MARCH29
1888 - Birth of Enea Bossi, Sr. , Italian-American aerospace engineer and aviation pioneer. He is best-known for designing the Budd BB-1 Pioneer, the 1st stainless steel aircraft; and also the Pedaliante airplane, disputably credited with the 1st fully human-powered flight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enea_Bossi,_Sr.
1892 - Birth of Graham Conacher Young, Scottish WWI flying ace
http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=203576 - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/scotland/young1.php
1893 - Birth of John Gerald Manuel, Canadian WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Manuel - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/manuel1.php
1894 - Birth of Bertram Heinrich, German WWI flying ace
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/heinrich.php
1898 - Birth of Cecil Arthur Lewis, British WWI flying ace, Vickers Instructor for chinese pilots. Last surviving WWI ace, He co-founded the BBC and enjoyed a long career as a writer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Arthur_Lewis - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/lewis1.php
1908 - Henri Farman is the 1st to take passenger into the air, Leon Delagrange.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Farman
1912 - Birth of Hanna Reitsch, German aviator and the only woman awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class and the Luftwaffe Combined Pilots-Observation Badge in Gold with Diamonds during World War II. 1st woman to fly a helicopter, a rocket plane, and a jet fighter. She set over forty aviation altitude and endurance records during her career, both before and after World War II, and several of her international gliding records are still standing to this day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanna_Reitsch
1915 - Birth of Kenneth A. Arnold, American aviator and businessman. He is best-known for making what is generally considered the 1st widely reported unidentified flying object sighting in the United States, after claiming to have seen nine unusual objects flying in a chain near Mount Rainier, Washington
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Arnold
1917 - Birth of Izidor Kovarik, Slovak WWII fighter ace who served on the Eastern front with the Axis Forces.
http://en.valka.cz/viewtopic.php/t/58714
1920 - Located about 10 miles due south of the City of London, England, Waddon Airport at Croydon is used for the 1st time as London's airport. Until this date, Hownslow has been considered the capital's main airport.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croydon_Airport
1921 - Death of Daniel Murray Bayne "Nigger" Galbraith, Canadian WWI flying ace,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Murray_Bayne_Galbraith - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/galbraith.php
1923 - Lester James Maitland sets a world's absolute speed record of 236.58 mph (380.75 kmh) over one kilometer in the Curtiss R-6, but the record is disqualified because he failed to maintain level flight
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_J._Maitland#Between_wars
1931 - Birth of Aleksei Aleksandrovich Gubarev, Soviet cosmonaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksei_Gubarev
1934 - 1st flight of The Fairey G.4/31, British single-engined, two-seat biplane contender for an Air Ministry specification for a multi-role or general purpose aircraft. Unsuccessful, only one was built.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_G.4/31
1936 - 1st flight of the Vought V-141, american single-seat fighter, issued from the Northrop 3A.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/vought_v-141.php
1938 - Death of Marcel Robert Leopold Bloch, French WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Bloch_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/bloch.php
1938 - A Dornier Do 18 flying Boat lands at Caravelas in Brazil coming from Start Point, Devon to Caravelas in Brazil setting a new seaplane record, flying non-stop a straight distance of 8,391 km (5,214 mi) in 43 hours 5 minutes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornier_Do_18
1939 - 1st Flight of The SNCASE SE 100 (initially designed Lioré et Olivier LeO 50), French two-seat, twin-engined fighter.Mass production was planned to begin late in 1940 but the Fall of France prevented this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCASE_SE.100
1940 - Death of Johann Heinrich Karl „Jan“ Schütte, German early Dirigible Airship designer.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Sch%C3%BCtte
1940 - Death of Prince Alexander Sergeevich Obolensky, Russian Rurikid prince and an international rugby union footballer who played for England. During training, his Hawker Hurricane Mark 1 crashed on Martlesham Heath, Suffolk.He was popularly known as just "The Prince" by many sports fans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Obolensky
1942 - Death of Herbert Gilles Watson, New-Zealand WWI fighter ace, who also served during early WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Gilles_Watson - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/nzealand/watson2.php
1944 - Death of Squadron Leader Roger Joyce Bushell RAF, South Africa born British Auxiliary Air Force pilot who organised and led the famous escape from the Nazi prisoner of war camp, Stalag Luft III. He was a victim of the Stalag Luft III murders. The escape was used as the basis for the film The Great Escape.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bushell
1945 – The last enemy action of any kind on British soil occurred when a V-1 struck Datchworth in Hertfordshire and the last V1 flying bomb (of 2,419 to arrive over England) is destroyed near Sittingbourne in Kent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_flying_bomb -
1947 - Birth of Aleksandr Stepanovich Viktorenko, Soviet cosmonaut who spent a total of 489 days in space.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Viktorenko
1954 - 1st flight of the Hispano Aviación HA-1112-M1L 'Buchon', evolution of the HA-1109 spanish licence built Messerschmidt BF-109.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispano_Aviaci%C3%B3n_HA-1112
1957 - Birth of Michael James Foreman, American astronaut and test pilot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Foreman
1958 - Death of Clyde Edward Pangborn , also known as "Upside-Down Pangborn" American aviator, stunt pilot, 1st person to fly non-stop across the Pacific Ocean along with Hugh Herndon, Jr.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Pangborn
1959 - UAT Nord 2501 Noratlas Crashed in the jungle near Boukpayanga (Central African Republic) after it exploded in midair, killing all 9 including Barthélemy Boganda, 1st Prime Minister of the Central African Republic autonomous territory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barth%C3%A9lemy_Boganda#Death_and_aftermath - http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19590329-2
1960 - 1st flight of The Tupolev Tu-124 'Cookpot', Soviet short range twinjet airliner, world's 1st turbofan-powered airliner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-124
1963 - 1st complete VTOL Flight (Vertical take off, horizontal transition flight and vertical landing) if performed by the Balzac V (Initial version of Dassault Mirage IIIV, french VTOL fighter aircraft , using existing engines for validating the concept).
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Mirage_IIIV
1965 - Birth of William Anthony "Bill" Oefelein, American businessman and a former test pilot instructor, naval officer and NASA astronaut who, on his only spaceflight, piloted the STS-116 Space Shuttle mission
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Oefelein
1969 - Panavia Aircraft GmbH , multinational company established by West Germany, Italy and UK is formed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panavia_Aircraft_GmbH
1974 – NASA's Mariner 10 becomes the 1st spaceprobe to fly by Mercury
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_10
1979 - Quebecair Flight 255 Fairchild F-27 crashed after an engine exploded shortly after take off from Jean Lesage International Airport, killing 17 over 24.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebecair_Flight_255
1988 - Spantax S.A., Spanish airline cease operations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spantax
1990 - 1st flight of The Ilyushin Il-114, Russian twin-engine turboprop airliner prototype.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-114
1995 - Death of Charles J. "Charlie" Fern, American WWI pilot, barnstorming Hawaii aviator and newspaper pioneer, 1st commercial pilot in Hawai.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fern
1996 - 1st flight of The Lockheed Martin RQ-3 DarkStar (known as Tier III- or "Tier three minus" during development), American unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) prototype. This "high-altitude endurance UAV" incorporated stealth technology to make it difficult to detect, which allowed it to operate within heavily defended airspace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_RQ-3_DarkStar
2001 - Avjet Corporation Gulfstream III crashed into terrain while on instrument approach to Aspen-Pitkin County Airport, Aspen, Colorado, killing all 18.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Avjet_Aspen_crash
2001 - 1st STOVL flight of the Boeing X-32B, American Concept demonstration aircraft for a multi-purpose jet fighter.
http://www.boeing.com/boeing/history/boeing/jsf.page
2003 - 1st flight of The Ullmann 2000 Panther, American four-seat high-wing cabin monoplane for Amateur construction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ullmann_2000_Panther
2010 - 1st flight of he HAL Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), Indian multirole combat helicopter.