MARCH11
1877 - Birth of Carl Oskar Ursinus, pioneer of German aviation, remembered mainly for his contributions to sailplane designs and the sport of gliding. He has been nicknamed the Rhönvater ("Rhön father") because he founded Germany’s first gliding club at the Wasserkuppe in the Rhön Mountains. He also pursued experiments in human-powered flight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oskar_Ursinus
1893 - Birth of Robert 'Bob' Dodds, Canadian WWI flying ace, involved in development of Canada's airways system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Dodds - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/dodds1.php
1894 - Birth of Emil Thuy, German WWI fighter ace, who was an adviser to the Finnish air force involved in the secret origins of the Luftwaffe within the Soviet Union.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Thuy - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/thuy.php
1895 - Birth of Johann Schlimpen, German WWI flying ace.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/schlimpen.php
1910 - Birth 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
1911 - French Jules Védrines flew from Toulouse to Carcassone with his Morane-Borel.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_V%C3%A9drines
1915 - 1st kite balloon ship of the Royal Naval Air Service: HMS Manica is hired by the Admiralty to handle observation balloons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Manica
1916 - Death of William 'Billy' C. Robinson, Early american aviator and aircraft designer, crashing during an attempt to break an altitude record
http://earlyaviators.com/erobbil1.htm - http://www.casamusica.com/Ewart/Billy%20Robinson.htm
1918 - Paul Frank Baer scored his 1st aerial victory and is awarded of the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Frank_Baer - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/baer.php
1918 - Death of Attilio Imolesi, Italian WWI flying ace, died from wounds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attilio_Imolesi - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/imolesi.php
1918 - Death of John Henry Robertson, Scottish WWI flying ace, died from wounds.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/scotland/robertson1.php
1918 - Canadian WWI fighter ace Frank Granger Quigley shot down a Balloon and later, in a single mission, 3 Pfalz DIII with his sopwith camel.
http://theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/quigley.php
1918 - 1st regular international airmail service begins, with Hansa-Brandenburg C.I aircraft linking Vienna, Lviv, Proskurov, and Kiev.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/March_in_aviation/March_11
1932 - 1st flight of the Latécoère 50.0, french 3 engined parasol winged flying boat prototype.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=976
1939 - 1st flight of the Willoughby Delta 8, or Delta F british small twin-engined aerodynamic test bed for a proposed flying wing airliner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willoughby_Delta_8
1940 - 1st U-Boat of the war to be sunk by a RAF aircraft without the assistance of surface vessels. A Bristol Blenheim of No.82 Squadron, RAF Bomber Command, on patrol off Borkum surprises and sinks U-31 on the surface in the Schillig Roads. The attack is pressed home at such a low altitude that the Blenheim is damaged by the explosions.
1941 - 1st flight of the Dewoitine HD-731, French twin seat low wing monoplane observation floatplane prototype.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewoitine_HD.730 - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=341
1941 - The Congress of the United States passes the Lend-Lease bill, paving the way for the provision of (amongst other equipment) 16,000 warplanes to the UK. Later Lend-Lease arrangements will supply other Allied nations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lend-Lease
1944 - Death of Giovanni Battista Boscutti, WWII italian pilot, while attacking a B-17 raid with his Macchi M.C.205 "Veltro".
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Boscutti
1945 - Japan launch Operation Tan No. 2, long-range Kamikaze mission directed at the main Allied naval fleet anchorage at Ulithi atoll in the western Pacific. Twenty-four "Yokosuka P1Y1" twin-engine bombers took-off from Japan to participate in the suicide portion of the attack, supported by other aircraft and submarines. Only two of the aircraft reached Ulithi, arriving after nightfall. One aircraft hit U.S. aircraft carrier Randolph on the starboard side aft just below the flight deck, killing 27 men and wounding 105, many of whom were watching a move in the ship's hangar deck. The second crashed into an access road on Sorlen islet, apparently believing the road with its nearby signal tower to be a ship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Tan_No._2
1945 - Death of Walter Hohmann, German engineer who made an important contribution to the understanding of orbital dynamics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Hohmann
1945 - Death of Paul Tissandier, son of aviator Gaston Tissandier, hot air balloon pilot, Early french aviator and record setter, pilot-pupil of Wilbur Wright who was also involved in the construction of hydro-gliders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Tissandier - http://earlyaviators.com/etissand.htm
1948 - Death of John Bowley Quested, British WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Quested_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/quested.php
1953 - 1st flight of SAAB J 29 (B version) Flygande tunnan ("The Flying Barrel"), Swedish fighter. The B version featured 50% larger fuel capacity and underwing hardpoints to carry bombs, rockets and drop-tanks
http://www.aviastar.org/gallery/tunnan.html
1954 - 1st flight of the Breguet Br 901 'Mouette' (Seagull), french single seat competition sailplane, winner at both the 1954 and 1956 World Gliding Championships.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br%C3%A9guet_Br_901_Mouette - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=8005
1955 – Orient Airways is merged into a new government-owned airline to become Pakistan International Airlines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_International_Airlines
1956 - Birth of Curtis Lee "Curt" Brown, Jr., engineer, A-10 and F-16 test pilot and NASA astronaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Brown
1957 - A Lockheed Super Constellation of Flying Tiger Lines sets a payload record for a commercial aircraft of 41,749 lb (18,936 kg) between Newark, New Jersey and Burbank, California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/March_in_aviation/March_11
1957 - Death of Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, Jr., USN, naval officer who specialized in feats of exploration. He was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Evelyn_Byrd
1957 - 1st flight of The Tupolev Tu-110 (NATO reporting name: Cooker), 4 engine russian airliner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-110
1958 - 1st fligth of the Sud Aviation SE-3150, French single seat 3 bladed rotor record helicopter prototype, reengined evolution of the SE.3130 Alouette II.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9038
1958 - 1st flight of the prototype Handley Page HPR-7 Dart Herald, British turboprop passenger aircraft, reengined version of the the HPR.3 prototype.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/handley_dart.php - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_Dart_Herald#Design_and_development
1959 - 1st flight of The Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King (company designation S-61), twin-engined anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_SH-3_Sea_King
1960 - Launch of Pioneer 5 (also known as 1960 Alpha 1, Pioneer P-2, and Thor Able 4), NASA spin-stabilized space probe used to investigate interplanetary space between the orbits of Earth and Venus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_5
1963 - Birth of Marcos Cesar Pontes, Brazilian Air Force pilot. He became the 1st Brazilian and the 1st Lusophone to go into space when he launched to the International Space Station aboard Soyuz TMA-8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcos_Pontes
1982 - Death of Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin, Soviet aviator, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1934 for the rescue of SS Chelyuskin crew from an improvised airfield on the frozen surface of the Chukchi Sea near Kolyuchin Island. In World War II he successfully commanded air brigade, air division and an air corps. General Kamanin was also head of cosmonaut training in Soviet space program. He recruited and trained the 1st generation of cosmonauts, including Yuri Gagarin, Gherman Titov and Alexei Leonov.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Kamanin
1982 - Widerøe Flight 933 De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter crashed after it suffered structural failure in the vertical stabilizer and rudder during clear-air turbulence, killing all 15. There has been put forward a conspiracy theory that the accident was caused by a collision with a Harrier of the British Royal Air Force.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wider%C3%B8e_Flight_933
1983 - Avensa Douglas DC-9-32 landed hard slid of the runway after an ILS approach in thick fog at Barquisimeto Airport, Venezuela, and exploded, killing 23 over 50.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Avensa_Douglas_DC-9_crash
1985 - 1st flight of The ARV Super2, British two-seat, strut-braced, shoulder wing, light aircraft,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARV_Super2
1993 - 1st flight of the Airbus A-321, derivative of the standard A320, with a stretched fuselage, which is lengthened by 6.94 metres (22 ft 9 in).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A320_family
1998 - 1st Boeing E-767, airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, is delivered to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_E-767
1998 - 1st pre-production flight of The Eurocopter EC155, long-range medium-lift passenger transport helicopter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocopter_EC155
2005 - China's 1st private airline, Okay Aiways has its maiden revenue flight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okay_Airlines
2005 - Jetsgo , Canadian low-cost carrier ceases all operations and declares bankruptcy protection.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jetsgo
2006 - Launch of Hotbird 7A (Civilian telecommunication satellite), and Spainsat (Spanish military communication satellite)
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spainsat - http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Bird_7A
2007 – Russian helicopters reportedly attack the Kodori Valley in Abkhazia, an accusation that Russia categorically denies later.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Georgia_helicopter_attack
2008 - Launch of STS-123, Space Shuttle mission Endavour to the International Space Station (ISS), to deliver the 1st module of the Japanese laboratory, Japanese Experiment Module (Kibo), and the Canadian Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, (SPDM) Dextre robotics system to the station.