APRIL22

1894 - Birth of Karl Deilmann, German WWI flying ace and industrial.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Deilmann - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/deilmann.php

1897 - Birth of Cyril William Gladman, British WWI flying ace

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/gladman.php

1912 - Denys Corbett Wilson made a 100 min flight from Goodwick in Pembrokeshire to Enniscorthy - (from the island of Great Britain to the island of Ireland).

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

1914 - Birth of José Abelardo Quiñones Gonzáles, Peruvian military aviator and national aviation hero.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Qui%C3%B1ones_Gonz%C3%A1les

1918 - Birth of Bruno Mussolini, second son of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and pilot of the Regia Aeronautica Italiana. Bruno also participated in Ethipia operations and in the Spanish Civil War. Unlike his brother Vittorio, Bruno was considered to be a serious pilot. In addition to participating in various conflicts, Bruno was involved in setting flight airspeed records in a 1938 flight to Brazil. He was killed test piloting a new prototype of the Piaggio P.108, a four engine Italian bomber.

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

1924 - Birth of William Harry Allen, USAAF WWII Fighter pilot who scored 5 victories on a single mission.

http://cieldegloire.com/014_allen_w_h.php

1926 - The Silver Wings flew successfully for 5 minutes at Geelong in the hands of C D Pratt with McKenzie as passenger

http://www.aarg.com.au/Kelly&LewisV8Engine.htm

1931 - The Royal Iraqi Air Force (Today IQAF), is founded.

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

1933 - 1st flight of the Farman F-370, french single engine monoplane racer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farman_F.370 - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=2208

1933 - Death of Sir Frederick Henry Royce, 1st Baronet, pioneering car and aeronautical engine manufacturer, who with Charles Stewart Rolls founded the Rolls-Royce company.

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

1934 - Death of William "Bill" Thaw, II, American WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thaw_II - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/thaw.php

1937 - Death of Felipe del Río Crespo, Spanish Republican flying ace of the civil war, Killed in his Polikarpov I-15 by Bf 109Bs from the Legion Condor.

http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/spain_delriocrespo.htm

1939 - 1st flight of Aeronautica Umbra Trojani AUT.18 a prototype fighter aircraft developed in Italy by Aeronautica Umbra shortly before the outbreak of WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeronautica_Umbra_Trojani_AUT.18

1939 - 1st flight of Lockheed Vega Starliner five/six-seat low-wing cabin monoplane with retractable landing gear and an unusual powerplant.

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

1942 - The USAAF forms China Ferry Command to support the Allied war effort in the China Burma India Theater.Himalayan "Hump" route is established.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/classic/flight-in-depression-timeline8.htm

1943 - The Air Cadet Corps was made a component of the RCAF by Order-in-Council.

http://canadianaviationhistory.pbworks.com/w/page/13801114/On-this-day-in-Canadian-Aviation-History-April

1943 - Major General Adolf Galland, who supported Messerschmitt through the early development years, flew the Me 262.( world's 1st operational jet-powered fighter aircraft)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_262

1944 - Birth of Steve Fossett, American businessman, aviator, sailor, and adventurer and the 1st person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon. He made his fortune in the financial services industry, and was best known for many world records, including five nonstop circumnavigations of the Earth: as a long-distance solo balloonist, as a sailor, and as a solo flight fixed-wing aircraft pilot.

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

1944 - U.S. Army Lieutenant Carter Harman conducted the 1st combat rescue by helicopter using a Sikorsky YR-4 in the China-Burma-India theater

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_R-4

1945 - Death of Tomio Hirohata, Japanese WWII fighter ace, Killed after his Ki-61 Tony encountered problem on take off, probably knocked by his plane while bailing out.

http://www.cieldegloire.com/010_hirohata_t.php

1945 - Death of Nobuji Negishi, Japanese WWII flying ace, Killed in action in his Ki-45.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_aces_from_Japan#N - http://www.cieldegloire.fr/010_negishi_n.php

1946 - 1st flight of a tailless glider developed at National Research Council, Ottawa from a design by Prof GTR Hill. Flight was made from Namao, Alberta. The glider was piloted by S/L R. Kronfeld, RAF in a towed flight by an RCAF Douglas Dakota piloted for F/O Robertson. (source)

http://books.google.fr/books?id=rPBSEkhMCAwC&lpg=PA257&ots=VCpsnTSFNN&dq=prof%20GTR%20HILL%20glider&pg=PA259#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://canadianaviationhistory.pbworks.com/w/page/13801114/On-this-day-in-Canadian-Aviation-History-April

1946 – Birth of Steven Logan. Bennett, USAF pilot and Forward Air Controller (FAC) who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Vietnam War (USAF Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_L._Bennett

1948 - 1st flight of the Lavochkin La-168, soviet advanced single-seat fighter prototype, designed around the newly-acquired Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavochkin_Aircraft_168

1948 - Introduction into service with the USAF of the North American B-45 Tornado, USAF's 1st operational jet bomber, and the 1st jet aircraft to be refueled in the air

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_B-45_Tornado

1957 - 1st flight of the Mikoyan/Gurevich I-7U, soviet swept wing jet fighter prototype, issued from the I-3U and which will lead to the development of the I-75.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/mig_i-7u.php

1958 - The prototype for the Boeing Vertol 107-II makes its 1st flight in Philadelphia. The Vertol 107 and its military cousin the CH-46 Sea Knight continue to serve around the globe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CH-46_Sea_Knight

1965 - 1st flight of Transavia PL-12 Airtruk a single-engine agricultural biplane aircraft designed and built by the Transavia Corporation in Australia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transavia_PL-12_Airtruk

1971 - Launch of Soyuz 10, world's 1st mission to the world's 1st space station, the Soviet Salyut 1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_10

1971 - 1st flight of the Aero Boero AB-210, Argentinian civil utility prototype aircraft, development of the AB-180 with improved performance delivered by a fuel-injected engine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Boero_AB-210

1974 - Boeing 707-321C of Flight Pan Am PA-812 crashes at Tinga-Tinga (approximately 37 NM North-West of Ngurah Rai Airport - ICAO WRRR).

http://www.pan-american.de/Desasters/Tinga-Tinga.html

1976 - 1st flight of the 2nd prototype Mikoyan/Gurevich MiG-31, russian supersonic interceptor aircraft, radar equiped version.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/mig-31.php

1982 - Death of Ernest Charles Hoy, Canadian WWI flying ace, and airmail flight pioneer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Charles_Hoy - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/hoy2.php

1983 - Soyuz T-8, Soviet manned mission to the Salyut 7 space station, is back on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_T-8

1983 - Death of Richard Jeffries "Dickie" Dawes, Canadian WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Jeffries_Dawes - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/dawes.php

1990 - Death of Joe Bailey Jordan, USAF test pilot

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=rajordan&id=I682

1994 – Death of Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States Assigned as the naval passenger control officer for the South Pacific Combat Air Transport Command, supporting the logistics of operations in the South West Pacific theater before being transferred to Philadelphia's Bureau of Aeronautics office to help negotiate the termination of war contracts

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

2005 - 1st post restoration flight in Reykjavik of a Boeing-Stearman PT-17 41-7997. This grand old lady is possibly one of the most historically important aircraft in Iceland. One of the three PT-17's for use as trainers and squadron hacks brought by USS WASP in 1941.

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/archive/index.php?t-41615.html

2007 - Death of Ugo Drago, Italian WWII Pilot.

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

2008 – The United States Air Force retires the remaining F-117 Nighthawk aircraft in service.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-117_Nighthawk

2010 - 1st launch of Boeing X-37 (also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle),American unmanned vertical-takeoff, horizontal-landing (VTHL) spaceplane. (Mission USA-212)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA-212

2010 - 1st flight of the Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2), part of the DARPA Falcon Project, American unmanned reusable, rapid-strike Hypersonic Weapon System (HWS). Contact was lost and the prototype splashed into the Ocean.

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

2011 - Launch of Yahsat Y1A, United Arab Emirates satellite communications.

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