FEB03
1859 - Birth of Hugo Junkers, innovative German engineer, as his many patents in varied areas (gas engines, aeroplanes) show, pioneering the 1st great changes in aviation materials and design technology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Junkers
1873 - Birth of Karl Jatho, German Aviation pioneer and inventor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Jatho
1873 - Birth of Hugh Montague Trenchard, British officer who was instrumental in establishing the RAF, described as the Father of the Royal Air Force.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Trenchard,_1st_Viscount_Trenchard
1884 - Birth of Frank Maxwell Andrews , general officer in the United States Army and one of the founding fathers of the USAF.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Maxwell_Andrews
1892 - Birth of Eduard Ritter von Dostler, German WWI fighter ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Ritter_von_Dostler - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/dostler.php
1894 - Birth of Arthur Thomas Drinkwater, Australian WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Thomas_Drinkwater - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/australi/drinkwater.php
1895 - Birth of Frederick Elliott Brown, Canadian WWI flying ace, RCAF WWII flying instructor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Elliott_Brown - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/brown5.php
1903 - Birth of Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, Scottish nobleman and pioneering aviator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Douglas-Hamilton,_14th_Duke_of_Hamilton
1911 - The Blériot XIII, French experimental passenger-carrying aircraft, flown by Léon Lemartin broke a world record by flying with 8 passengers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on_Lemartin#Bl.C3.A9riot_years - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bl%C3%A9riot_XIII#Operational_history
1913 - The Gothaer Waggonfabrik (Gotha railway wagon factory) open an aeroplane division.
1918 - Death of Rupert Randolph Winter, British WWI flying ace, killed in action.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/winter.php
1920 - Death of Hermann Hasselmann, German Aviation Pioneer, and Hugo Schäfer, German WWI flying ace on board of their Junkers F 13.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Hasselmann - http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Schaefer - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/schafer1.php
1923 - 1st flight of the Blériot-SPAD S.56/1, French single engine biplane transport aircraft prototype.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bl%C3%A9riot-SPAD_S.56 - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9397
1925 - A distance record of 3,166 kilometre (1,967 miles) in a straight line, is established by a Breguet 19 flown by Captain Ludovic Arrachart and Captain Henri Lemaître from Paris to Villa Cisneros (Sahara).
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breguet_19#Versions_de_comp.C3.A9tition
1928 - 1st flight of The Boeing F3B (Model 77), American biplane fighter and fighter bomber in a land version.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_F3B
1934 - Lufthansa begins the 1st regular airmail service across the Atlantic Ocean, between Berlin and Rio de Janeiro.
1935 - Death of Hugo Junkers, German engineer and aircraft designer, who pioneered the 1st great changes in aviation materials and design technology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Junkers
1941 - Death of Enzo Omiccioli, Italian WWII pilot, killed during a dogfight Against 6 Gloster Gladiators in ethiopia.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enzo_Omiccioli
1943 - Death of Reinhold Knacke, German WWII night fighter ace, killed while attempting an emergency landing with his damaged Messerschmitt Bf 110.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhold_Knacke - http://www.cieldegloire.com/001_knacke_r.php
1945 – As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17s of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Berlin_in_World_War_II#March_1944_to_April_1945
1956 - Death of Guglielmo Fornagiari, Italian WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guglielmo_Fornagiari - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/fornagiari.php
1958 - Birth of Joe Frank Edwards, Jr., United States Naval officer, test pilot and NASA astronaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_F._Edwards,_Jr.
1959 - 1st flight of The Agusta AB.102, Italian helicopter based on the mechanical components of a Bell 48 that Agusta incorporated into an all-new, streamlined fuselage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agusta-Bell_AB.102
1959 - Death of William John "Jack" Frye, American aviation pioneer, Commercial and raid pilot. He built TWA into a world class airline.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Frye
1959 - Rock stars Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper die when the Beechcraft Bonanza they are traveling in crashes during a snow storm in Iowa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_The_Music_Died - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Peterson_(pilot)
1959 - American Airlines Flight 320 Lockheed L-188A Electra crashed into the East River on approach to New York City's LaGuardia Airport in marginal weather, killing 65 over 73.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_320
1961 - Operation Looking Glass commences, meaning that the US Air Force Strategic Air Command would have a permanent, airborne command post.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Looking_Glass
1964 - The Federal Aviation Agency launches Operation Bongo Mark 2 to investigate the effects of supersonic flight; over the coming months, a Convair B-58 will fly through the sound barrier at low altitude over Oklahoma City
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_sonic_boom_tests
1966 – The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the 1st controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_9
1966 - Launch of ESSA-1 (or OT-3) US spin-stabilized operational meteorological satellite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESSA-1
1977 - 1st flight of the Robin R-1180 'Aiglon', French four-seat all-metal low-wing monoplane with a fixed tricycle landing gear touring and training monoplane.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=2541
1977 - Salyut 4 is back on earth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salyut_4
1978 - 1st de Havilland Canada DHC-7, popularly known as the Dash 7, turboprop-powered regional airliner with STOL capabilities, is introduced in service by Rocky Mountain Airways.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_Dash_7
1982 - The Mil Mi-26 helicopter lifts a load weighing 57 metric tons to 2,000 metres (6,500 ft) to break a world record for a helicopter.
http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/mi-26.php
1984 – STS-41-B is launched using Space Shuttle Challenger.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-41-B
1985 - 1st flight of The Alpha XH-1, South African prototype attack helicopter, used as a concept demonstrator for the then-planned Rooivalk project.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_XH-1_Alpha
1986 - 1st flight of The Dassault Mirage 2000N, 2 seat variant of the french jet fighter Mirage 2000 designed for nuclear strike.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Mirage_2000N/2000D
1988 - Death of Kenneth Lee Porter, American WWI flying ace, Engineer who worked for Boeing during WWII and was a member of the US fighting pilots Association.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Porter_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/porter.php
1994 - Launch of STS-60 , 1st mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program , which carried Sergei K. Krikalev, the 1st Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard a Space Shuttle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-60
1995 – Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the 1st woman to pilot the Space Shuttle Discovery as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, 2nd mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, which carried out the 1st rendezvous of the American Space Shuttle with Russia's space station Mir.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-63
1998 – US Military pilots Captain Richard J. Ashby, and his navigator, Captain Joseph Schweitzer, causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying EA-6B Prowler cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalese_cable_car_disaster_(1998)
2001 - 1st flight of The Agusta-Westland AW139, 15-seat medium sized twin-engined helicopter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AgustaWestland_AW139
2005 - Kam Air Flight 904 Boeing 737-200 crashes over the Pamir mountains of Afghanistan . There were no survivors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kam_Air_Flight_904
2008 - Silver State Helicopters ceases operations and enteres bankruptcy. At the time of closing Silver State was operating 194 helicopters from its 34 flight schools.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_State_Helicopters
2012 - Malév Hungarian Airlines, flag carrier and principal airline of Hungary, cease operations.