraft prototype based on the Breguet 693, 2-seat attack bomber.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9532

1940 - The Brazilian Air Force, originally founded in 1908 as the Brazilian Army Balloon Corp, adopts its current title, Fôrça Aeréa Brasileira.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/world-aviation/1940.aspx

1941 - Death of Frederick Erastus Humphreys, American aviator, one of the original three military pilots trained by the Wright brothers and the 1st to fly solo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_E._Humphreys

1948 - Birth of Jerry Lynn Ross, USAF pilot and NASA astronaut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_L._Ross

1949 - 1st flight of The Martin MGM-1 Matador, 1st operational surface-to-surface cruise missile built by the US, similar in concept to the German V-1, but which included a radio link that allowed in-flight course corrections.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MGM-1_Matador

1952 - Death of Ronald Malcolm Fletcher, British WWI observer/gunner ace in two-seater fighters in conjunction with his pilot, Lt. S.F.H. Thompson.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Malcolm_Fletcher - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/fletcher.php

1958 - 1st flight of the Nord Aviation 3400 'Norbarbe', French twin seat High wing single engined observation and casualty-evacuation aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_3400 - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=8075

1959 - 1st flight of The Vickers Type 950 Vanguard, British short/medium-range turboprop airliner, development of the Vickers Viscount.

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

1964 - 1st flight of the production prototype of the Beechcraft designated Model 90 King Air.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/beech_90.php

1965 - Death of Friedrich Hefty, Austro-Hungarian WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hefty - http://www.theaerodrome.com/medals/austrhun/mfb.php

1965 - Death of Ludwig "Lutz" Beckmann, German WWI flying ace and WWII Luftwaffe flying officer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Beckmann - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/beckmann.php

1969 - Death of Arthur Eyguem De Montaigne 'Jacko' Jarvis, Canadian WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Jarvis - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/jarvis1.php

1971 - 1st flight of the Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye, American all-weather, aircraft carrier-capable tactical airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft, evolution of the E-2A and E-2B.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_E-2_Hawkeye#E-2C_Hawkeye_and_developments

1974 - 1st 'accidental' flight of the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, US multirole jet fighter aircraft, during a high-speed taxi test. While gathering speed, a roll-control oscillation caused a fin of the port-side wingtip-mounted missile and then the starboard stabilator to scrape the ground, and the aircraft then began to veer off the runway. The GD test pilot, Phil Oestricher, decided to lift off to avoid crashing the machine, and safely landed it six minutes later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-16_Fighting_Falcon#Lightweight_Fighter_program

1975 - A Boeing 707, commandered by three terrorists and flown by a crew of Air France volunteers, lands in Baghdad, Iraq. The terrorists forced the French airline to fly them out of Paris by taking ten travelers hostage yesterday, at Orly airport.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/world-aviation/1975.aspx

1975 - Death of Howard Burdick, American WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Burdick - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/burdick.php

1977 - Death of Ernest Archibald "Ernie" McNab, Canadian WWII fighter pilot, 1st scoring pilot for the RCAF in WWII.

http://cieldegloire.com/003_mc_nab_e_a.php

1980 - Death of André Dubonnet, French WWI flying ace, WWII fighter pilot, athlete, racecar driver, and inventor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Dubonnet - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/dubonnet.php

1988 - Death of Robert Miles Todd, American WWI flying ace.

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/todd2.php

1990 - STS-32, Space Shuttle Columbia mission, is back on earth.

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

1990 - North American Airlines, American airline, begins operations.

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

1992 – Air Inter Flight 148 Airbus A320-111 crashes near Strasbourg, France, killing 82 passengers and 5 crew.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Inter_Flight_148

1994 - Launch of GALS, Russian communication satellite, for Chinese TV broadcast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gals_(satellite)

1996 - STS-72, Space shuttle mission, recovers in space the Japanese spacecraft 'Space Flyer Unit' and lands back on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-72

1997 - A new balloon absolute distance record of 16,722 kilometres (10,363 miles) is set by Steve Fossett, during his unsuccessful non-stop, round the world flight, which he is forced to abandon in India

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/world-aviation/1997.aspx

2011 - Launch of Elektro-L No.1 , also known as Geostationary Operational Meteorological Satellite No.2 or GOMS No.2, Russian geostationary weather satellite

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektro-L_No.1

2011 - Launch of SA-224, also known as NRO Launch 49 (NRO L-49), American reconnaissance satellite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA-224

2012 - Launch of WGS-4, (Wideband Global SATCOM system) American high capacity satellite communications system .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wideband_Global_SATCOM_system#Block_II