OCT26
1877 - Birth of Gaetano Arturo Crocco, Italian scientist and aeronautics pioneer, founder of the Italian Rocket Society,
1890 - Birth of Jacques Gerard, French WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Gerard - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/gerard.php
1891 - Birth of Alfred Hübner, German WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_H%C3%BCbner - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/hubner.php
1892 - Birth of Franz Gräser, Austro Hungarian WWI fighter ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Gr%C3%A4ser - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/austrhun/graser.php
1893 - Birth of Charles Hubert Boulby Blount, English soldier, 1st-class cricketer, WWI airman and RAF High ranking officer.
1895 - Birth of Ludwig "Lutz" Beckmann, German WWI flying ace and WWII Luftwaffe flying officer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Beckmann - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/beckmann.php
1895 - Birth of Victor Herbert Strahm, American WWI flying ace, who served in WWII and was chief test pilot for the USAAF.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Strahm - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/strahm.php
1897 - Birth of John Hills, British WWI flying ace
1898 - Birth of George William Francis Darvill, British WWI flying ace who also served in WWII
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Darvill - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/england/darvill.php
1902 - Birth of Beryl Markham, British-born Kenyan aviatrix, adventurer, and racehorse trainer. 1st person to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west.
1904 - Birth of John Leland Atwood, American prominent engineer and executive in the aerospace industry, Chief Engineer/Executive at North American Aviation, He developed the P-51 Mustang during WWII, the F-100 jet fighter, the X-15 rocket plane, and overheaded the Apollo program.
1907 - French Henri Farman flies his Voisin Farman I breaking the world distance record (770m./2,530 feet in 52.6 secs) and winning the Archdeacon Cup.
1909 - 1st woman to pilot a balloon across the North Sea and English Channel from Europe to England is French Marie Marvingt with Her balloon called 'L'Étoile Filante' (The Shooting Star/"The Comet").
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Marvingt#Achievements_in_aviation
1909 - Frederick Erastus Humphreys is the 1st military pilot to fly solo at College Park in Maryland, with a flight lasting 3 minutes in a Wright biplane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_E._Humphreys
1910 - A Lebaudy airship 'Morning post' purchased by the British government flies a 230 mile (370 km.) in a 5.5 hrs flight from Aldershot to Moisson in France.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebaudy_Fr%C3%A8res
1912 - American Lieutenant John H. Towers conducts trials into the use of aeroplanes for anti-submarine duties.
1914 - The Royal Flying Corps suffers its 1st fatalities due to 'friendly fire'. Lieutenant C.G. Hosking and Captain T. Crean of No.4 Squadron were killed when their Royal Aircraft Factory BE2 was shot down by British ground fire over Poperinghe
1916 - Birth of Boyd David "Buzz" Wagner, American aviator and 1st USAAF fighter ace of WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyd_Wagner
1918 - Death of Olivier "Bauli" Freiherr von Beaulieu-Marconnay, German WWI fighter ace, WWI youngest recipient of Germany's highest decoration for military valor, the 'Pour le Merite', from wounds sustained, possibly as a result of 'friendly fire' from a fellow German pilot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivier_Freiherr_von_Beaulieu-Marconnay - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/beaulieu-marconnay.php
1918 - Death of Henry Coyle Rath, Canadian WWI flying ace, from injuries after he collided with Roderic MacLean while flying Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5as at 12,000 feet over Tournai the day before.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Coyle_Rath - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/rath.php
1922 - 1st landing on an american moving carrier is made on USS Langley, by Lt Cdr Godfrey DeCourcelles Chevalier in a Aeromarine 39.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeromarine_39 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfrey_DeCourcelles_Chevalier
1925 - The Schneider Trophy race flown at Baltimore, USA, is Won by Jimmy Doolittle (USA) in a Curtiss R3C-2 at 374.2 km/h (232.6 mph).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schneider_Trophy#Competition_summary
1931 - 1st flight of The de Havilland DH 82 Tiger Moth, famous British single engine biplane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Tiger_Moth
1937 - Death of Liu Chui-Kang, Chinese Sino-Japanese war flying ace, killed in the crash of his Curtiss Hawk III while trying to land at night, hitting a tower south of Taiyuan.
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/china_chui-kang.htm
1940 - Birth of Gennadi Mikhailovich Strekalov, soviet Cosmonaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gennadi_Strekalov
1940 - 1st flight of The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang, American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during WWII, the Korean War and in several other conflicts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-51_Mustang
1942 - Death of Shigetaka Omori, Japanase WWII fighter ace, and Kiyonobu Suzuki, Japanese WWII flying ace, both killed in action during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. U. S. Navy carrier aircraft badly damage the Japanese aircraft carriers Shokaku and Zuiho, while Japanese carrier aircraft fatally damage the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigetaka_%C5%8Cmori - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiyonobu_Suzuki_(ace)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Santa_Cruz_Islands
1943 - 1st flight of The Dornier Do 335 'Pfeil', German WWII heavy twin engine 'push-pull' monoplane fighter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornier_Do_335
1944 - Death of Akira Kawakita, Japanese WWII flying ace, killed in action over Huangjiang, China
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/sino-japanese-1944.htm
1944 - Death of Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, Japanese WWII fighter ace, killed by F6F-Hellcats in a Nakajima Ki-49 transport plane where he was passenger in order to ferry new Zero Fighters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroyoshi_Nishizawa - http://cieldegloire.com/010_nishizawa_h.php
1944 - End of The Battle of Leyte Gulf, also called the "Battles for Leyte Gulf", and formerly known as the "Second Battle of the Philippine Sea", largest naval battle of WWII and, by some criteria, possibly the largest naval battle in history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Leyte_Gulf
1944 - Gertrude Tompkins Silver, American WASP pilot, Disappeared on a ferrying mission from Los Angeles, California in a P-51, destined for the East Coast.( no traces of her or her plane have ever been found.)
http://womenaviators.org/wiki/index.php?title=Gertrude_Tompkins-Silver - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_Airforce_Service_Pilots#WASP_aviators
1945 - 1st flight of the SNCASE SE-2300, French two/three seat low wing, single engine touring aircraft prototype.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sud-Est_SE-2300 - http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Braas/10501.htm
1945 - 1st flight of The Miles M.65 Gemini, British twin-engined four-seat touring aircraft, last Miles aircraft to be produced in quantity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Gemini
1947 - Rhulin Albert Thomas takes off for the 1st solo coast-to-coast flight across the USA by a deaf pilot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/October_in_aviation/October_26
1952 - A BOAC de Havilland DH-106 Comet 1A (G-ALYZ) crashed on takeoff from Rome-Ciampino Airport, Italy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Comet#Accidents_and_incidents - http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19521026-0
1955 - Birth of Stephen Kern Robinson, American engineer and NASA astronaut
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Robinson
1958 - Death of Cesare Magistrini, Italian WWI flying ace, commercial pilot, Italian SAS pilot during WWII and pilot of the King of Yemen after WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Magistrini - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/magistrini.php
1958 - Pan-Am inaugurates transatlantic jet service from New York to Paris with a B707-121 'Clipper America', 1st commercial flight of the Boeing 707
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am#Postwar_developments - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_707#Operational_history
1959 - 1st flight of the Breguet Br 906 'Choucas', French twin seat trainer sailplane prototype.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br%C3%A9guet_Br_905_Fauvette#Breguet_Bre_906_Choucas - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=8008
1966 - Death of William "Eric" Olmstead Eareckson, American Balloonist and WWII US Army Air Force combat commander, famous for his innovative tactics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_O._Eareckson
1967 - 1st flight of The BAC 167 Strikemaster, British jet-powered training and light attack aircraft, development of the Hunting Jet Provost trainer.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/bac_strike.php
1968 - Death of Zhao Jiuzhang, Chinese meteorologist, geophysicist, space physicist and engineer, pioneer of Chinese space technology and considered as "The Father of Chinese Artificial Satellite".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhao_Jiuzhang
1968 - Launch of Soyuz 3, Soviet spaceflight mission.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_3
1968 - 1st flight of The Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante, Brazilian general purpose 15-21 passenger twin-turboprop light transport aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_EMB_110_Bandeirante
1972 - 1st transitional flight of The VFW VAK 191B, experimental German VTOL nuclear strike fighter prototype.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VFW_VAK_191B
1972 - Death of Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky, Russian American pioneer of aviation in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. He designed and flew the world's first multi-engine fixed-wing aircraft, the Russky Vityaz in 1913, and the first airliner, Ilya Muromets, in 1914.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Sikorsky
1973 - 1st flight of The Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet, light attack jet and advanced trainer aircraft co-manufactured by Dornier of Germany and Dassault-Breguet of France.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault/Dornier_Alpha_Jet - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9341
1976 - Launch of EKRAN 1, Soviet Union's 1st geosynchronous satellite, Military and TV communications satellite.
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/ekran.htm
1977 - To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pan Am, a Boeing 787SP takes off from San Francisco for a round-the-world flight over the North Pole and the South Pole and including three stopovers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_American_World_Airways#Record-setting_flights - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747SP#Records
1983 - Pan Am celebrates the 25th anniversary of their 1st Boeing 707 with a 707 flight from JFK International Airport to Paris.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/October_in_aviation/October_26
1986 - Death of Harold Francis "Kiwi" Beamish, New-Zealand WWI flying ace.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/nzealand/beamish.php
1989 - China Airlines Flight 204 Boeing 737-209 crashed into a mountain after take off from Hualien Airport, Taiwan killing all 54, due to pilot error taking off from the wrong runway and applying the climbout procedure for the runway that the flight was planned to use, resulting in the aircraft making a left turn towards the mountains rather than a right turn towards the sea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_204
1993 - ValuJet Airlines, American low-cost carrier, begins operations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ValuJet_Airlines
1996 - 1st flight of The PZL SW-4 Puszczyk, Polish light single-engine multipurpose helicopter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL_SW-4
2006 - Oasis Hong Kong Airlines, long-haul low-cost airline based in Hong Kong begins operations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oasis_Hong_Kong_Airlines
2006 - Swedish Coast Guard CASA C-212 Aviocar turboprop crashed into the sea near Falsterbo, Sweden, after the port wing fell off (due to metal fatigue) during a turn while performing a low-level fly-by over the Skanör-Falsterbo Coast Guard Station. All 4 on board were killed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Falsterbo_Swedish_Coast_Guard_crash
2006 - Launch of STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory), NASA solar observation mission.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEREO
2007 - 1st flight of The Embraer Lineage 1000, Brazilian "ultra-large" business jet, variant of the Embraer 190 regional jet airliner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_Lineage_1000
2009 – S-Air Flight 9607 British Aerospace BAe-125-800B crashed in a forest while on approach to Minsk-2 International Airport (MSQ), Belarus, after the crew tuned the wrong ILS frequency, killing all 5.
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20091026-0
2011 - The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, American long-range, mid-size wide-body, twin-engine jet airliner, flies its 1st commercial flight from Narita to Hong Kong on All Nippon Airways.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner#Service_entry_and_operations
2011 - Death of Mildred Hemmons Carter, Afro-American aviatrix.