APRIL11

1885 - Birth of Léon Morane, French early aviator and aircraft designer.

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

1892 - Birth of John Vincent Aspinall, British WWI flying ace

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

1894 - Birth of Luigi Ridolfi, Italian WWI Pilot and Caproni's test pilot.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Ridolfi

1895 - Birth of Percy Wilson, British WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Wilson_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/wilson3.php

1898 - Birth of John Howard Umney, British WWI flying ace as gunner/observer in the rear seat of Bristol F.2 Fighters,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Howard_Umney - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/umney.php

1900 - Birth of Wilmer Lower Stultz, American pioneering aviator, test pilot and raid pilot.

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

1908 - Léon Delagrange flies 12,878 feet in six minutes, 30 seconds in his Voisin-Delagrange Nº 2 in Paris.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on_Delagrange

1908 - Birth of Dalmazio Birago, Italian Aviator.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmazio_Birago

1911 - The U.S. Army sets up its 1st permanent flying school at College Park, Maryland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/April_in_aviation/April_11

1915 - 1st flight of The Zeppelin-Staaken Riesenflugzeuge, german very large bomber aircraft, usually powered by four or more engines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin-Staaken_Riesenflugzeuge

1918 - Death of Kelvin Crawford, British WWI flying ace, Killed in action

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

1920 - 1st flight of The Loughead S-1 "Sport-1", American early single seat biplane made by the Loughead brothers, the forerunner to Lockheed, 1st application of "plastic" construction to a production aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loughead_S-1_Sport

1921 - Herbert John Louis 'Bert' Hinkler set a new distance record in Australia when he flew the Avro 534 Baby non-stop from Sydney to his home town of Bundaberg 800 mi (1,280 km) away, making the flight in 8 hours 40 minutes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Baby#Operational_history

1921 - The 1st Canadian Air Force flying fatality occurred at Camp Borden, Ontario when S/L K. Tailyour crashed in an Avro 504K while performing aerobatics.

http://canadianaviationhistory.pbworks.com/w/page/13801114/On-this-day-in-Canadian-Aviation-History-April

1921 - 1st flight of The Short N.3 Cromarty, prototype British twin-engined biplane flying boat prototype.

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

1924 - 1st flight of The Fokker F.VII (also known as the Fokker Trimotor), Dutch highwing airliner, initially single engined. The 2 more engines will be added in 1925.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_F.VII

1929 - Death of Edmond Thieffry, Belgian WWI flying ace and aviation pioneer, cofounder of Sabena, killed in the crash of his Avimeta C.92 near Lake Tanganyika while preparing air routes between congo and belgium.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmond_Thieffry - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/belgium/thieffry.php

1930 - French Jean Mermoz takes off in the Latécoère 28.3, french mail seaplane for a closed circuit record attempt.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1023&ID_CONSTRUCTEUR=795

1932 - Death of Bessica Medlar Raiche, American dentist, businesswoman, and physician, notable for being the 1st woman in the USA accredited with flying solo in an airplane

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

1932 - Birth of Francis Gregory Neubeck, USAF test pilot, former Astronaut, Author and politician.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_G._Neubeck

1933 - Captain William N. Lancaster takes off in a Avro Avian 5 'Southern Cross Minor' from Lympne in an attempt to set a new London to Cape Town record. The plane will crash in the Algerian desert.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Lancaster_(aviator)#Final_flight

1934 - Comdr. Renato Donati of the Italian Regia Aeronautica sets a new world altitude record by flying a much modified Caproni Ca. 113 biplane to a height of 47,352 ft.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/world-aviation/1934.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caproni_Ca.113

1937 - 1st flight of the Junkers Ju 89, German 4 engine heavy bomber prototype.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Ju_89

1940 - 3 Vickers Wellingtons of No.115 Squadron and 2 Bristol Blenheims of No.254 Squadron attack Stavanger/Sola airfield, in the first Royal Air Force attack on Norway and the 1st of 16 attacks on this airfield over the following days.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-military-aviation/1940.aspx

1941 - Birth of Frederick Hamilton "Rick" Hauck, former NASA astronaut.

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

1942 - Birth of Anatoly Nikolayevich Berezovoy, Russian cosmonaut. He flew as Commander on Soyuz T-5.

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

1943 - 1st flight of Piasecki PV-2 helicopter with Frank Piasecki , 2nd successful helicopter to fly in the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-V_Engineering_Forum_PV-2

1949 - 1st flight of the Arsenal 4111, French competition glider prototype.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9709 - http://www.j2mcl-planeurs.net/dbj2mcl/planeurs-machines/planeur-fiche_0int.php?code=186

1952 - 1st flight of the 2nd prototype, Vickers Type 667 WB215 (Vickers-Armstrongs Valiant, British four-jet bomber, originally developed for use as high-level strategic bomber, but its role, like other V bombers, was changed to low-level attacks.

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

1952 - Pan American World Airways Flight 526A Douglas DC-4 'Clipper Endeavor' ditched in rough seas 11.3 miles NW of San Juan Airport, Puerto Rico, after engine no. 3 failed after takeoff, followed shortly by engine no. 4 due to inadequte maintenance, 52 of 69 were killed. After this accident it was recommended to implement pre-flight safety demonstrations for over-water flights.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_526A

1952 - 1st flight of the Piasecki H-21 Shawnee, American helicopter, 4th of a line of tandem rotor helicopters designed and built by Piasecki Helicopter (later Boeing Vertol).

http://www.boeing.com/boeing/history/boeing/ch21.page - http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/piasecki_h-21.php

1954 - RCAF S/L RG Christie flew from Vancouver to Ottawa in 3 hrs, 46 mins flying time with stops at Calgary and Winnipeg. He was flying a Canadair-built North American Sabre V.

http://canadianaviationhistory.pbworks.com/w/page/13801114/On-this-day-in-Canadian-Aviation-History-April

1955 - Kashmir Princess (chartered Lockheed L-749A Constellation aircraft owned by Air India), exploded in midair and crashed into the Pacific Ocean following a bomb explosion. The target of the assassination was the Chinese Premier, Zhou Enlai.

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

1955 - Birth of Piers John Sellers, British-born Anglo-American meteorologist and a NASA astronaut. Veteran of 3 space shuttle missions.

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

1957 - North American Aviation is issued a preliminary contract to build prototypes of the XF-108 long-range interceptor aircraft for the USAF.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/April_in_aviation

1957 - The Ryan X-13 Vertijet (model 69), american experimental VTOL aircraft made a vertical take-off from the vertically raised trailer, transitioned to horizontal flight and back again. It then returned to the vertical trailer and landed by hooking the landing wire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_X-13_Vertijet

1970 - Launch of Apollo 13, 7th manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the 3rd intended to land on the Moon. The craft was successfully launched toward the Moon, but the landing had to be aborted after an oxygen tank exploded, severely damaging the spacecraft's electrical system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13

1974 - Death of Georgiy Nikanorovich Zhidov, Soviet WWII fighter ace.

http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/soviet_zhidov.htm

1984 - Soyuz T-10, Russian expedition to Salyut 7 space station, is back on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_T-10

1992 - 1st flight of the Guimbal G2 'Cabri' 01, French Twin seat experimental helicopter.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=10062 - http://www.guimbal.com/

1993 - Death of Janet Harmon Waterford Bragg (born Jane Nettie Harmon), American amateur aviator, 1st African-American woman to hold a Commercial Pilot Licence.

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

1995 - Death of Thomas Keith Glennan, 1st Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._Keith_Glennan

1996 - 7 year old pilot Jessica Dubroff dies during attempt to set record as the youngest person to fly across the United States. Her Cessna 177 was overloaded on take off in rain, strong gusty crosswinds and turbulence.

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

2001 – The detained crew of a United States EP-3E aircraft that landed in Hainan, China after a collision with a J-8 fighter is released.

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

2008 - Kata Air Transport Antonov 32B ferried to Moldova for maintenance crashes returning shortly after taking off from Chisinau International Airport, killing all 8 on board.

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20080411-0