OCT02

1914 - Birth of John Whiteside Parsons (born Marvel Whiteside Parsons, better known as Jack Parsons), American rocket propulsion researcher at the California Institute of Technology. He was one of the principal founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Aerojet Corp.

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

1916 - Zeppelin LZ72 (L31) is shot down by British fighter pilot Lt V Tempest over Potter's Bar, near London, killing Heinrich Mathy, Germany's foremost airship captain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Zeppelins#Zeppelins_constructed_during_World_War_I - http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Mathy

1917 - Irish WWI flying ace Edward Patrick Hartigan (Observer Gunner) scores his 1st 4 victories (4 Albatros D.V) on a single mission with scottish WWI flying ace David Sidney Hall (Pilot).

http://theaerodrome.com/aces/ireland/hartigan.php - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/scotland/hall1.php

1917 - Death of Colin Geen Orr MacAndrew, Scottish WWI flying ace, killed in action in his Bristol Fighter

http://theaerodrome.com/aces/scotland/macandrew.php

1918 - 1st flight of the Blériot Bl-74, French 4 seat 4 engine biplane night bomber prototype.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/bleriot_74.php - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=156

1918 - Death of Christian Kairies, German WWI flying ace, from wounds received the day before.

http://theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/kairies.php

1918 - Death of Clement Wattson Payton, British WWI flying ace, downed with his Sopwith Camel by ground fire while bombing an enemy supply train in the vicinity of Courtrai.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_W._Payton - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/payton.php

1918 - Death of Maurice Lea Cooper, Irish WWI flying ace, killed by ground fire while bombing a train with his Sopwith Camel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Cooper - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/ireland/cooper4.php

1918 - 1st flight of The Kettering Bug , American aerial torpedo, a forerunner of the German V-1 flying bomb, and UAVs or cruise missiles.

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

1919 - Death of Petar Marinovich (Pierre Marinovitch), French WWI flying ace, Killed in a senseless plane crash performing complicated aviation stunts to entertain the King and Queen of Belgium at Evere Airfield, Brussels, Belgium.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petar_Marinovich - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/marinovitch.php

1921 - Birth of Albert Scott Crossfield, normally known as Scott Crossfield, American naval officer and test pilot.(1st man to fly at Mach 2 with a Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket)

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

1923 - 1st flight of The de Havilland DH.53 Humming Bird, British light aircraft

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-civil-aviation/1923.aspx

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

1924 - 1st flight of The Bernard SIMB V.2 French single-seat, single-engine French racing monoplane prototype

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_SIMB_V.2

1926 - The Last Blériot Bl-155, French 4 engine biplane airliner, F-AICQ Operated by Air Union crashed on an emergency landing due to in-flight fire killing all 7 on board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bl%C3%A9riot_155

1929 - 1st flight of The Acme Sportsman, American two-seat parasol wing sportsplane, conventional taildragger configuration with open cockpits in tandem and folding wings.

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

1930 - 1st flight of the Guillemin JG.40, French twin seat high wing monplane single engine ambulance or postal aircraft prototype.

http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=10138

1931 - 1st flight of The Junkers Ju 49, German aircraft prototype designed to investigate high-altitude flight and the techniques of cabin pressurization.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Ju_49

1932 - 1st flight of the Dewoitine D-430, French High wing 3 engine colonial aircraft prototype To fulfill roles like day and night reconnaissance, bombing, passenger transport and medical evacuation

http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9778 - http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/EwingBill/11208.htm

1934 - Hillman's Airways De Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapide crashed into the English Channel off Folkestone, Kent, killing all 7 people on board, due to the pilot's lack of experience in navigation and blind flying.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1934_Hillman's_Airways_de_Havilland_Dragon_Rapide_crash

1935 - Birth of Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr. , USAF officer and 1st African-American astronaut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Henry_Lawrence,_Jr.

1937 - A Float mounted Yakovlev UT-1 (AIR-14), Russian Compact monoplane aerobatic trainer with open cockpit, set a speed record of 218km/h on a close course of 100km with Piontkovsky at controls.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/yak_ut-1.php

1938 - 1st flight of The Dewoitine D.520, French WWII fighter aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewoitine_D.520 - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=338

1939 - 1st flight of The Ilyushin Il-2 (Shturmovik), prototype TsKB-55, Soviet WWII ground-attack aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-2

1939 - Birth of Yury Nikolayevich Glazkov, Soviet Air Force officer and cosmonaut.

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

1941 - Death of Luis Alcocer Moreno Abellá, Spanish Nationalist flying ace of the civil war, Volunteer for combat in Russia with 1a Escuadrilla Azul part of the german LuftFlotte 2, killed while crash landing his BF-109E after running out of petrol on his 1st mission, 1st spanish casualty.

http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/spain_alcocer.htm - http://www.cieldegloire.com/018_alcocer_moreno_abella_l.php

1941 - Heini Dittmar sets a new airspeed record of 1,004 km/h (624 mph) in a Messerschmitt Me 163A. The record is unofficial because the flight (and the Me 163 programme) is kept secret.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_163#Me_163_A

1943 - 2nd prototype Arado Ar 234 V2, German jet-powered bomber (world's 1st operational jet-powered bomber) crashes at Rheine near Munster after suffering fire in port wing, failure of both engines, and various instrumentation failure, the airframe diving into the ground from 4,000 feet (1,200 m), killing pilot Flugkapitän Selle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_234#Background

1944 - 2nd and last prototype Bell XP-77, American all-wood light-weight fighter, entered an inverted spin while attempting an Immelmann and is destroyed in the crash.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/bell_xp-77.php - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_XP-77#Testing

1945 – A U.S. Navy PBM Mariner flying boat carrying Rear Admiral William Sample and eight others disappears near Wakayama, Japan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Sample#Death

1946 - 1st flight of The Vought F6U Pirate, Vought's 1st jet fighter, designed for US Navy . Although pioneering the use of turbojet power as the 1st naval fighter with an afterburner and composite material construction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vought_F6U_Pirate

1948 - A Short S.25 Sandringham 5 flying boat of Det Norske Luftfartselskap (DNL) crashed upon landing in Trondheim, killing 19 among 43.

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

1956 - 1st flight of The Hughes Model 269 (TH-55A Osage), American piston-powered light training helicopter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_TH-55_Osage

1963 - 2nd Short SC.1 (1st British fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft) crashed in Belfast killing the pilot, J.R. Green.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_SC.1#Testing - http://thetartanterror.blogspot.fr/2008/05/jr-green-19xx-1963.html

1966 - 1st flight of The Gulfstream II (G-II), American twin engine business jet.

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

1970 – Golden Eagle Aviation Martin 4-0-4, charter flight carrying the Wichita State University football team, administrators, and supporters crashes in Colorado killing 31 people.

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

1971 - British European Airways Flight 706 Vickers Vanguard crashed 35 minutes after takeoff. The rear cabin pressure bulkhead failed due to corrosion, and The resulting pressurization of the tail section caused the surfaces of the tailplanes to separate weakening them so they broke off. Without a horizontal stabilizer the aircraft entered an uncontrollable dive. All 83 on board were killed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_European_Airways_Flight_706

1976 - Death of James Alfred Keating, American WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Alfred_Keating - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/keating.php

1980 - Death of Valentin Stepanovich Varlamov, Russian jet pilot and instructor at the cosmonaut training centre.

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

1980 – A Westland Sea King of 202 Squadron performs the rescue of 22 passengers from the Swedish ship Finneagle in the North Sea.

http://www.aircrew-saltire.org/lib139.htm

1984 - Soyuz T-11, Soviet expedition to Salyut 7, is back on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_T-11

1990 - Xiamen Airlines Flight 8301 Boeing 737-247, which was hijacked, collided with 2 others (China Southern Airlines Boeing 757-21B and Boeing 707-3J6B) and on the runways of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport while attempting to land, killing a total of 128 people.

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

1991 - Launch of Soyuz TM-13, Russian space mission to Mir, with Franz Viehböck, Austria's 1st cosmonaut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TM-13

1996 - Aeroperú Flight 603 Boeing 757-23A crashed in the Pacific Ocean near Pasamayo, Peru killing all 70. Due to Maintenance error, pilots were unaware of their true altitude because of instruments failure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroper%C3%BA_Flight_603

1998 - Death of Orvon Grover 'Gene' Autry, American only celebrity to have five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame who served as a C-47 Skytrain pilot in the USAAF during WWII, flying dangerous missions over the Himalayas, nicknamed the Hump, between Burma and China.

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

2001 – Swissair liquidates and the airline is replaced by SWISS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swissair#Hunter_Strategy

2009 - Feel Air, Norwegian low-cost airline, is launched.

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