MAY24
1832 - Francois Arban, early french balloonist makes his 1st ascent.
http://www.ballooninghistory.com/whoswho/who'swho-a.html
1868 - Birth of Charles Edward Taylor, who built the 1st aircraft engine used by the Wright brothers and was a vital contributor of mechanical skills in the building and maintaining of early Wright engines and airplanes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Taylor_(mechanic)
1886 - Birth of Hans Ritter von Adam, German WWI fighter ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Ritter_von_Adam - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/adam.php
1887 - Birth of Edward Corringham "Mick" Mannock, British WWI fighter ace and maybe the highest-scoring British Empire ace of all time, also regarded as one of the greatest fighter pilots of the WWI.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Mannock - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/mannock.php
1892 - Birth of Edward Arthur Simpson, British WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_A._Simpson - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/simpson1.php
1894 - Birth of Oliver Colin "Boots" LeBoutillier, French WWI flying ace, Skywriter, Barnstormer who and piloted aircraft for eighteen movies. He gave Amelia Earhart her 1st instruction in a twin-engined aircraft and was a Civil Aviation Authority inspector in charge of Colorado and Wyoming.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Colin_LeBoutillier - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/leboutillier.php
1895 - Birth of Mario Stoppani, Italian WWI flying ace and record breaker.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Stoppani - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/stoppani.php
1896 - Birth of Albert René Chabrier, French WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Chabrier - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/chabrier.php
1897 - Birth of Cecil Guelph Brock, Canadian WWI flying ace who participated at the dogfight which conducted to Manfred Von Richtofen's death.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/brock.php
1898 - Birth of John Everard Gurdon, British WWI fighter ace who also served in WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Everard_Gurdon - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/gurdon.php
1898 - Birth of Russell Winnicott, British WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Winnicott - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/england/winnicott.php
1903 - Birth of Milo Garrett Burcham, American aviator, stunt pilot, airshow pilot, and test pilot for locheed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo_Burcham - http://thetartanterror.blogspot.fr/2006/11/milo-burcham-1903-1944.html
1903 - Birth of Lofton R. 'Joe' Henderson, WWII USMC naval aviator, recognized as the 1st Marine Aviator to die during the battle of Midway while leading his squadron to attack the Japanese carrier forces.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lofton_Henderson
1910 - Prince Charles of Romania becomes the 1st royal aeroplane passenger, in a Farman piloted by Georges Osmont at Bucharest.
http://rafmuseum-1.titaninternet.co.uk/milestones-of-flight/world/1910.cfm
1910 - 1st flight of The Blackburn 1st Monoplane (also known as Monoplane No 1), British experimental aircraft which lasted for around one minute, and ended in a crash in which the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_First_Monoplane
1912 - Anthony Fokker crashes his Goedecker-built B1912 monoplane at Berlin, just 10 days after demonstrating it to the German Army.
1918 - Death of József Kiss , Hungarian most succesfull WWI fighter ace, Killed in action in his Albatros D.III Near Lamon, Italy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zsef_Kiss - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/austrhun/kiss.php
1918 - Death of Thomas Colvill-Jones, British WWI flying ace from wounds received in action.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/colvill-jones.php
1918 - The US Army Air Service, forerunner of the USAF is formed, replacing the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps as the nation's air force.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Air_Service
1919 - 1st take off for the 2nd prototype of the Bristol Badger, british two-seat fighter-reconnaissance aeroplane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Badger
1919 - Avro Civil Aviation Service begins the 1st domestic airline service in Britain
1920 - Death of Emile Taddéoli, Swiss aviation pioneer, active as a pilot, instructor, test pilot, and also the probably most prominent pioneer using seaplanes in Switzerland. Killed during a demonstration flight at an air show in Romanshorn aboard his Savoia S.13 flying boat, disintegrating in flight at an altitude of 700 metres (2,300 ft).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emile_Tadd%C3%A9oli#Seaplanes_and_later_years
1920 - 1st flight of The Boeing Model 8, American biplane aircraft designed by Boeing specifically for their 1st test pilot, Herb Munter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Model_8
1928 - Mexican Emilio Carranza Rodríguez takes off for a record andurance flight from San Diego to Mexico.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilio_Carranza - http://www.earlyaviators.com/ecarran1.htm
1928 - Stevenson Aerodrome, an airfield in the Rural Municipality of St. James, named after the late Western Canada Airways pilot who had died in a test flight at The Pas, began operations.
1929 - French Ludovic Marie René Arrachart and Jean Rignot take off with a Breguet Bre 19 TR 'Bidon' for a propaganda flight from Paris to Beijing (China).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breguet_19#Variants - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9872
http://calm.sopixi.fr/files/les-raids-du-gal-girier.pdf
1929 - French Lucien Girier and Pierre Téodore Weiss take off with a Breguet Bre 19 TR 'Bidon' in a world speed attempt on a 5000km course.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9873
1930 – Amy Johnson lands her de Havilland Moth 'Jason' in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the 1st woman to fly solo from England to Australia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Johnson
1932 - The Dornier Do X flying boat returns from his promotional flight from New York and ditch on the Müggelsee, Berlin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornier_Do_X#Operation
1936 - 1st flight of The Fieseler Fi 156 Storch, small German WWII liaison aircraft. It remains famous to this day for its excellent STOL performance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fieseler_Storch
1939 - 1st flight of The Caproni-Reggiane Re.2000 Falco I, Italian WWII interceptor/fighter, all metal, low-wing, monoplane with a Curtiss-style retractable undercarriage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggiane_Re.2000
1939 - The English Imperial Airways Short S.30 Seaplane Cabot is successfully refueled in mid-air by a Handley Page Harrow bomber modified to carry 891 gallons of aviation fuel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/May_in_aviation/May_24
1939 - Mexican Francisco Sarabia Tinoco, Mexican aviation pioneer set a speed record between Mexico and New york in 10 hr 47 min with a Gee-Bee racer.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Sarabia_Tinoco
1941 – 9 Swordfish torpedo bombers and 6 Fairey Fulmar from the British aircraft carrier HMS Victorious score a torpedo hit on the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic Ocean, aggravating damage she had sustained early in the day in the Battle of Denmark Strait.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_battleship_Bismarck#The_chase
1945 - Death of Robert Ritter von Greim, German WWI fighter ace who was asked to set up a Chinese air force, He helped to rebuild teh Luftwaffe and was appointed to the command of the 1st Luftwaffefighter pilot school. He has been the last commander of the Luftwaffe in WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ritter_von_Greim - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/greim
1948 - Jacqueline Cochran set a world speed record of 432 mph for propeller-driven planes over a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) closed circuit course with a P-51B Mustang.
http://www.thisdayinaviation.com/22-may-1948/
1950 - Death of Marcel Emile Haegelen, French WWI fighter ace, Test pilot for Hanriot, record setter, and WWII fighter pilot.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Haegelen - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/haegelen.php
1951 - Birth of Ronald Anthony Parise, Italian American scientist who flew aboard two NASA Space Shuttle missions as a payload specialist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_A._Parise
1952 - 1st flight of the Mikoyan/Gurevich I-360, Soviet jet fighter prototype, adaptation of the MiG-17.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/mig_i-360.php
1955 - Death of John Edward Capper, senior officer of the British Army, instrumental in the development of the tank during WWI who also pioneered the development of airships in Britain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Capper
1956 - 1st flight of The Piper PA-24 Comanche, four-seat, low-wing, all-metal, light aircraft of monocoque construction with retractable landing gear
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_PA-24_Comanche - http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/piper_pa-24.php
1956 - Colette duval, French parachutist sets a record. Jumping off from 35OOO Feet she opens the parachute at 800 Feet after an over 3 minutes fall.
http://www.eldorado-stock-car-club.com/rubrique,1eres-femmes-pilote-page-9,1165015.html
1958 - 1st complete VTOL cycle flight The Bell X-14 (Bell Type 68) , experimental VTOL. The main objective of the project was to demonstrate horizontal and vertical takeoff, hover, transition to forward flight, and vertical landing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X-14
1960 - Launch of Midas II, American Missile Defense Alarm System satellite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_Defense_Alarm_System
1960 - After the pilot of his Avro CF-100 suffered a lack of oxygen, navigator F/O CM Alexander assisted him to make a safe landing. Alexander was awarded the Air Force Cross
1961 - 1st flight of the Scintex ML-145 'Rubis', French 4-seat low-wing cabin monoplane prototype aircraft.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9507
1961 - Operation LANA: To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Naval aviation (L is the Roman numeral for 50 and ANA stood for Anniversary of Naval Aviation), 5 US Navy McDonnell F4 H-1 F Phantom II fighters fly across the United States. The fastest sets a new record for a transcontinental flight across the United States, flying from Ontario, California, to Floyd Bennett Field in New York City in 2 hours 47 min at an average speed of 869.74 mph (1,400.28 km/hr) with 3 in-flight refuelings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_F-4_Phantom_II#World_records
1962 – Project Mercury: American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth 3 times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19620004691_1962004691.pdf
1967 - 1st flight of The Aero Spacelines Mini Guppy ("Spirit of Santa Barbara"), large, wide-bodied US cargo aircraft used for aerial transport of outsized cargo components.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Spacelines_Mini_Guppy
1969 - 1st flight of The SIAI-Marchetti SM.1019, an Italian STOL liaison monoplane built by SIAI-Marchetti for the Italian Army and based on the O-1 Bird Dog.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIAI-Marchetti_SM.1019
1972 - Birth of Maksim Viktorovich Surayev, Russian cosmonaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maksim_Surayev
1975 - Launch of Soyuz 18, Soviet manned mission to Salyut 4 space station.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_18
1976 – Air France and British Airways simultaneously begins service to Dulles (washington DC) with the Concorde.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde
1978 – Barbara Ann Oswald hijacks a St. Louis, Missouri-based charter helicopter and orders its pilot, Allen Barklage, to fly it to United States Penitentiary, Marion, in Marion, Illinois, so that her husband, Garrett B. Trapnell – imprisoned there for a 1972 airliner hijacking – can escape. Barklage wrestles Oswald’s gun from her as he lands the helicopter in the prison yard and shoots her to death
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_541
1981 - A Fuerza Aérea Ecuatoriana Beechcraft 200 Super King Air Crashed into a mountain, killing Ecuador President Jaime Roldós Aguilera.
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19810524-1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaime_Rold%C3%B3s_Aguilera#Death
1982 - The last service by a British Airways Boeing 707, from Cairo, Egypt to London, is performed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/May_in_aviation/May_24
1982 – 2 Fleet Air Arm Sea Harriers of No. 800 Squadron aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes, attack 4 Argentinian Dassault Mirage 5 fighter-bombers off the Falkland Islands and use AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missiles to shoot down three of them in less than 5 seconds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._800_Squadron_FAA#Falklands_War - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAI_Nesher#Operational_history
1983 - 1st CF-18 Hornet aircraft arrived at Cold Lake, Alberta.
1984 - 1st flight of the Soyer-Barritault SB1, French low wing wooden monoplane, twin seat tourer for amateur construction.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=6328
1986 - Death of Stephen Douglas Thorne, American Naval officer and a NASA astronaut candidate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Thorne_(astronaut)
1988 - British Airways takes over British Caledonian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/May_in_aviation/May_24
1989 - Death of Viktor Schobinger, German WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Schobinger - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/schobinger.php
1992 - Death of Francis Thomas Bacon, English engineer who developed the 1st practical hydrogen–oxygen fuel cell.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Thomas_Bacon
1997 - STS-84, NASA spaceflight mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis to the Mir space station is back on earth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-84
2001 - Death of Patricia Consolatrix Hilliard Robertson, American physician and a NASA astronaut, from burn injuries sustained in the crash of a private plane at Wolfe Air Park, Manvel, Texas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Robertson
2009 - Irish pilot Patrick Laverty broke the foot-launched powered hang glider altitude world record, using an Aeros Discus 15 hang glider coupled to a supine custom-made harness equipped with a 29 hp ROS 125 engine with the Supa-Tuna tuning lights system on a WB32 carburettor, reaching an altitude of 5,348 metres (17,546 ft) ASL.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powered_hang_glider#Unofficial_Records
2011 - Soyuz TMA-20, manned spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) is back on earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TMA-20
2012 - Solar Impulse, Swiss long-range solar powered plane, flies from Payerne, Switerland to Madrid-Barajas in 17h03mn for its 1st intercontinental flight fot Ouarzazate, Morocco as a preparation of a round the wolrd flight.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Impulse#.C3.89tapes_du_projet - http://www.solarimpulse.com/en/tag/Crossing-Frontiers