APRIL20

1879 - Birth of Waldemar Geest, early german Aircraft designer.

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

1891 - Birth of Charles Humphrey Kingsman, British naval aviator during WWI and a senior commander in the RAF during WWII. He made the 1st ever aerial torpedo attack on a ship.

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

1896 – Birth of Wilfrid Reid "Wop" May, Canadian aviator. WWI flying ace and pioneering aviator who created the role of the bush pilot while working the Canadian west

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wop_May - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/may.php

1899 - Birth of William Edward George "Pedro" Mann, British WWI flying ace, one of the 1st to fly an inverted formation at Hendon. He also served in WWII and helped to develop mobile radar and signals units that served as models for the entire RAF.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Mann_(RAF_officer) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/mann.php

1899 - Birth of Alan Arnett McLeod, Canadian WWI pilot, recipient of the Victoria Cross

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

1901 - Birth of Adolph Busemann, German aerospace engineer and influential early pioneer in aerodynamics, specialising in supersonic airflows who introduced the concept of swept wings.

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

1904 - Birth of Vance Breese, American aviation engineer, manufacturer and test pilot.

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

1912 - 1st Hendon flying display takes place.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-civil-aviation/1912.aspx

1914 - Charles Howard Pixton wins the Schneider Trophy at Monaco. Pixton averages 139.66 km/h (86.78 mph) over the course in a Sopwith Schneider

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

1914 - John Henry Towers led the 1st naval aviation unit called into action with the Fleet. He and two other pilots, 12 enlisted men and three aircraft sailed from Pensacola aboard the cruiser Birmingham in response to the Tampico Affair.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_Towers#Pioneer_naval_aviator

1916 - The 'Escadrille Américaine', later to be known as 'Lafayette Escadrille', American volunteer unit in France, equipped with Nieuport 11s, is deployed in Luxeuil-les-Bains, France.

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

1917 - Death of Stewart Dillon, WWI Pilot

http://bloodyapril.blogspot.com/2009/06/54-squadron-b-flight-trench-strafing.html

1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shot down his 79th and 80th victims marking his final victories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred_von_Richthofen - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/richthofen2.php

1918 - Death of Richard Raymond-Barker, British WWI flying ace, killed in action in his Sopwith Camel (79th victim of The Red Baron)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Raymond-Barker - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/raymond-barker.php

1919 – Birth of Richard Hope Hillary, Australian WWII flying ace and author.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hillary - http://www.cieldegloire.com/002_raaf_hillary_r_h.php

1920 - The 1st civilian aircraft to be registered in Canada was (G-CAAA Curtiss JN-4) registered in Sask. to Aerial Service Company of Regina.

http://www.goldenyears.ukf.net/reg_G-C.htm

1922 - Birth of Air Marshal Sir Richard (Dickie) Gordon Wakeford KCB OBE LVO AFC, officer in the Royal Air Force for 36 years, from 1941 to 1977. Beginning as a pilot of flying boats with Coastal Command, he became a flying instructor, and commanded the Queen's Flight.

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

1927 - 1st flight of the SPAD S-70, French twin seat biplane fighter prototype, evolution of the SPAD S-60

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=125

1930 - Colonel and Mrs. Charles A. Lindbergh set a new transcontinental speed record of 14 hours and 45 minutes over a distance of 2,500 miles from Los Angeles to New York City in a Lockheed 8 Sirius.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-America_flight_air_speed_record

1931 - The Northrop Alpha , American single-engine, all-metal, seven-seat, low-wing monoplane fast mail/passenger transport aircraft, entered service with Transcontinental & Western Air (future TWA) making its inaugural flight. The trip from San Francisco to New York required 13 stops and took just over 23 hours.

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

1933 - Death of William Newton "Bill" Lancaster, pioneering British aviator. On an attempt to beat the hotly-contested England to South Africa speed record, He had crash-landed his Avro Avian 'Southern Cross Minor' 8 days before in the Algerian desert far north of his expected flight path. His final message, written on a fuel card on the morning , was "So the beginning of the eighth day has dawned. It is still cool. I have no water. I am waiting patiently. Come soon please. Fever wracked me last night. Hope you get my full log. Bill"

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

1935 - Commercial air service to Hawaii is inaugurated with the arrival of Pan American Airways Clipper ship Pioneer Clipper at Pearl Harbor.

http://hawaii.gov/hawaiiaviation/aviation-photos/1930-1939/pan-american-airways/inaugural-flight-april-20-1935

1936 - Vladimir Konstantinovich Kokkinaki performed the Nesterov Loop for the 1st time with a twin-engine aircraft, a TsKB-26 (prototype of the Ilyushin Il-4)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kokkinaki#Records

1938 - 1st flight of The Tachikawa Ki-36 (named Ida in Allied reporting code) , Japanese army-cooperation aircraft of WWII. It was a two-seat, low-wing monoplane with a single piston-engine and a fixed, tailwheel-type undercarriage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachikawa_Ki-36

1938 - British Air Commodore Arthur Travers Harris makes a purchasing trip to the United States to select aircraft to expand the Royal Air Force. The Lockheed Hudson and North American Harvard are chosen.

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

1939 - 1st flight of the Latécoère 522 'Ville de Saint-Pierre', evolution of the 521, 6 engine high wing monoplane flying boat Used by Air France on North Atlantic. One built.

http://www.aviafrance.com/latecoere-522-aviation-france-929.htm

1941 - Death of Loris Pivetti, Pilot for the Special air service of Italy, Disappearing with his Savoia-Marchetti S.M.82 on a flight back from Benghazi.

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

1941 - Death of Marmaduke Thomas St. John "Pat" Pattle, South African WWII fighter ace, Killed in His Hurricane I by a Me-110 during a prestige mission over Athens to bolster morale for the Greeks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmaduke_Pattle - http://www.cieldegloire.com/017_pattle_m_t_st_j.php

1942 - Operation Calendar : 46 Supermarine Spitfires are flown to Malta from the deck of the United States Navy (USN) carrier USS Wasp, together with the pilots of No.601 and No.603 Squadrons RAF.

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

1942 - 1st demonstration of Sikorsky XR-4 to military officials; it is declared ready for delivery.

http://helicopter-history.org/1941.html

1944 – Death of Elmer Gedeon, one of two Major League Baseball fatal casualties during WWII.Gedeon's B-26 was hit by flak below the cockpit just after bombing.

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

1945 - The USAAF’s 8th Emergency Rescue Squadron arrives in Kunming, China with 5 YR-6As.

http://helicopter-history.org/1941.html

1945 - The 1st production F.1 Vampire, TG274 built by English Electric makes his 1st flight with a square cut tail fin and other modifications to establish the best fin and rudder configuration. (Add by Gooneybird)

http://plane-crazy.purplecloud.net/Aircraft/Jets/Vampire/de_havilland_vampire.htm

1945 - Birth of Gregory Hammond "Greg" Olsen , American entrepreneur, engineer and scientist, 3rd private citizen to make a self-funded trip to the ISS with the company Space Adventures.

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

1949 - A Short Sunderland flies medical personnel and supplies to HMS Amethyst, shelled by Chinese Communist forces on the Yangtze River.

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

1949 - Birth of Giovanni Ballestra, Italian Air Force pilot.

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

1949 - Death of Robert Lewis Coffey Jr., American WWII flying ace and Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, USAF reserve pilot, killed on a training flight in the crash of his F-80A Shooting Star probably dur to an engine failure on take off from Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_L._Coffey

1955 - Birth of Donald Roy Pettit, American chemical engineer and a NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station and the 1st NASA astronaut to return to earth in a Russian spacecraft..

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

1956 - 1st flight of SNCASE SE-212 Durandal, French jet and rocket mixed-power fighter aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sud-Est_S.E.212_Durandal - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=5691

1958 - Death of Juan Antonio Ansaldo Vejarano, Spanish aviator and monarchist activist and conspirator.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Antonio_Ansaldo

1959 – Aeroflot puts the 84 to 110-seater Ilyushin IL-18, its 1st turboprop, into service from Moscow to Alma Ata, Kazakhstan, and Adler, now Sochi, on the Black Sea.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/il-18.php

1959 - 1st hover for the Curtiss Wright X-100,(prototype for a new, vertical take-off transport aircraft) to verify control power and feel.

http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/curtiss_x-100.php

1961 - 1st flight of the Morane-Saulnier MS-885 'Super Rallye', French low wing 4 seat tourer.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9561

1964 - 1st flight of The Lockheed L-100 Hercules, civilian variant of the prolific american C-130 military transport aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_L-100

1967 - A Bristol Britannia of Globe Air crashes near Nicosia Airport due to bad weather, (Cyprus), Killing 126 over 130.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_Nicosia_Britannia_disaster

1967 - Surveyor 3, NASA unmanned spacecraft lands on the surface of the Moon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveyor_3

1968 - Death of Paul Constant Homo, French WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Homo - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/homo.php

1968 - South African Airways Flight 228 crashed soon after take-off after a scheduled stopover in Windhoek, South West Africa (present day Namibia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Airways_Flight_228

1969 - Birth of Felix Baumgartner, Austrian skydiver and Base jumper, 1st person to skydive across the English Channel using a specially made fibre wing.

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

1972 – Apollo 16 landed on the moon commanded by John Young.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_16

1977 - 1st Flight of the T-10S, revised version of the Sukhoi Su-27 to reflect Soviet awareness of the F-15's specifications

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-27

1978 – Korean Air Flight 902 Boeing 707 is shot down by Soviet, after it violated Soviet airspace and allegedly failed to respond to Soviet interceptors. Tapes released by Rovaniemi Area Control Centre show that the pilots of KAL902 transmitted their call sign three times immediately prior to the shootdownTwo passengers were killed when Soviet aircraft opened fire on the aircraft. 107 passengers and crew survived after the plane made an emergency landing on a frozen lake.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Flight_902

1979 - 1st flight of the 16th and last Concorde built.

http://www.concorde-jet.com/e_g_boaf.php

1981 - After Extensive redesigns, and a heavily revised version, the T-10S, made its 1st flight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-27

1983 - Launch of Soyuz T-8, Soviet manned mission to the Salyut 7 space station.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_T-8

1989 - Death of Doru Davidovici, Romanian aviator and writer, during landing procedures in the crash of his MiG-21UM during a training flight.

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

1994 - STS-59, Space Shuttle Endeavour mission, is back on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-59

1996 - MSAT-1, short for Mobile Satellite, satellite-based mobile telephony service developed by the National Research Council of Canada, is launched from Kourou, French Guiana aboard Ariane 42P

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

1998 - Boeing 727 Air France Flight 422 crashed into the mountains east of Bogotá because of foggy weather and low visibility after taking off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_422

2001 - Death of Minoru Suzuki, Japanese WWII flying ace

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%88%B4%E6%9C%A8%E5%AF%A6_(%E6%B5%B7%E8%BB%8D%E8%BB%8D%E4%BA%BA)

2003 - LAPA (Líneas Aéreas Privadas Argentinas) ceases operations.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%ADneas_A%C3%A9reas_Privadas_Argentinas

2004 - Launch of Gravity Probe B (GP-B), NASA satellite-based mission to measure spacetime curvature near Earth.

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

2008 – In an effort to raise money for a spiritual rest stop for truckers in Paranagua, Brazil, and to break the existing 19-hour record for a flight suspended by helium balloons, Brazilian priest Adelir Antonio de Carli lifts off from Paranagua for a flight inland to Dourados, over 725 km (450 mi) to the northwest, suspended under 1,000 brightly colored party balloons. Rising to as high as 20,000 feet (6,096 m), he is swept backward out over the Atlantic Ocean and disappears about eight hours after takeoff. Some of his balloons are found floating intact in the sea two days later, and his body will be found floating in the Atlantic 700 km (435 mi) northeast of Paranagua near Maricá, Brazil, on 4 July.

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

2009 - Launch of SICRAL 1B, 2nd Italian Military communications satellite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SICRAL_1B

2009 - Launch of RISAT-2 (Radar Imaging Satellite ),Indian radar reconnaissance satellite, and ANUSAT, Indian student research microsatellite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RISAT-2 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANUSAT

2010 - AF-2, the seventh Lockheed Martin F-35 flight test aircraft, flew for the 1st time. The aircraft’s main test role was for validating the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant’s weapons suite. Piloted by F-35 test pilot Jeff Knowles.

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3A27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3A4287e04f-174e-4188-92cf-309aff920fd5

2010 - STS-31, NASA Space Shuttle Discovery mission to the International Space Station (ISS), is back on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-131

2010 - After five years of development and ground testing, the B-1 Lancer bomber radar replacement program successfully completed its 1st test flight.

http://www.edwards.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123201871

2011 - Launch of X-sat (Indian microsatellite for Earth observation and imaging for environmental application), Resourcesat-2 (Indian Satellite to provide data with enhanced multispectral and spatial coverage) and YouthSat (Russian-Indian scientific-educational artificial satellite).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Sat - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resourcesat-2 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youthsat

2012 - Bhoja Air Flight 213 Boeing 737-236 crashed in bad weather during its approach to Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Islamabad, on the inaugural flight of Bhoja Air's second daily service on this route, killing all 127.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhoja_Air_Flight_213