JUL31

1879 - Richard Cowen and Charles Page fly 'the Canadian', 1st balloon to be built in Canada.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/July_in_aviation/July_31

1884 - Birth of Lionel Wilmot Brabazon Rees, Welsh WWI fighter pilot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Rees - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/wales/rees.php

1887 - Birth of Thomas DeWitt Milling, American pioneer of military aviation and a brigadier general in the U.S. Army Air Corps, 1st rated pilot in the history of the USAF.

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

1890 - Birth of Karl Odebrett, German WWI fighter ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Odebrett - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/odebrett.php

1890 - Birth of Marcel Hauss, French WWI flying ace, killed in action.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Hauss - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/hauss.php

1891 - Birth of Alan Douglas Light, British WWI flying ace (as observer) and airship pilot who also served in WWII.

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/light.php

1894 - Hiram Stevens Maxim launches an enormous biplane test rig (wingspan 32 m, 105 ft) propelled by two steam engines. It makes a short captive hop after running down a length of railway track.

http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/maxim.html - http://www.flyingmachines.org/maxim.html

1896 - Birth of Elliott White Springs, American businessman and WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_White_Springs - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/springs.php

1901 - Arthur Josef Stanislaus Berson and Reinhard Süring eached an altitude of 10,800 meters in their open gondola balloon 'Preussen'. Starting from Berlin-Tempelhof, at 10,000 m. both scientists were rendered unconscious, and after regaining consciousness were able to land their balloon near Briesen, 7.5 hours after their flight began.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Berson - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_S%C3%BCring

1909 - Birth of Tito Minniti, Italian military pilot of the Regia Aeronautica during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.

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

1912 - United States Navy tests an aircraft catapult for the 1st time with Theodore Gordon Ellyson, 1st USN aviator. The test, which is conducted ashore, is a failure, as the aircraft is badly damaged

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_catapult#First_record_flight_using_a_catapult

1913 - 1st woman pilot to fly in Canada, American Alys 'Tiny' McKey Bryant flies her rebuilt Curtiss type pusher biplane at Minoru Park, Vancouver

http://earlyaviators.com/ebryant.htm

1917 - Death of Stephen Reginald Park Walter, British WWI flying ace, killed in a flying accident in his D.H.5

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/walter.php

1918 - Death of George Edward Henry "McIrish" McElroy, Irish WWI fighter ace, his S.E.5a shot down over Laventie by anti-aircraft fire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_McElroy - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/ireland/mcelroy.php

1919 - The 1st Alliance P.2 Seabird, British single-engined long-range biplane, made the 1st direct non-stop flight between London and Madrid, 900 miles in just under eight hours.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_P.2_Seabird

1931 - Airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin complete his Arctic polar flight coming back in Friedrichshafen .(10,600 kilometres; the longest leg without refueling was 8,600 kilometres. The average speed was 88 km/h.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_127_Graf_Zeppelin#The_polar_flight

1936 - Jersey Airways Saro A.19/4 Cloud 'Cloud of Iona', British passenger amphibian flying boat, was forced to land in the sea due to loss of engine power, and was then swamped by the waves, all 8 on board were killed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Airways#Accidents

1940 - 1st flight of the Lockheed Ventura, American twin engine bomber and patrol aircraft, developed from the Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar transport.

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

1944 - Death of Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger de Saint-Exupéry, French writer, Raid aviator and WWII Pilot. He is best remembered for his books about aviation adventures. Missing in action in his P-38.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint-Exup%C3%A9ry - http://www.antoinedesaintexupery.com/

1944 - USAAF B-29 "Ramp Tramp" was damaged a mission against the Japanese Showa steel mill in Anshan, Manchuria, and forced to divert to Soviet Union. It was not returned and used in the Tu-4 'Bull' development effort.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-29_Superfortress#Soviet_copying_of_the_B-29

1946 - Philippine Airlines became the 1st Asian airline to cross the Pacific Ocean when a chartered Douglas DC-4 ferried 40 American servicemen to Oakland, California from Nielson Airport with stops in Guam, Wake Island, Johnston Atoll and Honolulu.

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

1946 - Death of Agustin Paral, Cuban Aviation pioneer, 1st Cuban pilot.

http://earlyaviators.com/eparla.htm - http://www.urrib2000.narod.ru/Perso2-e.html#parla

1951 - 1st flight of The SNCASE SE.3120 Alouette ("Lark"), french utility helicopter prototype.

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

1952 - Two USAF H-19 Chickasaws set a new world distance record for helicopters while making the 1st transatlantic helicopter flight. They cover 920 miles in over 42 hours.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/world-aviation/1952.aspx

1956 - 1st flight of the Fouga CM.175 Zéphyr (Originally designated CM-170M Esquif), French two-seat carrier-capable jet trainer developed from the land-based CM.170 Magister.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fouga_CM.175_Z%C3%A9phyr

1957 - 1st flight of the Sud-Ouest SO 4050 Vautour IIB, French Two-seat twin jet bomber version with glazed nose position for bombardier/observer replacing cannon pack, carrying bombs internally and on underwing pylons.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/so_vautour.php

1964 - 1st sailplane ever to fly farther than 1000 km (621 miles) is The Sisu 1A, (US homebuilt sailplane) piloted by Alvin H. Parker.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisu_1A

1964 - A Beechcraft Debonair encountered a violent thunderstorm over Brentwood, Tennessee, and crashed killing the 2 on board including James Travis "Jim" Reeves, American country and popular music singer-songwriter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Reeves#Death - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_Bonanza#Accidents_and_incidents

1964 - Ranger 7, US space probe, sends back the 1st close-up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes before impacting the moon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_7#Mission_profile

1965 - Death of Pier Ruggero Piccio, Italian WWI fighter ace,High ranking officer and politician before WWII

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier_Ruggero_Piccio - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/piccio.php

1969 - Mariner 6, NASA spacecraft, flies at a distance of 3,431 kilometres (2,132 mi) above the martian surface.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_6_and_7

1971 - Apollo 15 astronauts become the 1st to ride in a lunar rover.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_15#EVAs

1972 - Northeast Airlines flies its last flight.

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

1973 - Delta Air Lines Flight 723 DC-9-31 twin-engine jetliner crashes while landing in fog at Logan Airport, Boston, Massachusetts killing 89.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Air_Lines_Flight_723

1979 - Dan-Air Flight 0034 Hawker Siddeley HS.748-105 series 1 crashed at sea, due to loss of power, on take off from Aberdeen, killing 17 over 47.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan-Air_Flight_0034

1980 - Soyuz 36, Soviet manned space flight to the Salyut 6 space station, is back on earth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_36

1981 - Panamanian Air Force DeHavilland Twin Otter rashed in the Marta Hill, in the community of Coclesito in very bad weather while on final approach to the airport and killing all 7 people, including general Omar Torrijos Herrera, country's military dictatorship leader.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panamanian_Air_Force_FAP-205_crash

1989 - Death of George Augustus Vaughn, Jr., American WWI flying ace, who helped to organize the New York Air National Guard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Augustus_Vaughn,_Jr. - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/vaughn.php

1992 - China General Aviation Flight 7552 Yakovlev 42D crashed into a pond past the runway after taking off from Nanjing Daxiaochang Airport killing 108 over 126.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_General_Aviation_Flight_7552

1992 - Thai Airways Flight 311 Airbus A310-304 on approach to Tribhuvan crashes into a mountain north of Kathmandu, Nepal killing all 113 people on board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_Airways_International_Flight_311

1992 - Death of Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire, highly decorated British RAF pilot during WWII and great humanitarian.

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

1992 - Launch of STS-46, NASA space shuttle mission using orbiter Atlantis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-46

1997 - 1st flight of the Boeing 737-800, American short- to medium-range twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner, stretched version of the 737-700.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_737#Orders_and_deliveries

1999 - Lunar Prospector : NASA intentionally crashes the spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the moon's surface.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Prospector#Mission_profile

2002 - 1st flight of the Boeing 747-400ER (Extended Range), Evolution of the famous american four-engine wide-body airliner.

http://www.airliners.net/aircraft-data/stats.main?id=100

2003 - 1st person to skydive across the English Channel using a specially made fibre wing is Felix Baumgartner, Austrian skydiver and Base jumper.

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

2006 - The 15th FAI World Rally Flying Championship in Troyes in France is won by Polish Waclaw Wieczorek and Michal Wieczorek with a PZL-104 Wilga 2000.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15th_FAI_World_Rally_Flying_Championship

2008 - NASA announced that Phoenix confirmed the presence of water ice on Mars, as predicted on 2002 by the Mars Odyssey orbiter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_(spacecraft)#Presence_of_shallow_subsurface_water_ice

2009 - STS-127, NASA Space Shuttle mission Endeavour to the International Space Station (ISS), is back on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-127

2010 - Conair Convair 580 crashed in the Jackass Mountain region in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, while fighting a forest fire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_Convair_CV-240_family