MAY18

1887 - Birth of Sterling Rohlfs, Early american test pilot.

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

1889 - Birth of Didier Louis Marie Charles Lecour Grandmaison, French WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didier_Lecour_Grandmaison - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/lecour.php

1892 - Birth of John Dale Price, American Naval Aviator credited with making the 1st night landing on an aircraft carrier (USS Langley) and US navy admiral.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Price - http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6644687

1897 - Birth of Guy Patrick Spence Reid, British WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Reid - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/reid4.php

1897 - Birth of Hubert Standford Broad, English WWI aviator and notable sports and test pilot.

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

1897 - Birth of Joseph Powell Seabrook, British WWI flying ace.

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

1905 - Birth of Ruth Blaney Alexander, American female aviation pioneer and record setter.

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

1908 - 1st flight of The White Wing (or Aerodrome #2), early US aircraft. Unusual for aircraft of its day, it featured a wheeled undercarriage. The wings were equipped with ailerons controlled by a harness worn around the pilot's body; leaning in one direction would cause the aircraft to bank to follow.

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

1912 - Birth of Herbert Henry 'Herb' Hoover, American test pilot

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/Biographies/Pilots/bd-dfrc-p032.html

1914 - 1st regular Airmail service is inaugurated in German South West Africa with a Roland biplane, making its 1st flight between Swakopmund and Windhoek.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/world-aviation/1914.aspx

1916 - Kiffin Yates Rockwell of the Escadrille Americaine is the 1st american to claim an air victory for the U.S. Military.

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

1918 - Birth of Roland Louise Ernest 'Monty' Burton, British RAF pilot, 1st man to fly from London to New Zealand in under 24 hours.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_(Monty)_Burton

1919 - 1st flight of the SPAD S-XV/5, french single seat sport biplane prototype, 2 built specially for René Fonck and Charles Nungesser.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=143

1919 - Harry Hawker and Lt Cdr Kenneth Mackenzie-Grieve set off from Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, in a Sopwith Atlantic biplane named 'Atlantic', attempting a non-stop Atlantic crossing but are forced to ditch their aircraft only 2,253 (1,400 miles) after leaving Newfoundland.

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

1923 - WWI ace Frank Ford pays $5 and becomes Charles Lindbergh's 1st paying passenger.

https://www.aiaa.org/SecondaryTwoColumn.aspx?id=5726

1930 - The German built and operated passenger-carrying hydrogen-filled rigid airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin lifts off at Friedrichshafen for its Europe-Pan American flight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_127_Graf_Zeppelin#The_Europe-Pan_American_flight_.281930.29

1930 - Birth of Don Leslie Lind, American scientist and NASA astronaut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_L._Lind

1931 - 1st flight of the floatplane version of The Yakovlev AIR-2S, Soviet two-seat light biplane development of the AIR-1 with radial engine.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/ya-2.php

1935 - The Tupolev ANT-20 Maxim Gorky, Soviet eight-engine aircraft, crashes near Tushino after a mid-air collision. 56 people are killed, making it the worst air crash at this time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_ANT-20

1938 - Tadeusz Góra, Polish glider pilot, is the 1st winner of the Lilienthal Gliding Medal in the world for his record-breaking 577.8-kilometer flight in a PWS-101.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilienthal_Gliding_Medal - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadeusz_G%C3%B3ra

1939 - Death of Col. Charles deForest Chandler, American military aviator, and the 1st head of the Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps that later became the United States Air Force.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_deForest_Chandler - http://earlyaviators.com/echandle.htm

1940 - 1st flight of The Pashinin I-21 (not to be confused with the Ilyushin TsKB-32, also known as "I-21") Soviet fighter prototype.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashinin_I-21

1940 - 1st flight of the SAAB 17, Swedish bomber-reconnaissance aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_17

1942 - WWII German Fighter ace Adolf Dickfeld scores 10 on that single day.

http://www.cieldegloire.com/001_dickfeld_a.php

1944 - Death of Morio Matsui, Japanese WWII fighter ace, Killed in action.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_aces_from_Japan#M

1945 - 1st flight of The Douglas A-1 (formerly AD) Skyraider, American single-seat attack aircraft carrier capable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-1_Skyraider

1945 - Boeing B-29-45-MO (serial number 44-86292, victor number 82) Superfortress bomber 'Enola Gay', named after Enola Gay Tibbets, mother of pilot Paul Tibbets rolls out from the manufacture.

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

1948 - Aquila Airways is formed

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

1949 - New-York city's 1st helipad, is built on Pier 41 by the Hudson river.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/May_in_aviation/May_18

1951 - 1st flight of the SIPA S-12, French twin tandem seat low wing monoplane military trainer, also used in ground attack during the Algerian War of Independence.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1331

1951 - 1st flight of The Vickers-Armstrongs Valiant, British four engined jet bomber, once part of the RAF's V bomber nuclear force, originally developed for use as high-level strategic bomber, but its role, like other V bombers, was changed to low-level attacks.

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

1952 - Birth of Jeana Yeager, American aviatrix. most famous for co-piloting a non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world in the Rutan Voyager aircraft

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

1953 - Joseph Christopher McConnell, Jr., on his last day of combat flying, McConnell shot down 3 MiGs-15 with his F-86F during two separate missions, bringing his total victory count to 16 and making him America's 1st triple jet ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_C._McConnell - http://www.cieldegloire.com/014_mc_connell_j.php

1953 - American Jacqueline Cochran becomes the 1st woman to fly faster than the speed of sound while flying a Canadian-built North American F-86 Sabre. On the same day, she sets the world speed record for women at 652 mph (1,049 km/h).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Cochran#cite_note-8

1953 - 1st flight of The Douglas DC-7, American 4 engine transport aircraft, last major piston engine powered transport made by Douglas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-7 - http://www.boeing.com/history/mdc/dc-7.htm

1958 - 1st flight of the Sud Aviation 'Caravelle' I, ist production version of the french short/medium-range jet airliner.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sud-Aviation_SE_210_Caravelle#Versions - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9056

1958 – An F-104A Starfighter sets a world speed record of 2,259.82 km/h (1,404.19 mph).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-104_Starfighter

1958 – In a Zero Length Launch (ZEL) experiment, a U. S. Air Force North American F-100D Super Sabre becomes airborne with no runway or take-off roll at all, using its own engine in afterburner and boosted by a 130,000-pound- (58,967-kg)-thrust Astrodyne rocket.

http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/models/aircraft/North-American-F100.html - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDstVGAmI74

1966 - British pilot Sheila Scott takes off from London Heathrow for The 1st round-the-world solo flight. She will fly 29,000 miles (46,670 km) in stages in her Piper Comanche 'Myth Too'.

http://soloflights.org/scott_data_e.html

1967 - Prototype of the Dassault Mirage F1, French air-superiority fighter and attack aircraft, crashes due to flutter, killing its pilot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Mirage_F1

1969 - Launch of Apollo 10, 4th manned mission in the American Apollo space program, for testing all of the procedures and components of a Moon landing without actually landing on the Moon itself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_10

1971 - 1st flight of the CERVA CE-43 'Guépard', French 4/5 seat cabin monoplane.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1203 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerva_CE.43_Gu%C3%A9pard

1971 - Birth of Desiree Tyler Horton, nicknamed "Chopper Chick" helicopter pilot and television personality. She is one of the few female helicopter pilots/on-camera reporters in Los Angeles television history.

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

1972 - Aeroflot Flight 1491 Antonov An-10A suffered structural failure resulting in the separation of both wings while descending to land in Kharkov, SSSR, killing all 122.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_1491

1973 - Death of Dieudonné Costes, French aviator, WWI flying ace, well-known for long distance and record breaking flights (Costes with Maurice Bellonte, flew the Breguet 19 Super Bidon "?" from Paris to New York, as the 1st aircraft in more difficult westbound direction, between North American and European mainlands.).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieudonne_Costes - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/costes.php

1979 - 1st flight of The Piper PA-42 Cheyenne, American twin turboprop aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_PA-42_Cheyenne

1991 - Launch of Soyuz TM-12, Soviet space flight to the Mir Station carrying Helen Patricia Sharman, 1st Briton in space.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TM-12

2011 - Space Shuttle Endeavour docks to the ISS for it's final Mission.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-134

2011 - Sol Líneas Aéreas Flight 5428 Saab 340A crashed in Prahuaniyeu, Río Negro Province, Argentina, after a stall due to severe airframe icing, and subsequent loss of control, killing all 22 on board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_L%C3%ADneas_A%C3%A9reas_Flight_5428