OCT07

1919 - KLM, flag carrier of the Netherlands, is founded. It is the oldest airline still operating under its original name.

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

1920 - 1st flight of the SPAD S-20bis-6, French biplane racer aircraft prototype, issued from the original fighter version.

http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=4139

1932 - 1st flight of The Stipa-Caproni, also generally called the Caproni Stipa, experimental Italian aircraft featuring a featured a hollow, barrel-shaped fuselage with the engine and propeller completely enclosed by the fuselage—in essence, the whole fuselage was a single ducted fan and was an important step in the development of jet propulsion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stipa-Caproni

1933 - Air France is formed from a merger of Air Orient, Air Union, Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne (CIDNA), and Société Générale de Transport Aérien (SGTA).

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

1933 - 1st flight of the Wibault 365, French 6-passenger low wing monoplane single engined airliner prototype, reengined version of the 360.

http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9424

1934 - 1st flight of he Tupolev ANT-40 (also known by its service name Tupolev SB), Soviet high speed twin-engined three-seat monoplane bomber.

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

1935 - United Airlines Boeing 247D struck the ground in a shallow descent just below a small knoll near Silver Crown, Wyoming, killing all 12. Probable cause was determined to be pilot error in failing to monitor altitude or location

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

1938 - Death of Hermann Köhl, German Aviation pioneer and pilot of the 1st trans-atlantic flight in the East-West direction with the Junker W33 'Bremen'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_K%C3%B6hl

1939 - Death of Hanada Tomio, Japanese russo-Japanese war fighter ace, killed in a mid-air collision on a training flight with his Nakjima Ki-27.

http://www.cieldegloire.com/010_hanada_t.php

1940 - A Tupolev ANT-44 (or MTB-2) , Soviet four-engine flying boat, achieved a FAI record for amphibians at maximum speed of 241.9 km/h (131 kn, 150 mph) over 1,000 km (540 nmi, 621 mi) with a 2,000 kg (4,409 lb) payload.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_MTB-2

1943 - Death of Takeo Banno, Japanese WWII flying ace, Killed in action.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_aces_from_Japan#B

1944 - Death of Helmut Lent, German WWII night-fighter ace, due to injuries after the crash of his Junkers Ju-88 two days before, when his left engine failed on approach, strucking high-voltage cables.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Lent#Death - http://www.luftwaffe.cz/lent.html

1958 - Death of Adolphe Aloys Marie Hubert duBois d'Aische, Belgian WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolphe_DuBois_d'Aische - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/belgium/duboisdaische.php

1959 - Luna 3, Soviet space probe, transmits the 1st ever photographs of the far side of the Moon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_3#Mission

1961 - A Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-166 (Fictitious designation of the Ye-152-1) set an absolute speed record over a 100km closed-circuit of 2601km/h.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/mig_e-152p.php

1961 - A class speed record is set at 356.3 km/h by the Kamov Ka-22 "Vintokryl", Soviet experimental transport rotorcraft, fitted with spats over the wheels and a fairing behind the cockpit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamov_Ka-22#Operational_history

1961 - Derby Aviation Douglas Dakota IV crashed at an altitude of 7500 ft (2200 m) on the mountain of Canigou, France killing all 34, probably due to navigational error.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Derby_Aviation_crash

1963 - 1st flight of The Learjet 23, American six to eight seat (two crew and four to six passengers) twin-engined, high speed business jet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learjet_23

1965 - Luna 7, (Lunik 7) Soviet unmanned space mission which intended to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, impacted the lunar surface in Oceanus Procellarum, due to premature retrofire and cutoff of the retrorockets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_7

1969 - Birth of Karen LuJean Nyberg, American mechanical engineer and NASA astronaut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_L._Nyberg

1976 - Death of Jean Marie Luc Gilbert Sardier, French WWI flying ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Sardier - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/sardier.php

1980 - Death of Carl Frederick Falkenberg, Canadian WWI fighter ace, and WWII RACF instructor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Frederick_Falkenberg - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/falkenberg.php

1985 - Space Shuttle Atlantis (NASA STS-51-J Mission) is back on earth completing it's 1st flight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-51-J - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Atlantis

1989 - 1st flight of the Enstrom TH-28, American small, training light patrol helicopter, which will lead to the model 480.

http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/enstrom-480.php

1994 - Launch of Solidaridad II, Mexican communications satellite.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidaridad_II

1995 - 1st flight of the Mitsubishi F-2, American-Japanese multirole fighter aircraft for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_F-2

1995 - 1st flight of The Learjet 45 (LJ45), Canadian-American mid-sized business jet aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learjet_45

2000 - Death of Walter ´Graf Pinski` Krupinski, German WWII fighter ace, one of the 1st to fly the Me 262 jet fighter in combat, senior West German air force officer after the war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Krupinski - http://www.luftwaffe.cz/krupinski.html

2001 - Beginning of the War in Afghanistan : Airstrikes are driven over the capital, Kabul (where electricity supplies were severed), at the airport, at Kandahar (home of the Taliban's Supreme Leader Mullah Omar), and in the city of Jalalabad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%93present)

2002 - Launch of STS-112, space shuttle mission Atlantis to the International Space Station (ISS).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-112

2008 - Qantas Flight 72 Airbus A330-303 made an emergency landing at Learmonth airport near the town of Exmouth, Western Australia following an inflight accident featuring a pair of sudden uncommanded pitch-down manoeuvres that resulted in serious injuries to 115 occupants over 315.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qantas_Flight_72

2010 - Launch of Soyuz TMA-01M, Russian space flight to the ISS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TMA-01M