MARCH30

1754 - Birth of Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, French chemistry and physics teacher, and one of the 1st pioneers of aviation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_Pil%C3%A2tre_de_Rozier

1889 - Birth 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

1890 - Birth of Norman Craig Millman, Canadian WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Craig_Millman - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/millman.php

1892 - Birth of Erhard Milch, German Field Marshal who oversaw the development of the Luftwaffe as part of the re-armament of Germany following World War I

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

1893 - Birth of Hugh Bradford Griffith, Canadian WWI flying ace

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/griffith1.php

1894 - Birth of Sergey Vladimirovich Ilyushin, Soviet aircraft designer who founded the Ilyushin aircraft design bureau.

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

1898 - Birth of Rowan Heywood "Bill" Daly, British WWI flying ace

http://theaerodrome.com/aces/england/daly.php

1907 - French Gabriel Voisin flies his own built pusher airplane (1907 Voisin biplane) Antoinette engine equipped, achieving a straight-line flight of 60 m (200 ft). IOt is the 1st successful powered aircraft designed by Gabriel Voisin, and used by the French aviator Henri Farman to make the 1st heavier-than-air flight lasting more than a minute in Europe, and also to make the 1st full circle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9_Anonyme_des_A%C3%A9roplanes_G._Voisin - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voisin_1907_biplane

1911 - Birth of Heini Dittmar, German glider pilot (he achieved the 1st crossing of the Alps in a glider), aircraft designer and test pilot. With the Me-163 A V4 KE+SW , Dittmar became the 1st human to fly faster than 1000 km/h with an airplane

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

1911 - 1st flight of the Zeppelin LZ8, German civilian airship.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Zeppelins#Zeppelins_finished_before_World_War_I

1913 - 1st regular aerial cargo service. Harry M. Jones lands his Wright B in Brooklin after a 52 days trip with baked beans carried from Boston.

http://earlyaviators.com/ejones.htm

1914 - Birth of Pio Tomaselli, Spanish war and WWII italian flying ace.

http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/italy_tomaselli.htm

1916 - 1st flight of the German airships Schutte-LanZ SL9 and SL10.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sch%C3%BCtte-Lanz_airships#SL9 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sch%C3%BCtte-Lanz_airships#SL10

1917 - German Schutte-Lanz airship SL9 (E2) is destroyed during a storm with the loss of all hands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sch%C3%BCtte-Lanz_airships#SL9

1918 - Alan Jerrard, British ace (7 victories) is shot down by Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg and taken captive

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Jerrard - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/jerrard.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benno_Fiala_von_Fernbrugg - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/austrhun/fiala.php

1919 - Seeing little opportunity for himself as an aircraft designer in war-torn Europe, and particularly Russia, ravaged by the October Revolution and Civil War, Igor Sikorsky emigrates to the United States and arrives in New-York.

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

1920 - Birth of Ioan Galea, Romanian WWII flying ace

http://cieldegloire.com/012_galea_i.php - http://www.worldwar2.ro/arr/?article=698

1922 - Portuguese naval aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral start at Bom Sucesso Naval Air Station in the Tagus, near the Belém Tower in Lisbon, the 1st aerial crossing of the South Atlantic in order to mark the centennial of Brazil's independence, with a Fairey III-D MkII seaplane specifically fitted with an artificial horizon for aeronautical use. This invention revolutionized air navigation at the time.

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

1927 - Death of Everard Richard Calthrop, British railway engineer and inventor who patented some early designs for parachutes and ejector seat for aircraft using compressed air.

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

1928 - A resident of Zehden, Germany, Samuel Schwartz, asks German airline Deutsche LuftHansa (DLH) for rent for the airspace above his house, citing law that says his rights extend to the "space above and the ground beneath" his property.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/March_in_aviation/March_30

1928 - Dame Mary Bailey, née Westenra, lands after a 8,000 mile solo flight from Croydon to Cape Town, flying de Havilland Cirrus Moth with an extra fuel tank.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Bailey_(aviator)

1928 - Alan Cobham making a survey flight around Africa in a short Singapore arrives at Cape Town, coming from Rochester, England.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Singapore#Design_and_development

1928 - The Federal Aeronautique Internationale (FAI)-ratified world speed record is pushed through 300 mph for the 1st time. Flying a specially adapted Macchi M-52bis seaplane, Italian Maj. Mario de Bernardi achieves a speed of 512.69 km/h (318.64 mph). This is an increase of 20.81 mph over his previous record. De Bernardi becomes the 1st person to exceed 300 miles per hour (480 km/h) and the 1st person to exceed 500 kilometres per hour (310 mph)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_de_Bernardi_(pilot) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macchi_M.52

1930 - 1st flight of The Polikarpov I-6, Soviet biplane fighter prototype.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polikarpov_I-6

1930 - Franck Hawks takes off in the Texaco Eaglet (custom-made 50-foot/15 m wingspan glider built by R.E. and Wallace Franklin) towed by a Waco ASO biplane, flown by J.D. "Duke" Jernigan Jr for proving the feasibility of long-distance glider-towing from San Diego to New York.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Hawks#Gliding

1930 - 1st flight of the Boeing Model 204-C 'Thunderbird', American biplane, pusher configuration flying-boat, a modified 204, 1st type produced by Boeing Aircraft of Canada.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Model_204

1931 - Jean Mermoz and Antoine Pillard takes off with the Bernard 80 GR 'Oiseau Tango' to set a new endurance record.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_80_GR#Operational_history - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1608

1932 - 1st flight of the SPCA 80, French single-engined high-wing cantilever monoplane with a fixed tailskid landing gear, colonial transport aircraft specifically for police duties.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPCA_80 - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=4570

1933 - 1st flight of the Lioré et Olivier LeO H-242, French 4 engine high wing monoplane passenger flying boat

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=162

1934 - 1st flight of The Sikorsky S-42 , American commercial flying boat designed and built by Sikorsky Aircraft to meet a 1931 requirement from Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) for a long-range transatlantic flying boat.

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

1936 - 1st successful bail-out from a rotary-winged aircraft: William H. "Bill" McAvoy and engineer John Wheatley abandoned their Pitcairn YG-2 Autogiro when the rotor failed.

http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=120913

1938 - The Heinkel He 115, German 3 seat twin engine torpedo bomber seaplane set eight payload/speed records.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/germany/he-115.php

1938 - 1st Flight of the Romano R-110, French twin engine fighter.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/romano_r-110.php

1939 - Piloted by Flugkapitän Hans Dieterle, the Heinkel He 100 V8/R (serial no. D-IDGH) seizes the absolute world air speed record from Hermann Wurster, who has flown his Bf 109 to 379 mph. The pilot achieves four legs of a course at Oranienburg to record an average speed of 463.92 mph, adding 70 mph to the previous record

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_100

1939 - 1st flight of the Potez 670 (prototype - evolution of the Potez 630) - 2 seat twin-engined fighter.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/potez-670.php

1940 - 1st flight of The Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-1 (production LAGG-3), Soviet fighter aircraft of World War II. Although not very successful, it formed the basis for a series of aircraft that would eventually become some of the most formidable Soviet fighters of the war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov_LaGG-1

1940 - 1st flight of the Potez 230, French wooden built light monoplane fighter.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.N.F._Les_Mureaux_190#Potez_230 - http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/potez-230.php

1941 - 1st flight (powered) of The Heinkel He 280, German fighter prototype, 1st turbojet-powered fighter aircraft in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_280

1944 - Death of Koshiro Yamashita, Japanese China war and WWII flying ace, killed in his Mitsubishi A6M Zero over Peleliu.

http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/japan_yamashita.htm

1944 – Allied bombing raid on Nuremberg. Along the English eastern coast 795 aircraft are dispatched, including 572 Lancasters, 214 Halifaxes and 9 Mosquitos. The bombers meet resistance at the coasts of Belgium and the Netherlands from German fighters. In total, 95 bombers are lost, making it the largest Bomber Command loss of WWII.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftangriffe_auf_N%C3%BCrnberg

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-military-aviation/1944.aspx

1945 – A defecting German pilot, Hans Fay, delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1 , the world's 1st operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, during a functional check flight rather than fly it to an operational unit to the Americans, the first to fall into Allied hands.

http://militaryhistory.about.com/b/2008/03/30/world-war-ii-messerschmitt-me-262-captured.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_262 - http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/Images/Me262/ME262PILOTDEBRIEF.pdf

1950 - Death of Giuseppe Mottet, Spanish war and WWII italian flying ace, Post WWII instructor, killed during a training flight while attempting an emergency landing with his Spitfire Mk IXc after the engine caught fire. Captain Mottet kept on flying to avoid baling out over Vicenza thus risking that the plane could crash in the city.

http://www.cieldegloire.com/009_mottet_g.php - http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/italy_mottet.htm

1954 - Joe DeBona, with a North American P-51C, set a transcontinental speed record for piston-engine planes, Los Angeles LAX nonstop to New York Idlewild in 4 hours 24 minutes 17 seconds (560 mph)

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

1956 - 1st flight of The Carma VT-1 Weejet, turbojet- powered two-seat trainer Prototype.

http://www.aviastar.org/manufacturers/0508.html

1957 - Birth of Yelena Vladimirovna Kondakova, 3rd Soviet/Russian female cosmonaut to travel to space and the 1st woman to make a long-duration spaceflight

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

1957 - The 2nd prototype SNCASE SE-212 Durandal, French jet and rocket mixed-power fighter aircraft, is flown.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCASE_SE-212_Durandal

1959 - Death of Byron Quinby Jones, American pionneer aviator, 1st army pilot to stall and loop an aircraft without crashing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_Q._Jones

1961 - Joe Walker flies the X-15 (flight 35) at 3.95 mach at a height of 51,694 meters

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_X-15_flights

1967 - 1st flight of the CEA DR-253 'Régent, French low wing 4 seat cabin tourer aircraft.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1638

1967 - Delta Airlines Flight 9877 Douglas DC-8-51 on a training flight for pilots, crashes in New Orleans, Louisiana after a simulated two-engine out approach, killing all 6 on board.

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19670330-0&lang=en

1973 - Death of Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, Scottish nobleman and pioneering aviator.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Douglas-Hamilton,_14th_Duke_of_Hamilton

1975 - Death of Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes, American pioneer aviator, the founder of the 1st test pilots union and the owner of the Happy Bottom Riding Club (a bar and restaurant where Pancho became very close friends with many of the early test pilots, including Chuck Yeager, General Jimmy Doolittle, and Buzz Aldrin. Pancho's ranch became famous for the parties and high-flying lifestyle of all the guests). She broke Amelia Earhart's air speed record in 1930

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

1981 - Soyuz 39, Soviet manned space flight to the Salyut 6 space station, is back on earth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_39

1982 - STS-3, 3rd mission for the Space Shuttle Columbia, lands at the White Sands Space Harbor near Las Cruces, New Mexico.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-3

1986 - Mozambique Air Force Antonov An-26 crashed while trying to land at Pemba Airport. All 3 crew and 41 of the 46 passengers were killed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-26#Accidents_and_incidents

1999 - 1st flight of the 2nd and last prototype of the Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche, American advanced five-blade armed reconnaissance and attack helicopter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing-Sikorsky_RAH-66_Comanche#Design_and_development

2000 - Sri Lanka Air Force Antonov AN-26 carrying soldiers injured during fighting with Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels crashed near Anuradhapura Airport, Skri Lanka, after engine troubles, killing all 40. Two cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) arrested in 2012 have confessed to firing missiles from the Wilpattu forest area, bringing down the plane.

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20000330-0

2006 - Launch of Soyuz TMA-8, Soyuz mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched by a Soyuz FG launch vehicle. On board was Marcos Cesar Pontes, Brazilian Air Force pilot, and then 1st Brazilian and the 1st Lusophone to go into space. He is the only Brazilian to complete the NASA astronaut training program, although he switched to training in Russia after NASA's Space Shuttle program encountered problems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcos_Pontes - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TMA-8

2008 – A privately registered Cessna 501 Citation carrying five people crashed into two homes in Farnborough, Kent, United Kingdom, after taking off from London Biggin Hill Airport. On board were former racing drivers Richard Lloyd and David Leslie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Biggin_Hill_Cessna_Citation_crash

2010 - Death of Morris Richard Jeppson , 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Air Forces during WWII. He served as assistant weaponeer on the Enola Gay, which dropped the 1st atomic bomb on Hiroshima

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_R._Jeppson