JAN27

1888 - Birth of Jan Nagórski (Ivan Nagurski), Polish engineer and pioneer of aviation, 1st person to fly an airplane in the Arctic and 1st aviator to perform a loop with a flying boat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Nag%C3%B3rski

1894 - Captain B. F. S. Baden-Powel (brother of the 1st Chief Boy Scout) makes a kite ascent from Pirbright Army Camp, England in what appears to be the 1st use of man-carrying kites outside China.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/January_in_aviation/January_27

1895 - Birth of Thomas Rose, British Flying Ace in WWI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Rose_(RAF_officer) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/rose2.php

1897 - Birth of Rudolf Friedrich Otto Windisch, German WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Windisch - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/windisch.php

1897 - Birth of Kurt Wüsthoff, German WWI fighter ace, 2nd youngest winner of Germany's highest decoration for valor, the Pour le Merite or Blue Max, Aerobatic pilot and flying advertiser.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_W%C3%BCsthoff - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/wusthoff.php

1897 - Birth of Harold Bolton Redler, South african WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Redler - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/redler.php

1898 - Birth of Charles Roger Lupton, British WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lupton - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/lupton.php

http://www.yorkshireindexers.co.uk/wiki/index.php5?title=LUPTON,_Charles_Roger

1905 - Death of Paul Haenlein, German engineer and flight pioneer.

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

1906 - Death of Stanley Spencer, early English aeronaut, famous for ballooning and parachuting in several countries

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Spencer_(aeronaut)

1912 - Birth of Francis Melvin Rogallo, American aeronautical engineer inventor credited with the invention of the Rogallo wing, or "flexible wing", a precursor to the modern hang glider and paraglider

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

1920 - Birth of Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, Japanese WWII fighter ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroyoshi_Nishizawa - http://cieldegloire.com/010_nishizawa_h.php

1920 - Death of Louis Honore Martin, French WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Martin_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/martin1.php

1920 - Birth of Trevor Sidney Wade (known as Wimpy Wade), an English flying ace, one of The Few (Battle of Britain) and later a test pilot.

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

1920 - Birth of Kenneth L. Reusser, USMC aviator, considered the most decorated Marine Aviator, having flown 253 combat missions, earning 59 medals, including 2 Navy Crosses while flying in WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam War, only aviator to survive being shot down in all 3 wars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_L._Reusser - http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=39421565

1927 - 1st flight of The Douglas T2D, American twin engine torpedo bomber contracted by the military, and required to be usable on wheels or floats, and operating from aircraft carriers. 1st twin-engined aircraft to be operated from an aircraft carrier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_T2D

1928 - Death of Walbanke Ashby Pritt, British WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walbanke_Ashby_Pritt - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/pritt.php

1928 - 1st rigid airship to aircraft carrier mooring is achieved when United States Navy (USN) dirigible (steerable airship) 'Los Angeles' moors to USS Sagatoga while the latter vessel is at sea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Saratoga_(CV-3)#Inter-war_period

1929 - 1st flight of The Saunders A.10, private venture prototype four-gun fighter. single-seat, single-engined biplane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saunders_A.10

1929 - USS Saratoga (CV-3) carries out a successful simulated dawn raid on the Panama Canal in a training exercise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Saratoga_(CV-3)#Inter-war_period

1939 - 1st flight of The Lockheed P-38 Lightning, WWII American Twin-engine, single seat fighter aircraft. It had distinctive twin booms and a single, central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-38_Lightning

1941 - 1st combined operation between Malta's reconnaissance and strike aircraft. German vessel Ingo (3,950 tons) is sunk by the Fairey Swordfish of No.830 and No.806 Squadrons Fleet Air Arm.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-military-aviation/1941.aspx

1943 - 1st USAAF daylight raid on Germany over Wilhelmshaven. 91 B-17s and B-24s attack the U-Boat construction yards.

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

1946 - Colonel William H. Councill flies a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star nonstop across the US making the 1st transcontinental jet flight. He completed the 2,457 miles (3,954 km) run between Los Angeles and New York in 4 hours, 13 minutes 26 seconds at an average speed of 584 mph (940 km/h) setting a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale record.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_P-80_Shooting_Star#Operational_history

1951 - 1st test of operation Ranger. For 'Able' test, A B-50 drops a 5 Kiloton Bomb over Nevada test site for Testing compression against critical mass.

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

1953 - A point to point record between London and Mauripur in Karachi starts with Flight Lieutenant L.M. Whittington and Flight Lieutenant J.A. Brown in an English Electric Canberra.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-military-aviation/1953.aspx

1953 - 1st flight of the Hurel-Dubois HD-31, French twin-engined high-wing braced monoplane of metal construction cargo and passenger plane.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=10036 - http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Visschedijk/8394.htm

http://books.google.fr/books?id=DJkfRyfqBlcC&pg=PA126&lpg=PA126&dq=Hurel-Dubois+HD-31&source=bl&ots=kdtdPTQTKq&sig=iH9T533KrWpYILFfXPeX1wC7CSI&hl=fr&sa=X&ei=Svn8UPenG4e50QXLlYCYDQ&ved=0CFAQ6AEwBDgU#v=onepage&q=Hurel-Dubois%20HD-31&f=false

1959 - 1st flight of The Convair 880, American jet airliner designed to compete with the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 by being smaller and faster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_880

1963 - 1st flight of The Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Westwind, Israelian business jet , cornerstone of the Israeli aircraft manufacturing industry.

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

1966 - 1st flight of the Fairchild Hiller FH-227, version of the Fokker F27 Friendship twin-engined turboprop passenger aircraft manufactured under license by Fairchild Hiller

http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/fair_fh-227.php

1967 – Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their Apollo 1 spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1

- Virgil Ivan 'Gus' Grissom, UsAF test Pilot, Nasa Astronaut. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_Grissom

- Edward Higgins White II , UsAF test Pilot, Nasa Astronaut. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Higgins_White

- Roger Bruce Chaffee , USN pilot, Nasa Astronaut. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_B._Chaffee

1969 - 1st flight of the CH-53D Sea Stallion, improved variant of the american heavy-lift transport helicopter, with uprated engines and uprated transmission to go with the more powerful engines, and a revised interior to permit a load of 55 troops

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_CH-53_Sea_Stallion

1971 - Death of Norman William Reginald 'Bill' Mawle, British WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Mawle - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/mawle.php

1985 - STS-51-C, Space Shuttle Discovery mission, is back on earth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-51-C

1989 - Death of Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, English aviation pioneer, founder of the Sopwith Aviation Company and yachtman.

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

1992 - Death of Harold Edgar Mott, Canadian WWI flying ace

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/mott.php

1997 - Death of Cecil Arthur Lewis, British WWI flying ace, Vickers Instructor for chinese pilots. Last surviving WWI ace, He co-founded the BBC and enjoyed a long career as a writer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Arthur_Lewis - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/lewis1.php

1998 - Myanma Airways Fokker F-27 Friendship 600 crashed while taking off from Yangon, Myanmar, after no. 2 engine failed on takeoff, killing 16 over 45.

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19980127-0

1999 - Launch of FORMOSAT-1 (ROCSAT-1), Earth observation satellite operated by the National Space Organization (NSPO) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to conduct observations of the ionosphere and oceans

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

2001 - Jet Express Services Beechcraft Super King Air 200 carrying the Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball team, crashed near Strasburg, Colorado, crashed as the pilot became disoriented in a snow storm, killing all 10.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_State_University_men's_basketball_team_plane_crash

2002 - Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Mil Mi-8 is shot down and exploded near Shelkovskaya in Nadterechny District, killing all 14 including senior Russian officers, among them the deputy Interior Minister Mikhail Rudchenko.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Shelkovskaya_Mi-8_crash

2005 - Viação Aérea São Paulo S/A, or VASP, Brazilian airline, cease operations.

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

2010 - Death of Lee Andrew Archer Jr. American Fighter aircraft pilot in the African-American WWII unit the Tuskegee Airmen, 1st African American military aviators in the United States Army Air Corps earning the rank of Lieutenant Colonel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Archer_(pilot)