MARCH16
1880 - Birth of William Bushnell Stout, American inventor, aircafts designer (He designed an aircraft, Stout 3-AT, that eventually became the Ford Trimotor). His work in automotive and aviation fields were notable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bushnell_Stout
1884 - Birth of Claud Harry Stokes, British WWI flying ace, last ace killed before the war's end.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claud_Stokes - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/stokes.php
1887 - Birth of François Paul Delzenne, French WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Delzenne - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/delzenne.php
1890 - Birth of Ernest Edgar Davies, Australan WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Davies_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/australi/davies4.php
1894 - Birth of Harry Alison Wood, Canadian WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Wood_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/wood2.php
1895 - Birth of Alfred Fleischer, german WWI flying ace who served in WWII
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Fleischer - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/fleischer.php
1897 - Birth of Walter Hagen, German Test pilot for Junker and WWII Stuka pilot.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Hagen_(Pilot)
1905 - An official report signed by Prof N. L. Shtchukin, who was appointed to witness and supervise the experiment, stated that Lipkowski's rotor, consisting of two 'half-wings' with an overall diameter of 16m and a combined gross area of 200 sq m, which were powered by a 35hp (electric) motor, lifted 778kg at 40rpm, this indicating a lift/power ratio of 22.22kg/hp (or more than twice as good as the then best achievements).
http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/lipkowski.php
1905 - Daniel John Maloney, a professional balloon-parachute jumper, makes a 1st successful glide to earth in a tandem-wing glider built by John J. Montgomery , a professor at Santa Clara College in California.
http://earlyaviators.com/emontgom.htm
1907 - Built for Leon Delagrange and pilot Charles Voisin, the Voisin-Delagrange biplane makes its 1st flight from Bagatelle, France, achieving a height of 13ft. and a distance of 260ft.
http://www.earlyaviators.com/edelagra.htm - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Voisin
1911 - The 1st certificate of airworthiness awarded to an airplane in Britain is signed by Mervyn O'Gorman, superintendent of the Balloon Factory at Farnborough, covering the Farman III Type Militaire purchased by the British Army during the second half of 1910.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/March_in_aviation/March_16
1916 - US military aircraft fly their 1st mission over foreign soil when Curtiss JN3s of the 1st Aero Squadron carry out reconnaissance over Mexico.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Aero_Squadron
1917 - Death of Friedrich Manschott, German WWI flying ace, killed by a Caudron near the Fort de Vaux after having shot down a Balloon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Manschott - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/manschott.php
1918 - Death of François de Rochechouart de Mortemart, French WWI flying ace, killed in action.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/de_rochechouart.php
1918 - Death of Keith Knox Muspratt, British WWI flying ace, killed in a crash while testing a plane at Martlesham Heath.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Muspratt - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/muspratt.php
1918 - Death of Llewelyn Crichton Davies, Welsh WWI flying ace, from injuries sustained after the crash of his Airco DH.4 3 days before.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llewelyn_Davies_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/wales/davies6.php
1918 - Scottish WWI fighter ace George Edwin Thomson scored 4 victories in a single mission with his Sopwith Camel.
http://theaerodrome.com/aces/scotland/thomson2.php
1919 - Death of David McKelvey Peterson, American WWI flying ace, killed in an aviation accident in Daytona Beach, Florida
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_M._Peterson - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/peterson.php
1926 - 1st flight of The Armstrong Whitworth Argosy, British three-engine biplane airliner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_Whitworth_Argosy
1926 - Robert Goddard launches the 1st liquid-fuelled rocket near Auburn, Massachusetts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Goddard_(scientist)
1927 - Birth of Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov, Soviet test pilot, aerospace engineer, and cosmonaut in the 1st group of cosmonauts selected in 1960. He was one of the most highly experienced and well-qualified candidates accepted into "Air Force Group One". 1st cosmonaut to fly into outer space more than once, and also 1st human to die during a spaceflight
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Mikhaylovich_Komarov
1927 - Portuguese José Manuel Sarmento de Beires takes off with a Dornier Do J Wal 'Argos' metallic seaplane from Portuguese Guinea to Brazil, 1st night aerial crossing of the South Atlantic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornier_Do_J_Wal#Pioneering_Flights - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarmento_de_Beires
1932 - Birth of Ronnie Walter Cunningham, known as Walt Cunningham, Fighter pilot and American astronaut. In 1968, he was the Lunar Module pilot on the Apollo 7 mission
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Cunningham
1937 - 1st flight of The Fokker G.I, Dutch heavy twin-engined fighter plane comparable in size and role to the German Messerschmitt Bf 110 and the British Mosquito.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_G.I
1938 - Italian Aviazione Legionaria an Condor Legion begins 3 days bombing of Barcelona during the spanish war. It is considered as one of the 1st carpet boming.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardeos_a%C3%A9reos_de_Barcelona_en_marzo_de_1938
1940 - Death of Andrea Zotti, Spanish war Italian flying ace.
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/italy_zotti.htm
1940 - The United Kingdom suffers its 1st civilian air-raid casualties of the war after a raid by KG 26 on Scapa Flow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/March_in_aviation/March_16
1941 - Death of 'Buffalo' Wong Sun-Shui, Chinese-American flying ace of the Sino-Japanese war, from wounds received in action.
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/china_wong2.htm
1942 - V-2 German Ballistic missile enters in production.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2_rocket
1946 - 1st flight of the Adam RA-14 Loisirs, French two-seat high-wing light touring aircraft.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9950 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_RA-14_Loisirs
1947 - 1st flight of The Convair CV-240, twin engine American airliner on a requirement of American Airlines for a pressurized airliner to replace the classic Douglas DC-3.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_CV-240_family#Operational_history
1950 - A de Havilland Comet jet airliner, piloted by Group Captain John Cunningham, flies from Hatfield in Hertfordshire to Ciampino in Rome and back, covering 1,831 miles in 4 hours 6 minutes.
1954 - Death of Captain Joseph "Mutt" Summers, chief test pilot at Vickers-Armstrongs and Supermarine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Summers
1956 - Death of Michael Moutoussis, one of the 1st military aviators in the Greek Armed Forces. During the Balkan Wars, he performed together with Aristeidis Moraitinis the 1st naval air co-operation mission in history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moutoussis
1956 - Cargo-carrying airline, Sadia SA Transportes Aeros, begins scheduled feeder-line services from Sao Paulo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadia_Transportes_A%C3%A9reos
1958 - Air Inter operates its 1st commercial flight between Paris and Strasbourg.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Inter
1958 - Death of Mervyn O'Gorman, Irish-born British electrical and aircraft engineer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:TheLongTone/Mervyn_Joseph_Pius_O'Gorman
1959 - Birth of Michael John "Bloomer" Bloomfield, American astronaut and veteran of three space shuttle missions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Bloomfield
1962 - Launch of Kosmos 1 , also known as DS-2 #1 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 11, soviet technology demonstration and ionospheric research satellite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_1
1966 - Launch of Gemini 8, The mission conducted the 1st docking of two spacecraft in orbit, but suffered the first critical in-space system failure of a U.S. spacecraft which threatened the lives of the astronauts and required immediate abort of the mission. The crew was returned to earth safely. The only other time this happened was on the flight of Apollo 13.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_8
1967 – Air Southwest is incorporated by Herb Kelleher and Rollin King. They would go on to grow it into low-cost juggernaut Southwest Airlines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Airlines#Early_history
1968 - Warrant Officer One Hugh Thompson, Jr., a helicopter pilot from an aero-scout team, witnessed and reported the VietNam My Lai Massacre.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Thompson,_Jr.#My_Lai_Massacre - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre#Helicopter_intervention
1969 - Viasa Flight 742 McDonnell-Douglas DC-9-30 crashed. Faulty temperature sensors along the runway resulted in an incorrect takeoff configuration, and the aircraft was unable to gain altitude quickly enough. The DC-9-30 hit a series of power lines before crashing into the La Trinidad section of Maracaibo. All 84 people on board perished, as well as 71 on the ground.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viasa_Flight_742
1973 - Death of Cecil Robert "Ruggles" Thompson, South african WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Thompson_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/safrica/thompson1.php
1973 - Concorde 001 reach an altitude of 68 000 ft, (20 700 m).
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde_(avion)#Essais
1976 - 1st flight of General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, multirole jet fighter aircraft, variant YF-16 CCV, to serve as the USAF Flight Dynamics Laboratory's Control-Configured Vehicle (CCV) testbed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-16_Fighting_Falcon_variants
1978 - Balkan Bulgarian Tupolev Tu-134 crashed.On departure from Sofia, the aircraft was climbing to 8850 m, but at 4900 m it turned on a heading of 050, it turned again to 270 then began an abnormal descent. The aircraft crashed near the village of Gabare, 130 km northeast of Sofia. All 73 on board died. It was never established what the nature of the emergency was or if the aircraft was under control at the moment of impact.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_Balkan_Bulgarian_Tupolev_Tu-134_crash
1983 - A Boeing 767 lands at Boeing Field in Washington, after a record breaking non-stop flight from Lisbon, Portugal. The 5,499 miles (8,798 km) flown non-stop constitute a record for twin engined airliners.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/March_in_aviation/March_16
1996 - 1st flight of The Mikoyan MiG-AT, Russian trainer jet aircraft designed to replace Aero L-29 and L-39 for the Russian Air Force.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan_MiG-AT
2000 - Death of Thomas Ferebee, bombardier aboard the B-29 Superfortress, Enola Gay, that dropped the atomic bomb, "Little Boy", on Hiroshima in 1945.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Ferebee
2006 - The New Kitakyushu Airport (IATA: KKJ, ICAO: RJFR) opens in Japan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Kitakyushu_Airport
2011 - Soyuz TMA-01M, Russian space flight to the ISS, is back on earth.