OCT05

1916 - Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, British airline, is formed. It was the 1st airline to operate a regular international flight (between London and Paris).

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

1918 - Death of Girolamo "Gino" Allegri, Italian WWI pilot, killed in a flying accident

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gino_Allegri

1918 - Death of Roland Garros, early French raid aviator and WWI fighter pilot, killed in his Spad XIII.

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

1919 - Death of Marcel Joseph Maurice Nogues, French WWI fighter ace and balloon buster.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Nogues - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/nogues.php

1919 - Death of Townsend Foster Dodd, American aviation pioneer, Killed in an air crash.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Townsend_F._Dodd

1922 - Lieutenants John Macready and O.G. Kelly takes off in San Diego California in their Fokker T-2 monoplane for a new world flight endurance record.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Macready#Mackay_Trophy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_T-2

1922 - 1st woman passenger to make a non-stop transcontinental flight, Lillian Gatlin takes off in a Post Office DH-4, from San Francisco, California to Mineola, New York

http://www.pbagalleries.com/search/item.php?anr=220660&PHPSESSID=cd9a0ab52f0d1e46d3e9167fca5ce520&PHPSESSID=cd9a0ab52f0d1e46d3e9167fca5ce520

1929 - 1st flight of The Boeing Model 40B-4, American biplane mail plane, 1st plane in the Model 40 series to use the two-way radio, designed by Thorpe Hiscock, William Boeing's brother-in-law.

http://www.boeing.com/history/chronology/chron03.html

1929 - Birth of Richard Francis 'Dick' Gordon, Jr., USN pilot and NASA astronaut, one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_F._Gordon,_Jr.

1930 - Birth of Pavel Romanovich Popovich, Soviet pilot and Cosmonaut.

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

1930 - British airship R.101 crashes in France near Beauvais while en route to Egypt and India. Forty-seven people are killed. It ended British airship development.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_airship_R.101

1930 - Death of William Sefton Brancker (commonly known as Sir Sefton Brancker), British civil and military aviation pioneer, Killed in the Airship R-101 crash.

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

1930 - Laura Ingalls takes off from Roosevelt Field, New York with her D.H. Gipsy Moth bi-plane for the 1st woman transcontinental airplane flight to Grand Central Air Terminal, Glendale, California.

http://books.google.com/books?id=eg-pNo1UXHQC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=Laura+Ingalls+was+the+first+woman+to+make+a+transcontinental+airplane+flight&source=bl&ots=hhwSUjWEls&sig=P-5oz-gyeI2Srdd1K6qMVzlkbFI&hl=en&ei=Xy6rTMrHDo3QsAOk6YGoAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCMQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Laura%20Ingalls%20was%20the%20first%20woman%20to%20make%20a%20transcontinental%20airplane%20flight&f=false

1931 - Hugh Herndon and Clyde Pangborn crash-landed their Bellanca Skyrocket J-400 'Miss Veedol' at Wenatchee, Washington, 1st non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean flying from Samushiro Beach, Japan in 41 hours and 15 minutes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Pangborn#Trans-Pacific_flight

1932 - 1st flight of The Dewoitine D.560, prototype French single-seat fighter.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/dewoitine_d-560.php - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=297

1933 - French Jean Assolant and René Lefevre land their Bernard 81 GR 'Oiseau Canari II' at Karachi. The attempt of a world distance record thus failed due to a consumption higher than expected.

http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9544

1935 - 1st flight of the Loire-Nieuport LN 161 (Nieuport 160), French single seat fighter prototype.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loire-Nieuport_LN_161 - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=690

1936 - Jean Batten takes off from Lympne to Darwin with her Percival Gull VI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percival_Gull#Racing_and_record-breaking

1939 - Richard Halliburton, American traveler, adventurer, and author, Best known today for having swum the length of the Panama Canal and paying the lowest toll in its history (36 cents), and having flown round the world (Flying Carpet Expedition) in a Stearman C-3B, is offiaclly declared dead after his disappearance durin the 'Sea Dragon Expedition' across the Pacific since March.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Halliburton#Sea_Dragon_Expedition

1944 - 5 pilots of No. 401 Squadron destroyed a Messerschmitt Me 262, the 1st jet aircraft brought down by either the RAF or RCAF. Pilot Hans- Christoph Buttmann, being killed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._401_Squadron_RCAF#D-day_and_European_Offensive_1944

1945 - National Airlines Flight 16 Lockheed 18-50 Lodestar, due to a faulty missed approach procedure at Lakeland, Florida, overshoot the runway and landed in the water approximately 1,000 feet (300 m) beyond, killing 2 over 15.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Airlines_Flight_16

1947 - Death of Harold Evans Hartney, American canadian born WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Hartney - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/hartney.php

1948 - 1st flight of the Westland-Sikorsky WS-51 Dragonfly, British license-built version of the American Sikorsky S-51 helicopter for civilian use.

http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/west_dragon.php

1951 - 1st flight of the Convair 340, American twin engine airliner, lengthened version of the 240.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/convair_metro.php

1958 - Birth of André Kuipers, Dutch physician and ESA astronaut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Kuipers

1958 - Birth of Brent Ward Jett, Jr., USN pilot and NASA astronaut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_W._Jett,_Jr.

1965 - Birth of Kara Spears Hultgreen, USN pilot, 1st female naval carrier-based fighter pilot.

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

1966 - Ryan XV-5A Vertifan, American jet-powered V/STOL experimental aircraft, crashes at Edwards AFB, California, killing Air Force test pilot Maj. David Tittle. During hover, the aircraft began uncontrolled roll to left, pilot ejected at 50 feet (15.24 m), but chute failed to deploy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_military_aircraft_(1960%E2%80%931974)#1966

1967 - 1st flight of The Shin Meiwa PS-1 , Japanese large STOL flying boat (which carried its own beaching gear on board) designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW).

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

1967 - Death of Clifton Curtis 'C.C.' Williams, USMC test pilot and NASA astronaut, Killed in the crash of his T-38 jet trainer near Tallahassee, Florida. He ejected but the plane was traveling too fast at too low an altitude for the seat to land safely.

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

1969 - Cuban Air force pilot Eduardo Guerra Jiminez defected with his MiG-17 to Homestead Air Force Base of Miami.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cold_War_pilot_defections#Cuba

1984 - Launch of STS-41-G, Space Shuttle Challenger mission, 1st shuttle mission to carry a crew of seven, including the 1st crew with two women (Sally Ride and Kathryn Sullivan), the 1st American EVA involving a woman (Sullivan), and the 1st Canadian astronaut (Marc Garneau).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-41-G

1985 - Death of Fernand Henri Chavannes, French WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernand_Henri_Chavannes - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/chavannes.php

1991 - Tentara Nasional Indonesia-Angkatan Udara (Indonesian Air Force) C-130H-30 crashed after take-off from Halim-Perdanakasuma, Jakarta, Indonesia due to an engine fire. 134 on board of the aircraft as well as 2 people on the ground were killed, but one passenger on the aircraft survived.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_C-130_Hercules_crashes#.C2.A0Indonesia

1993 - Death of Karl Gordon Henize, Ph.D., American astronomer, space scientist and NASA astronaut, while climbing Mount Everest.

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

1997 - Launch of Sputnik 40 (Sputnik Jr, PS-2 or Radio Sputnik 17 (RS-17)) Franco-Russian amateur radio satellite to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_40