MAY17

1879 - Birth of Hans Grade, German aviation pioneer.

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

1882 - Birth of Alfred de Pischof, Austrian engineer, early aviation pioneer and aircraft designer.

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

1888 - Birth of Robert Norwood "Bob" Hall, South African WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hall_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/safrica/hall4.php

1888 - Birth of Arturo Merino Benítez, Chilean aviator, founder of both the Chilean Air Force and LAN Chile, the national airline.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Merino_Ben%C3%ADtez

1893 - Birth of Hans Gottfried von Häbler, German WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_von_H%C3%A4bler - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/habler.php

1894 - Birth of Paul Georges Alexandre Rodde, French WWI flying ace.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Rodde - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/france/rodde.php

1894 - Birth of Raymond James Brownell, Australian WWI flying ace and high ranking officer in WWII

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Brownell - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/australi/brownell.php

1895 - Birth of Georg Wulf, German aviation pionneer, test pilot and aircraft designer. He was one of the founder of the Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG company.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Wulf

1897 - Birth of John William Rayner, British WWI flying ace who served in WWII

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Rayner - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/rayner.php

1898 - Birth of Jean Antoine Réginensi, French raid pilot and record setter, who served in WWI and WWII.

http://ortia-tarrano.blogspot.fr/2006/10/ce-hros-mconnu.html

1898 - Birth of John De Camborne Paynter, British WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paynter_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/paynter.php

1898 - Birth of George Chisholm MacKay, Canadian WWI fighter ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Chisholm_MacKay - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/mackay1.php

1900 - French-born gliding pioneer Octave Chanute replies to a letter from the Wright brothers. He recommends they study gliding tests carried out by a number of innovators, including Louis-Pierre Mouillard and Percy Pilcher.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/May_in_aviation/May_17

1909 - Birth of Jan Willem Hugo Lambach, Dutch physics engineer and aircraft designer.

http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Frank_Lambach

1911 - Igor Sikorsky makes what he called the 1st real flight (4 minutes) of his Sikorsky S-5 , in a circuit off the field.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/sik_s-5.php - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_S-5

1911 - 1st flight of The Blackburn Mercury, early British mid-wing monoplane 2 tandem seat aircraft designed as a pilot trainer for the Blackburn Flying School.

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

1912 - Birth of Alexandru "Alecu" Serbanescu, Romanian WWII leading fighter ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandru_%C5%9Eerb%C4%83nescu - http://cieldegloire.com/012_serbanescu_a.php

1913 - Cuban Domingo Rosillo flew from Key West in Florida to Havana in Cuba, in a Morane-Saulnier monoplane, 1st aviator to cross the 90 miles between Key West, Florida and Havana, Cuba.

http://earlyaviators.com/erosillo.htm - http://www.cubaaereo.com/pilot.asp?pg=history

1916 - An experiment is conducted at Harwich, in which a Porte Baby flying boat, piloted by John Cyril Porte, takes off with a Bristol Scout attached as a 'parasite' to its wing. The Scout, with Flight Sub- Lieutenant Day at the controls, detaches successfully at 300 metres (1,000 feet).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porte_Baby -

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-military-aviation/1916.aspx

1916 - Birth of Robert Henry Widmer, American aeronautical engineer who specialized in designing aircraft for the military. He led the design teams for the General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark and the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Widmer

1918 - Death of Franz Gräser, Austro Hungarian WWI fighter ace, killed in action in his Albatros D.III

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Gr%C3%A4ser - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/austrhun/graser.php

1918 - Death of Eugene Gilbert, French WWI flying ace, in a crash while testing a plane at Villacoublay, France

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Gilbert - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/gilbert.php

1919 - Naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 coming from Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon, reached the town of Horta on Faial Island in the Azores, the longest leg of the journey. having flown about 1,200 miles (1,920 km). It had taken the crewmen 15 hours, 18 minutes, to fly this leg. Both the NC-1 and the NC-3 were been forced to land on the rough Atlantic Ocean because the poor visibility and loss of a visual horizon made flying extremely dangerous.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_NC-4#The_transatlantic_flight

1919 - The War Department in Washington, D.C. orders the use of the national insignia on all U.S. military aircrafts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/May_in_aviation/May_17

1920 - Death of Cyril Burfield Ridley, British WWI flying ace, and John Dartnell "Jack" De Pencier, Canadian WWI flying ace. Both killed when they collided in the air Near Cologne, Germany.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_Ridley - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/ridley.php - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/depencier.php

1923 - Death of Thomas Scott Baldwin, U.S. Army major and pioneer balloonist. He was the 1st American to descend from a balloon by parachute.

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

1927 - 1st flight of prototype Bristol Bulldog MK1, british single-seat biplane fighter.

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

1927 – U.S. Army aviation pioneer, Major Harold Geiger, dies in the crash of his Airco DH.4 de Havilland plane at Olmstead Field, Pennsylvania.

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

1928 - Lady Heath (formerly Mrs. Elliot-Lynn) lands in London, becoming the 1st woman to fly solo from Cape Town, South Africa to London, England in an Avro Avian 594 Avian III.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-civil-aviation/1928.aspx

1928 - 1st flight of the Vickers Vellore, British large biplane prototype designed as a freight and mail carrier.

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

1929 - Colin Spenser (Jack) Caldwell was testing Canadian Vickers Vedette (single-engine biplane flying boat) G-CYZF (CV 122), when on entering a spin he found he was unable to recover. He abandoned the machine by parachute and landed safely on an island in the St Lawrence and became the 1st Canadian to save his life by a parachute.

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

1930 - Death of Max Valier, Austrian rocketry pioneer, killed when an alcohol-fuelled rocket exploded on his test bench in Berlin

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

1934 - 1st flight of the Avia 50, French single seat motor glider.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avia_50 - http://avions.brochet.free.fr/Histoire2.html

1942 - The Sikosky XR-4, two-place helicopter, flew a distance of 1224km.

http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/sik_r-4.php

1943 - Specially modified RAF Avro Lancasters of 617 Squadron "Dambusters" returns from raids on the Möhne, Eder, and Sorpe dams during operation Chastise.

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

1943 - Boeing B-17F-10-BO Flying Fortress Serial 41-24485, Memphis Belle, 324th Bomb Squadron, makes her 25th Bombing mission. (controversy between 17-19). The aircraft and entire crew then returned to the United States to sell war bonds. The aircraft is undergoing extensive restoration at the National Museum of the USAF at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_Belle_(aircraft)

1943 - Colonel Frank Gregory made the 1st helicopter landing aboard ship in Long Island Sound, USA with a Sikosky XR-4, two-seat helicopter.

http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/sik_r-4.php

1945 - 1st flight of The Lockheed P-2 Neptune (originally designated P2V until September 1962), American Maritime patrol and ASW aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_P-2_Neptune

1946 - 1st flight of The Douglas XB-43 Jetmaster, American jet-powered prototype bomber aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_XB-43_Jetmaster

1947 - 1st flight of The Mooney M-18 "Mite", American low-wing, single-place monoplane with retractable, tricycle landing gear

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mooney_M-18_Mite - http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?id=A19830054000

1948 - 1st flight of the 2nd prototype Boulton Paul Balliol, British monoplane military advanced trainer aircraft, fitted with the intended Armstrong Siddeley Mamba turboprop. It's the world's 1st single-engined turboprop aircraft to fly. It was designed to replace the North American Harvard trainer.

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

1950 - The air above Muroc Dry Lake, California, exploded in sonic booms as Lockheed test pilot Tony LeVier put the XF-90 (long-range penetration fighter and bomber escort.) through high-speed dive tests, reaching Mach 1.12.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/lok_f-90.php

1954 - Navy non-rigid airship YZP6-2 established new world endurance record for unrefueled flight of 200 hours and 12 minutes, commanded by Comdr. M. H. Eppes

http://www.naval-airships.org/resources/documents/This%20Date%20in%20Naval%20Aviation%20-%20May.pdf

1957 - 1st flight of a Modified Sikorsky HSS-1, shipped to Westland in 1956 to act as a pattern aircraft, re-engined with a Napier Gazelle turboshaft engine. It will lead to the Westland Wessex design.

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

1958 - 4 F3H Demons and 4 F8U Crusaders make a non-stop crossing of the Atlantic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/May_in_aviation/May_17

1962 - Death of Harry Lutz Symons, Canadian WWI flying ace

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

1964 - Death of John Theodore Cuthbert Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara, English aviation pioneer, 1st person to qualify as a pilot in the UK, awarded Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate number 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Moore-Brabazon,_1st_Baron_Brabazon_of_Tara

1967 - Birth of Joseph Michael "Joe" Acaba, educator, hydrogeologist, and NASA astronaut, 1st person of Puerto Rican heritage to be named as a NASA astronaut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_M._Acaba

1969 - Soviet spacecraft Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera_6

1969 - 1st flight of the Wassmer WA-52 'Europa', French glass-fibre single-engined four-seat cabin monoplane.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1659

1973 - The 'Second Cod War': RAF British Aerospace (BAe) Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft begin surveillance flights to establish the positions of Icelandic Government gunboats and United Kingdom trawlers within the 50 mile zone proclaimed by the Icelandic Government.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-military-aviation/1973.aspx

1975 - Launch of Castor and Pollux, French geodetic Satellites to test in space the CACTUS accelerometer (ultrasensitive triaxial capacitive accelerometric sensor)

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_et_Pollux_(satellite)

1981 - Death of Jeannette Ridlon Piccard, American high-altitude balloonist, 1st woman to fly to the stratosphere.

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

1987 – An Iraqi Air Force Dassault Mirage F1 jet hits the US Navy guided-missile frigate USS Stark (FFG-31) with two Exocet antiship cruise missiles, badly damaging her and killing 37 and wounding 21 of her crew.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Stark_(FFG-31)

1992 - Flughafen München Franz Josef Strauß (IATA: MUC, ICAO: EDDM), starts operations as new Munich international airport.

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

1997 - 1st flight of the McDonnel Douglas X-36, American tailless fighter technology demonstrator, power for which is provided by a 700 lb. s.t. Williams International F112 turbofan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_X-36

1999 - 1st flight of the Issoire APM 20 Lionceau, French 2-seat very light aircraft entirely built from composite materials, especially carbon fibers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issoire_APM_20_Lionceau - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9746

2003 - Death of Gerhard Schöpfel, German WWII flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Sch%C3%B6pfel - http://www.luftwaffe.cz/schopfel.html

2009 - Death of Adolf Dickfeld, German WWII fighter ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Dickfeld - http://www.cieldegloire.com/001_dickfeld_a.php

2010 - Pamir Airways Flight 112 Antonov An-24, crashed in poor weather into Salang Pass, 100 km north of Kabul, Afghanistan, killing all 44 on borad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamir_Airways_Flight_112