JAN01
1874 - Birth of Gustave Albin Whitehead, born Gustav Albin Weisskopf, aviation pioneer who immigrated from Germany to the U.S., where he designed and built early flying machines and engines to power them. He claimed to have made controlled, powered airplane flights more than two years before the Wright Brothers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Whitehead
1879 - Birth of Albert Hoyt Taylor, American electrical engineer who made important early contributions to the development of radar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_H._Taylor
1884 - Birth of Chikuhei Nakajima, Japanese naval officer, engineer, politician and aircraft designer, who is most notable for having founded Nakajima Aircraft Company
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chikuhei_Nakajima
1884 - Birth of Carl Sterling Bates, American pioneer aviator, glider pilot and early aircraft designer. He designed in 1911 a gasoline powered airplane that was equipped with a three-point landing gear, an air-cooled engine, a metal propeller and metal wing rudders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sterling_Bates
1887 - Birth of Max Ritter von Müller, German WWI fighter ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Ritter_von_M%C3%BCller_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/muller3.php
1887 - Birth of Basile Felicien Saune, French WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basile_Saune - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/saune.php
1892 - Birth of Henry Charles Biard, British early aviator, WWI instructor and pilot, post WWI air racer who also served in WWII.
http://www.greatwarci.net/air/biard/biard3.htm
1892 - Birth of Clinton Leonard Jones, Jr, American WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Jones_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/jones2.php
1893 - Birth of Vincenzo Magliocco, Italian WWI and Italo-Abyssinian War pilot, Brigadier General of the Regia Aeronautica.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincenzo_Magliocco
1894 - Birth of Vasili Ivanovich Yanchenko, second ranking Russian WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Yanchenko - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/russia/yanchenko.php
1895 - Birth of Paul Bona, German WWI flying ace.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/bona.php
1895 - Birth of Bertrand Blanchard 'Bert' Acosta, known as 'the Bad Boy of the Air', American record setting aviator. He flew in the Spanish Civil War in the Yankee Squadron and received numerous fines and suspensions for flying stunts such as flying under bridges or flying too close to buildings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Acosta
1897 - Birth of Francis Mansel Kitto, Welsh WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Kitto - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/wales/kitto.php
1910 - Edwin Alliott Verdon Roe With his brother Humphrey founded the A.V. Roe Aircraft Co. at Brownsfield Mill, Great Ancoats Street, Manchester
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliot_Vernon_Roe
1914 - The U.S. Weather Bureau begins daily publication of a weather map of the Northern Hemisphere designed specifically as an aid to aviation
http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/042/mwr-042-01-0035.pdf
1914 - The world's 1rst scheduled airplane passenger service operated by an airline company - the Airboat Line - begins at 10:00 A.M. when Anthony Janus flies 1st passenger A.C. Pheil with his Benoist XIV flying boat from St. Petersburg to Tampa, Florida. The fare for 22-mile over-water flight was $5 with a surcharge if the passenger weights more than 200 lbs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benoist_XIV
1916 - 1st flight of the Zeppelin LZ60 (LZ90), German dirigible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Zeppelins#Zeppelins_constructed_during_World_War_I
1917 – 5 Royal Naval Air Service crew en route from Manston, England to Villacoublay, France in a Handley Page 0/100 bomber, run into clouds, lose their direction due to a compass fault, and land to ask directions. Unfortunately, they come down behind German lines at Chalandry, near Lâon, France, and before they can either burn the machine or take off, a German infantry patrol captures them and their intact bomber
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_0/100#Captured_aircraft
1917 - The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) School of Photography is formed at Farnborough.
1918 - Birth of Leonardo Ferrulli, Spanish war and WWII italian fighter ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_Ferrulli
1919 - Birth of Vasile 'Chitu' Gavriliu, Romanian WWII fighter ace.
http://www.worldwar2.ro/arr/?article=699 - http://cieldegloire.com/012_gavriliu_v.php
1919 - Birth of Reinhold Knacke, German WWII night fighter ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhold_Knacke - http://www.cieldegloire.com/001_knacke_r.php
1920 - CIDNA, French-Romanian airline is founded.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIDNA
1922 - 1st Airline Uniforms are introduced by Instone Air Line.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instone_Air_Line
1923 - The Compagnie des Grands Express Aériens merges with merged with the Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes to form Air Union.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Union
1929 - Carl Spaatz, Ira Eaker, and Elwood Quesada takes off for an endurance record of 151 hours aloft in the 'Question Mark', a modified Atlantic-Fokker C-2A airplane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Question_Mark_(airplane)
1929 - Death of George Holt Thomas, aviation industry pioneer and newspaper proprietor. Founder of the Aircraft Manufacturing Company Limited or Airco.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Holt_Thomas
1929 - Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A., trading as LOT Polish Airlines, flag carrier of Poland is formed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOT
1931 - Amy johnson takes off in her de Havilland Gipsy Moth 'Jason III' for an attempt to reach Peking.
http://rafmuseum-1.titaninternet.co.uk/online-exhibitions/amy_johnson/flight_list.cfm
1937 - Bleriot-Aeronautique is incorporated in the Societe Nationale de Construction Aeronautiques du Sud-Ouest (SNCASO) under the directorship of Marcel Bloch
http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/bloch_mb-700.php
1937 - Death of Frederick Irving Eglin, USAAS / USAAC pilot, WWI and post war Instructor, Killed in the crash of his Northrop A-17.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredrick_I._Eglin - http://www.eglin.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123169066
1940 - Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) coding is introduced to identify Bomber, Coastal and Fighter Command aircraft for the air defence system. VHF Radio Telephone installations are also completed eight selected sectors.
1941 - 1st mobile Ground Controlled Interception (GCI) radar station, at Sopley, is sited and manned by this date.
1942 - Birth of Gennadi Vasiliyevich Sarafanov, Soviet cosmonaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gennadi_Sarafanov
1945 - Launch of Operation Bodenplatte, attempt by the Luftwaffe to cripple Allied air forces in the Low Countries during WWII. The last large-scale strategic offensive operation mounted by the Luftwaffe during the war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Bodenplatte
1946 - British European Airways (BEA) or British European Airways Corporation is formed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_European_Airways
1946 - East African Airways Corporation, more commonly known as East African Airways, is founded.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_African_Airways
1946 - A British South American Airways (BSAA) Avro Lancastrian 'Star Light' becomes the 1st commercial flight to depart Heathrow Airport.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathrow_Airport
1947 - Birth of Vladimir Georgiyevich Titov, Russian Air Force pilot and former cosmonaut
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Titov
1954 - The USAF Naval Air Weapons Systems School is established at Jacksonville, Fla., to train cadres in maintenance of air-launched guided missiles, aircraft, armament control systems, missile external control equipment, and bomb directorsy.
http://www.history.navy.mil/avh-1910/PART08.PDF
1955 - Death of Alvaro Leonardi, Italian WWI pilot.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvaro_Leonardi - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/leonardi.php
1956 - Birth of Sergei Avdeyev, Russian engineer and cosmonaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Avdeyev
1956 - Death of Ludwig Dürr, german airship designer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_D%C3%BCrr
1959 - 1st flight of The I.P.D BF-1 Beija-Flor, two-seat light helicopter designed by Henrich Focke.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.P.D_BF-1_Beija-Flor
1959 - Birth of Abdul Ahad Momand, former Afghan Air Force aviator and 1st Afghan in space.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Ahad_Momand
1960 - Fiji Airways is reconstituted, becoming equally owned by BOAC, QANTAS, and Tasman Empire Airways.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/January_in_aviation
1967 - Birth of Mukhtar Rabatovich Aymakhanov, Kazakh cosmonaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukhtar_Aymakhanov
1970 - Société nationale industrielle aérospatiale (SNIAS) is founded by merging Nord-Aviation, Sud-Aviation and la Société pour l'étude et la réalisation d'engins balistiques (SEREB)
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9_nationale_industrielle_a%C3%A9rospatiale
1975 - Michael K. Hynes founded Brantly-Hynes Helicopter Inc.
http://www.aviastar.org/manufacturers/0407.html
1976 - Middle East Airlines Flight 438 Boeing 720-023B broke up at an altitude of 11,300 metres (37,100 ft) and crashed 37 km (23 mi) northwest of Al Qaysumah, Saudi Arabia, killing all of its 81 passengers and crew after a bomb exploded on board.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_Airlines_Flight_438
1978 - British Aircraft Corporation, Hawker Siddeley, and Scottish Aviation are absorbed into British Aerospace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/January_in_aviation
1978 – Air India Flight 855 Boeing 747 crashes into the sea, due to instrument failure and pilot disorientation, off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India_Flight_855
1982 - Death of Albert Earl 'Steve' Godfrey, Canadian WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Earl_Godfrey - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/godfrey1.php
1985 - Eastern Air Lines Flight 980 Boeing 727-200 Advanced on approach to El Alto International Airport in La Paz, struck Mount Illimani at an altitude of 19,600 feet (6,000 m), killing all 29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_980
1987 - US Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphins and US Navy H-3 Sea Kings help rescue people trapped inside the Dupont Plaza hotel Puerto Rico after a fire there on New Year's Eve
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dupont_Plaza_Hotel_arson
1990 - Death of James Wayne Wood, USAF test pilot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_W._Wood
1996 - Death of Arthur Louis Hugo Rudolph, German rocket engineer who played a key role in the development of the V-2 rocket, becoming a pioneer of the United States space program after the war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rudolph
1997 - Launch of Operation Northern Watch, US European Command Combined Task Force (CTF) charged with enforcing its own no-fly zone above the 36th parallel in Iraq.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northern_Watch
2003 - Death of Joseph Jacob "Joe" Foss, leading fighter ace of the USMC during WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Foss
2007 – Adam Air Flight 574 Boeing 737-4Q8 disappears over Indonesia with 102 people on board.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Air_Flight_574
2011 - Kolavia Flight 348 Tupolev Tu-154B-2 caught fire while taxiing for take-off from Surgut. Three people were killed, and 43 were injured, four seriously. The aircraft was destroyed in the fire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolavia_Flight_348
2011 - British hot air balloon pilots Lee Pibworth and Allan Burnett are killed in the crash of their Cameron A120 craft while attempting a high altitude flight at Pratten's Bowls Club in Westfield, Somerset, near Bath, England.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Somerset_hot_air_balloon_crash