JAN02

1903 - Birth of Petr Mikhailovich Stefanovskiy, Soviet test pilot and WWII pilot.

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

1911 - Birth of Pavel Vasilievich Rychagov, Soviet flying ace during the Spanish Civil war, Commander of the Soviet Air Forces (VVS) for a brief time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Rychagov - http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/soviet_rychagov.htm

1914 - Gustav Hamel took Miss Trehawke Davis aloft to experience a loop, and she thus became the 1st woman in the world to do so.

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

1918 - The British government establishes the Air Ministry. Lord Rothermere is Secretary of State for Air. Major-General Sir Hugh Trenchard is Chief of the Air Staff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Ministry#Establishment_of_the_Air_Ministry

1923 - Birth of Chalmers Hubert 'Slick' Goodlin, American WWII pilot with the RCAF who volunteered in the Israeli Air Force during the Arab-Israeli war, Airliner pilot during humanitarian missions he also was test pilot for Bell and nearly broke the sound barrier.

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

1929 - Wilfrid Reid "Wop" May left in an Avro Avian with another flying club member, Vic Horner, to deliver diphtheria vaccine to Fort Vermilion, Alberta, 1600 km north. His flight had become known across Canada as "the race against death"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wop_May#Postwar_career

1929 - Evelyn "Bobbi" Trout flew a Golden Eagle 12 hours and 11 minutes at the Metropolitan Airport in Los Angeles, setting a new non-refueling endurance record for women.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobbi_Trout - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elinor_Smith#Endurance_records

1930 – Leroy Grumman, Leon Swirbul, and William Schwender found the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation at Baldwin on Long Island, New York.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_Aircraft_Engineering_Corporation#Early_history

1937 - 1st flight of the Farman F-224 , french high wing 4 tandem engine 40 seat high wing monoplane airliner developped from the F-222.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1654&ID_CONSTRUCTEUR=501

1941 - Italian Air Force contingent in Belgium (Corpo Aereo Italiano) mounts its last raid on the UK, when 4 Fiat BR20 bombers attempt to bomb Ipswich.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-military-aviation/1941.aspx

1945 - A Lockheed Hudson crashed during takeoff at Toussus-le-Noble, killing Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay, important contributor in the field of amphibious warfare during WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertram_Ramsay#Death - http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/WorldWarIINavalLeaders/p/World-War-Ii-Admiral-Sir-Bertram-Ramsay.htm

1948 - Birth of Stefano Santonico, Italien engineer and test pilot.

http://www.astronautix.com/astros/sanonico.htm

1952 - 1st flight of the Fouga CM-8R13 'Sylphe' III, French experimental single seat monoplane jet aircraft with a V tail.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9347

1953 - 1st flight of The Sud-Ouest S.O.1220 Djinn, French single-seat light prototype helicopter. The rotors were driven by compressed-air jets at the end of each blade.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sud-Ouest_Djinn

1954 - A new coast to coast record in the US is set by Colonel Willard W. Milliken of the Air National Guard, flying a North American F86 Sabre jet and covering 2,530 miles from Los Angeles to New York in 4 hours 8 minutes. (time includes stop for fuel at Offutt AFB)

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

1959 - Launch of Luna 1 (E-1 series), 1st known as First Cosmic Ship, then known as Mechta, 1st spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon. 1st of the Luna program of Soviet automatic interplanetary stations

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_1

1963 - 1st flight of the Aero Commander 1121 Jet Commander , later The Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Westwind, business jet that became a cornerstone of the Israeli aircraft manufacturing industry.

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

1967 - Seven North Vietnamese Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s are destroyed by F-4 Phantoms of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing USAF in Operation Bolo

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

1972 - Death of James Butler White, British RNAS WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_White_(RAF_officer) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/white3.php

1975 - Death of Theodor "Theo" Osterkamp, German WWI and WWII fighter ace, one of only a few men to score victories in both World Wars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_Osterkamp - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/osterkamp.php - http://www.luftwaffe.cz/osterkamp.html

1989 - 1st flight of The Tupolev Tu-204, Russian twin-engined medium-range jet airliner capable of carrying 210 passenger, 1st russian fly-by-wire airliner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-204

1999 - Death of Karl-Heinz Bringer, German rocket engineer

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl-Heinz_Bringer

2004 - Us Spacecraft Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/81P/Wild