DEC13

1935 - USAAC officer Arthur K. Ladd, assistant supply officer for the General Headquarters Air Force, is killed in the crash of a Boeing P-12F 3 miles E of Dale, South Carolina, while en route from Langley Field, Virginia, to Miami, Florida for an air race and exhibition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/December_in_aviation/December_13

1936 - 1st flight of The PZL.37 Los, Polish twin-engine medium bomber.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL.37_%C5%81o%C5%9B

1939 - 1st time in WWII that a ship-based seaplane spots gunfire for a Royal Navy ship : Lieutenant Edgar Duncan Goodenough Lewin with his Fairey Seafox floatplane catapulted from the British light cruiser HMS Ajax spots fire for her guns while she fires on the German “pocket battleship” Admiral Graf Spee during the Battle of the River Plate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_River_Plate#The_battle - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_Lewin

1945 - 1st Armee de l'Air fighter unit in French Indo-China, GCII/7, is formed at Tan Son Nhut using ex-RAF Supermarine Spitfire VIII fighters.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-military-aviation/1945.aspx

1948 - A blade on the right-hand rotor of the 2nd prototype Bratukhin B-11 (Soviet twin-rotor transport helicopter and the last design of the Bratukhin aircraft design )broke, and the subsequent crash killed the two crew.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bratukhin_B-11

1951 - Maj George Davis of the 334th Fighter Interceptor Squadron shoots down 4 MiG-15s in a single day with his F-86 Sabre.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Andrew_Davis,_Jr.#Aerial_victory_credits - http://cieldegloire.com/014_davis_g_a.php

1952 - Birth of André Borschberg, Swiss businessman and pilot, co-founder of the Solar Impulse project.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Borschberg

1954 - 1st forward flight in hover mode of the Transcendental 1-G, American single-seater convertible helicopter prototype with two contra-rotating rotors located at the end of its wings which be swivelled forward to become the traction airscrews of a typical aircraft.

http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/trans_1-g.php

1958 - 1st flight of The Kaman HH-43B 'Huskie', American helicopter with intermeshing rotors, major production version of the Huskie issued from the HOK-1 prototype.

http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/kaman_huskie.php

1958 - Gordo, also known as "Old Reliable", a squirrel monkey, lifts off in a Jupiter AM-13 rocket for a 15 minutes space flight. Unfortunately, The failure of Gordo's parachute meant that both he and the capsule were lost, despite efforts to recover them. It is believed that Gordo was alive at the time of impact.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordo_(space_monkey)

1959 - 1st flight of The Aviamilano P.19 Scricciolo, Italian 2 seat side by side low-wing monoplane with tailwheel undercarriage light civil trainer aircraft

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

1960 - Leroy Heath and Larry Monroe set an altitude record of 91,419 Ft (27,865m) with a North American Aviation A-5 Vigilante

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

1962 - Launch of Relay-1, NASA experimental communications satellite. It included radiation experiments designed to map the earth's radiation belts and provided the 1st television transmissions across the Pacific Ocean.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relay_1#Relay_1

1963 - Project Stargazer: Joseph Kittinger and astronomer William C. White took an open-gondola helium balloon packed with scientific equipment to an altitude of about 82,200 feet (25,100 m), where they spent over eighteen hours performing astronomical observations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kittinger#Project_Stargazer

1967 - Launch of Pioneer 8, American satellite engaged in research and exploration of the upper atmosphere or outer space

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_6,_7,_8,_and_9#Pioneer_8

1977 – A National Jet Services Douglas C-53 (DC-3) aircraft chartered from the Indianapolis-based National Jet crashes near Evansville Regional Airport, killing 29, including the University of Evansville basketball team, support staff and boosters of the team

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19771213-0

1987 - Philippine Airlines Flight 443 Short 360-300 crashed on Mount Gurain while approaching Iligan-Maria Cristina Airport, Philippines, killing all 15.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Airlines_Flight_443

1993 - STS-61 Endeavour space shuttle mission is back on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-61

1994 - American Eagle Flight 3379 Jetstream 31 crashed into a wooded area about 4 miles SW of the Raleigh-Durham International Airport in the vicinity of Morrisville, NC, killing 15 over 20. The probable cause of the crash was the pilot not following proper procedure when it came to an engine failure situation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Eagle_Airlines#American_Eagle_Airlines.2C_Inc._predecessors

1995 - Banat Air Flight 166 Antonov An-24B crashed on take-off at Verona-Villafranca Airport, italia, due to 2-3 tonnes excess weight and due to ice accumulated on the wings, killing all 8 crew and 41 passengers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banat_Air_Flight_166

2003 - 1st flight of The Guizhou JL-9, (also known as the FTC-2000 Mountain Eagle 'Shanying'), People's Republic of China 2-seat fighter trainer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guizhou_JL-9

2003 - Death of Frank Neubert, German WWII dive bomber pilot, believed to have been the 1st victor in aerial combat in WWII.

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