OCT15
1783 - 1st man to ascend in a tethered balloon is French scientist Jean Pilatre de Rozier. His hot-air Montgolfier balloon ascends to 84 feet - the length of the rope holding the balloon.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A8res_Montgolfier#Le_premier_vol_d.27un_.C3.AAtre_humain
1816 - Birth of Stanislas Charles Henri Dupuy de Lôme, French naval architect and Navigable balloons designer.
1884 - Birth of Étienne Oehmichen, French engineer and helicopter designer.
1884 - Birth of Archibald Hoxsey, early American pioneer aviator for the Wright brothers.
1885 - Birth of Walter Noble, British WWI flying ace (as observer/gunner) and author.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Noble - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/england/noble.php
1890 - Birth of Albert Gregory Waller, Irish WWI flying ace, British Empire's Indian Army officer post war, and who returned to service in the Administrative and Special Duties Branch of the RAF.
1891 - Birth of Reginald Alexander John Warneford, WWI Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) Pilot.
1892 - Birth of James Joseph Wellwood, Australian WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wellwood - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/australi/wellwood.php
1892 - Birth of Wilhelm Leusch, German WWI flying ace and glider pilot.
http://theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/leusch.php - http://claudel.dopp.free.fr/Les_planeurs/Histoire/Concours-1920/Concours-1920.htm
1892 - Birth of William Ernest Shields, Canadian WWI fighter ace and sub-station superintendent of the Dominion air patrol at High River, Alberta.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ernest_Shields - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/shields.php
1893 - Birth of John Jay Hopkins, founder and president of General Dynamics.
1907 - Birth of Zhao Jiuzhang, Chinese meteorologist, geophysicist, space physicist and engineer, pioneer of Chinese space technology and considered as "The Father of Chinese Artificial Satellite".
1909 - 1st British aviation meeting begins at Doncaster.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1909_in_aviation#October
1910 - American Walter Wellman attempts to fly across the North Atlantic in his airship 'America'. The flight fails and the crew is rescued at sea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Wellman
1912 - Death of Henri Cobioni, Swiss aviation pionneer, killed in the crash of his Blériot monoplane during a meeting at La Chaux-de-Fonds.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cobioni
1912 - Birth of Claude François André Dellys, French aviator, instructor, and test pilot.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Dellys
1913 - Lieutenant Ronin makes the 1st official airmail flight in France from Villacoublay to Pauillac in a Morane-Saulnier.
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/La-Poste-Company-History.html
1914 - Birth of Ezio Viglione Borghese, Spanish war and WWII italian flying ace.
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/italy_borghese.htm
1915 - The Wright airplane company is bought by Harry Payne Whitney, T. Frank Manville and William B. Thompson, with Orville Wright remaining as consultant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Company
1915 - Birth 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
1915 - 1st flight of The Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8 , British single-seat WWI pusher biplane fighter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Aircraft_Factory_F.E.8
1917 - 1st flight of The Alcock Scout (A.1 / Sopwith Mouse), British curious "one-off" experimental fighter biplane built with the forward fuselage and lower wings of a Sopwith Triplane, the upper wings of a Sopwith Pup and the tailplane and elevators of a Sopwith Camel, married to a rear fuselage and vertical tail surface of original design (presumably by John Alcock himself).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcock_Scout
1919 - Birth of Malcolm David Ross, American atmospheric scientist and balloonist who setted several records for altitude and scientific inquiry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Ross_(balloonist)
1919 - 2 more fatalities are recorded in the transcontinental endurance test when 2nd Lts. French Kirby and Stanley C. Miller die in an emergency landing in their DH-4 near the Wyoming–Utah border when they suffer engine failure near Evanston, Wyoming.
1920 - 1st commercial passenger flight into the Canadian north was made between Winnipeg and The Pas, Manitoba.
1921 - Spanish airline Compania Española de Trafico Aereo is established - it will eventually form part of Iberia Airlines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/October_in_aviation/October_15
1924 - Zeppelin-Airship "LZ 126" (USS Los Angeles (ZR-3)), under guidance of Hugo Eckener is delivered to the USA after a 81 hours and 2 minutes flight from Friedrichshafen to Lakehurst.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Zeppelins#Zeppelins_constructed_after_World_War_I
1925 - A de Havilland DH.53 Humming Bird is successfully launched from the British airship R.33
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/October_in_aviation/October_15
1927 - Dieudonne Costes and Joseph le Brix lands their Breguet 19GR 'Nungesser-Coli' in Port Natal in Brazil, coming from Saint-Louis, Senegal, as a part of their round-the-world 57,000 km trip (1st non-stop aerial crossing of the South Atlantic)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieudonne_Costes
1928 - Graf Zeppelin LZ-127 airship, as part of DELAG's operations, complete the 1st non-stop transatlantic passenger flights in NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey coming from Friedrichshafen, Germany, a 9,926 km (6,178 mile), 111 hour crossing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_flight#By_zeppelin
1932 – J.R.D. Tata flew a single-engined De Havilland Puss Moth carrying the 1st air mail (postal mail of Imperial Airways) from Karachi's Drigh Road Aerodrome to Bombay's Juhu Airstrip via Ahmedabad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Airlines
1933 - 1st run of the famous Rolls-Royce Merlin, British liquid-cooled, V-12, piston aero engine, of 27-litre (1,650 cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce Limited designed and built the engine which was initially known as the PV-12: the PV-12 became known as the Merlin following the company convention of naming its piston aero engines after birds of prey.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Merlin
1936 - 1st flight of The Nakajima Ki-27 'Nate', Japanese low-wing monoplane with fixed undercarriage fighter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakajima_Ki-27
1937 - 1st flight of The Boeing XB-15 (Boeing 294), originally designated the XBLR-1 (experimental bomber, long range), American 4 engine monoplane bomber aircraft prototype.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_XB-15
1938 - 1st flight of the SNCAC NC-2233, French high wing 4 tandem engine 5 seat bomber, Reengined version of the NC223, issued from the Farman F220 family.
http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=4607
1938 - 1st flight of The Bristol Beaufort, British twin-engined torpedo bomber developped from the Bristol Blenheim.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Beaufort
1939 - New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia dedicates an airport in Flushing bearing his name. La Guardia airport is the costliest to build at the time, $45 million.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaGuardia_Airport
1940 - Death of Italo Gherardini, Italian WWII bomber pilot, killed in his Savoia-Marchetti S.M.79 while attacking a convoy near Aden.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italo_Gherardini
1940 - 1st flight of the Fiat G.12, Italian all-metal low-wing cantilever personnel 3 engine transport aircraft .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_G.12
1943 - 1st flight of The Sikorsky R-6 (Hoverfly II), American-built light two-seat helicopter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_R-6
1943 - American Airlines Flight 63 Douglas DC-3-178 crashed near Centerville, Tennessee after ice formed on its wings and propeller, Killingh all 11.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_63_(Flagship_Missouri)
1944 - Death of Hiroshi Gomi, Japanese WWII flying ace, missing in action.
http://www.cieldegloire.com/010_gomi_h.php
1946 - Death of of Hermann Wilhelm Göring, German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. WWI fighter ace, He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe until the end of WWII
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_G%C3%B6ring - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/goring.php
1947 - Death of Westland's assistant test pilot Sqn. Ldr. Peter Garner, Killed in the crash of the Westland Wyvern prototype, British single-seat carrier-based multi-role strike aircraft, while attempting to make an emergency landing after the propeller bearings failed in flight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westland_Wyvern#Design_and_development
1951 - 1st flight of the SNCASO SO-6026 'Espadon', French single seat mixed power jet fighter prototype, evolution of the SO-6020.
http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9937
1952 - 1st Flight of The Douglas X-3 Stiletto (a short hop), American experimental jet aircraft with a slender fuselage and a long tapered nose, to investigate the design features of an aircraft suitable for sustained supersonic speeds, which included the 1st use of titanium in major airframe components
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_X-3_Stiletto
1955 - Lieutenant Gordon Gray of United States Navy (USN) flies a Douglas A4D Skyhawk, setting a new world record of 695mph over a 500 kilometre course.
1959 - 1st flight of the SFERMA Nord 1110 (Nord Astazou), TurboProp Conversion prototype of the Nord 1100 Noralpha, French built Messerschmitt Me 208.
http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=10058
1959 - Death of Elliott White Springs, American businessman and WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_White_Springs - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/springs.php
1964 - Birth of Roberto Vittori, Italian air force officer and an ESA astronaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Vittori
1964 - 1st rotorcraft in history to exceed 200 knots (230 mph, 370 km/h), reaching 205 knots (236 mph, 380 km/h), is the Bell 533.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_533#Independent_testing
1967 - Death of Phillip von Doepp, German Engineer and aircraft designer, specialized in inverted wings, expert in guided missile aero design during WWII.
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_von_Doepp - http://www.astronautix.com/astros/vondoepp.htm
1968 - 1st flight of the CEA DR-380 'Prince', French 4 seat low wing monoplane tourer.
http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1644
1970 – Domestic Aeroflot Flight 244 An-24 is hijacked and diverted to Turkey, 1st successful aircraft hijacking in the Soviet Union.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_244
1974 - 1st flight of The Shin Meiwa US-1A , Japanese large STOL amphibian designed for air-sea rescue (SAR), evolution of the Shin Meiwa PS-1.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Meiwa_US-1A
1981 - 1st flight of the Hillman 360, three-seat light helicopter.
http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/hillman.php
1985 - 1st flight of The Fairchild T-46 "Eaglet", American light jet trainer aircraft prototype.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_T-46
1988 - 1st flight of the Messerschmitt-Boelkow-Blohm Bo-108, german twin-engine civil helicopter prototype, later developped into the Eurocopter EC135.
http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/mbb-108.php
1997 - Launch of Cassini–Huygens, joint NASA/ESA/ASI spacecraft mission studying the planet Saturn and its many natural satellites.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassini-Huygens_Mission
2001 - NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moons Europa and Io.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_spacecraft#Mission_overview
2002 - 1st flight of The Eurocopter EC155 HTT, Technology demonstrator all-weather version of the French long-range medium-lift passenger transport helicopter
http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/eurocopter_ec-155.php
2003 - Launch of Shenzhou 5, 1st human spaceflight mission of the People's Republic of China, Returning on earth that same day after a 21 hours, 22 minutes, 45 seconds flight. Yang Liwei becoming the 1st Chinese in space.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhou_5 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Liwei