JUNE04
1783 - In Annonay, France, the Montgolfier brothers, Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne, give the 1st public demonstration of their hot-air balloon by sending up a large model made of linen lined with paper.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgolfier_brothers
1784 - 1st woman on record to ride in an hot air balloon is French Opera singer Elisabeth Thible when she lifts off with Mr. Fleurant on board a hot air balloon christened 'La Gustave' in honour of King Gustav III of Sweden's visit to Lyon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Thible
1878 - Birth of Ludwig Dürr, german airship designer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_D%C3%BCrr
1891 - Death of Franz Freiherr von Uchatius, Austrian artillery general and inventor, his inventions included both military applications and pioneer work in cinematography. He launched the 1st air raid on a city with balloons.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_von_Uchatius
1895 - Birth of Alfred Victor Blenkiron, British WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Blenkiron - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/blenkiron.php
1897 - Birth of Josef Raesch, German WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Raesch - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/raesch.php
1897 - Birth of Gilbert Jean Uteau, French WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_J._Uteau - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/uteau.php
1909 - Birth of Eino Luukkanen, Finnish fighter ace in WWII. Luukkanen scored 56 confirmed victories, becoming Finland's t3rd highest ranking ace. He flew the Fokker D-21, Brewster B-239 Buffalo, and Bf 109G.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eino_Luukkanen - http://cieldegloire.com/000_luukkanen_eino.php
1911 - Birth of William Meade Lindsley "Billy" Fiske III, 1928 and 1932 Olympic champion bobsled driver and WWII pilot serving in the RAF.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Fiske
1912 - Using a Bristol Biplane at Salisbury Plain, 2nd.-Corporal Frank Ridd is the 1st non-commissioned officer to become a pilot.
1914 - 1st fatal British seaplane accident kills Lt. T. S. Cresswell and Cmdr. A. Rice of the Royal Navy. While ascending from the Calshot Air Station, the Short S.128 they are flying passes over motorboat on Southampton Water where Short's test pilot Gordon Bell and Lt. Spencer Grey are watching flight. At height of just over 200 feet, seaplane appears to break up and plummets into sea, killing both occupants.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_military_aircraft_before_1925
1915 - 1st flight of The Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.1, Norwegian two-seat biplane floatplane, 1st aircraft produced by the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service's aircraft factory Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk in Horten, built after Maurice Farman's MF.7 design.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marinens_Flyvebaatfabrikk_M.F.1
1916 - Birth of George Burges, British WWII Flying ace and high ranking officer post war.
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/commonwealth_burges.htm - http://www.cieldegloire.com/002_raf_burges_g.php
1918 - Death of Jean Marie Emile Derode, French WWI flying ace, killed in action in his SPAD after scoring his 7th victory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Derode - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/france/derode.php
1918 - 1st flight of The Royal Aircraft Factory A.E.3 (Armed or Armoured Experimental also known as the Farnborough Ram), prototype British armoured ground attack aircraft of WWI, development of the Royal Aircraft Factory's N.E.1 night fighter, two-seat single-engined pusher biplane.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/raf_ae-3.php
1923 - Birth of Victor A. Prather Jr. American flight surgeon famous for taking part in "Project RAM", a government project to develop the space suit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Prather
1924 - Birth of William Dennis Weaver, American actor, best known for his work in television, including roles on Gunsmoke, as Marshal Sam McCloud on the NBC police drama McCloud, and the 1971 TV movie Duel, and also a WWII pilot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Weaver
1925 - 1st flight of The Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.9 Høverjager ("Høver fighter" also known as the Høver M.F.9), Norwegian Biplane fighter seaplane
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marinens_Flyvebaatfabrikk_M.F.9
1925 - 1st flight of The Parnall Peto, British small seaplane prototype of mixed wood, fabric, aluminium and steel construction, unequal span, Warren-braced folding rectangular wings, for use as a submarine-carried reconnaissance aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parnall_Peto
1927 - Clarence Duncan Chamberlin takes off in the Wright-Bellanca WB-2 'Columbia' monoplane with passenger Charles Albert Levine for a nonstop transatlantic flight from Roosevelt Field, Long Island (the airfield from which Lindbergh and Byrd took off) to Eisleben, Germany
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Duncan_Chamberlin
1929 - Lt Apollo Soucek sets a new seaplane altitude record of 43,166 ft (13,157 ft) in a F3W Apache
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Soucek
1930 - Lt Apollo Soucek flies an Apache landplane equipped with a 450 horsepower (340 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1340 radial engine to a height of 43,166 feet (13,157 m) over NAS Anacostia, regaining the previous world record
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Soucek
1932 - 1st flight of the Couzinet 40, French 5 seat, 3 engine low wing mail plane prototype.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9497
1934 - USS Ranger (CV-4) 1st ship of the US Navy to be designed and built from the keel up as an aircraft carrier, is commissioned.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ranger_(CV-4)
1935 - 1st flight of The Armstrong Whitworth AW.23, British prototype bomber/transport aircraft used for inflight refuelling development by Flight Refuelling Ltd.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_Whitworth_AW.23
1935 - Brothers Fred and Al Key (The Flying Keys) lifted off in a borrowed Curtiss Robin monoplane named 'Ole Miss' from Meridian, Mississippi's airport for an endurance flight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flying_Keys
1935 - Birth of Thomas McMurtry, U.S. Navy pilot and NASA research test pilot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_McMurtry
1938 - 2nd prototype of the German 4 engine heavy bomber Junker Ju-89 set a new Payload/Altitude World Record with 5,000 kg (11,000 lb) payload at an altitude of 9,312 m (30,500 ft).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Ju_89#Second_Prototype
1940 - BOAC commences a twice-weekly service between England and Portugal, scheduled to connect with Pan Am flights from Lisbon to New York.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/June_in_aviation/June_4
1942 - RCAF No. 417 (Fighter) Squadron arrived in Egypt to serve with the Desert Air Force.
1942 – The Battle of Midway begins. Japanese Admiral Chuichi Nagumo orders a strike on Midway Island by much of the Imperial Japanese navy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway
1942 - Death of Lofton R. 'Joe' Henderson, WWII USMC naval aviator, recognized as the 1st Marine Aviator to die during the battle of Midway while leading his squadron to attack the Japanese carrier forces. While leading 16 Marine Corps SBD-2 Dauntless in a glide bombing attack on the aircraft carrier Hiryu, his left wing burst into flames as he began his final approach. Henderson continued the attack and perished as his plane dived toward the enemy carrier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lofton_Henderson
1942 - Death of Major Floyd Bruce Parks, USMC pilot during the battle of Midway
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_B._Parks
1942 - Death of Joichi Tomonaga, Japanese pilot leading the 1st assaults during the battle of Midway.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joichi_Tomonaga
1942 - Death of John Charles Waldron, US Navy aviator, leading a squadron of torpedo bombers in the Battle of Midway.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Waldron
1942 - Japanese WWII flying ace Iyozoh Fujita scores 10 victories on a single mission over Midway with his Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iyozoh_Fujita - http://www.cieldegloire.com/010_fujita_i.php
1942 - 1st live test of a Nylon parchute is made by Adeline Gray at Brainard field, Connecticut.
1949 - 1st flight of the Fouga CM-8-15, French single-seat competition sailplane prototype.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=10124
1954 - Arthur Warren "Kit" Murray setted an unofficial world altitude record of 27374m (89800 ft) with the Bell X1-A.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_X-1A_flights - http://www.astronautix.com/thisday/june04.htm
1957 - Death of Teruhiko Kobayashi, Japanese WWII flying ace, JSDAF pilot postwar, killed in the crash of a Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star in bad weather on approach to Hamamatsu Air Base.
http://www.cieldegloire.com/010_kobayashi_te.php
1959 - Max Conrad lands his Comanche 250 N110LF after a non-stop from Casablanca, Morocco to Los Angeles, a distance of 7,668 mi (12,340 km). With interior seats replaced by fuel tanks, the aircraft was loaded 2,000 lb (910 kg) over its production gross weight limit when Conrad took off from Casablanca.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Conrad
1964 - 1st flight of the Dassault Mirage IIIS, Single-seat all-weather interceptor fighter aircraft for the Swiss Air Force, fitted with a Hughes TARAN 18 radar and fire-control system, armed with AIM-4 Falcon and Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Mirage_III
1965 - 1st flight of The Nanchang Q-5 (NATO reporting name: Fantan), also known as the A-5 in its export versions, Chinese-built jet ground-attack aircraft based on the Soviet MiG-19.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanchang_Q-5
1965 - Birth of Shannon Walker, American scientist and NASA astronaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon_Walker
1967 – A British Midland flight Canadair C-4 Argonaut crashes in Hopes Carr, Stockport, after an engine lost power because of a design failure in the aircraft's fuel system, killing 72 passengers and crew.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockport_Air_Disaster
1967 - Death of Zeus Soucek, US Navy aviator and record setter.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1208934
1967 - Birth of Robert Shane Kimbrough, US Army officer and NASA astronaut
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Shane_Kimbrough
1969 - Mexicana Flight 704, a Boeing 727-64, crashes on approach to Monterrey, Mexico, killing all 79 people on board.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexicana_Flight_704#Accidents_and_incidents
1972 - 1st fatality during USAF Thunderbirds show: Major Joe Howard, flying Thunderbird 3 (McDonnell Douglas F-4E-32-MC Phantom II), was killed during the Transpo 72 airshow at Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force_Thunderbirds#Accidents
1974 - 1st flight of the SAAB JA 37 Viggen, Evolution of the Swedish single-seat all-weather interceptor jet fighter, with a secondary attack role.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/sweden/saab_viggen.php - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_37_Viggen#Specifications_.28JA_37_Viggen.29
1974 - Death of Modesto Madariaga Spanish aviation mechanic who took part in the historic flight of the Cuatro Vientos from Seville, Spain to Camagüey, Cuba
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modesto_Madariaga
1974 - 2nd Lieutenant Sally D. Woolfolk becomes the United States Army's 1st woman pilot.
1980 - 1st flight of The Mitsubishi F-15J/DJ Eagle, Japanese licence built McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, twin-engine, all-weather interceptor fighter for the JASDF.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_F-15J
1996 - 1st launch of Ariane 5, expendable launch system used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) or low Earth orbit (LEO). It crashed with the rocket self-destructing 37 seconds after launch because of a malfunction in the control software.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_5
2010 - 1st launch of Falcon 9, French rocket-powered spaceflight launch system designed and manufactured by SpaceX.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9
2011 - 9 year old Bobby Bradley took off solo in a hot air balloon and landed perfectly about a half-hour later, becoming the youngest trained pilot to accomplish such a feat.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/04/bobby-bradley-hot-air-balloon_n_871305.html
2012 – An American unmanned aerial vehicle strike in Pakistan kills Abu Yahya al-Libi, a leading al-Qaeda official