FEB26

1873 - Birth of Johann Heinrich Karl „Jan“ Schütte, German early Dirigible Airship designer.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Sch%C3%BCtte

1881 - Birth of Joseph Oswald Mauborgne, American military scientist, largely responsible for the high type of radio equipments developed for US forces who rendered unusual services in connection with cipher telegraphy.

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

1888 - Birth of Mario Castoldi, Italian aircraft engineer and designer.

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

1890 - Birth of Chauncey Milton Vought, American aviation pioneer and engineer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chance_M._Vought

1893 - Birth of Otto Kissenberth, German WWI fighter ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Kissenberth - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/kissenberth.php

1894 - Birth of Wilhelm Bittrich, German WWI Fighter pilot, SS-Obergruppenführer and Waffen-SS General during WWII.

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

1896 - Birth of Saint Cyprian Churchill Tayler, British WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Cyprian_Tayler - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/tayler.php

1906 - Birth of Hans Bertram, German screenwriter and film director but also raid pilot. He also took part in the Chinese Naval Airforce organisation for Chiang Kai-shek

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Bertram_(Flugpionier)

1917 - Birth of Shigeo Nango, Japanese WWII fighter ace.

http://www.cieldegloire.fr/010_nango_s.php - http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8D%97%E9%83%B7%E8%8C%82%E7%94%B7

1918 - Death of Giuseppe Ghislanzoni WWI Italian pilot

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

1920 - Birth of Kenneth Gilbert Hubbard, British WWII bomber pilot, pilot of the RAF Vickers Valiant bomber which dropped Britain's 1st live megaton thermo-nuclear weapon (the H-Bomb) in the southern Pacific Ocean in 1957.

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

1920 - Death of William Keith "Pete" Swayze, Canadian WWI flying ace

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/swayze.php

1922 - Death of Léon Levavasseur, French powerplant engineer, aircraft designer and inventor. His innovations included the V8 engine, direct fuel injection, and evaporative engine cooling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on_Levavasseur

1926 - Death of Geoffrey William Hemming, British WWI flying ace, in a flying accident with a Fairey III.D at RAF Calshot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Hemming - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/hemming2.php

1928 - Birth of Anatoly Vasilyevich Filipchenko, Soviet cosmonaut

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

1928 - 1st flight of The BFW M.20 (also known as the Messerschmitt M 20 after the designer) German single-engine, high-wing monoplane 10-seat passenger transport aircraft, but was lost when pilot Hans Hackmack bailed out at low altitude and was killed after the surface stripped from part of the wing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFW_M.20

1931 - French Lucien Bossoutrot and Maurice Rossi takes off in the Blériot Bl-110 'Joseph Le Brix' for a world distance record on closed circuit.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1678

1934 - 1st flight of The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.19, british two/three-seat single-engine biplane, built as a general-purpose military aircraft

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_Whitworth_A.W.19

1935 – Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.

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

1935 – Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of RADAR in the United Kingdom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Watson-Watt

1937 - 1st flight of the Fiat G.50 Freccia ("Arrow"), WWII Italian fighter aircraft. Italy’s first single-seat, all-metal monoplane with an enclosed cockpit and retractable landing gear to go into production.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_G.50

1940 - The US Air Defense Command is formed at Mitchell Field, New York

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

1941 – Philippine Airlines is founded, making it Asia’s 1st and oldest carrier, still to this day operating under its original name.

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

1941 - Eastern Air Lines Flight 21 Douglas DC-3 crashed while preparing to land at Candler Field (now Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport) in Atlanta, Georgia, killing 8 over 16, including Maryland Congressman William D. Byron. Among the injured was Eastern Air Lines president and WWI hero Eddie Rickenbacker.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_21

1943 - Death of Ludwig Becker, German WWII night fighter ace, Missing in action with his Messerschmidt Bf 110 G-4 on a daylight mission intercepting a B-17 formation over the North Sea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Becker_(pilot) - http://www.cieldegloire.com/001_becker_l.php

1944 - Death of Charles de Lambert, early french aviator, 1st person in France to be taught to fly by Wilbur Wright and 1st person to fly around the Eiffel tower.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_de_Lambert

1945 - 1st flight of The Sud-Ouest S.O.30N 'Bellatrix', french twin-engined mid-wing cantilever all-metal monoplane airliner prototype (developped later in the 30P).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sud-Ouest_Bretagne - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=948

1945 - A B-24 Liberator carrying General Millard Fillmore Harmon Jr., and Brigadier General James R. Andersen disappeared the next day after taking off for Hawaii. The aircraft was never found and there were no survivors.

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

1946 – Finnish observers report the 1st of many thousands of sightings of ghost rockets.

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

1949 - Capt. James Gallagher and crew of Boeing B-50 Lucky Lady II takes off from Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas, for a 1st nonstop refueled flight around world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/43d_Operations_Group - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Lady_II

1955 - 1st supersonic ejection by North American test pilot George F. Smith. He ejects himself from his diving F-100 off Laguna Beach, California. He remained unconscious for five days but recovered.

http://militarypower.wikidot.com/f-100-super-sabre

1957 - 1st flight of the Hurel-Dubois HD-34, French twin engine based on Maurice Hurel's high aspect ratio wing designs, aerial survey version for IGN (Institut Géographique National).

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurel-Dubois_HD-34 - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1811

1958 - Death of William Charles Campbell, Scottish WWI fighter ace, notable balloon buster and instructor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Charles_Campbell - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/scotland/campbell3.php

1958 - Birth of Susan Jane Helms, Lieutenant General in the US Air Force and NASA astronaut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_J._Helms

1960 - An Alitalia DC-7C crashed at Shannon Airport, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 over 52.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-7#Accidents_and_incidents - http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19600226-2

1962 - Death of Riccardo Moizo, Italian military pilot during WWI and high ranking officer in WWII

http://notes9.senato.it/Web/senregno.NSF/1dbf7f5088956bebc125703d004d5ffb/c4d8457dde58a98d4125646f005d938e?OpenDocument

1966 – 1st flight of the Saturn IB rocket, launching AS-201 (Apollo 201), test flight for the Apollo program

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_IB - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AS-201

1966 - Death of Richard Bell Davies, British WWI fighter pilot and Royal Navy officer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bell-Davies

1971 - 1st flight of the Saab MFI-15 Safari, also known as the Saab MFI-17 Supporter, swedish prop-powered basic trainer aircraft used by several air forces.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/sweden/saab_safari.php

1971 - Death of Yves Felix Barbaza, French WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_F._Barbaza - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/barbaza.php

1975 - 1st flight of the Cessna Model 404 Titan, American twin-engined, propeller-driven light aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_404_Titan

1977 - 1st flight of the Issoire Iris, French conventional, single-seat mid-wing sailplane with a design of fibreglass construction which intended to be easy to fly for the novice pilot. Originally designed with a T-tail, the Iris was produced with a conventional, low-set tailplane.

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

1979 - Production of the A-4 Skyhawk ends after 26 years, with the delivery of the 2,690th and final aircraft to the USMC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/February_in_aviation/February_26

1981 - A variable-angle ski jump (7-15°), of the type fitted to the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers, becomes operational at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton in Somerset.

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

1981 - 1st flight of The Aerotec A-132 Tangará (Uirapuru II), Brazilian military trainer aircraft issued from the Aerotec Uirapuru

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerotec_A-132_Tangar%C3%A1

1986 - 1st flight of the Boeing 747SR, American widebody commercial airliner and cargo transport, 100BSR SUD model, featuring the stretched upper deck (SUD) of the -300, produced for Japan Airline.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747#Variants

1998 - Launch of SNOE (Student Nitric Oxide Explorer) (Explorer 72 or STEDI 1), Seismology satellite to Study nitric oxide in the thermosphere, along with Teledesic 1, American Civilian communications satellite demonstrator.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNOE - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teledesic

2004 - A Beechcraft Super King Air 200 operated by the Republic of Macedonia crashed in thick fog and heavy rain on a mountainside in southeastern Herzegovina. Among the victims was Boris Trajkovski, president and supreme commander-in-chief of the Republic of Macedonia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Trajkovski#Death

2013 - A hot air balloon exploded an crashed near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 over 21.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Egypt_hot_air_balloon_crash