JAN26
1887 - Birth of Michal Scipio del Campo, Polish early aviator.
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micha%C5%82_Scipio_del_Campo
1889 - Birth of Alfred Victor Robert Auger, French WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Auger - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/auger.php
1891 - Death of Nikolaus August Otto, German inventor of the 1st internal-combustion engine to efficiently burn fuel directly in a piston chamber.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_Otto
1892 - Birth of Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman, American civil aviator. She was the 1st female pilot of African American descent and 1st person of African American descent to hold an international pilot license.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Coleman
1893 - Birth of Kazimierz Kubala, Polish WWI aviator, Polish Soviet war pilot and raid pilot.
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazimierz_Kubala
1895 - Birth of Cesare Magistrini, Italian WWI flying ace, commercial pilot, Italian SAS pilot during WWII and pilot of the King of Yemen after WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Magistrini - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/magistrini.php
1896 - Birth of József Kiss, WWI flying ace for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, credited with 19 aerial victories. He was the most successful Hungarian ace in the war
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zsef_Kiss - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/austrhun/kiss.php
1896 - Birth of Charles Ronald Steele, British WWI flying ace, High ranking officer in WWII and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Coastal Command post war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Steele - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/steele.php
1896 - Birth of Frank Tremar Sibly Menendez, British WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Tremar_Sibly_Menendez - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/menendez.php
1902 - Birth of Laurence Cardee Craigie, American aviator and USAF General, 1st pilot of the Armed Forces to fly a jet-propelled plane, director of the Flying Tiger Line .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Cardee_Craigie
1910 - Birth of David Ernest Hornell, Canadian WWII pilot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ernest_Hornell
1911 - 1st flight of the Sommer Biplane 'Militaire'(Type K), early french pusher aircraft, evolution of his 1910 Biplane with lengthened wings.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=10081 - http://www.hydroretro.net/etudegh/aeroplanes-sommer.pdf
1911 - 1st practical seaplane is flown. Built and flown by American Glenn Curtiss, the Curtiss Hydro lands and takes off in the waters off San Diego, California.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Curtiss#Naval_aviation
1915 - Birth of Carlo Faggioni, Italian WWII pilot
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Faggioni
1915 - 1st flight of the Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2a, two-seat pusher biplane operated as a day and night bomber and as a fighter aircraft, Evolution of the F.E.2 with an airbrake and another engine for testings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Aircraft_Factory_F.E.2#1914_fighter
1925 - Travel Air Manufacturing Company is formed in Wichita, Kansas, by Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech, and Lloyd Stearman.
http://aerofiles.com/_travel.html - http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/travel-air-manufacturing-company/17386
1926 - Spanish Dornier Do J Wal flying boat 'Plus Ultra' flown by Ramon Franco Lands in Buenos Aires, Argentina for the 1st Trans-Atlantic flight between Spain and South America coming from Palos de la Frontera. The 10,270 km (6,381 mi) journey was completed in 59 hours and 39 minutes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plus_Ultra_(flying_boat)
1928 - Death of Guido Nardini, italian WWI flying ace, killed in an accident at Ciampino field when his parachute failed to open.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_Nardini - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/nardini.php
1932 - Death of Edward Anderson 'Eddie' Stinson, Early american aviator and aircraft designer, founder of the Stinson Aircraft Company, in the crash of the Stinson-Detroiter he was demonstrating in Jackson Park. Clark Field of Kalamazoo, Michigan.
http://earlyaviators.com/estinsed.htm
1934 - French aviatrix Maryse Hilsz takes off from Paris with a Breguet 27 S (a Bre 330 N°2 modified) christened 'Joe III' for a tour of Asia to Tokyo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breguet_270_Series#Operational_history - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9720
1945 - 1st flight of The Miles M.57 Aerovan, British twin engine short-range low-cost transport.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Aerovan
1945 - 1st flight of The McDonnell FH Phantom 1, US twin-engined jet fighter aircraft. 1st purely jet-powered aircraft to land on an American aircraft carrier and the 1st jet deployed by the USMC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_FH_Phantom
1946 - Col William Councill sets a new US transcontinental speed record of 4 hours 13 minutes in a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-80_Shooting_Star#Operational_history
1947 - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Douglas DC-3C crashed on take off at Kastrup, Denmark, killing all 22 on board including opera singer Grace Moore.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flugzeugkatastrophe_von_Kastrup
1950 - A USAF Douglas C-54 Skymaster disappeared en route from Alaska to Montana, with 44 people aboard, no trace of the aircraft has ever been found.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_Douglas_C-54D_disappearance
1952 - Birth of Mario 'Trooper' Runco Jr, US Navy officer and NASA astronaut, Earth and planetary physicist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Runco,_Jr.
1953 - 1st meeting of the Experimental Aircraft Association takes place at Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Curtis-Wright Field.
http://www.eaa.org/about/chronology.asp
1959 - 1st flight of the Lemaire ARL-11 'Babysquale', french experimental single seat unorthodox aircraft, whith lateral control was assured by a vertical tail positionned over the gravity center.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9550
1961 - 1st flight of The Fiat Model 7002, Italian general-purpose medium-capacity prototype helicopter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_7002
1962 - Death of Herbert Howard Snowden Fowler, Canadian WWI flying ace.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/fowler.php
1962 – Ranger 3 is launched to study the moon. The American space probe later misses the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_3
1963 - 1st flight of the Fairchild-Hiller FH-1100 FHOENIX (HO-5s later OH-5As), Light utility helicopter version designed to meet US Army requirement for light observation helicopter.
http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/fair_fh-100.php
1965 - Brazil's naval air arm is re-established as an independent service. It had been absorbed by the air force in 1941.
1967 - 1st flight of The Scheutzow Model B (or Scheutzow Bee), American two-seat utility helicopter, developed with the FLEXIHUB. In this system, the two main rotor blades were mounted in rubber bushes, reducing vibration and requiring no lubrication
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheutzow_Bee
1968 - Death of Merrill Church Meigs, American newspaper publisher and aviation promoter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrill_C._Meigs - http://www.meigs.org/merrill1289.htm
1969 - Death of Austin Lloyd Fleming, Canadian WWI flying ace who also served in WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Lloyd_Fleming - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/fleming.php
1972 - JAT Yugoslav Airlines Flight 367 McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 exploded shortly after overflying NDB Hermsdorf, East Germany, while en route from Stockholm to Belgrad Killing 27 over 28.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAT_Flight_367
1974 - Turkish Airlines Fokker F28-1000 Fellowship 'Van' stalled shortly after takeoff due to over rotation and frost accretion on the wings, crashed and caught fire, killing 66 over 73.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_Turkish_Airlines_Izmir_crash
1976 - Death of Forster Herbert Martin Maynard, New Zealand WWI flying ace, Air Officer Commanding of Malta during the early part of WWII (6 Gloster Gladiators of which 2 were still in crates marked "Boxed Spares - Property of the Royal Navy" )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._H._Maynard - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/nzealand/maynard.php
1978 - Launch of the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE), collaborative project between NASA, the UK Science Research Council and the European Space Agency (ESA) for an astronomical observatory satellite designed to take ultraviolet spectra, 1st space observatory to be operated in real time by astronomers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Ultraviolet_Explorer
1995 - An explosion during the launch of a communications satellite at the Xichang Space Centre in China destroys both the Long March 2E Booster and Hughes Apstar 2 satellite.
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/bss/factsheets/601/apstar2/apstar2.html
1995 - Outbreak of the Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador. Peruvian Mil Mi-8 and Mil Mi-25, as well as Ecuadorian Aérospatiale Gazelle helicopters begin ground attack operations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenepa_War
1999 - 1st flight of The Ilyushin Il-114-100 , Russian twin-engine turboprop 64 seat airliner, development of the IL-114.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-114
2001 - 1st flight of the MAI (Moscow Aviation Institute) 205, Russian Single-seat autogyro ultralight.
http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/mai-205.php
2005 - USMC Sykorski CH-53E Super S tallion carrying 30 Marines and one Navy Corpsman crashed due to a sandstorm in Rutbah, Iraq, killing all 31 on board.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CH-53E_Super_Stallion#Accidents_and_notable_incidents
2010 - 1st flight of The Kawasaki XC-2 (previously C-X), Japanese military transport aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_C-2
2010 – Spanish airline Quantum Air ceased operations.