APRIL12
1897 - Birth of Ernst Wandersleb, german Balloonist.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Wandersleb
1908 - Birth of Robert Lee Scott Jr., Brigadier General in the United States Air Force. Scott is best known for his autobiography 'God is My Co-Pilot' about his exploits in WWII with the Flying Tigers and the United States Army Air Forces in China and Burma.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lee_Scott%2C_Jr.
1911 - Pierre Prier makes the 1st non-stop passengers flight, traveling from London to Paris in a Bleriot in 3hrs and 45mins.
http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/world-aviation/1911.aspx -
http://earlyaviators.com/eprier.htm
1911 - Lt. Théodore Gordon 'Spud' Ellyson is the 1st United States Navy officer designated as an aviator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Gordon_Ellyson
1917 - Death of Adolf Schulte, German WWI flying ace, killed in action when his Albatros D.III collided with a British F.E.2d.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Schulte - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/schulte.php
1918 - The final Zeppelin raid on England is carried out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/April_in_aviation
1918 - Captain H.W. Woollett of No. 43 Squadron RAF scores 6 victories in 2 sorties, including 5 Albatros D.Vs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Winslow_Woollett - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/woollett.php
1918 - Death of Albert Dietlen, German WWI flying ace, killed in action in his Albatros D.V
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/dietlen.php
1918 - The Loughead brothers (Allan Haines & Malcolm) fly their seaplane, the F-1 (Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company, 10-place, twin-engined flying boat), from Santa Barbara to San Diego, covering the 211 miles (340 km) between Santa Barbara and North Island in 3 hr 1 min.
1926 - Four Royal Air Force Fairey IIIDs commanded by Wing Commander C.W.H. Pulford arrive from Cairo to Cape Town.
1927 - Clarence Chamberlin and Bert Acosta set a new world's non-refueled endurance record in the Wright-Bellanca WB-2, by circling New York City for 51 hours and 11 minutes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright-Bellanca_WB-2_Columbia#Operational_history
1928 - Junkers W-33 D-1167 Bermen takes off from Baldonnel Aerodrome, Ireland to Greenly Island, Canada for the 1st successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremen_(aircraft)
1928 - Birth of Russell Lee Rogers, USAF test pilot and astronaut assigned to the X-20 Dyna-Soar program.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_L._Rogers
1930 - French Jean Mermoz sets a closed circuit record of 4308,34 Km with the Latécoère 28.3, Mail seaplane.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1023 - http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/latecoere_l-28.php
1931 - 1st flight of the Amiot 140M, French High wing twin engine 4 seat bomber prototype.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1162
1932 - Birth of Corrado Gex, italian aviator and politician, 1st pilot authorized to land on a glacier.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrado_Gex
1933 - William Newton "Bill" Lancaster, on an attempt to beat the hotly-contested England to South Africa speed record crash-landed his Avro Avian 'Southern Cross Minor' in the Algerian desert far north of his expected flight path. Relatively uninjured and occasionally firing flares he awaited rescue. Searches by aircraft however were too far to the south, and a car searching from Reggane was also unsuccessful, and he died eight days later
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Cross_Minor#Final_flight
1934 - 1st flight of the Nieuport-Delage NiD-125, French Single seat parasol wing fighter prototype, re-engined version of the NID-121.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=689
1935 - 1st flight of The Bristol Blenheim (type 142 Britain First), British light bomber aircraft, one of the 1st British aircraft to have all-metal stressed-skin construction, to utilise retractable landing gear, flaps, powered gun turret and variable pitch propellers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Blenheim
1937 - Birth of Igor Petrovich Volk, cosmonaut and test pilot in the Soviet Union.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Volk
1937 - Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the 1st jet engine designed to power an aircraft at the British Thomson-Houston factory in Rugby, England.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Whittle
1938 - 1st flight of The Aubert PA-201 Cigale, French 2 seat high-wing cantilever monoplane evolution of the PA-20
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubert_Cigale#Aubert_PA-201_Cigale - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=10075
1939 - 1st flight of the IAR 80, Romanian WWII low-wing, monoplane, all-metal construction fighter and ground-attack aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAR_80
1941 - 1st flight of The Yakovlev Yak-3, Soviet fighter aircraft, one of the smallest and lightest major combat fighters fielded by any combatant during WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakovlev_Yak-3
1944 - Death of Wing Commander Adrian "Warby" Warburton, Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot during WWII. A legend in the RAF for his role in the defence of Malta.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Warburton
1945 - USS Mannert L. Abele (Us Destroyer) is the 1st allied ship sunk by a Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka 'BAKA' (rocket powered human-guided anti-shipping kamikaze attack plane).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Mannert_L._Abele_(DD-733)
1947 - Capt. William P. Odom, pilot, Tex Carroll Sallee, navigator and Milton Reynolds, owner, take off an A26 'Reynolds Bombshell' from La Guardia Field, New York for a round the world flight.
http://napoleon130.tripod.com/id398.html
1948 - The de Havilland DH 108 "Swallow" VW120 established a new World Air Speed Record of 604.98 mph (974.02 km/h) on a 62 mile (100 km) circuit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_DH_108
1950 - Patrick Palles Lorne Elphinstone 'Lorne' Welch completes the 1st glider (sailplane) crossing of the English Channel in a DFS 108 Weihe.
1951 - 48 USAF B-29 Superfortresses attack the Sinuiju Railway Bridge on the Yalu River.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/April_in_aviation
1952 - Death of François Victor Denhaut, Early french aviator and aircraft designer, known as the inventor of the flying boats.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Denhaut
1961 - The Soviet rocket Vostok 1 (1st spaceflight in the Vostok program and the 1st human spaceflight in history) takes off from Tyuratam in central Asia, launching Flight-Major Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin into space and the history books. After a single orbit, the 1st human in space lands safely back at the space center at Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_1
1962 - Death of Ron Flockhart, Scottish racing driver, crashing his Mustang aircraft (VH-UWB) into the Dandenong Hills (poor weather near Kallista, Victoria) while preparing a second attempt to break the flying record from Australia to England. He was twice Le Mans Winner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Flockhart_(auto_racing)
1964 - Gemini 1, 1st unmanned test flight of the Gemini spacecraft in NASA's Gemini program, is back on earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_1
1966 - 1st flight of the Pilatus PC-7 Turbo Trainer, swiss low-wing tandem-seat training aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilatus_PC-7
1972 - Death of René Lefèvre, French aviation pioneer, WWII pilot, well known for having flown the 'Oiseau canari' on a north atlantic crossing.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Lef%C3%A8vre_(aviateur)
1972 - Members of the USAF's 31st Aerospace Rescue Squadron pick up Charles Lindbergh and a scientific team from the jungle on Mindanao Island, Philippines, after their helicopter crashed while on an anthropological survey.
http://www.jollygreen.org/Stories/BruceWare/rescue_of_general_charles_lindbe.htm
1974 - Death of Raymond James Brownell, Australian WWI flying ace and high ranking officer in WWII
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Brownell - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/australi/brownell.php
1977 - 1st flight of the Silvercraft SH-200 (I-SILD), italian two-seater with a low-set boom, large bubble windshield, T-tail helicopter. Remained just a prototype.
http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/siai_sh-200.php
1979 - Soyuz 33, Soviet manned space flight to the Salyut 6 space station, is back on earth after it suffered an engine failure. The crew had to return to earth before docking with the station, 1st-ever failure of a Soyuz engine during orbital operations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_33
1980 - Transbrasil Flight 303 Boeing 727-27C crashed on a night instrument approach to Hercílio Luz International Airport in a severe thunderstorm, killing 55 over 58.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transbrasil_Flight_303
1981 - 1st flight of the AS80 airship, British hot-air balloon manufactured by Thunder-Colt Balloons.
1981 - Launch of STS-1 with The Space shuttle Columbia . It marks the 1st time an American Space Shuttle flies operationally
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-1
1985 - Death of Ivan Nikolayevic Kalabushkin, Soviet WWII fighter ace and high ranking officer post WWII.
http://www.cieldegloire.com/015_kalabushkin%20_i_n.php - http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/soviet_kalabushkin.htm
1985 - Launch of STS-51-D, Space Shuttle Discovery mission to deploy 2 communications satellites: Telesat-I (Anik C1) and Syncom IV-3 (also known as Leasat-3).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-51-D
1989 - Concorde G-BOAF (216) whilst on its supersonic circumnavigation charter lost a section of rudder on a flight from Christchurch, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia. This explained the 'thud' and vibration the crew and passengers felt after take-off, as the aircraft was climbing through 43,000 feet and accelerating to Mach 2. After repairs were carried out Concorde G-BOAF (216) continued with its supersonic circumnavigation charter.
http://www.concordesst.com/216.html
1990 – Widerøe Flight 839, de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter, crashes into the Norwegian Sea just after takeoff from Værøy Airport in Værøy, Norway, when strong winds crack its tail rudder and tailplane, rendering it uncontrollable. All five people on board die. Værøy Airport is closed after the accident due to the danger posed by bad weather and replaced by Værøy Heliport farther to the south.