MARCH04

1889 - Birth of Charles Marie Joseph Leon Nuville, French WWI fighter ace and WWII officer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Nuville - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/nuville.php

1893 - Birth of Joseph Creuss Callaghan (the mad major), Irish/american WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Callaghan - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/ireland/callaghan.php

1893 - Birth of Charles Herbert Colvin, American aeronautical engineer who was the co-founder of the Pioneer Instrument Company.

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

1896 - Birth of François Guerrier, French WWI flying ace

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/guerrier.php

1896 - Birth of Malcolm Charles McGregor, New Zealand WWI flying ace, Aviation Pioneer and air racer, director of Union Airlines of New Zealand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_C._McGregor - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/nzealand/mcgregor2.php

1898 - Birth of Arthur Korff, German WWI flying ace

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

1901 - Birth of Wilbur Rounding Franks, Canadian scientist, notable as the inventor of the anti-gravity suit or G-suit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbur_R._Franks

1915 - Zeppelin LZ33 (L8) crashes near Ostend after being hit by gunfire over Nieuport during a mission to attack Britain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Zeppelins#Zeppelins_constructed_during_World_War_I

1918 - 1st flight of The Airco DH.10 Amiens, British twin-engined medium Biplane bomber.

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

1921 - 1st flight of The Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano, Italian nine-wing flying boat intended to be a prototype for a 100-passenger trans-atlantic airliner. It featured eight engines and three sets of triple wings. Two pontoons, mounted on each side, were intended to give the aircraft stability. Over Lake Maggiore in Italy, The aircraft attained an altitude of only 18 m (60 ft) and crashed shortly thereafter, breaking up on impact.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caproni_Ca.60

1922 - Death of Viktor Georgiyevich Federov, Russian WWI flying ace with the French air service.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Fyodorov - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/russia/federov.php

1928 - 1st flight of The Boeing Model 204, American biplane, pusher configuration flying-boat prototype, 4-seat variant of the Model 6E.

http://www.boeing.com/history/chronology/chron03.html - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Model_204

1930 - 1st flight of the Blériot Bl-195/4 (the Bl-195/3 modified), French low wing monoplane flying boat 4 engine tandem mounted mailplane prototype.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1170

1936 - 1st flight of the LZ 129 Hindenburg (Deutsches Luftschiff Zeppelin #129; Registration: D-LZ 129), large German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class, the longest (245 meters, 803.8 feet) class of flying machines of any kind and the largest airship by envelope volume (200,000 m3, 7,062,000 cubic feet)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_129_Hindenburg

1937 - 1st flight of The Junkers EF 61, German prototype twin-engined high-altitude bomber aircraft which provided valuable information on pressure cabins which aided the design of later pressurised aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_EF_61_V1

1944 – After the success of Big Week, the USAAF begins a daylight bombing campaign of Berlin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Berlin#March_1944_to_April_1945

1945 - Death of Katsujiro Nakano, Japanese WWII flying ace, killed in action.

http://acesofww2.com/japan/

1948 - 1st American civilian to fly at supersonic speeds is Herbert Henry Hoover in the Bell X-1 in Muroc, California.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/Biographies/Pilots/bd-dfrc-p032.html

1952 - 1st flight of the Morane-Saulnier MS-479, French twin seat low wing monoplane single engine fighter trainer prototype, evolution of the MS-475 'Vanneau'.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=914

1954 - 1st flight of The Lockheed XF-104, American single-engine, high-performance, supersonic interceptor prototype.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_XF-104

1959 - NASA Space probe Pioneer 4 passed within 60,000 km of the Moon's surface.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_4#Mission

1962 - Caledonian Airways Flight 153 Douglas DC-7 crashed shortly after takeoff from Douala International Airport, Douala, Cameroon in a swamp on the edge of a jungle 1.5 miles off the airport, killing all 101 on board

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caledonian_Airways_Flight_153

1963 - 1st flight of the Bensen B-13, light-weight homebuilt helicopter.

http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/bensen_profile.html

1964 - Death of Raymond Victor Gabriel Jules Saulnier, French Aircraft designer.

http://www.janinetissot.fdaf.org/jt_saulnier.htm

1965 - Birth of Yury Valentinovich Lonchakov, Russian Navy Pilot and cosmonaut.

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

1966 - Canadian Pacific Airlines Flight 402 (CP402) McDonnell Douglas DC-8-43 crashed on landing in Tokyo, Japan at Tokyo's Haneda Airport due to poor visibility. 64 of 72 passengers/crew were killed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Pacific_Airlines_Flight_402

1976 - 1st flight of the Fournier RF-6B-100, French low wing monoplane single engine twin seat trainer.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9517

1979 - Death of Gladys McConnell, movie actress and aviatrix.

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

1986 – The Soviet space probe Vega 1 begins returning images of Halley's Comet and the 1st images of its nucleus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vega_1

1987 - Northwest Airlink Flight 2268 CASA C-212 crashed while attempting to land at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, killing 9 over 19.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Airlink_Flight_2268

1990 - Death of Konstantin Konstantinowitsch Kokkinaki, Second Sino-Japanese War and WWII fighter pilot and also test pilot in Mig's Series.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Konstantinowitsch_Kokkinaki

1990 - STS-36, NASA Space Shuttle Atlantis mission , is back on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-36

1992 - 1st flight of The Extra Flugzeugbau EA300S, German aerobatic single seat monoplane capable of Unlimited category competition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra_300

1993 - 1st flight of The Dassault Falcon 2000, French Business jet, twin-engine, smaller development of the Falcon 900 trijet, with transcontinental range.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Falcon_2000 - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=6765

1994 - Launch of STS-62, Space Shuttle Columbia mission

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-62

1997 - 1st flight of the Eurocopter AS-350B3 'Ecureuil', European single-engined light helicopter, High-performance version 1st ever to land on Mount Everest.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9791 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocopter_AS350#Variants - http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/snias-350.php

2002 - Ansett Australia, Ansett, Ansett Airlines of Australia, or ANSETT-ANA (as it was commonly known in earlier years) ceased operations.

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

2010 - 1st flight of the ATR-42-600, French twin-turboprop, short-haul regional airliner improved version of the ATR-42 series.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATR_42#ATR_42-600

2011 - Death of Mikhail Simonov, Russian aircraft designer famed for creating the Sukhoi Su-27 fighter-bomber.

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