DEC29

1916 - Zeppelin LZ84 (L38) is Damaged beyond repair in a forced landing (due to heavy snowfall) during an attempted raid on Reval and Saint Petersburg.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Zeppelins#Zeppelins_constructed_during_World_War_I

1921 - Edward Stinson and Lloyd Bertaud take off in a snowstorm with a BMW-engined Junkers-Larsen JL-6 (American version of the Junkers F.13) over Roosevelt Field for a new endurance record.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_W._Bertaud

1926 - Death of Rothesay Nicholas Montagu Stuart Wortley, British WWI flying ace and aviation journalist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothesay_Stuart_Wortley - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/stuart_wortley.php

1927 - Death of Georg Wulf, German aviation Pioneer, Aircraft designer and test pilot, co-founder of Focke-Wulf, killed in the crash of the Focke-Wulf Fw 19 'Ente' prototype when a control rod snapped during a display.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Wulf - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_F_19

1931 - 1st flight of the Hawker Audax, British army co-operation 2 seat biplane aircraft based on the Hawker Hart.

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_hawker_audax.html

1931 - 1st flight of The Grumman FF "Fifi", American biplane fighter aircraft, 1st Navy aircraft with retractable landing gear.

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

1932 - Ruth Rowland Nichols became the 1st woman pilot of a commercial passenger airline, flying for New York and New England Airways.

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

1935 - During a Paris - Tananarive attempt, The sole S.F.C.A. Maillet-Lignel 20, French twin seat tourism aircraft is destroyed in a crash on take off at Wadi-Halfa, Sudan, killing pilots Pierre Pharabod and Klein.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1933

1936 - Compañía Aeronáutica Uruguaya S.A. (CAUSA), Uruguayan private airline company, is founded.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compa%C3%B1%C3%ADa_Aeron%C3%A1utica_Uruguaya

1937 - The Panamerican flight composed of 3 cuban Stinsons and a Dominican Curtiss Wright R-19 is caught in a storm near Cali, El Valle, Colombia., Resulting in the loss of theplanes, only survivors were the dominican crew.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Felix_Miranda

1938 - An Arado Ar 79, German aerobatic two-seat trainer and touring aircraft, takes off from from Benghazi, Libya to Gaya, India, for a speed and endurance record with a jettisonable 106 L (28 US gal) fuel tank and extra 520 L (140 US gal) tank behind the cabin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_79

1939 - 1st flight of the 2nd and last SNCAC NC.530, French 3 seat twin engine scouting aircraft. Cancelled due to german invasion.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/sncac-530.php

1939 - 1st flight of The Consolidated XB-24 Liberator, American 4 engine heavy bomber.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_B-24

1940 - 1st flight of the Ilyushin Il-2 (TsKB-57P) Shturmovik, reengined Single seat version of the russian ground-attack aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-2#Variants

1940 - The Luftwaffe makes a devastating attack on London, making extensive use of incendiary weapons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz#Night_attacks

1942 - Death of Enrico Pezzi, High ranking italian pilot during Ethiopian war, Spain war and WWII, in the crash of a trimotor Savoia-Marchetti S.M.81 while carrying medical supplies in Russia.

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

1942 - 1st flight of the Bell Model 30, American prototype for the 1st commercial helicopter, and 1st helicopter built by Bell Aircraft Company, demonstration test bed for the successful Model 47.

http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/bell_30.php

1944 - Richard Joseph 'Dick' Audet, Canadian WWII pilot flying a Supermarine Spitfire IX of No. 411 Squadron near Rheine, Germany, destroyed 5 enemy fighters in his 1st combat (3 FW-190 and 2 Me-109).

http://cieldegloire.com/003_audet_r_j.php - http://www.acesofww2.com/Canada/aces/Audet.htm

1947 - 1st flight of the Tupolev TU-73, Soviet mid-winged without sweep 3 engine jet bomber prototype.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/tu-73.php

1948 - 1st flight of the Supermarine Swift (Type 510), british single-seat high-speed jet fighter.

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

1949 - Jacqueline Cochran (former head of the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots) set a 436.995 MPH international record for 500 kilometers (310.685 miles) in an F-51 without payload at the Mount Wilson Course.

http://www.pacaf.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-101227-008.pdf

1950 - Death of Reinhard Süring, German meteorologist and balloonist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_S%C3%BCring

1951 - Continental Charters Flight 44-2 Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando crashed into Bucktooth Ridge (foothills of the Allegheny Mountains) near Napoli, New York, in adverse weather conditions and due to captain's poor judgement in attempting a flight by visual reference during instrument weather conditions, killing 26 over 40.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Charters_Flight_44-2

1953 - 1st flight of The Hurel-Dubois HD.32, French civil high wing twin engine aircraft based on Maurice Hurel's high aspect ratio wing designs, reengined version of the HD.31

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurel-Dubois_HD.31 - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9702

1953 - The Sud-Ouest SO.1221 "Djinn", french light helicopter, set an altitude record for its class of 4789m (15,712 ft)

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

1957 - Death of John Nelson Boothman, WWII Royal Air Force officer and Schneider trophy winner.

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

1958 - Death of Rodolfo Verduzio, Italian aeronautical engineer and aviation pioneer.

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

1958 - Birth of Nancy Jane Sherlock Currie, American engineer, United States Army officer and NASA astronaut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_J._Currie

1961 - Death of Anton Flettner, German aviation engineer and inventor.

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

29 Dec 1961 - Death of Lewis Edward Goodier, American military pioneer aviator.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_E._Goodier,_Jr. - http://earlyaviators.com/egoodier.htm

1962 - Birth of Barry Eugene "Butch" Wilmore, USN test pilot and NASA astronaut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_E._Wilmore

1964 - 1st hover flight of the Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) XC-142, American tiltwing experimental aircraft designed to investigate the operational suitability of vertical/short takeoff and landing transports

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTV_XC-142#Development

1966 - On his 2nd flight, the Dassault Mirage F2, french prototype two-seat attack fighter, attained M=2.0.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/dassault_mirage_f-2.php

1966 - 1st flight of The Beechcraft 60 Duke, American twin-engine fixed-wing utility aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear and a pressurized cabin.

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

1972 - Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 Lockheed L-1011-385-1 TriStar crashed into the Florida Everglades as crew has been distracted by a faulty gear-down light, resulting in controlled flight into terrain, killing 101 over 176.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_401

1974 - TAROM Antonov An-24RV crashed into the side of the Mountains (Muntii) Lotrului (22 km south of Sibiu) at an altitude of 1,700 m crew's incorrect approach procedure execution while the wind was increasing turbulence was present, killing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAROM#Incidents_and_accidents - http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19741229-0

1977 - Death of Leonardo Bonzi, Italian aviator, Actor and bobsledder

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_Bonzi - http://www.imdb.it/name/nm0095301/

1986 - 1st flight of The Scaled Composites Model 133-4.62 ATTT (Advanced Technology Tactical Transport), American technology tandem wing STOL transport demonstrator project powered by a pair of turboprop engines, to demonstrate novel applications of technology to enable new transport aircraft to operate out of shorter airfields with the novel utilization of 8 Fowler flaps,

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

1987 - Soyuz TM-3 is back on earth, bringing back Yury Viktorovich Romanenko who spent 326 days aboard Mir

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

1988 - Death of Alec Williamson, British WWI flying ace

http://theaerodrome.com/aces/england/williamson.php

1989 - Death of Hermann Julius Oberth, Austro-Hungarian-born German physicist and engineer, considered as one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics.

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

1989 - 1st flight of The McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems MD 530 N, part of the MD 500 series, American light utility helicopter, civilian version of the US Army's OH-6A Cayuse/Loach developed from the Hughes 500, 1st production helicopter to be fitted with the NOTAR anti-torque system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MD_Helicopters_MD_500#MD_520N - http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/mcdonnel-500.php

1991 - China Airlines Flight 358 Boeing 747-2R7F crashed shortly after takeoff from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taipei, Taiwan after #3 engine and its pylon had separated from the airplane and struck the #4 engine breaking off the wing, All 5 were killed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_358

1994 - Turkish Airlines Flight 278 Boeing 737-4Y0 'Mersin' crashed during its final approach to land at Van Ferit Melen Airport, Turkey in driving snow despite a warning from air traffic control not to attempt any more approach in a snowstorm, killing 57 over 76.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Airlines_Flight_278

1994 - Death of Tudor Greceanu, Romanian WWII fighter ace.

http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tudor_Greceanu

2003 - Launch of Tan Ce 1 (TC-1), joint satellite based space mission by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA), 1st space mission launched by China to investigate Earth's magnetosphere.

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