JUL18
1803 - Etienne Gaspar Robertson and Lhoest set an altitude record from Hamburg (Germany) up to 7,280 m in a montgolfière.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne-Gaspard_Robert#Balloon_flight - http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Wonderful_Balloon_Ascents/Part_3/Chapter_1
1823 - Birth of Félix du Temple de la Croix , (usually simply called Félix du Temple), French naval officer and an inventor, who developed some of the 1st flying machines: he is credited with the first successful flight of a powered aircraft of any sort, a powered model plane, and is sometimes credited with the 1st manned powered flight in history onboard his Monoplane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_du_Temple_de_la_Croix
1895 - Birth of Norman Charles Trescowthick, Australian WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Trescowthick - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/australi/trescowthick.php
1895 - Birth of Sebastiano Bedendo, Italian WWI flying ace, Engineer and record setter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastiano_Bedendo - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/bedendo.php
1897 - Birth of Arthur Rahn, German WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rahn - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/rahn.php
1897 - Birth of Federico Martinengo, Italian WWI flying ace (serving with Regia Accademia Navale), Instructor and Battleship officer in WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Martinengo - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/martinengo.php
1897 - Birth of Cecil Frederick Charles Wilson, Welsh WWI flying ace
http://theaerodrome.com/aces/wales/wilson1.php
1905 - Daniel Maloney makes a launch in a tandem-wing glider designed by John Montgomery at Santa Clara, California. However, a balloon cable damages the glider and upon release Maloney and the aircraft fell uncontrolled to the ground, leading to Maloney's death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Joseph_Montgomery
1906 - Birth of Ira H. Abbott, American aerospace engineer who supervised the X-15, supersonic transport, nuclear rocket and advanced reentry programs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_H._Abbott
1911 - Birth of Richard Elmer Ellsworth, WWII pilot and USAF commander during the early part of the Cold War.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_E._Ellsworth
1914 - Frenchman Maurice Guillaux carried the 1st airmail with a Bleriot XI from Melbourne to Sydney, then the longest airmail delivery in the world.
http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/aviation/aviators/index.html
1914 - The Aviation Section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps is formed in Washington, D.C., with 60 officers, 260 men, and 6 airplanes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_Section,_U.S._Signal_Corps#Establishment
1915 - 1st woman to perform a loop is Katherine Stinson at Cicero Field in Chicago, Illinois.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Stinson
1915 - Death of Gaspare Virginio Emilio Bolla, Italian WWI pilot.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspare_Bolla
1917 - Death of Henri François Languedoc, French WWI flying ace, From wounds received in action 2 days before
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Languedoc - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/languedoc.php
1918 - Death of Moritz-Waldemar Bretschneider-Bodemer, German WWI flying ace, killed in action.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/bretschneider-bodemer.php
1918 - German WWI flying ace Willi Gabriel, claimed 4 victories on that single day.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/gabriel.php
1919 - Death of Raymonde de Laroche, born Elise Raymonde Deroche, French aviatrix and 1st woman in the world to receive an aeroplane pilot's licence, in the crash of an experimental Caudron.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymonde_de_Laroche#Death_and_legacy
1921 - Birth of John Herschel Glenn, Jr., USMC pilot and NASA astronaut, 1st American to orbit the Earth and 3rd American in space.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glenn
1924 - 1st flight of the Polikarpov IL-400b (also to be known as the IL-2), 2nd version of the russian single-seat fighter prototype .
http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/pol_i-1.php
1926 - Kurt Wüsthoff, German WWI fighter ace, crashed while performing aerobatics with a plane built by Ernst Udet in a memorial show to Max Immelmann in Dresden. 2 legs had to be amputated. He will die 5 days later.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_W%C3%BCsthoff#Post_war
1927 - Death of Joaquín Loriga Taboada, Spanish Aviator, in the crash of his plane.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaqu%C3%ADn_Loriga
1930 - The International Touring Competition begins in Berlin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenge_1930
1930 - 1st flight of The Blackburn R.B.2 Sydney, British 3 engine highwing monoplane long-range maritime patrol flying boat prototype.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Sydney
1933 - Death of Giorgio Pessi (alias Giuliano Parvis), Italian (Austro-Hungarian born) WWI flying ace, lost at sea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Pessi - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/pessi.php
1936 - 1st flight of the Caudron 710, French WWII light Fighter prototype.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caudron_C.714
1936 - Tetouan, capital of the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco , is bombed after the garrison had revolted in Melilla, 1st Air operation of the Spanish Civil War.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardeo_de_Tetu%C3%A1n
1938 - Death of Mochifumi Nango, Japanese Second Sino-Japanese War flying ace, brother of Shigeo Nango, Colliding his Mistubishi A5M Claude in a Polikarpov I-15 over lake Poyang.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochifumi_Nang%C5%8D - http://www.cieldegloire.com/010_nango_m.php
1938 - Douglas Corrigan landed at Baldonnel Aerodrome, County Dublin (instead of Long Beach, California), after a 28-hour, 13-minute flight. His provisions had been just two chocolate bars, two boxes of fig bars, and .25 US gal (0.95 L) of water.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Corrigan#Transatlantic_flier
1941 - Death of Arturo Ferrarin, Italian raid Aviator while testing the Ambrosini SAI.107 experimental light fighter interceptor
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Ferrarin - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrosini_SAI.207
1942 - 1st Jet engined flight of The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe ("Swallow"), world's 1st operational jet-powered fighter aircraft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_262
1943 - US Navy airship K-74 is shot down by a German submarine (U-134), the only airship lost to enemy fire during WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airship#World_War_II - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-134_(1941)#Blimp_K-74
1944 - Death of Ernesto Campanelli, Italian raid aviator.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernesto_Campanelli
1944 - Death of Werner Thierfelder, German WWII fighter ace, killed in the crash of a Me 262A-1a under unclear circumstances. Luftwaffe records indicate that he was shot down but U.S. and British records show no comparable engagement. A possible cause is that Thierfelder exceeded the airframe's limiting Mach number in a dive, perhaps while pursuing an Allied reconnaissance aircraft, leading to an irrecoverable dive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Thierfelder
1950 - Birth of Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson, British business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group, founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways and world record-breaking balloonist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Branson
1950 - Cuerpo de Aviación del Perú (Peruvian Aviation Corps) is reorganized into the Fuerza Aérea del Perú (Peruvian Air Force).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peruvian_Air_Force
1952 - 1st flight of the Dassault MD.453 Mystere IIIN, french two-seat prototype night fighter With lateral air intakes, derivative of the Mystere II.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/dassault_mystere3.php - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1013
1955 - 1st flight of The Folland Gnat, British small, swept-wing British subsonic jet trainer and light fighter aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folland_Gnat
1958 - Death of Henri Farman, French pilot, aviator and aircraft designer and manufacturer with his brother Maurice Farman.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Farman
1962 - 1st flight of The Cessna Model 411, American twin-engined, propeller driven light aircraft, for a crew of one or two and room for four to six passengers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_411
1965 - Launch of Zond 3, Soviet spacecraft designed for manned circumlunar mission
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zond_3
1966 - Birth of Alberto Nassetti, Italian Aviator, 1st pilot to re-enter service after having a surgical operation to the brain, in the crash of an Airbus A-330 he was testing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Nassetti
1966 - Launch of Gemini 10 (officially Gemini X), American manned spaceflight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_10
1968 - 1st flight of The Tupolev Tu-142 'Bear', Soviet maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft derived from the Tu-95 turboprop strategic bomber.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-142
1970 - 1st flight of The Aeritalia G.222 (formerly Fiat Aviazione, now Alenia), Italian medium-sized STOL military transport aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeritalia_G.222
1984 - 1st flight of the Latécoère 225, French unusual single seat canard microlight amphibian prototype, with a swept wing with a pusher configuration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lat%C3%A9co%C3%A8re_225 - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=10274
1984 - 1st female Boeing 747 airline captain, Captain Beverly Lynn Burns, makes her maiden voyage as Captain commanding People Express aircraft 604 from Newark International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Burns
1990 - 1st flight of The Embraer/FMA CBA 123 Vector (originally EMB 123 for Embraer and IA 70 for FMA), Brazilian-Argentinian venture for a turboprop aircraft prototype designed for regional flights up to 19 passengers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer/FMA_CBA_123_Vector
1906 - Death of Willa Beatrice Brown, American aviatrix, 1st African American woman to earn a private pilot's license, 1st female officer in the Civil Air Patrol and 1st black woman to hold a commercial pilot's license in the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willa_Brown
1996 - Death of Martin Summerfield, American scientist, Early American rocket pioneer, co-founder of Aerojet, inventor of regenerative cooling for liquid rocket engines.
http://www.astronautix.com/astros/sumfield.htm - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Summerfield
1998 - Launch of Sinosat-1, Chinese communications satellite built by Aérospatiale using a Spacebus-3000 satellite bus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino_Satellite_Communications_Company
2000 - 1st flight of the Dassault AVE-D Petit Duc, French sub-scale experimental stealth UAV, 1st stealth unmanned aircraft to fly in Europe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_AVE-D_Petit_Duc
2002 - 1st flight of The Boeing YAL-1 American Airborne Laser Testbed, American megawatt-class chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) weapon mounted inside a modified Boeing 747-400F, primarily designed as a missile defense system to destroy tactical ballistic missiles (TBMs), while in boost phase.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_YAL-1
2009 - Death of Henry William Allingham, British WWI pilot and Engineer, last surviving member of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) and last surviving founding member of the Royal Air Force (RAF).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Allingham
2011 - Launch of Spektr-R (or Radioastron), russian orbital radio telescope, largest space telescope in orbit at this time.