JUL01
1859 - John Wise, John LaMountain and several guest passengers start a Montgolfière flight of 1,292 km from St. Louis, Missouri.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_La_Mountain
1872 - Birth of Louis Blériot, French aviator, inventor and engineer. He completed the 1st flight across a large body of water in a heavier-than-air craft. He also is credited as the 1st person to make a working monoplane. Blériot was a pioneer of the sport of air racing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Bl%C3%A9riot
1880 - Birth 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
1884 - Birth of René Caudron, french aviation pioneer and aircraft designer along with his brother Gaston.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A8res_Caudron
1887 - Birth of Leighton Wilson Hazelhurst Jr., American aviation pioneer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leighton_Wilson_Hazelhurst,_Jr.
1893 - Birth of Mario de Bernardi, Italian WWI fighter pilot, seaplane air racer of the 1920s, and test pilot of early Italian experimental jets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_de_Bernardi_(pilot)
1894 - Birth of George Leonard Trapp, Canadian WWI flying ace
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/trapp.php
1896 - Birth of George William Gladstone Gauld, Canadian WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gauld - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/gauld.php -
http://canadiangreatwarproject.com/searches/soldierDetail.asp?ID=98227
1903 - Birth of Amy Johnson, pioneering English aviator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Johnson
1906 - Birth of Mochifumi Nango (Nango Shigeaki), Japanese Sino-Japanese war flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochifumi_Nang%C5%8D - http://cieldegloire.fr/010_nango_m.php
1908 - Zeppelin LZ-4 flew over Switzerland to Zürich and then back to Lake Constance, covering 386 m (240 mi) and reaching an altitude of 795 m (2,600 ft) in a 12 hrs flight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin_LZ_4#Operational_history
1912 - Death of Harriet Quimby, early American aviator and a movie screenwriter, 1st woman to gain a pilot's license in the United States. As part of an Air Show spectacular flew around the Boston Light, her Berliot plane was caught in turbulent air and nose-dived, plummeting both Quimby and a meet organizer passenger to their deaths in Dorchester Bay.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Quimby
1913 - Royal Netherlands Army forms its Aviation Division (Luchtvaart Afdeling) with 4 pilots.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Netherlands_Air_Force
1914 – The Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps is separated from the RFC and established it as a separate service, the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), under the control of the Royal Navy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Naval_Air_Service#History
1915 - Kurt Wintgen, German WWI fighter ace, is the 1st military fighter pilot to score a victory over an opposing aircraft, while piloting a Fokker M.5K/MG (production prototype Eindecker aircraft) armed with a synchronized machine gun. His victim was a Morane-Saulnier Type L "Parasol" two-seater.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Wintgens#First_victory_using_a_synchronized_gun
1916 - Beginning of the Battle of the Somme. In the five months of the battle, the British lose 782 aircraft and 576 pilots but maintain air superiority over the battlefield.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme_(1916)
1916 - Birth of Roland Robert Stanford Tuck, British WWII fighter ace and test pilot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Stanford_Tuck - http://www.cieldegloire.fr/002_raf_tuck_r_r_s.php - http://www.stanfordtuck.com/
1917 - A School of Aeronautics is established at the University of Toronto in Canada.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/July_in_aviation/July_1
1918 - 1st flight of the Zeppelin LZ112 (L 70), German Military airship
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Zeppelins#Zeppelins_constructed_during_World_War_I
1918 - John Ingles Gilmour, Scottish WWI fighter ace, scores 5 with his Sopwith Camel on that single day.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/scotland/gilmour.php
1919 - London's 1st airport, Hounslow Heath is completed and opens for business. The airport includes a Customs hall and a de Havilland DH9 of Aircraft Transport & Travel makes the 1st flight
1920 - Belgium establishes the 1st internal air-service of any European colony with the Lara-Ligne Aérienne Roi Albert in Belgian Congo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/July_in_aviation/July_1
1922 - US Navy orders the still-under-construction battlecruisers USS Lexington and USS Saratoga to be completed as aircraft carriers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Lexington_(CV-2)
1923 - 1st commercial flight operated by SABENA between Brussels and London (UK).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabena
1925 - The U.S. Air Mail Service begins overnight flights between New York and Chicago over the Allegheny Mountains.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/July_in_aviation/July_1
1926 - The Swedish Air Force, air force branch of the Swedish Armed Forces, is formed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_Air_Force
1927 - Richard Evelyn Byrd with crew (Balchen, Acosta, and Noville) with their Fokker F.VIIa/3m "America" arrive from Roosevelt Field East Garden City, New York over Paris. Cloud cover prevented a landing in Paris; they returned to the coast of Normandy, crash-landing near the beach at Ver-sur-Mer without fatalities
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Evelyn_Byrd
1927 - Boeing Air Transport's 1st air mail service begins with a Boeing Model 40.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Model_40 - http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/boeing_model40.php
1929 - Death of Wilmer Lower Stultz, American pioneering aviator, test pilot and raid pilot, killed in a crash during a test flight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmer_Stultz
1929 - The Amiot 110, also known as the Amiot-SECM 110, French prototype interceptor, crashed due to several loose rivets and integrity flaws.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiot_110 - http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/amiot_secm-110.php
1931 - Wiley Post and his navigator, Harold Gatty, land back at Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York in the Lockheed Vega 'Winnie Mae', completing a round the world flight of 15,474 miles (24,903 km) in 8 days 15 hrs and 51 Min.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiley_Post - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Gatty
1933 - Start of the 2nd and ultimate air raid of Italo Balbo with 25 SIAI-Marchetti S.55X seaplanes (Air cruise of the decade) from Orbetello, Italy
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crociera_aerea_del_decennale - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italo_Balbo#Aviator
1933 - 1st flight of The Douglas DC-1, American prototype and 1st model of the famous United States DC (Douglas Commercial) commercial transport aircraft series
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-1
1935 - Brothers Fred and Al Key (The Flying Keys) landed their borrowed Curtiss Robin monoplane named 'Ole Miss' in Meridian, Mississippi's airport after an estimated 52,320 miles flight and used more than 6,000 gallons of gasoline. Their non-stop endurance flight over the Meridian vicinity lasted 653 hours, 34 minutes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flying_Keys
1939 - 1st flight of the Latécoère 611, French four-engined maritime reconnaissance flying boat prototype.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=871
1942 – The United States Army Air Forces establish the Air Transport Command, a centralized, strategic air transport service directed by the United States Department of War.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Transport_Command_(United_States_Air_Force)#Change_of_roles
1944 - Orenda Engines, Canadian aircraft engine manufacturer and parts supplier, is incorporated
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orenda_Engines
1945 - Death of Edson Fessenden Gallaudet, American pioneer in the field of aviation, 1st person to experiment with warped wings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edson_Fessenden_Gallaudet
1946 - Operation Crossroads series of tests. 'Dave's Dream' B-29 drops a Fat Man type bomb in Test Able mission over Bikini Atoll.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crossroads#Test_Able
1946 – The U. S. Navy establishes Experimental Squadron 3 (VX-3). Equipped with Piasecki HRP-1 Rescuer helicopters, it probably is the world’s 1st official all-helicopter squadron.
http://thanlont.blogspot.fr/2010/07/vx-squadrons.html -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/July_in_aviation/July_1
1947 - The Philippine Air Force (PAF), air force of the Republic of the Philippines, is formed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Air_Force
1948 - 1st commercial flight from Idlewild Airport (golf course) which will become later New York International Airport and then John F. Kennedy International Airport.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_International_Airport
1951 - Death of Maurizio Ramassotto, Early italian aviator, and race car driver.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurizio_Ramassotto
1952 - The Portuguese Air Force (PoAF - Força Aérea Portuguesa, FAP) is formed with the Aeronáutica Militar (Army Aviation) and Aviação Naval (Naval Aviation) united in a single independent Air Force.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Air_Force
1954 - The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), aviation branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces responsible for the defense of Japanese airspace and other aerospace operations, is formed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Air_Self-Defense_Force
1955 - The Vietnam Air Force (VNAF), Air Force branch of the Republic of Vietnam’s Military Forces, the official military of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), is formed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Air_Force
1956 - Death of Patrick Dawson Fleming, US Navy WWII fighter ace and test pilot, Killed in the crash of a B-52.
http://www.astronautix.com/astros/fleming.htm
1957 - Death of August Heinrich Euler, German aviation pioneer and aircraft designer and holder of the 1st Germany Pilots licence
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Euler
1960 - A PVO Strany (Soviet Air Defence Forces) MiG-19 shot down an RB-47H (AF Serial No. 53-4281) reconnaissance aircraft in the international airspace over the Barents Sea with 4 of the crew killed and two captured by the Soviets
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-47_Stratojet#Reconnaissance
1960 - Death of Reginald Stuart "George" Maxwell, British WWI flying ace and Royal Navy Air Commander during WWII
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Maxwell - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/maxwell2.php
1961 - Birth of Kalpana Chawla, Indian-American astronaut with NASA, one of seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpana_Chawla
1962 - The Boeing 107 Model II Vertol, American medium-lift tandem rotor transport helicopter, enters scheduled service with New York Airways.
http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/bvertol_ch-46.php
1962 - The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC), NASA launch site, is founded.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_Space_Center
1963 - Birth of Edward Tsang "Ed" Lu, American physicist and NASA astronaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Lu
1965 - Continental Airlines Flight 12, Boeing 707-124 crashed at Kansas City Downtown Airport due to hydroplaning of the landing gear wheels, The right wing impacted a blast mound as the aircraft rolled over it, coming to rest in three pieces on the perimeter road between the mound and river levee without any fatalities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Airlines_Flight_12
1968 - Seaboard World Airlines Flight 253A Douglas DC-8 Super 63CF, military charter flight carrying 214 American troops bound for South Vietnam, is intercepted by Soviet jets after it unintentionally violated Soviet airspace. It was forced to land on one of the Soviet-controlled Kuril Islands with all 238 Americans aboard being detained for two days
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaboard_World_Airlines_Flight_253A
1968 - Death of Willi Gabriel, German WWI flying ace, stunt movie pilot who also served in WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willi_Gabriel - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/gabriel.php
1969 - Death of Will Hubbard, British WWI flying ace, who serevd in the RAAF in WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Hubbard - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/hubbard1.php
1970 - Melbourne Airport is opened to international operations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Airport
1975 - 1st flight of The Valmet L-70 Vinka, Finnish-designed piston-powered military basic trainer aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valmet_L-80_Turbo-Vinka
1976 - Clive Canning arrives in the United Kingdom, having flown from Australia in a Thorp T-18 homebuilt aircraft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/July_in_aviation/July_1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorp_T-18
1976 - The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution opens in Washington, D.C., United States, it is a center for research into the history and science of aviation and spaceflight, as well as planetary science and terrestrial geology and geophysics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Air_and_Space_Museum
1978 - Death of Kurt Arthur Benno Student, German WWI Flying ace, Luftwaffe general and commander of German Fallschirmjäger (Paratroopers) during WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Student - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/student.php
1978 - Frank Haile Jr and William Wisner starts a two Beechcraft Bonanzas formation round the world flight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/July_in_aviation/July_1
1979 - Republic Airlines is formed by the merger of North Central Airlines and Southern Airways.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_Airlines_(1979%E2%80%931986)
1983 - A North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea crashed into the Fouta Djall Mountains in Guinea-Bissau, killing all 23 people on board.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-62#Hull_Losses
1986 - The sole Piasecki PA-97 Helistat, American experimental heavy-lift aircraft fastening 4 obsolete helicopters to a framework beneath a helium blimp, crashed killing test pilot Gary Olshfski, as as ground resonance and strong vibrations, all of the helicopters, including the pilot's, broke free.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piasecki_PA-97
1988 - CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of China), the Chinese state airline, changes its name to become Air China.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_China
1988 - Death of Guido Fibbia, Italian Spanish war pilot, WWII flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_Fibbia - http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/italy_fibbia.htm
1989 - The crowd at the Paris air show is stunned when the Soviet Sukhoi Su27 performs its 'Cobra' manoeuvre. The Cobra sees the aircraft transfer from level flight to a vertical attitude and back to level flight with negligible changes in altitude.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pugachev's_Cobra
1993 - Launch of Soyuz TM-17, Russian mission to the space station Mir.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TM-17
1993 - STS-57, Shuttle-Spacehab mission of Space Shuttle Endeavour, is back on earth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-57
1994 - Launch of Soyuz TM-19, Russian mission to the space station Mir.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TM-19
1997 - Launch of STS-94, Space Shuttle Columbia mission.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-94
1998 - JAL Express, japanese airline, begins opertaions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAL_Express
2000 - British Midland becomes the 15th airline to join the Star Alliance, the world's largest airline grouping.
2001 – Singapore Airlines Cargo, operated by Singapore Airlines, begins operations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Airlines_Cargo#History
2002 – Bashkirian Airlines flight 2937 Tupolev TU-154 and DHL Flight 611 Boeing 757 collide in mid-air over Ueberlingen, southern Germany, killing 71.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashkirian_Airlines_Flight_2937
2002 - 1st flight of The Pilatus PC-21, Swiss single-turboprop, low wing swept monoplane advanced trainer with a stepped tandem cockpit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilatus_PC-21
2004 - Cassini–Huygens, flagship-class NASA-ESA-ASI spacecraft, enters into orbit around Saturn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassini%E2%80%93Huygens
2009 - Launch of TerreStar-1, American communications satellite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TerreStar-1
2012 - Soyuz TMA-03M, Russian spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS), is back on earth.