JAN21

1885 - Birth of Umberto Nobile, Italian aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer.

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

1893 - Birth of Trevor Durrant, British WWI flying ace.

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/durrant.php

1893 - Birth of Duerson "Dewey" Knight, American WWI flying ace.

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/knight2.php

1896 - Birth of Fritz Thiede, German WWI flying ace, Pilot of Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich who also served in WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Thiede - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/thiede.php

1896 - Birth of John Guy Gilpatric, American demonstration, stunt and test pilot, flight instructor, journalist, short-story writer and novelist.

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

1897 - Birth of Carlo Francesco "Francis" Lombardi, Italian WWI flying ace, Aircraft and Automobile designer who made post war record breaking flights. He formed the Avia aviation company.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Lombardi - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/lombardi.php

1897 - Birth of Ernest Thomas Morrow, Canadian WWI flying ace.

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

1899 - Birth of Pruett Mullens Dennett, British WWI flying ace

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/dennett.php

1899 - Birth of Maurice Michael Freehill, British WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Freehill - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/freehill.php

1899 - Birth of Leslie Reginald Warren, British WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Warren - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/warren.php

1900 - Birth of Anselm Franz, pioneering Austrian jet engine engineer known for the development of the Jumo 004, the world's 1st mass-produced turbojet engine.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anselm_Franz_(Luftfahrtpionier)

1903 - Birth of Maximilien "Max" Conrad, known as the "Flying Grandfather", American record-setting aviator.

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

1911 - Lieutenant Paul Ward Beck sends the 1st wireless-telephonic message from an aeroplane, sending a message from a Wright biplane over Selfridge Field in Michigan.

http://earlyaviators.com/ebeck.htm

1917 - 1st flight of The Nielsen & Winther Type AA (also known as the Type Aa),1st single seat Danish designed fighter aircraft

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_%26_Winther_Type_AA

1919 - Birth of Eric Melrose "Winkle" Brown, British Navy test pilot who has flown more types of aircraft than anyone else in history and holds the world record for aircraft carrier landings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Brown_(pilot)

1920 - 10 de havilland DH-9 are dispatched to form "Z Force", and are used for bombing, strafing and as air ambulances during the RAF 1st 'Little War' against the tribal leader Mohammed bin Abdulla Hassan, the 'Mad Mullah', in British Somaliland.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-military-aviation/1920.aspx

1931 - 1st flight of The Vickers Type 161, British unusual pusher biplane prototype interceptor, designed to attack aircraft from below with a single upward-angle large calibre gun.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_Type_161

1936 - 1st flight of The FMA AeC.3G, Argentinian light utility aircraft, evolution of the FMA AeC.3, 1st Argentine aircraft to be equipped with flaps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ae._C.3G

1938 - 1st flight of The Potez-CAMS 141 'Antares', French four engined monoplane long range reconnaissance flying boat prototype

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potez-CAMS_141

1939 - Imperial Airways Short S.23 Empire flying boat 'Cavalier' en route from New York, New York, to Bermuda, suffered a loss of power and put down onto a heavy sea, subsequently sinking 285 miles (459 km) southeast of New York, killing 3 over 12.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939_Atlantic_Ocean_Imperial_Airways_Short_Empire_flying_boat_sinking

1943 - Pan Am Flight 1104 Martin M-130 ' Philippine Clipper' crashed in poor weather into mountainous terrain approximately 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Ukiah, California killing all 19.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_1104

1944 - Death of Heinrich Alexander Ludwig Peter Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, German of aristocratic descent and a Luftwaffe WWII night fighter flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Prinz_zu_Sayn-Wittgenstein#Death

1944 - Launch of Operation Steinbock (Baby Blitz), nocturnal WWII Luftwaffe offensive against southern England launched primarily for the sake of propaganda and as a measure of retaliation than for any military objective

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

1946 - The sole SNCASE SE-700, French 3 seat Liaison autogyro prototype, is damaged upon landing, ending the program.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9552

1950 - 1st flight of the Tupolev Tu-75, Soviet 4 engine military transport prototype variant of the Tu-4 bomber.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-75

1950 - Birth of Joseph Richard "Joe" Tanner, jet pilot, and NASA astronaut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_R._Tanner

1951 - 1st victory of a F-84 Thunderjet during the Korean war ; Lieutenant Colonel William E. Bertram shoots down a MiG-15..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_F-84_Thunderjet#Operational_history

1951 - 1st non-stop unrefuelled transatlantic crossing by a jet is made by an English Electric Canberra.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Electric_Canberra#Flight_records_set_by_Canberras

1952 - 1st flight of The Saab 210 Draken ("Kite" or "Dragon"), swedish scaled-down testbed for the double-delta concept in the development of the Saab 35 Draken fighter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_210

1958 – The last Fokker C.X in military service, the Finnish Air Force FK-111 target tower, crashes, killing the pilot and the winch-operator.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_C.X#Operational_history

1958 - 1st flight of the 2nd and last prototype Bell XV-3 (Bell 200), american tiltrotor aircraft (the three-bladed rotors replaced by two-bladed rotors)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_XV-3#Design_and_development

1960 - 1st flight of the Sud Aviation SE-117 'Voltigeur', French 5 seat antiguerilla twin engine low wing monopkane prototype, issued from the SE-116.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=10102

1960 - Death of John Stanley Chick, British WWI fighter ace, and RAF officer until the end of WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stanley_Chick - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/wales/chick.php

1960 – Little Joe 1B, Launch Escape System test of the Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey on board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Joe_1B

1960 – Avianca Flight 671 Lockheed L-1049E Super Constellation crashes and burns upon landing at Montego Bay, Jamaica, killing 37.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avianca_Flight_671

1963 - 1st flight of The Fairchild Hiller FH-1100, American single-engine, single two-bladed rotor, light helicopter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Hiller_FH-1100

1968 - A USAF B-52G Stratofortress carrying four nuclear weapons crashes in the sea near Thule AFB Greenland due to an In-flight fire, causing widespread radioactive contamination.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Thule_Air_Base_B-52_crash

1972 - 1st flight of The Lockheed S-3 Viking, American four-seat twin-engine Anti-Submarine carrier-born jet aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_S-3_Viking

1973 - Death of François Portron, French WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Portron - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/portron.php

1974 - Death of Everett Richard Cook, American WWI flying ace, High ranking officer during WWII and later, one of the Directors of Eastern Airlines

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everett_Cook - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/cook1.php

1976 - 1st passenger services by a supersonic airliner are begun, as British Airways and Air France Concorde supersonic transports take off simultaneously for Bahrain and Rio de Janeiro.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde#Scheduled_flights

1978 - Death of Theodor Hermann Dahlmann, German WWI flying ace, influential aviation administrator before and during WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Dahlmann - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/dahlmann.php

1980 - Iran Air Flight 291 Boeing 727-86 collided with the Alborz Mountains, 29 kilometres (18 mi) north of Tehran, during its approach to Tehran-Mehrabad runway 29 in foggy and snowy weather conditions, due to an inoperable instrument landing system and ground radar, killing all 128.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_291

1985 - Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 Lockheed L-188 Electra crashed shortly after takeoff at Reno-Cannon International Airport (now Reno-Tahoe International Airport), killing 70 over 71

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_Airlines_Flight_203

1987 - American triathlete Lois McCallin, in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Michelob Light Eagle human powered aircraft, sets straight-line and closed circuit world distance records and the world duration record for women at 6.83 kilometres (4.25 miles), 15.44 kilometres (9.59 miles) and 37 minutes 38 seconds respectively.

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

1991 - 1st flight of The Pacific Aerospace Corporation CT/4C Airtrainer (Turboprop Version), all-metal construction, single-engine, two place side-by-side seating, fully aerobatic, piston engined, basic training aircraft from New zealand.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/newzealand/pac_ct-4e.php

1996 - Death of Kaj Birksted, Danish WWII flying ace with the RAF and Danish High ranking officer post WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaj_Birksted - http://cieldegloire.com/002n_birksted.php

1999 - A Nicaraguan Air Force An-26 crashed after getting too low on approach and striking a tree near Bluefields Airport, Nicaragua, killing all 28 people on board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-26#Accidents_and_incidents - http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19990121-0

2004 - Death of Kenneth Gilbert Hubbard, British WWII bomber pilot, pilot of the RAF Vickers Valiant bomber which dropped Britain's 1st live megaton thermo-nuclear weapon (the H-Bomb) in the southern Pacific Ocean in 1957.

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

2004 – NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MER-A#Sol_18_.28January_21.2C_2004.29_flash_memory_management_anomaly

2008 - Launch of EL/M-2070 TecSAR (also known as TechSAR, Polaris and Ofek-8), Israeli reconnaissance satellite, equipped with synthetic aperture radar.

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