OCT09

1917 - Death of William Victor Trevor Rooper, British WWI flying ace, killed in action in his Nieuport Scout.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Victor_Trevor_Rooper - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/england/rooper.php

1918 - Death of Léon Morane, French aircraft designer and early aviator.

http://www.appl-lachaise.net/appl/article.php3?id_article=1123

1918 - Death of Lynn Campbell, Canadian WWI flying ace, and his observer William Hodgkinson, British WWI flying ace, killed in action in their Bristol F.2b.

http://theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/campbell2.php - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/hodgkinson.php

1919 - Birth of Irnerio Bertuzzi, Italian military aviator of WWII who also served as personal pilot to Enrico Mattei, head of the Italian petroleum company Agip

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

1919 - During the 1st (and only) transcontinental reliability and endurance test, air race between Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York and the Presidio of San Francisco, California, a DH-4B hits the side of a mountain W of Cheyenne, Wyoming, killing 1st Lt. Edwin V. Vales and badly injuring 2nd Lt. William C. Goldsborough. Another one suffers engine fail, and ditch in the lake. Luckily, a passing freighter saw the crash and picked up the two men.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_military_aircraft_before_1925#1919

1919 - A Handley Page V/1500, flew the 1st Airmail from Canada to the USA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_V/1500#Service

1920 - Bernard Henri Marie Léonard Barny de Romanet sets a speed record of 292,682 Km/h with a SPAD-Herbemont.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Barny_de_Romanet#Apr.C3.A8s-guerre

1922 - 1st flight of the Dornier Komet II, German Small high wing single engine airliner, evolution from the prototype Do C III Komet I.

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

1924 - The Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), originally Auxiliary Air Force (AAF), voluntary active duty reserve element of the Royal Air Force, providing a primary reinforcement capability for the regular service, is formed.

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

1924 - Birth of Robert Aitken Rushworth, USAF test pilot for the North American X-15 program.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Rushworth

1930 - Death of Enrico Forlanini, Italian engineer, inventor and aeronautical pioneer, well known for his works on helicopters, aircraft, hydrofoils and dirigibles.

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

1930 - Errol Boyd and Harry P. Conner takes of their Wright-Bellanca WB-2 monoplane 'Columbia' rechristened 'Maple Leaf' at Harbour Grace, Newfoundland for a transatlantic flight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright-Bellanca_WB-2#Operational_history

1935 - 1st flight of The FMA AeMB.2 Bombi, Argentinian ow-wing cantilever monoplane of conventional configuration bomber aircraft fitted with fixed tailwheel undercarriage, the main units of which were covered by long, "trouser"-style fairings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ae._M.B.1_Bombi

1940 - During a night-time air raid by the German Luftwaffe, St. Paul's Cathedral in the City of London, England is hit by a bomb.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Paul%27s_Cathedral#Post-Wren_history

1955 - Death of Karl Bolle, German WWI fighter ace, Instructor, Director of the German Transportation School and advisor to the Luftwaffe during WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Bolle - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/bolle.php

1957 - Birth of Yury Vladimirovich Usachov, Russian cosmonaut.

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

1959 - Death of Henry Thomas Tizard, British chemist and inventor, Self taught test pilot for making aerodynamical observations, chairman of the Aeronautical Research Committee, he experimented in the composition of fuel, devising the concept of "toluene numbers" – now referred to as octane ratings, and he supervised and championed the development of RDF (radio-direction finding, later to become more familiarly known as radar) in the run-up to the war.

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

1960 - 1st flight of the Dassault Mirage IIIC, French supersonic interceptor fighter aircraft.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Mirage_III#Du_prototype_aux_avions_de_s.C3.A9rie - http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/dassault_mirage3.php

1965 - 1st flight of the Chasle YC-12 Tourbillon ("whirlwind"), French single-seat light sporting ow-wing cantilever monoplane for homebuilding.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chasle_Tourbillon - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9316

1966 - Death of Leslie Leroy Irvin, American stuntman and early parachutist, Founder of Irving Air Chute Company, later Irvin Aerospace Inc. He made the 1st free-fall parachute jump in 1919

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Irvin_(parachutist)

1967 - Lunar Orbiter 3, NASA spacecraft to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft struck on command the Lunar surface.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Orbiter_3

1972 - Death of Thomas George Lanphier, Sr. american aviator and raid pilot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_George_Lanphier,_Sr.

1975 - 1st flight of the Hughes OH-6 Cayuse Model 500D, American single-engine light helicopter with a four-bladed main rotor, civil version.

http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/mcdonnel-500.php

1976 - Death of Gabriel Joseph Thomas, French WWI flying ace and early airliner pilot.

http://henri.eisenbeis.free.fr/aeropostale/sup/gabriel_joseph_thomas.htm - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/thomas2.php

1977 - Launch of Soyuz 25, Soviet manned space flight, 1st to the new Salyut 6 space station.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_25

1977 - Death of Lambert Konschegg, Austrian WWII Bomber pilot, Airliner pilot, president of Austrian Airlines and of IATA.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambert_Konschegg

1977 - Death of Stephen W. Thompson, American aviator of WWI, and the 1st person in the U.S. Military to shoot down an enemy aircraft

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_W._Thompson

1977 - Death of Ruth Elder, American aviatrix.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Elder

1980 - 1st flight of the H36 Dimona, Austrian low-wing, T-tailed, two-seat motor glider.

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

1981 - Superchicken III, a helium-filled balloon piloted by Fred Gorrell and John Shoecroft, takes off for the 1st non-stop trans-America balloon flight. A 2,515 mile journey from Costa Mesa, California to Blackbeard Island in Georgia.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/world-aviation/1981.aspx

1987 - 1st flight of The Agusta Westland AW101 Merlin , CH-149 Cormorant in Canada (formerly EH101), medium-lift helicopter for military applications but also marketed for civil use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AgustaWestland_AW101

1988 - Death of Felix Heinrich Wankel, German mechanical engineer and inventor after whom the Wankel engine was named.

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

1994 - Death of Alfredo Balsamo, Italian WWII bomber pilot, Air Sea rescue pilot post war and high ranking officer.

http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/aviators/balsamo.htm

1999 - Last flight of the Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird", American advanced, long-range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR-71#SR-71_timeline

2004 - Death of Maxime "Max" A. Faget, American engineer, designer of the NASA Mercury capsule, who contributed to the later Gemini and Apollo spacecraft as well as the Space Shuttle.

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

2009 – 1st lunar impact of the Centaur and LCROSS spacecrafts as part of NASA's Lunar Precursor Robotic Program.

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

2009 - Fuerza Aérea Uruguaya CASA C-212 Aviocar 200 operating for the United Nations Crashed in mountainous terrain during a border patrol mission along the Haiti/Dominican Republic border killing all 11.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CASA_C-212_Aviocar#Incidents_and_accidents - http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20091009-0

2011 - Avianova, Russian low cost airline, Ceases operations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avianova_(Russia)