OCT31

1930 - Birth of Michael Collins, USAF test pilot and NASA Astronaut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_(astronaut)

1931 - 1st flight of The Westland Wallace, British two-seat, general-purpose biplane, 1st aircraft to fly over Mount Everest

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

1934 - 1st flight of The Fairchild 71, Canadian parasol-mounted high-wing monoplane cargo transport aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Super_71

1938 - 1st flight of The Saunders-Roe A.36 Lerwick, British twin engine high wing flying boat.

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

1939 - 1st flight of The CCF Maple Leaf Trainer II, Canadian biplane trainer.

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

1940 - The Battle of Britain is officially regarded as having come to an end on this date.

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

1943 – The United States Navy (USN) achieves the 1st aerial victory with the use of airborne interception (AI) radar, when an AI equipped Vought F4U2 Corsair destroys a Japanese aircraft in New Guinea.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/world-aviation/1943.aspx

1943 - 1st flight of The Budd RB-1 Conestoga, American twin-engine, stainless steel cargo aircraft which pioneered design innovations later incorporated in modern military cargo aircraft.

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

1944 - 24 de Havilland Mosquitoes of Nos. 21, 464 and 487 Squadrons, escorted by 8 North American Mustangs, carry out a successful low-level attack on the Gestapo Headquarters at Aarhus in Denmark in order to destroy German records relating to the Danish resistance groups.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-military-aviation/1944.aspx

1949 - Birth of Terrence Wade Wilcutt, USMC pilot and NASA astronaut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrence_W._Wilcutt

1950 - British European Airways Vickers VC.1 Viking 'Lord St Vincent' crashed at London Airport in thick fog , killing 28 of the 30 passengers and crew on board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_Heathrow_BEA_Viking_accident

1952 - 1st flight of the SNCASE Aquilon, french licence-built version of the De Havilland Sea Venom FAW.20, carrier-capable jet aircraft.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/sud-est_aquilon.php

1956 - Launch of Operation Musketeer : Anglo-French-Israeli plan for the invasion of Egypt to capture the Suez Canal during the Suez Crisis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Musketeer_(1956)

1956 - The US Navy R4D-5 Skytrain 'Que Sera Sera', commanded by Rear Admiral George Dufek, becomes the 1st airplane to make a landing at the South Pole, 1st Americans to set foot at the South Pole and to plant the American flag, and the 1st men to land on the pole from the air

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:R4D-5L_Que_Sera_Sera_landing_at_South_Pole_1956.jpg - http://www.douglasdc3.com/quesera/quesera.htm

1957 - Death of Henri Jullerot, French early aviator, demonstrator, raid pilot and WWI pilot who build in WWII the Free French Naval Air Service.

http://fandavion.free.fr/brevet_Henri%20JULLEROT.htm - http://aviatechno.free.fr/brevets/images_brevets.php?image=61

1959 - Soviet Colonel Georgi Mosolov sets a new airspeed record of 2,387 km/h (1,483 mph) in the Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-66

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_airspeed_record#Timeline

1961 - 1st flight of the Dassault Mirage III-R, Reconnaissance version of the French supersonic fighter aircraft.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Mirage_III#Du_prototype_aux_avions_de_s.C3.A9rie - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=2924

1964 - Death of Theodore Cordy Freeman, USAF pilot and Nasa Astronaut, killed when a goose smashed through the cockpit canopy of his T-38 Talon jet trainer. He ejected from the stricken aircraft, but was too close to the ground for his parachute to open properly.

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

1967 - Kosmos 186, unmanned Soviet spacecraft which made the 1st fully automated space docking in the history of space exploration with Kosmos 188, is back on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_186_and_Kosmos_188

1969 - Death of Henry Winslow Woollett, British WWI fighter ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Winslow_Woollett - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/woollett.php

1972 - Two pilots are killed in the crash of a Dassault Falcon 10 prototype near Romorantin, france, after the plane broke in the air, the only incident during testing.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_10

1973 - 3 Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escaped from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, Ireland, aboard a hijacked Alouette II helicopter, which briefly landed in the prison's exercise yard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Mountjoy_Prison_helicopter_escape

1974 - 1st flight of the IAR-93 "Vultur" (Eagle), Yugoslav-Romanian twin-engined, subsonic, close support, ground-attack and tactical reconnaissance aircraft, developped later into the Soko J-22 Orao.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAR-93

1979 - Western Airlines Flight 2605 McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 landed, after runway confusion, on a closed runway at Benito Juarez International Airport in early morning fog and burst into flames after striking a parked truck, killing 72 over 90.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Airlines_Flight_2605

1987 - British Airways accepts the airline's 1st women pilots.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/October_in_aviation/October_31

1994 - American Eagle Flight 4184 ATR 72 crashed near Roselawn, Indiana, after flying into unknown icing conditions killing all 68 on board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Eagle_Flight_4184

1996 – A Fokker F-100 operating as TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais Flight 402 crashes into several houses in São Paulo, Brazil killing 98 including 2 on the ground.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAM_Transportes_A%C3%A9reos_Regionais_Flight_402

1999 - EgyptAir Flight 990 Boeing 767-366ER crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, 60 miles (97 km) south of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, killing all 217 aboard. The cause of the crash is disputed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EgyptAir_Flight_990

2000 – A Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-412 operating as Flight 006 collides with construction equipment upon takeoff in Taipei, Taiwan killing 79 passengers and four crew members.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Airlines_Flight_006

2000 – A chartered ACA-Ancargo Air Antonov An-26 explodes after takeoff in Northern Angola killing 50. UNITA rebels claimed in a statement that they shot down the plane.

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20001031-1

2000 – Launch of Soyuz TM-31 carrying the 1st resident crew to the International Space Station, 1st Soyuz spacecraft to dock with the ISS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TM-31

2001 - Soyuz TM-32, manned Russian spacecraft to the ISS, is back on earth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TM-32

2001 - Air Canada Jetz, operated by Air Canada, begins operations.

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

2006 - Ajet, formerly Helios Airways, 1st independent privately owned airline in Cyprus, ceased operations.

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

2009 - Death of Qian Xuesen (Tsien Hsue-shen), Chinese scientist who made important contributions to the missile and space programs of both the USA and People's Republic of China, Father of Chinese spaceflights.

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

2011 - Launch of Shenzhou 8, Chinese unmanned spacecraft to dock with the Tiangong 1 space module.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhou_8

2012 - 1st flight of the Shenyang J-31, Chinese twin-engine, mid-size fifth-generation Stealth multirole jet fighter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenyang_J-31