FEB21
1889 - Birth of Victor François Marie Alexis Regnier, French WWI flying ace who served in WWII
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Regnier - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/regnier2.php
1890 - Birth of Edward Maitland, early British military aviator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Maitland_(aviator)
1892 - Birth of Edmund Leonard Zink, British WWI flying ace
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/zink.php
1893 - Birth of Friedrich Manschott, German WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Manschott - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/manschott.php
1893 - Birth of Owen Morgan Baldwin, British WWI fighter ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Baldwin - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/baldwin.php
1895 - Birth of Friedrich "Fritz" Friedrichs, German WWI fighter ace
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/friedrichs.php - http://www.flieger-album.de/geschichte/portraits/portraitfriedrichfriedrichs.php
1895 - Birth of Leslie Jacob "Rummy" Rummell, American WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Rummell - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/rummell.php
1906 - Birth of Moye Wicks Stephens, American aviation pioneer, businessman and co-founder of Northrop Aircraft, Inc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moye_W._Stephens - http://thetartanterror.blogspot.com/2007/09/moye-wstephens-19xx-1995.html
1907 - Birth of René Paulhan, French Aviator, Aerobatic pilot, Test pilot for Caudron.
1910 - Birth of Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart 'Dogsbody' Bader, WWII Royal Air Force legless fighter ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Bader - http://www.acesofww2.com/UK/aces/bader.htm - http://cieldegloire.com/002_raf_bader_d_r_s.php
1914 - Birth of Eino Ilmari Juutilainen, fighter pilot of the Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force), and the top scoring non-German fighter pilot of all time. This makes him the top flying ace of the Finnish Air Force, leading all Finnish pilots in score against Soviet aircraft in WWII
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilmari_Juutilainen - http://cieldegloire.com/000_juutilainen.php
1915 - Birth of Fritz Wendel, German Messerschmitt test pilot during WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Wendel
1916 - Zeppelin LZ47 (LZ77) is attacked and destroyed during a raid in the Battle of Verdun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Zeppelins#Zeppelins_constructed_during_World_War_I
1917 - Birth of Otto "Bruno" Kittel, WWII German Luftwaffe flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Kittel
1919 - 1st flight of The Thomas-Morse MB-3, US open-cockpit biplane fighter, 1st US-designed fighter to enter large-scale production
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas-Morse_MB-3
1920 - Death of Croye Rothes Pithey, South African WWI flying ace, Bomber pilot and Balloon buster, killed in a crash, flying a Bristol Fighter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croye_Pithey - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/safrica/pithey.php
1920 - Birth of Robert Samuel Johnson, American WWII flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_S._Johnson - http://cieldegloire.com/014_johnson_r_s.php
1921 - Birth of Franz Schiess, WWII german fighter ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Schiess
1921 - Lieutenant William D. Coney takes off for a solo transcontinental flight from Rockwell Field, San Diego with a De Havilland DH-4.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Air_Service#Advances_in_aviation
1922 - The Roma, Italian semi-rigid airship purchased by the USA, crashed in Norfolk, Virginia after it contacted high voltage lines, and bursted into flames.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_(airship)
1930 - Death of Henrich Claudius Kroll, German WWI fighter ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Kroll - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/kroll.php
1931 - German Rocket pioneer Johannes Winkler launch his HW-1 rocket - 1st liquid-fuel rocket in Europe.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Winkler - http://www.astronautix.com/thisday/febary21.htm
1932 - French Paul Codos and Robida take off in the Breguet Bre 330 n°1 Bis for a return flight from hanoi to paris.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9719
1933 - Death of Alférez Alfredo Rodríguez Ballón , Peruvian raid pilot, crashing his Douglas O-38-P during Peruvian-Colombia war.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfredo_Rodr%C3%ADguez_Ball%C3%B3n
1937 - 1st flight of the Waterman Arrowbile, American tailless, two seat, single engine, pusher configuration roadable aircraft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterman_Arrowbile
1938 - Death of Carlos de Haya González de Ubieta, his Fiat CR-32 crashing in mid air with a Republican spanish Polikarpov I-15 during the spanish war.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_de_Haya_Gonz%C3%A1lez
1938 - 1st flight of The Miles M.17 Monarch, British, light, touring aeroplane, Single-engine, three-seat, cabin monoplane with a fixed, tailwheel undercarriage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Monarch
1941 - Death of Frederick Grant Banting, Canadian medical scientist, doctor, painter and Nobel laureate noted as the primary discoverer of insulin, from injuries sustained after the crash of a Lockheed L-14 Super Electra/Hudson in Newfoundland while en route to England to conduct operational tests on the Franks flying suit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Banting
1945 - Birth of Matiur Rahman, Flight Lieutenant in the Pakistan Air Force.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matiur_Rahman_(military_pilot)
1945 - 1st flight of The Hawker Sea Fury, British fighter aircraft developed for the Royal Navy by Hawker, last propeller-driven fighter to serve with the Royal Navy, it was also one of the fastest production single piston-engined aircraft ever built.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Sea_Fury
1951 - 1st jet to make an unrefuelled crossing of the Atlantic, RAF English Electric Canberra B Mk 2 (serial number WD932) flown by Squadron Leader A Callard, from Aldergrove, Northern Ireland, to Gander, Newfoundland. The flight covered almost 1,800 nautical miles (3,300 km) in 4h 37 m. The aircraft was being flown to the U.S. to act as a pattern aircraft for the Martin B-57.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_flight
1952 - Death of Claude François André Dellys, French aviator, instructor, and test pilot, killed in the crash of the Arsenal VG.90-02 prototype after the tail of the aircraft was torn off due to aerodynamic flutter.The ejector seat malfunctioned and did not fire.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Dellys - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenal_VG_90
1952 - 1st flight of the Fouga (Castel Mauboussin) CM-71, French High-wing v-tailed twin seat trainer glider prototype.
http://www.j2mcl-planeurs.net/dbj2mcl/planeurs-machines/planeur-fiche_0int.php?code=360
1953 - 1st flight of The Brantly B-2, American two-seat light helicopter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brantly_B-2
1960 - Death of Edwin Arnold Clear, British WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_A._Clear - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/clear.php
1962 - 1st flight of The Piasecki Aircraft 16H-1 'Pathfinder', US Experimental high-speed helicopter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piasecki_16H
1964 - Philippine Air Lines Douglas C-47B-10-DK struck a clump of trees on a ridge at 2700 feet as the pilot continued to fly VFR into unfavourable weather, killing 31 over 32.
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19640221-0
1964 - Birth of Twin Brothers Scott Joseph Kelly ,American astronaut, and Mark Edward Kelly, American astronaut, U.S. Navy captain and naval aviator. 1st twin brothers in space.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_J._Kelly - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_E._Kelly
1969 - 1st launch of a N1 Rocket, Soviet Manned lunar carrier rocket to deliver payloads beyond low Earth orbit, acting as the Soviet counterpart to the NASA Saturn V rocket.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-1_rocket
1969 - 1st flight of the Smyth Model S Sidewinder, American all metal two-seat side-by-side low-wing homebuilt aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smyth_Sidewinder
1970 – Swissair Flight 330 HB-ICD, Convair CV-990 Coronado jet named “Baselland” crashed as a mid-air bomb explosion killing 38 passengers and 9 crew members near Zürich, Switzerland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swissair_Flight_330
1971 - Death of James Knowles, Jr., American WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Knowles_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/knowles2.php
1972 – The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_20
1973 – Over the Sinai Desert, 2 Israeli fighter aircrafts F-4 Phantom II shoot down Boeing 727-224 Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 jet killing 108.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Arab_Airlines_Flight_114
1974 - 1st flight of the Helikopter Technik Wagner HTM Skyrider, German light Utility Helicopter.
http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/htm_skyrider.php
1979 - Former astronaut Neil Armstrong climbs to 50,000 feet in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in just over 12 minutes in a Gates Learjet Longhorn 28, breaking five world records for business jets.
http://www.learjetcareers.com/history.html
1980 – Rockwell’s Sabreliner Model 80 sets a long-range flight record for its class, flying 2,653 miles from Boston, Mass., to Paris at 528 mph.
1984 - Racing driver Henri Pescarolo and Air France pilot Patrick Fourticq land their Piper Malibu in Paris after a flight from New York, setting a speed record of 14 hours 2 minutes for a single-engined lift aircraft across the North Atlantic.
1994 - Death of Johannes "Macki" Steinhoff, German WWII fighter ace, senior West German air force officer and military commander of NATO who played a significant role in rebuilding the post war Luftwaffe, one of very few Luftwaffe pilots who survived to fly operationally through the whole of the war period 1939-45 and one of the 1st to fly the Me 262 jet fighter in combat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Steinhoff
1995 - Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada, after taking off from South Korea, becoming the 1st person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Fossett
1996 - Launch of Soyuz TM-23, Rusiian space mission to MIR.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TM-23
1997 - STS-82, Space Shuttle Discovery Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, is back on earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-82
1999 - Death of Eino Ilmari Juutilainen, fighter pilot of the Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force), and the top scoring non-German fighter pilot of all time. This makes him the top flying ace of the Finnish Air Force, leading all Finnish pilots in score against Soviet aircraft in WWII
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilmari_Juutilainen - http://cieldegloire.com/000_juutilainen.php
2001 - 1st flight of the Bombardier CRJ-900 (evolution of the CRJ-700), Canadian regional airliner.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/canada/bombardier_crj-900.php
2001 - A General Atomics RQ1 Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) test fires a laser guided AGM114 Hellfire missile.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Atomics_MQ-1_Predator#Armed_version_development
2008 - Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518 ATR 42-300 slammed into a sheer 13,000-foot (4,000 m) rock wall called "Indian Face" (Spanish: La Cara del Indio) shortly after takeoff from from Mérida, Venezuela, killing all 46.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_B%C3%A1rbara_Airlines_Flight_518
2010 - STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A), NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour mission to the International Space Station (ISS), is back on earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-130
2011 - 2 Libyan Mirage F1ED landed in Malta after they were ordered to bomb protesters in Benghazi. Pilots claimed political asylum.