MARCH12
1863 - Birth of Gabriele D'Annunzio or d'Annunzio (ennobled by the King of Italy in 1924 as Principe di Montenevoso), Italian poet, journalist, novelist, dramatist, daredevil and WWI pilot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriele_D%27Annunzio - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_over_Vienna
1891 - Birth of Wilhelm "Willi" Reinhard, German WWI fighter ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reinhard - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/reinhard.php
1892 - Birth of Charles Gordon Ross, South African WWI fighter ace who served in WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_G._Ross_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/safrica/ross.php
1894 - Birth of William Henry "Harry" Brown, Canadian WWI flying ace
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/brown7.php
1895 - Birth of Major General William Carey "Bill" Lee , American U.S. Army soldier and general, often referred to as the "Father of the U.S. Airborne"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C._Lee
1908 - 1st flight by Frederick W. Baldwin of the Red Wing (or Aerodrome #1) early aircraft designed by Thomas Selfridge off the frozen Keuka Lake near Hammondsport, New York in what would be the first public demonstration of a powered aircraft flight in the United States as well as the 1st flight by a Canadian pilot. It was named for the bright red color of its silk wings - chosen to achieve the best result with the photography techniques of the day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AEA_Red_Wing
1911 - Birth of Alfonso Mattei, Spanish war and WWII italian flying ace.
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/italy_mattei.htm
1912 - Birth of Charles Goujon, French WWII fighter pilot and test pilot.
http://www.bibert.fr/Joseph_Bibert_fichiers/Charles%20Goujon.pdf - http://pdennez.free.fr/hommes/html/h063a.html
1912 - At the request of the Signal Corps, Frank Purdy Lahm, American aviation pioneer, the "nation's first military aviator", opened a seasonal flying school on the polo ground of Fort William McKinley near Manila
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Purdy_Lahm
1914 - 1st flight of the Curtiss Model J, American biplane prototype tractor configuration aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_Model_J
1915 - A Burgess H biplane (No. 28) sets a world endurance record for a pilot and two passengers by remaining in the air for 7 hours 5 minutes. This particular airplane has been modified by Grover C. Loening at the army training school in San Diego.
http://www.wingsoverkansas.com/history/article.asp?id=1012 - http://www.sportys.com/source/slashpages/interestingFact.cfm?catalog=WrightBros
1918 - John Stanley Chick, Welsch WWI fighter ace, and British Percy Douglas as Observer, drove down out of control a German observation plane and 4 Fokker Dr.I fighters on a single sortie with their Bristol F.2b .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stanley_Chick - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/wales/chick.php - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/douglas.php
1920 - Birth of Walter Omiccioli, Italian WWII pilot who flew in the italian Air force until 1973, commanding a T-33 Squadron.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Omiccioli
1923 - Birth of Walter Marty Schirra, Jr., American test pilot, United States Navy officer, and one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts. He is the only person to fly in all of America's first three space programs (Mercury, Gemini and Apollo), fifth American and the ninth human to ride a rocket into space. He was the first person to go into space three times.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wally_Schirra
1925 - 1st flight of the Fokker F.VIIa (F.VIIa/1m), Single-engined transport aircraft, slightly larger than F.VII with new undercarriage and wing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_F.VII
1927 - 1st flight of The Fokker F.VIII (or F.8), large twin-engined airliner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_F.VIII
1928 - Death of Samuel Marcus Kinkead, South African WWI fighter ace, while attempting to break the world air speed record in a Supermarine S5.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Kinkead - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/safrica/kinkead.php
1929 - German newspaper Die Weltbühne publishes an article in which is reported the secret rearmament of the german military aviation.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weltb%C3%BChne-Prozess
1930 - 1st flight of the Blériot Bl-111/3 (the Bl-111/2 Modified), French Single engine Low wing monoplane transport prototype
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1664
1930 - Death of William George 'Billy' Barker, Canadian WWI fighter ace, when he lost control of his Fairchild KR-21 biplane trainer during a demonstration flight for the RCAF, at Air Station Rockcliffe, near Ottawa, Ontario. He was at the time the President and General Manager of Fairchild Aircraft in Montreal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_George_Barker - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/barker.php
1931 - 1st flight of the Nieuport-Delage NiD-650 (a modified NiD-450), French low wing float plane racer prototype designed for the Schneider race
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1873
1935 - 1st flight of the Nieuport Ni-140, French Low gull wing twin seat dive bomber prototype.
http://socyberty.com/military/nieuport-ni-140/ - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=855 - http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/nieuport-140.php
1936 - Death of Friedrich Theodor Noltenius, German WWI flying ace, in the crash of his Bucker Jungmann on take-off.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_T._Noltenius - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/noltenius.php
1936 - 1st flight of the Salmson D-3 'Phryganet', French high wing light tourer aircraft prototype, 2 seat version of the Phrygane serie.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1158
1938 - 1st flight of The PZL.44 Wicher , Polish prototype of 14-seat, twin-engine airliner to compete with the DC-2 and Lockheed Super Electra.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL.44_Wicher
1938 - Compañía Aeronáutica Uruguaya S.A. (CAUSA), Uruguayan airline company, begin operations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compa%C3%B1%C3%ADa_Aeron%C3%A1utica_Uruguaya
1939 - 1st flight of The Luton L.A.5 Major, British two-seat high-wing cabin monoplane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luton_Major
1943 - Death of Giorgio Savoja (Savoia), Italian WWII fighter pilot.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Savoja
1943 - Birth of James Phillip Fleming, USAF helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_P._Fleming
1944 - Death of Yoshiro Kuwabara, Japanese WWII fighter ace, Killed in action in his Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa by a P-38.
http://www.cieldegloire.com/010_kuwabara_y.php -
1945 - 1st flight of the last bomber variant of the De Havilland Mosquito (Model B35)
http://rafmuseum-1.titaninternet.co.uk/london/collections/aircraft/de-havilland-mosquito-b35.cfm
1947 - 1st flight of The Douglas Cloudster II, American prototype five-seat light aircraft, with an unusual layout: two buried piston engines driving a single pusher propeller.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Cloudster_II
1948 - Northwest Airlines Flight 4422 Douglas C-54G-1-DO crashed into Mount Sanford, Alaska, killing all 30 on board.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Airlines_Flight_4422
1949 - 1st flight of the SNCAC NC-856, french high wing 3 seat tourer prototype.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=4135
1950 - An Avro 689 Tudor V Star Girl owned by Airflight Limited and being operated under the "Fairflight" name crash while approaching runway 28 of Llandow aerodrome at an abnormally low altitude with the undercarriage down. The pilot attempted to correct the descent by increasing the power of the engines and brought the plane up. The aircraft rose steeply to 100 m (300 ft) attaining a nose-up attitude of 35 degrees to the vertical, and then the aircraft stalled.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llandow_air_disaster
1953 - A RAF Avro Lincoln (RF531 "C") of Central Gunnery School was shot down 20 mi (32 km) NE of Lüneburg, Germany by a Soviet MiG-15 as it flew to Berlin on a training flight, resulting in the deaths of the seven crew members.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Lincoln
1955 - 1st flight of The Aérospatiale Alouette II (SE 3130), light helicopter originally manufactured by Sud Aviation and later Aérospatiale, both of France. The Alouette II was the 1st production helicopter to use a gas turbine instead of a conventional heavier piston engine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%C3%A9rospatiale_Alouette_II
1956 - 1st flight of the Brochet MB-110, French high wing single e,gine 4 seat tourer prototype.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brochet_MB-110 - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9797
1957 - Death of Jackie Linwood "Jack" Ridley, aeronautical engineer, USAF test pilot and chief of the air force's Flight Test Engineering Laboratory. He helped develop and test many cold war era military aircraft but is best known for his work on the Bell X-1. He died in the crash of a C-47 into a snow-covered mountainside northwest of Tokyo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ridley_(pilot)
1959 - 1st flight of The Aero Boero AB-95, small Argentine civil utility aircraft, high-wing monoplane with fixed tailwheel undercarriage built of fabric-covered metal structure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Boero_AB-95
1963 - Birth of Patricia Consolatrix Hilliard Robertson, American physician and a NASA astronaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Robertson
1964 - 1st flight of the Morane-Saulnier MS-881 Rallye 'Club', French 3 seat low wing monoplane tourer aircraft.
http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9562
1966 - Death of Sir Sydney Camm, English aeronautical engineer who contributed to many Hawker aircraft designs, from the biplanes of the 1920s to jet fighters. One particularly notable aircraft he designed is the Hawker Hurricane fighter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Camm
1973 - Death of André Robert Lévy, French WWI flying ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Robert_L%C3%A9vy - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/levy.php
1974 - 1st flight of the René Fournier RF-6B, French 2 seat light trainer aircraft.
http://www.aviastar.org/manufacturers/0920.html - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9516
1979 - Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc. (ASA), American airline, is formed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Southeast_Airlines
1981 - Launch of Soyuz-T4, Soviet space mission to dock with Salyut-6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_T-4
1985 - Launch of GEOSAT (GEOdetic SATellite),U.S. Navy Earth observation satellite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geosat
2002 - Death of Horace A. Hanes, American WWII and Korean war Fighter pilot, USAF test pilot and high ranking officer.
http://www.locategrave.org/l/1165119/Horace-A-Hanes-CO - http://www.af.mil/information/bios/bio.asp?bioID=5690
2002 - STS-109 (SM3B), NASA space shuttle Columbia mission for Hubble Space Telescope servicing, Last successful mission for Columbia before STS-107, is back on earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-109
2004 - 1st flight of the The Embraer ERJ-190, narrow-body, twin-engine, medium-range, jet airliner, part of the E-Jet Family.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_E-Jet_family#E-190_and_195
2010 - Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 Airbus A330-202 crashed on approach 900 metres (980 yd) short of Runway 09 at Tripoli International Airport killing 103 over 104.