FEB20

1939 - 1st flight of The Douglas DC-5, least known of the famous DC airliner series, 16-22 seat, twin-propeller aircraft intended for shorter routes than the DC-3 or DC-4.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-5

1940 - 1st flight (with skis) of The Yakovlev Yak-4 BB-22 production series, Soviet twin engine light bomber.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/yak-2.php

1941 - Death of Athos Ammannato, Italian WWII bomber pilot, missing in action over the mediterranean sea.

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

1941 - Death of Alfredo Fusco, Italian WWI & WWII pilot, Killed in action in his Fiat G.50 "Freccia" over Albania.

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

1942 – Lieutenant Edward Henry “Butch” O'Hare becomes America's 1st WWII flying ace, shooting down 5 Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bombers attacking USS lexington with his Grumman Wildcat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_O%27Hare#Medal_of_Honor_flight

1942 - Flight to Arras (French: Pilote de guerre), memoire by French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, is published in the USA. It recounts his role in the French air force as pilot of a reconnaissance plane during the Battle of France in 1940.

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

1943 - Birth of Aleksandr Pavlovich Aleksandrov, Soviet cosmonaut.

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

1944 – The "Big Week" begins with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.

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

1949 - Birth of Vladimir Yevgeniyevich Turovets, Russian test pilot.

http://www.astronautix.com/astros/turovets.htm

1954 - Birth of Vasily Vasiliyevich Tsibliyev, Ukrainian-Russian cosmonaut.

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

1954 - 1st flight of the Dassault MD-312B, French twin engine low wing monoplane transport aircraft prototype, Experimental shortened and monotailed version on the MD-312 with heavier loaded weight.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=10010

1957 - 1st prototype of the Fiat G.91, Italian jet fighter aircraft, crashes due to aeroelastic vibrations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_G.91

1958 - 1st pre-production Fiat G.91, Italian jet fighter aircraft, makes its 1st flight.

http://www.aviastar.org/gallery/g91.html

1958 - Death of Charles Alexander Holcombe Longcroft , Britsh WWI pilot and squadron commander in the Royal Flying Corps who went on to become a senior commander in the Royal Air Force.

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

1959 - "Black Friday" in the Canadian aviation industry. Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow , delta-winged interceptor aircraft project is cancelled.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_CF-105_Arrow

1962 - Flight of Mercury-Atlas 6, Nasa Human spaceflight. John Glenn becomes the 1st US astronaut to orbit the earth with Friendship 7. A 4 hours and 56 minutes flight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Atlas_6 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glenn

1963 - Death of Harold Koch Boysen, American WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Koch_Boysen - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/boysen.php

1965 - Ranger 8 crashes on the moon. The spacecraft was designed to achieve a lunar impact trajectory and to transmit high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final minutes of flight up to impact.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_8

1967 - Death of Cecil Guelph Brock, Canadian WWI flying ace who participated at the dogfight which conducted to Manfred Von Richtofen's death.

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

1968 - A standard Learjet 25 sets a new "time-to-climb" record by climbing to 40,000 feet in 6 minutes 29 seconds

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/February_in_aviation/February_20

1972 - Birth of Anton Nikolaevich Shkaplerov, Russian air force pilot and cosmonaut.

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

1972 - A USAF Lockheed HC-130H Hercules piloted by a crew commanded by Lt. Comdr. Ed Allison sets a new world record for unrefuelled flight by turboprop aircraft. It flies a distance of 14,052.94 km (8,732.5 mi.) between the Taiwanese base of Ching Chuan Kang AB and Scott AFB, Illinois

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/February_in_aviation/February_20

1974 - Death of Frederic A. Brossy, American aviator, instructor and record setter.

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

1975 – USAF Major R. Smith sets a new world absolute time-to-height speed record, flying a McDonnell Douglas F-15 A Eagle to 30,000 m (98,425 feet) in 207.80 seconds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/February_in_aviation/February_20

1977 - Death of Cristoffel Johannes "Boetie" Venter, South African WWI fighter ace, Director-General of the SAAF durin WWI and later, director of South African Airways.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoffel_Venter - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/safrica/venter.php

1986 - Launch of Mir, Soviet (later Russian) space station, 1st modular space station.

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

1996 - Death of Jeffrey Kindersley Quill, British WWII RAF officer, RNVR officer and Test pilot. He test-flew every mark of Spitfire.

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

1999 - Launch of Soyuz TM-29 Russian manned spacecraft to MIR.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TM-29

2001 - Launch of Odin, Swedish satellite to study star formation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin_(satellite)

2001 - STS-98, Space shuttle Atlantis mission to the ISS, is back on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-98

2003 - Pakistani Air Chief Mushaf Ali Mir died along with his wife Bilquis Mir and all other 15 officers, when their Fokker F-27 crashed during a routine flight to PAF Base Kohat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushaf_Ali_Mir#Death_in_the_air_crash

2004 - The Eurofighter Typhoon enters in service in Italy.

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

2008 - STS-122, NASA Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the International Space Station (ISS), is back on earth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-122

2009 – 2 Tamil Tigers aircraft (Zlín Z 143 - single engine, low-winged monoplane, mainly used for training purposes) packed with C4 explosives en-route to the national airforce headquarters are shot down by the Sri Lankan military before reaching their target, in a kamikaze style attack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_suicide_air_raid_on_Colombo

2011 - Death of Barbara Harmer, British airliner pilot, 1st qualified female Concorde pilot.

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