JUL16

1878 - Birth of Aldo Corazza, Italian aviation pioneer and early aircraft designer.

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

1887 - Birth of Walter Edwin Lees, early American aviator and record setter.

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

1892 - Birth of Michel Joseph Callixte Marie Coiffard, French WWI fighter ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Coiffard - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/coiffard.php

1895 - Birth of Jacques Toussaint François Ortoli, French WWI flying ace who also served in WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Ortoli - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/ortoli.php

1910 - 1st flight of The Duigan pusher biplane (or often simply the Duigan biplane), un-named early aircraft which made the 1st powered flight by an Australian-designed and -built machine.

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

1910 - Birth of Francis Herbert 'Frank' Goldsborough, American aviator who held the junior transcontinental air speed record.

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

1911 - The LZ 10 Schwaben enters commercial service. It will go on to become the 1st commercially successful passenger aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_10_Schwaben

1917 - Death of Fritz Krebs, German WWI flying ace, killed in action

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

1918 - Death of Lionel Arthur Ashfield, British WWI flying ace, killed in his Airco de Havilland DH.4 along with his Observer, Irish Maurice Graham English.

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/ashfield.php - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Ashfield - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Graham_English

1918 - Death of Andre Jean Louis Barcat, French WWI flying ace, killed in action.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Barcat - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/barcat.php

1918 - Death of Hans Kirschstein, German WWI fighter ace, killed in a crash on a return flight from Fismes in a Hannover CL.II piloted by Leutnant Johannes Markgraf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Kirschstein - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/kirschstein.php

1918 - Death of Awdry Morris "Bunny" Vaucour, British WWI flying ace, Killed in a "friendly fire" incident, when an Italian Hanriot pilot shot his Sopwith Camel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awdry_Vaucour - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/vaucour.php

1920 - 1st flight of the Blériot-SPAD S.34, French twin-seat, single-engine biplane flight training aircraft. The side-by-side seating arrangement was unique for its time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bl%C3%A9riot-SPAD_S.34

1921 - 1st flight of The Avro 552, British light biplane aircraft, Evolution of the AVro 504.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_552

1921 – Cambridge wins the 1st air race between Oxford and Cambridge universities, using S. E. 5 as. airplanes.

http://www.lookandlearn.com/blog/18005/the-short-lived-oxford-and-cambridge-air-race/

1922 - 1st flight of the Bleriot-SPAD 41, French staggered single-bay biplane with a sweptback upper wing and unswept lower wing fighter, single-seat derivative of the SPAD S.XX two-seater of 1918

http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=121 - http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/bleriot_s-41.php

1923 - Birth of Ralph Dayton Albertazzie, US Air force pilot, pilot of Air Force One during the Nixon administration, who flew the president on a historic trip to China in 1972.

http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/566266/Ralph-D--Albertazzie.html?nav=5007

1925 - Early example of a production Fokker D.XIII is used to set 4 new world airspeed records: the airspeed record for carrying a 500 kg/1,102 lb payload (265.7 km/h or 165.7 mph), the record for carrying the same payload over a distance of 200 km (264.2 km/h or 164.7 mph), at the same time setting the same records for carrying a 250 kg (551 lb) payload.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_D.XIII

1927 - Ernest Smith and Emory Bronte complete the 1st civilian non-stop flight from North America to the Hawaiian Islands when their Travel Air monoplane, 'City of Oakland', crashes on Molokai after a flight from Oakland, California.

http://www.historynet.com/emory-bronte-and-ernie-smith-flew-from-california-to-hawaii-in-1927.htm -

http://hawaii.gov/hawaiiaviation/hawaii-aviation-pioneers/emory-bronte-1/

1930 - Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA) is formed when Transcontinental Air Transport and Western Air Express merge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_World_Airlines#1930s

1930 - Death of Francis Herbert 'Frank' Goldsborough, American aviator who held the junior transcontinental air speed record, dying from wounds after His plane crashed in Vermont the day before.

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

1934 - Death of Kurt Wahmke, German Rocket pionneer, along with 2 technicians, when the chamber exploded during a test. 1st and only deaths of technicians in the history of German rocket development

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Wahmke - http://www.astronautix.com/thisday/july16.htm

1935 - Death of Käthe Paulus, German Balloonist, aerobatic pilot and early parachute designer.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A4the_Paulus

1941 - The Hillson Bi-mono, British experimental aircraft designed to test the idea of "slip-wings", where the aircraft could take off as a biplane, jettison the upper, disposable wing, and continue flying as a monoplane, successfully dropped over the Irish Sea the upper wing with no great change in trim and a few hundred feet in altitude being lost

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillson_Bi-mono

1945 - 1st atomic weapon is successfully detonated at the Trinity test site at Alamogordo in New Mexico, USA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_(nuclear_test)

1947 - 1st flight of The Saunders-Roe SR.A/1, British prototype flying boat fighter aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saunders-Roe_SR.A/1

1948 - 1st flight of the Vickers Viscount, British medium-range turboprop airliner and 1st such aircraft to enter service in the world.

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

1948 – The storming of the cockpit of the 'Miss Macao', PBY Catalina passenger seaplane, operated by a subsidiary of the Cathay Pacific Airways, marks the 1st aircraft hijacking of a commercial plane.

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

1950 - Birth of Valery Yevgenyevich Maksimenko, Soviet Air Force Test Pilot.

http://www.astronautix.com/astros/makmenko.htm

1950 - 1st flight of the Boisavia B-80 'Chablis', French 2-seat high wing monoplane light sport aircraft prototype

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boisavia_Chablis - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=8207

1951 - Death of Vivian Claude Walsh, New Zealand pioneer aviator, 1st man to fly in new-zealand, founder with his brother Austin Leonard Walsh of the New Zealand Flying School

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3w3/walsh-austin-leonard

1951 - 1st flight of the AISA I-11 (Or Iberavia I-11), Spanish low-wing monoplane of conventional configuration with fixed, tricycle undercarriage and a large, bubble canopy over the two side-by-side seats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AISA_I-11

1953 - USAF Lieutenant Colonel W.F. Barnes, flying a North American F86D Sabre, sets the world's 1st speed record over 700mph

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

1956 - 1st flight of The Lavochkin La-250 "Anakonda", Soviet high-altitude interceptor aircraft prototype.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/la-250.php

1957 - KLM Flight 844 Lockheed 1049E Super Constellation 'Neutron', crashed into Cenderawasih Bay 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) from its departure airport, Biak-Mokmer Airport, Netherlands New Guinea, Killin 58 over 68.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KLM_Flight_844

1957 - 1st flight of The Aerotécnica AC-14, Spanish five-seat light helicopter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerot%C3%A9cnica_AC-14

1957 - Major John H. Glenn of the USMC sets a new record for a coast-to-coast flight across the U.S. The flight from Los Angeles, to New York takes just over three hours in a USN Vought F8U-1 Crusader.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glenn#Early_life_and_military_career

1965 - 1st launch of the Proton, expendable launch system used for both commercial and Russian government space launches.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton_(rocket)

1965 - 1st flight of The North American Aviation Rockwell OV-10 Bronco, American twin-turboprop light attack and observation aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Rockwell_OV-10_Bronco

1969 - Death of Vecihi Hürkuş, Turkish early aviator, WWI fighter pilot and aircraft designer, 1st civil aviator in Turkey who also built the 1st airplane in Turkey.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vecihi_H%C3%BCrku%C5%9F

1969 – Apollo 11, 1st manned space mission to land on the Moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11

1970 - 1st flight of The Aérospatiale SN 601 Corvette, French business jet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%C3%A9rospatiale_Corvette

1983 – British Airways Helicopters' commercial Sikorsky S-61 helicopter crashes off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_S-61_disaster_1983

1986 - The Atlas Cheetah, fighter aircraft built as a major upgrade of the Dassault Mirage III by the Atlas Aircraft Corporation (later Denel Aviation) of South Africa, is 1st unveiled.

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

1986 - Launch of Soyuz T-15, Soviet manned mission to both space stations Mir and Salyut 7.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_T-15

1999 – John F. Kennedy, Jr., piloting a Piper Saratoga aircraft, dies when his plane crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. His wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette are also killed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy,_Jr._airplane_crash

2004 - Death of Major General Charles W. Sweeney, USAAF WWII pilot and the pilot who flew the "Fat Man" atomic bomb to Nagasaki.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_W._Sweeney

2005 - Equatorial Express Airlines overloaded Antonov An-24 crashed into a side of a mountain near Baney, Equatorial Guinea, killing all 60, just after take off from from Malabo International Airport.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Equatorial_Express_Airlines_An-24_crash

2006 - 1st Manned Flight on Dry Cell Batteries : fruit of a joint project by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and undergraduates at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, the plane stayed airborne for 59 seconds and traveled 391 meters, exceeding by more than 100 meters.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=437&dat=20060717&id=NkMzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ASUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2328,4365611

2011 - Launch of GPS IIF-2, GPS satellite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System#Timeline_and_modernization