MARCH14
1883 - Birth of Joseph Vuillemin, French WWI fighter ace and high ranking officer until WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Vuillemin - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/vuillemin.php
1885 - Birth of Gervais Raoul Lufbery, French-American WWI Fighter ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raoul_Lufbery - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/lufbery.php
1892 - Birth of James Herbert Knight, American pilot who made the 1st overnight transcontinental air mail delivery, Airliner pilot and vice-president of United Airlines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_H._Knight - http://earlyaviators.com/eknight.htm
1893 - Birth of Andre Henri Martenot de Cordou, French WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Martenot_de_Cordou - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/martenot.php
1894 - Birth of William Earle "Moley" Molesworth, Irish WWI fighter ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Molesworth_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/ireland/molesworth.php
1896 - Birth of Harold Arthur Sydney Molyneux, Canadian WWI flying ace who also served during WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Molyneux - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/molyneux.php
1908 - Henri Farman makes the 1st flight in his modified Voisin-Farman I-bis, the biplane built by Voisin brothers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/March_in_aviation/March_14
1908 - Birth of Edward Henry Heinemann, noted military aircraft designer for Douglas Aircraft Company.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Heinemann
1910 - French Louis Paulhan flies 146 km in a straight route from Orleans to Troyes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/March_in_aviation/March_14
1910 - 1st flight of the Canton et Unné, French experimental Twin engine Twin Boom push-pull monoplane.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9920 - http://www.aviastar.org/comments/comments.php?order=0&aircraft=4704
1912 - Birth of Josef "Joschi" Pöhs, German WWII fighter ace and test pilot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_P%C3%B6hs - http://www.luftwaffe.cz/pohs.html
1915 - Death of Lincoln J. Beachey in his Taube monoplane. American pioneer aviator and barnstormer. He became famous and wealthy from flying exhibitions, staging aerial stunts, helping invent aerobatics, and setting aviation records.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_J._Beachey
1918 - Death of Herbert Henry Hartley, Scottish WWI flying ace, killed in action.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/scotland/hartley.php
1927 - Death of Kurt Ungewitter, test pilot for Rumpler Flugzeugwerke and Albatros Flugzeugwerke, and WWI flying ace, Killed in the crash of his Albatros L.69a.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Ungewitter - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/ungewitter.php
1927 - Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, is formed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_American_World_Airways
1927 - 1st flight of the Parnall Pike, American 2/3-seat biplane reconnaissance aircraft prototype, capable of operating off carrier decks or from water.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parnall_Pike
1928 - Birth of Frank Frederick Borman II, test pilot, NASA astronaut and engineer, best remembered as the Commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the Moon, making him, along with fellow crew mates Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, the first of only 24 humans to do so
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Borman
1934 - Birth of Eugene "Gene" Andrew Cernan, US Navy officer, NASA astronaut and engineer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Cernan
1939 - 1st flight of the Martin Model 167 Maryland, US-designed twin engine light bomber.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/martin_maryland.php - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Maryland
1939 - Birth of William Benjamin "Bill" Lenoir, American engineer and a former NASA astronaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_B._Lenoir
1942 - Birth of Clyde Everett Lassen, US Navy helicopter pilot, only U. S. Navy helicopter pilot to be awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Everett_Lassen - http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7136906
1945 - Transportes Aéreos Portugueses, SGPS, S.A. (TAP),national airline of Portugal, is founded.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAP_Portugal
1945 - No. 617 Squadron RAF Avro Lancaster of Squadron Leader CC Calder dropped the 1st Grand Slam bomb (22,000 lb / 9,980 kg)from 11,965 ft (3,647 m) on the Schildesche viaduct.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_bomb#Grand_Slam_combat_operations
1946 – The Royal Canadian Navy commissions its 1st aircraft carrier, HMCS Warrior (CVL 20), which the United Kingdom has transferred to Canada.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Warrior_(R31)
1947 - Reginald Brie receives the 1st helicopter licence to be issued by the Royal Aero Club
1947 - 1st flight of Lockheed L-749 Constellation, American 4 engine airliner, 1st aircraft in the Lockheed Constellation aircraft line able to cross the Atlantic Ocean non-stop.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_L-749_Constellation
1952 - Death of Lloyd Samuel Breadner, Canadian WWI flying ace and senior RCAF commander during WWII
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Samuel_Breadner - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/breadner.php
1957 - British European Airways Flight 411 Vickers Viscount crashed on approach to Manchester Airport and hit a house in Wythenshawe, killing all 20 and 2 on ground, due to Metal fatigue in flaps which caused loss of control.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_European_Airways_Flight_411
1961 - A USAF B-52F-70-BW Stratofortress bomber, carrying two nuclear weapons experienced an uncontrolled decompression that required it to descend to 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in order to lower the cabin altitude. Increased fuel consumption caused by having to fly at lower altitude, combined with the inability to rendezvous with a tanker in time caused the aircraft to run out of fuel. The aircrew ejected safely, and then the unmanned aircraft crashed 15 miles (24 km) west of Yuba City, tearing the nuclear weapons from the aircraft on impact.The weapons did not detonate as their safety devices worked properly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Yuba_City_B-52_crash
1963 - Birth of Pedro Francisco Duque, 1st Spanish astronaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Duque
1966 - 1st flight of The Douglas DC-8 super 61, American four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, designed version for high capacity and medium range.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-8#DC-8_Super_60_Series
1967 - Birth of Edward Michael "Mike" Fincke, USAF officer and NASA astronaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Fincke
1972 – Sterling Airways Flight 296 Sud Aviation Caravelle crashed near Kalba in the United Arab Emirates due to incorrect information on the outdated flight plan and/or due to a misreading of the weather radar. All 112 passengers and crew were killed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_Airways_Flight_296
1974 - Death of Francis Thomas Evans, Sr, one of the earliest USMC aviators, 1st person to perform a loop in seaplane, and a pioneer of stall and spin recovery techniques.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Thomas_Evans,_Sr.
1979 - A CAAC Hawker Siddeley Trident 2E, B-274, crashed into a factory near Beijing, injuring at least 200. The crash was caused by an unqualified pilot who stole and flew the airliner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Siddeley_Trident#Accidents
1980 - LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 Ilyushin Il-62 crashed near Okecie Airport in Warsaw, due to mechanical failure as the crew aborted a landing and attempted to go-around. All 87 crew and passengers died.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOT_Polish_Airlines_Flight_007
1986 - Giotto , ESA robotic spacecraft intended to fly by and study Halley's Comet, flew-by at 596 km distance, and surprisingly survived despite being hit by some small particles. One impact sent it spinning off its stabilized spin axis so that its antenna no longer always pointed at the Earth, and importantly, its dust shield no longer protected its instruments. After 32 minutes Giotto re-stabilized itself and continued gathering science data.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giotto_(spacecraft)#Halley_encounter
1995 - An Aeroflot Antonov An-12B operated by Penza Air Enterprise crashes near Baku after running out of fuel. Crew negligence is blamed, and it is suggested that the flight crew were drunk.
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19950314-0
1995 - Launch of Soyuz TM-21, human spaceflight mission transporting personnel to the Russian space station Mir. Part of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, Norman Thagard becoming the 1st American astronaut to launch on a Soyuz spacecraft and board Mir,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TM-21
2006 - Helios Airways, low-cost Cypriot airline, is ebranded as Ajet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways
2006 - Steve Fossett took off from Salina, Kansas and flew eastbound around the world to set a new Absolute Distance Over a Closed Circuit Record. with his GlobalFlyer