AUG31

1881 - 1st German aviation association, 'Deutsche Verein zur Förderung der Luftschifffahrt' (Society for the Promotion of Aeronautics), is founded.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verein_zur_F%C3%B6rderung_der_Luftschifffahrt

1891 - Birth of Charles Roderick Carr, WWI and anti-Bolshevist side in the civil war pilot, Raid pilot, RAF Senior commander in WWII.

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

1894 - Birth of Arthur Stanley Gould Lee, British WWI flying ace, Author and WWII RAF senior officer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Lee_(RAF_officer) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/lee.php

1895 – German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his Navigable Balloon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin#The_first_generations

1896 - Birth of Brian Edmund Baker, British WWI Flying Ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Edmund_Baker - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/baker1.php

1896 - Birth of Roy Manzer, Canadian WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Manzer - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/manzer.php

1899 - Birth of Edward Borgfeldt Booth, Canadian WWI flying ace.

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/booth.php

1906 - Motorluftschiff-Studiengesellschaft m.b.H is established in Berlin.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorluftschiff-Studiengesellschaft

1911 - Anton Herman Gerard "Anthony" Fokker becomes a celebrity in the Netherlands by flying around the tower of the Sint-Bavokerk in Haarlem with his Fokker Spin 3.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Fokker#Move_to_Germany

1915 - Death of Adolphe Célestin Pégoud, well known pre-WWI French aviator who became the 1st fighter ace, 1st pilot to make a parachute jump from an airplane and one of the 1st to fly a loop in a Blériot model XI. Shot down, ironically by one of his prewar German students, Unteroffizier Kandulski, while intercepting a German reconnaissance aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolphe_P%C3%A9goud - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/pegoud.php

1916 - Birth of Ramón Salas Larrazábal, Spanish officer, parachutism pionneer and historian.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram%C3%B3n_Salas_Larraz%C3%A1bal

1916 - Birth of Robert Hanbury Brown, British astronomer and physicist who made notable contributions to the development of radar and he later conducted pioneering work in the field of radio astronomy.

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

1917 - Death of Josef Pürer, Austro Hugarian WWI Flying ace, killed in action in his Albatros D.III by a Sopwith Camel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_P%C3%BCrer - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/austrhun/purer.php

1918 - Death of Bertram Heinrich, German WWI flying ace, Killed in action in his Fokker D.VII by sopwith camels.

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/heinrich.php

1921 - US Navy patrol airship D-6 is destroyed in the Naval Air Station Rockaway hangar fire along with two small dirigibles, the C-10 and the H-1 and the kite balloon A-P.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-class_blimp#Operational_history

1925 – US Navy Commander John Rodgers and his crew take off from San Francisco, California in a PN-9 flying boat in an attempt to make the 1st transpacific flight from North America to the Hawaiian Islands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rodgers_(naval_officer,_World_War_I) -

http://hawaii.gov/hawaiiaviation/aviation-photos/1920-1929/commander-john-rodgers/

1927 - Death of princess Anne of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (born Lady Anne Savile) English socialite and aviation patron and enthusiast, 1st woman to attempt and perish in a transatlantic airplane flight, Disappearing along with Captain Leslie Hamilton, WWI flying ace, and Colonel Frederick F. Minchin in their Fokker F.VIIA named 'St. Raphael' in a bid to become the 1st aviators to cross the Atlantic from east to west from from Upavon airfield.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Anne_of_L%C3%B6wenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Raphael_(aircraft)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_F._Minchin - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Hamilton - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/hamilton2.php

1928 - 1st flight of the SPAD S-91/2, french Biplane fighter prototype.

http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=6329 - http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/bleriot_s-91.php.

1929 - 1st flight of the 2nd prototype Gloster VI, British racing seaplane developed as a contestant for the 1929 Schneider Trophy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloster_VI#Operational_history

1940 - 1st operational sortie for No. 303 ("Kosciuszko") Polish Fighter Squadron in the RAF. It will become the highest scoring RAF squadron of the Battle of Britain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_303_Squadron

1940 – Pennsylvania Central Airlines Trip 19 Douglas DC-3A crashes near Lovettsville, Virginia. The CAB investigation of the accident is the 1st investigation to be conducted under the Bureau of Air Commerce act of 1938.

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

1941 - Death of Erich "Schmidtchen" Schmidt, German WWII fighter ace, downed in his Messerschmitt Bf 109F by Soviet anti-aircraft fire near Dubno, Ukraine, he bailed out of his stricken machine but has remained missing ever since.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Schmidt_(pilot) - http://www.luftwaffe.cz/schmidt.html

1942 - Death of Carlo Adamoli, Italian engineer, aircraft designer, raid Pilot, test pilot and WWII pilot, killed in action

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Adamoli - http://www.adamoli.org/carlo/index.html

1942 - Johannes "Macki" Steinhoff, German WWII fighter ace, Scores his 100th victory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Steinhoff#World_War_II

1942 - 1st flight of The Martin-Baker MB3, British fighter prototype.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin-Baker_MB_3

1945 - Birth of Leonid Ivanovich Popov, Soviet Air Force pilot and cosmonaut.

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

1946 - A Supermarine Stranraer flying boat, operated by Spilsbury & Hepburn Ltd, Vancouver, predecessor of Queen Charlotte Airline, disappeared without a trace with 7 on board on a flight from Prince Rupert to Stewart, British Columbia.

http://canadianaviationhistory.pbworks.com/w/page/13801115/On-this-day-in-Canadian-Aviation-History-August

1947 - 1st flight of The Antonov An-2, also nicknamed "Annushka", russian single-engine biplane utility/agricultural aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-2

1951 - 1st flight of the Supermarine Type 508, British naval fighter aircraft prototype which will lead to the Scimitar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Scimitar#Design_and_development

1953 - Birth of Pavel Vladimirovich Vinogradov, Russian cosmonaut.

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

1953 - The Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket, American Experimental high-speed research plane, reached an altitude of 25370m. (83000 Ft)

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

1955 - Death of Louis Marcel Germain Doret, (Marcel Doret), French Raid Aviatot, Test Pilot and Aerobatic pilot.

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

1955 – Lockheed Aircraft Corporation engineering test pilot Stanley Beltz is killed in a crash near Lancaster, California, while piloting an F-94B Starfire modified to test the nose section of the BOMARC missile.

http://thetartanterror.blogspot.fr/2007/09/stanley-belz-19xx-1955.html

1956 - Death of CIA pilot Frank G. Grace. During a nighttime training flight, he stalled his Lockheed U-2 at an altitude of 50 feet when he tried to climb too steeply during take off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_Memorial_Wall - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_U-2#United_States

1956 - 1st flight of The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, US aerial refueling military aircraft developed from the Boeing 367-80, US Air Force's first jet-powered refueling tanker.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_KC-135_Stratotanker

1958 - 1st flight of The North American A-5 Vigilante, US carrier-based supersonic bomber designed for the US Navy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_A-5_Vigilante

1959 - 1st flight of the Folland Fo.144 Gnat Trainer / Gnat T.1, trainer version of British small swept-wing British subsonic light fighter aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folland_Gnat#Gnat_Trainer

1961 - Ling-Temco-Vought Inc. is formed by the merger of Chance Vought Incorporated and Ling-Temco Electronics.

http://www.aviastar.org/manufacturers/0543.html

1962 - 1st flight of the Sud Aviation 'Caravelle' 10A, re-engined prototype evolution of the french short/medium-range jet airliner.

http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1998 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sud_Aviation_Caravelle#Variants

1965 - Death of Henri Mignet, French radio engineer who became well known as an aircraft designer and builder of the Flying Flea family of aircraft.

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

1965 - 1st flight of The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy , American large, wide-bodied cargo aircraft used for ferrying outsized cargo components.

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

1968 - Death of Bruno Dilley, German WWII dive bomber pilot and High Ranking officer post WWII. He performed the 1st bombing raid of WWII

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

1968 - The Rolls-Royce RB.211, British high-bypass turbofan engine, is successfully ground-tested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/August_in_aviation/August_31

1969 - Death of Rocky Marciano (born Rocco Francis Marchegiano) American professional boxer and the World Heavyweight Champion (only champion to hold the heavyweight title and go untied and undefeated throughout his career), Killed in the crash of a Cessna 172 near Newton, Iowa,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Marciano#Death

1974 - Death of Lieutenant Colonel William Pershing Benedict, American WWII pilot from California, best known for having made the 1st aircraft landing at the North Pole. Killed while flying a Grumman F7F twin engine fighter dropping fire retardant in the Ukiah area of California.

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

1977 - 1st flight of The Antonov An-72 'Coaler', Soviet twin jet engine transport aircraft in a STOL version.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-72

1977 - Soviet test pilot Alexander Vasilyevich Fedotov claims a new world height record for manned aircraft when he climbs to a height of 37,650 m (123,523 ft.) flying the Mikoyan E-266M.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-25#Record_breaker

1980 - The 3rd FAI World Rally Flying Championship ends in Aschaffenburg, West Germany, Polish Witold Swiadek and Andrzej Korzeniowski won with a PZL-104 Wilga.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_FAI_World_Rally_Flying_Championship

1986 – Aeroméxico Flight 498 Douglas DC-9-32 collides with a private Piper PA-28-181 Archer over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerom%C3%A9xico_Flight_498

1987 - 1st flight of The Mitsubishi H-60, Japanese twin-turboshaft engine helicopter based on the Sikorsky S-70.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_H-60

1987 - Thai Airways Flight 365 Boeing 737-2P5 stalled and plunged into the water on approach at Phuket International Airport, killing all 83.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_Airways_Flight_365

1988 - CAAC Flight 301 Hawker Siddeley Trident ran off the runway in Hong Kong after clipping approach lights, killing 7 over 89.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAAC_Flight_301

1988 - Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 Boeing 727-232 crashed upon takeoff from Dallas-Fort Worth, killing 14 over 108.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Air_Lines_Flight_1141

1998 – Launch of Kwangmyongsong-1, 1st North Korean satellite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwangmy%C5%8Fngs%C5%8Fng-1

1999 – LAPA Flight 3142 Boeing 737-204C crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 65, including 2 on the ground.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAPA_flight_3142

2000 - Virgin Australia begins airline operations as Virgin Blue.

http://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en/about-us/company-overview/virgin-australia-history/

2002 - 1st flight of the Bombardier Learjet 40, American-Canadian light business jet, derived from the Learjet 45, but with a shorter fuselage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_Learjet_40

2007 - Death of James Brian "Willie" Tait, British WWII bomber pilot and postwar RAF high ranking officer, He conducted the 1st British air raid on Italy and , as commanding officer of the 617 Squadron, led the mission that sunk the Tirpitz.

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

2011 - Death of Valery Ilyich Rozhdestvensky Soviet Navy Engineer and Cosmonaut.

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

2011 - Death of Lionel Peter Twiss, British pilot, who held the World Air Speed Record as the 1st man to fly at a speed greater than 1,000 mph.

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

2011 - Death of Betty Skelton Erde, American land speed record holder and aerobatics pilot who setted 17 aviation and automobile records. She was known as 'The First Lady of Firsts', and helped create opportunities for women in aviation, auto racing, astronautics and advertising.

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