MARCH07

1809 - Death of Jean-Pierre Blanchard , aka Jean Pierre François Blanchard, French inventor, most remembered as a pioneer in aviation and ballooning.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Pierre_Blanchard

1881 - Birth of Rodolfo Verduzio, Italian aeronautical engineer and aviation pioneer.

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

1886 - Birth of René Thomas, French motor racing champion and pioneer aviator. One of the two 1st pilots (Bertram Dickson) involved in a mid-air collision.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rene_Thomas_(auto_racing)

1888 - Birth of Edward Darby, British WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Darby - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/darby.php

1889 - Birth of Godfrey DeCourcelles Chevalier, pioneering US Navy aviator.

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

1890 - Birth of Harry M. Jones, early american aviator who flew the 1st air parcel post flight from Boston to New York.

http://earlyaviators.com/ejones.htm

1901 - Birth of Maryse Hilz (born Marie-Antoinette Hilsz), French pioneering aviatrix and record setter.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryse_Hilsz

1906 - Birth of Ernest Archibald "Ernie" McNab, Canadian WWII fighter pilot, 1st scoring pilot for the RCAF in WWII.

http://cieldegloire.fr/003_mc_nab_e_a.php

1910 - The Canadan Aerodrome Co.'s Baddeck No. 2 biplane was flown by J.A.D. McCurdy with F.W. Baldwin as passenger at Baddeck, NS.

http://canadianaviationhistory.pbworks.com/w/page/13801121/On%20this%20day%20in%20Canadian%20Aviation%20History%20March

1915 – 1st British tactical bombing raids in support of ground troops is made in Menin and Courtai.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/March_in_aviation/March_7

1916 - Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG (BFW) is founded.

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

1918 - Death of Alexander Tahy, Austro-Hungarian WWI flying ace, killed in the crash of his Albatros D.III

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Tahy - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/austrhun/tahy.php

1919 - Death of Rupert Norman Gould Atkinson, British WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Atkinson_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/atkinson2.php

1927 - 1st flight of The Westland Wapiti, British two-seat general purpose military single-engined biplane

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

1932 - 1st flight of the Junkers Ju 52/3m, German 3 engine transport aircraft, also known as Tante Ju—"Auntie Ju" and Eisen Annie—"Iron Annie"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Ju_52

1934 - Juan de la Cierva y Codorníu lands his Autogyro C.30 on the seaplane tender Dedalo, 1st time an autogyro lands on a Spanish ship.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9dalo_(1922)#Historial

1936 - Birth of Loren Wilber Acton, American physicist who flew on Space Shuttle mission STS-51-F as a Payload Specialist for the Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory.

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

1939 - 1st flight of The SAI-Ambrosini SS.4, Italian fighter prototype which featured a canard-style wing layout and a 'pusher' propeller.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrosini_SS.4

1940 - Birth of Viktor Petrovich Savinykh, russian cosmonaut. Flew as Flight Engineer on Soyuz T-4, Soyuz T-13 and Soyuz TM-5.

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

1940 - 1st flight of the Kellner-Béchereau E-60, French single seat monoplane fighter trainer prototype.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1266 - http://www.eichhorn.ws/html/body_bechereau_e60.htm

1941 - Death of Francis James Davies, British WWI flying ace who also served in WWII

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_James_Davies - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/england/davies5.php

1942 - 15 Spitfire Mk Vs carrying 90-gallon fuel tanks under their bellies took off from the HMS Eagle off the coast of Algeria on a 600-mile flight to Malta. Those Spitfires V were the 1st to see service outside Britain

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

1945 - Death of Erich Leie, German WWII fighter ace, colliding with a crashing Russian Yak 9 fighter, he failed to survive a low level bail-out from his Bf 109 G-14/AS.

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

1945 - 1st flight of the Piasecki XHRP-X (PV-3), prototype of the HRP Rescuer (aka Harp), American tandem-rotor transport or rescue helicopter.

http://www.boeing.com/history/boeing/hrp1.html

1946 - Taylorcraft Aeroplanes (England) Limited becomes Auster Aircraft Limited.

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

1948 - Death of Oliver Swann (born Oliver Schwann), leading figure in the Royal Naval Air Service and senior commander in the Royal Air Force during the 1st half of the 20th century.

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

1949 - Captain William Odom takes off his Beechcraft 35 Bonanza at Honolulu, Hawaii for Nonstop flight attempting to break the world record in Class C-1-c for light aircraft.

http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?id=A19500080000

1950 - Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 307 Martin 2-0-2 crashed into a house on approach to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport after first hitting a flagpole, killing all 13 and 2 on ground.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Orient_Airlines_Flight_307

1953 - 1st flight of The Ilyushin Il-40 (NATO reporting name: "Brawny"), two-seat Soviet jet-engined armored ground-attack aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-40

1956 - Dan Perkins, engineer at Britain's Royal Aircraft Establishment, makes his 1st flight in an inflatable airplane in Bedfordshire, England. It takes 25 minutes to inflate it, using a large domestic vacuum cleaner.

http://digital.publicationprinters.com/publication/repo20/12504/101196/101196-66.pdf

1957 - 1st flight of the Antonov An-10 'Cat', Soviet four-engined turboprop passenger transport aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-10

1961 - 1st manned aircraft to exceed Mach 4: Flying the X-15, Capt. Robert M. White reached a speed of 2,905 mph which, at the altitude of 77,450 ft, he achieved Mach 4.43.

http://www.astronautix.com/thisday/march07.htm

1962 - Death of James Alpheus "Jimmy" Glen, Canadian WWI fighter ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Alpheus_Glen - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/glen.php

1962 - Launch of OSO-1 (Orbiting Solar Observatory), 1st of 9 American science satellites primarily intended to study the Sun.

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/sats_n_data/missions/oso1.html

1964 - 1st flight of the Hawker Siddeley Kestrel FGA.1 , experimental and development aircraft that led to the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the 1st V/STOL jet fighter-bomber,improved version of the P.1127.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Siddeley_P.1127

1964 - 1st flight of The Helwan HA-300, supersonic jet fighter aircraft developed in Egypt during the 1960s. It was designed by famous German aircraft engineer Willy Messerschmitt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helwan_HA-300

1968 - Death of Christopher Joseph Quintin 'Flossie' Brand, South African military commander, WWI Flying ace, raid pilot and WWII high ranking officer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintin_Brand - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/safrica/brand.php

1973 - Death of Johann Risztics, Austro-Hungarian WWI flying ace, known with fellow pilots Fredrich Hefty and Ferdinand Udvardy as the Arany Triumviratus (Golden Triumvirate). He also was a Raid Aviator After WWI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Risztics - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/austrhun/risztics.php

1973 - Death of Andre Emile Alfons de Meulemeester, Belgian WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_de_Meulemeester - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/belgium/de_meulemeester.php

1975 - 1st flight of The Yakovlev Yak-42 (NATO reporting name: Clobber), 100/120-seat three-engined mid-range passenger jet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakovlev_Yak-42

1984 - Death of Michal Scipio del Campo, Polish early aviator.

http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micha%C5%82_Scipio_del_Campo

1985 - 1st flight of the Sukhoi Su-27UB (T10U-1), Two seat trainer version prototype of the russian twin-engine supermanoeuverable fighter aircraft.

http://www.aviastar.org/russian-aircraft/flanker/flanker_2.html

1986 – Divers from the USS Preserver locate the crew cabin of Challenger on the ocean floor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Preserver_(ARS-8)

1997 - Death of Norman Adrian de Bruyne FRS, British Aircraft engineer, scientist, Industrialist and aircraft designer.

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

1999 - Indian Air Force Antonov AN-32 crashed into a concrete water tank in the Pappankalan Delhi suburb, located 1,5 miles short of the runway of New Delhi, killing all 18 and 3 on ground.

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19990307-0

2003 - 1st flight of The Bombardier Global 5000, ultra long range corporate and VIP high speed jet aircraft, slightly shorter version of the Global Express.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_Global_Express#Global_5000

2003 - 1st flight of The HAL HJT-36 Sitara, Indian subsonic intermediate jet trainer aircraft.

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

2009 - Launch of Kepler, NASA spacecraft equipped with a space observatory designed to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_(spacecraft)