OCT10
1879 - Birth of Mario Calderara, Italian inventor and aviator, 1st italian to get a flying licence, and 1st italian seaplane designer.
1887 - Birth of Agustin Paral, Cuban Aviation pioneer, 1st Cuban pilot.
http://earlyaviators.com/eparla.htm - http://www.urrib2000.narod.ru/Perso2-e.html#parla
1889 - Birth of Eugene Jules Emile Camplan, French WWI flying ace
1890 - Birth of Emil Schäpe, German WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Sch%C3%A4pe - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/schape.php
1890 - Birth of Alexander Roulstone, British WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Roulstone - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/england/roulstone.php
1892 - Birth of Albert Haussmann, German WWI fighter ace
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Haussmann - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/haussmann.php
1895 - Birth of Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, German WWI flying ace, Cousin of Lothar and Manfred von Richthofen, field command in the Condor Legion during the Spanish war, and WWII General Field Marshal of the Luftwaffe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfram_Freiherr_von_Richthofen - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/richthofen3.php
1895 - Birth of Emile John Lussier, American WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emile_John_Lussier - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/lussier.php
1899 - Birth of Fergus Gray Craig, Scottish WWI flying ace.
1900 - French aeronaut Count Henri de La Vaulx sets a non-stop long-distance balloon flight record landing in Kiev after a 1200 miles in 35.75 hours from Paris, France.
1907 - Robert Albert Charles Esnault-Pelterie made his 1st powered flight over a distance of 100 m with the Pelterie I (or R.E.P. I). This was driven by a seven cylinder, 30 hp air-cooled engine, with a control stick, using a single, broom handle-like lever.
1910 - Birth of Alvin Roubal Luedecke, USAAF general during WWII. He commanded the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project after the war.
1911 - Aéroplanes Morane-Saulnier, French aircraft manufacturing company is formed.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_et_L%C3%A9on_Morane
1912 - Flying a Curtiss-pusher, Horace Kearney made a successful airmail flight from Springfield to Williamsville during the State Fair Grounds Aviation Meet.
http://www.aerodacious.com/PIO1912.HTM
1914 - Birth of Naoyuki Ito, 2nd Sino-Japanese War and WWII japanese flying ace and instructor.
http://www.cieldegloire.com/010_ito_n.php
1915 - The sole Grigorovich M-2, Russian twin seat side by side single-engine pusher flying boat prototype, is destroyed in a crash.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/grigorovich_m-2.php
1915 - 1st flight of the Zeppelin LZ 56 (Tactical number Lz 86), German WWI dirigible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Zeppelins#Zeppelins_constructed_during_World_War_I
1918 - Death of Wilbert Wallace "Wilbur" White, Jr., American WWI flying ace, His guns jammed, he rammed his SPAD XIII into a Fokker D.VII which was about to shoot a rookie pilot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbert_White - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/white6.php
1919 – 3rd day of the transcontinental contest: an east-bound DH-4B, piloted by Maj. Albert Sneed, almost out of gas, makes fast landing at Buffalo, New York. Passenger Sgt. Worth C. McClure undoes his seatbelt and slides onto the rear fuselage to weight down the tail for a quicker stop. Plane bounces on landing, smashes nose-first into the ground, and McClure is thrown off and killed.
1920 - Birth of Gail Halvorsen, USAF pilot known as the original Candy Bomber or the "Rosinenbomber" in Germany ("Onkel Wackelflügel" or "Uncle Wiggly Wings"). Flying C-47s and C-54s during the Berlin airlift, he dropped candy attached to parachutes to children below to help raise the morale of the children during the time of uncertainty and privation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gail_Halvorsen
1923 - USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) is christened, 1st of 4 US navy rigid airship, based on Zeppelin bomber L-49 (LZ-96).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Shenandoah_(ZR-1)
1923 - Birth of James "Jabby" Jabara, American WWII and Korean War fighter ace, 1st American jet ace in history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Jabara - http://cieldegloire.com/014_jabara_j.php
1926 - French Jean Mermoz takes off from Toulouse, France to Saint Louis du Sénégal with a Laté 26 (Mail-carrying monoplane) for an attempt to cross later the South atlantic.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Mermoz#Le_d.C3.A9sert
1927 - Death 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
1927 - Dieudonne Costes and Joseph le Brix takes off from Paris in a Bréguet 19GR 'Nungesser-Coli' for a round-the-world 57,000 km trip.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieudonne_Costes
1928 - St. Clair Streett and Albert William Stevens achieved an unofficial altitude record for aircraft carrying more than one person in a Engineering Division TP-1 (XCO-5): 37,854 feet (11,538 m); less than 1,000 feet (300 m) short of the official single-person altitude record
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_Division_TP-1
1930 - 1st flight of the Short S.15 K.F.1, British large all-metal biplane flying boat prototype, with three Buzzard engines mounted between the wings in streamlined nacelles with promiminent radiators above the engines, development of the Short S.8/8 Rangoon. It will be licenced built in Japan as the Kawanishi H3K, also known as Navy Type 90-2 Flying Boat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawanishi_H3K
1930 - Erroll Boyd becomes the 1st canadian to cross the Atlantic when , with Harry P. Conner, landed his Wright-Bellanca WB-2 monoplane 'Columbia' rechristened 'Maple Leaf' at London's Croydon Airport after a 36 hours, 10 minutes flight from for a transatlantic flight from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright-Bellanca_WB-2#Operational_history
1930 - The D'AT3, Italian early helicopter, wins an international prize for flying a straight distance of 1078,60m.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corradino_D%27Ascanio#Il_D.27AT3
1933 - United Airlines Boeing 247D is destroyed by sabotage near Chesterton, Indiana, 1st such proven case in the history of commercial aviation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Chesterton_Crash
1936 - 1st flight of The Handley Page H.P.54 Harrow , British twin-engine, high-wing monoplane with a fixed undercarriage heavy bomber
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_H.P.54_Harrow
1939 - 1st flight of the SNCAC NC-130, French pressurised twin-engined high-altitude research aircraft prototype.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCAC_NC.130 - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9647
1940 - St Paul's Cathedral in London is struck by bombs during a night Blitz.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Paul%27s_Cathedral#Post-Wren_history
1940 - Death of John Fraser Drummond, British WWII fighter ace. Drummond and Pilot Officer Bill Williams both attempted beam attacks from either flank of a Dornier Do-17. They missed and continued turning towards each other, and their Spitfires collided.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fraser_Drummond - http://cieldegloire.com/002_raf_drummond_j_f.php
1944 - Death of Harry R. Bolster, American WWII fighter pilot with the AVG (American Voluteer Group in China) and USAF test pilot, Killed in the crash of the 1st fighter prototype General Motors/Fisher P-75 Eagle when propellers apparently ran out of oil. Bolster attempted a dead-stick landing but crashed short on approach.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_accidents_at_Eglin_Air_Force_Base#1940s - http://www.cnac.org/bolster01.htm
1946 - Birth of Franco Egidio Malerba, Italian spationaut, 1st citizen of Italy to travel to space.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco_Malerba
1947 - 1st flight of the Arsenal O-101, French research aircraft low-wing monoplane of conventional configuration with fixed tailwheel undercarriage, but incorporated several novel features for its role as an airborne testbed for evaluating airfoil sections and control surface designs. It was designed to accommodate a pilot and an observer in tandem cockpits.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=720 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenal_O.101
1949 - Death of Chikuhei Nakajima, Japanese naval officer, enginee, politician and aircraft designer, who is most notable for having founded Nakajima Aircraft Company
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chikuhei_Nakajima
1949 - Woody Jongeward and Bob Woodhouse land their Aeronca 15AC Sedan 'City of Yuma', setting a new endurance record around Yuma of 1,124 hours in the air.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeronca_Sedan#Record_flights
1950 - The Royal Ceylon Air Force is formed.
1950 - 1st flight of The Boulton Paul P.111 (also called Boulton Paul BP.111), British experimental aircraft designed to explore the characteristics of tailless deltas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulton_Paul_P.111
1953 - Flight Lieutenant Roland (Monty) Burton with a RAF English Electric Canberra wins the Christchurch Centenary air race, flying 11,792 miles (18,976 km) from England to New Zealand in 23 hours 50 minutes, becoming the 1st man to fly from London to New Zealand in under 24 hours,
1955 - The 2nd McDonnell XV-1, American experimental compound helicopter, became the 1st rotorcraft to exceed 200 mph (322 km/h)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_XV-1#Operational_history
1956 - 1st flight of the Sud-Ouest SO 4050 Vautour IIN, 2-seat bomber with glazed nose position for bombardier/observer replacing cannon pack, Evolution of the French twin jet bomber, interceptor, and attack aircraft.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/so_vautour.php
1958 - Birth of John Mace Grunsfeld, American physicist and NASA astronaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_M._Grunsfeld
1958 - Thunderbirds display team support Fairchild C-123B-12-FA Provider flew through a flock of birds and crashed into a hillside six miles east of Payette, Idaho, killing all 19 on board.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_C-123_Provider#Accidents_and_incidents - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force_Thunderbirds#Other_fatalities
1960 - Launch of Mars 1M No.1 (Marsnik 1, Mars 1960A, Korabl 4), Soviet unmanned spacecraft to explore Mars. But launch failure destroyed it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_1M
1962 - Trans-Canada Air Lines Vickers 757 Viscount ground collided with a RCAF CF-101B Voodoo at Sept-Îles Airport. The Voodoo had been given clearance to take-off before the Viscount had cleared the runway. It collided with the tail of the Viscount, killing a flight attendant and a passenger. The crew of the Voodoo ejected as the aircraft had been set on fire as a result of the collision. The Viscount was substantially damaged but it was repaired and returned to service
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_Vickers_Viscount#1960s - http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19621010-0
1962 - Birth of Rex Joseph Walheim, USAF test pilot and NASA astronaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_J._Walheim
1966 - Birth of Zhai Zhigang, officer in the People's Liberation Army Air Force and a CNSA astronaut, 1st Chinese citizen to carry out a spacewalk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhai_Zhigang
1971 - Death of Ernest Andrew 'Pard' Mustard, Australian WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Mustard - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/australi/mustard.php
1976 - 1st flight of The Embraer EMB 121 Xingu, Brazilian twin-turboprop fixed-wing aircraft based on the EMB 110 Bandeirante.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_EMB_121_Xingu
1978 - Death of Ernst Zindel, German Engineer and designer of the Junkers Ju-52.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Zindel
1980 - 1st flight of the Aérospatiale AS-332L 'Super Puma', French transport helicopter evolution of the AS-332 'Super Puma'.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=2223
1984 - Death of Darrell Cornell, USAF test pilot, Chef test pilot for Northrop, killed in the crash of his Northrop F-20 Tigershark while performing a demonstration flight for the or the South Korean Air Force (ROKAF). The aircraft stalled after a series of climbing rolls performed with flaps and gear extended. Cornell was not able to recover the aircraft from the uncontrolled stall.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darrell_Cornell - http://thetartanterror.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/darrell-ecornell-19xx-1984.html
1985 – United States Navy F-14 fighter jets intercept an Egyptian plane carrying the Achille Lauro cruise ship hijackers and force it to land at a NATO base in Sigonella, Sicily where they are arrested.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achille_Lauro_hijacking#Aftermath
1990 - STS-41, Space Shuttle Discovery mission, is back on earth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-41
1990 - 1st flight of The Learjet 60, American mid-size cabin, medium-range business jet aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learjet_60
1991 - Soyuz TM-12 is back on earth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TM-12
1997 - Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 2553 McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 crashes and explodes near Nuevo Berlin, Uruguay, killing 74.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austral_L%C3%ADneas_A%C3%A9reas_Flight_2553
1998 - Lignes Aériennes Congolaises Boeing 727 is shot down by rebels with a shoulder-fired Strela 2 surface-to-air missile in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 41 people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_727#Accidents_and_incidents
2006 - Atlantic Airways Flight 670 British Aerospace 146-200A slid off the runway and burst into flames while landing at Stord, killing 4 over 16.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Airways_Flight_670
2007 - Launch of Soyuz TMA-11, Russian spaceflight mission to transport personnel to and from the ISS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TMA-11
2007 - EasyFly, Colombian regional low-cost carrier, is formed.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/EasyFly
2010 - 1st (glide) flight of The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo (SS2), American private suborbital, air-launched spaceplane for carrying space tourists
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipTwo
2011 - Flying a modified Yakovlev Yak-3U (Soviet WWII fighter aircraft) powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-2000 engine, William Whiteside sets an official international speed record for piston-engined aircraft in the under-3,000 kg (6,615-pound) category, reaching 655 km/hr (407 mph) over a 3-km (1.863-mile) course at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in the United States, greatly exceeding the previous record of 491 km/hr (305 mph) set in 2002 by Jim Wright.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakovlev_Yak-3#Variants
2013 - Death of Malcolm Scott Carpenter, American engineer, test pilot, astronaut, and aquanaut.