SEP07

1917 - 1st flight of The Port Victoria P.V.8 Eastchurch Kitten, prototype British WWI fighter aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Victoria_P.V.8

1917 - Birth of Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire, highly decorated British RAF pilot during WWII.

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

1918 - Death of Rudolf Besel, German WWI flying ace, killed in a flying accident.

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/besel.php

1920 – Two newly purchased Savoia flying boats crash in the Swiss Alps en-route to Finland where they would serve with the Suomen Ilmavoimat, killing both crews.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suomen_Ilmavoimat#History

1923 - 1st flight of The Handley Page Type S (or HPS-1), British low-wing monoplane British carrier based fighter prototype.

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

1924 - Death of Georg von Hantelmann, German WWI fighter ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_von_Hantelmann - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/hantelmann.php

1926 - 1st flight of The Bleriot-SPAD S.51-3, evolution of the French fighter aircraft S-51 with variable-pitch propeller.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/bleriot_s-51.php

1927 - Death of Karl Nikitsch, Austro-Hungarian WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Nikitsch - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/austrhun/nikitsch.php

1927 - Cessna Aircraft Corporation is formed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Cessna#Cessna_Aircraft_Corporation

1927 - Terrence B. Tully and James V.Medcalf were the 1st Canadians to attempt a transatlantic flight. They departed Habour Grace Nfld. in a Stinson Detroiter 'Sir John Carling' and were lost at sea.

http://www.bushplane.com/bushpilots/histories-tully/ - http://www.bushplane.com/bushpilots/histories-medcalf/

http://books.google.fr/books?id=8hVOeMy1XQgC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=Terrence+Tully+aviation&source=bl&ots=hOHgTfOv3B&sig=_u4jqfXJKp6ljyB3SzDsg8Aa-o4&hl=fr&sa=X&ei=5JTJUeOND6ar0AW-x4GwDw&ved=0CEEQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Terrence%20Tully%20aviation&f=false

1929 - Flying a Supermarine S6, Flight Lieutenant R.L.R. Atcherley of the Royal Air Force High Speed Flight establishes a 100 kilometre closed-circuit record of 331mph at Calshot. Italian Tommaso Dal Molin, flying a Macchi M.52R, gains second place with a speed of 457.380 km/h (284.203 mph), sole Italian aircraft finishing the race.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-military-aviation/1929.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macchi_M.52

1929 - Death of Albert Edward Woodbridge, British WWI flying ace.

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

1930 - Death of John Owen Donaldson, American WWI flying ace, Air racer and stunt pilot, president of Newark Air Service, Killed in the crash of a Travel-Air Whirlwind while stunting near Philadelphia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donaldson_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/donaldson.php

1931 - Birth of Franciszek Jarecki, pilot in the Polish Air Force, famous for having escaped Soviet-controlled Poland in a MiG-15 jet.

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

1931 - 1st flight of The Loire 50, single-engined French liaison and training flying boat prototype which will give the Loire 501.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loire_501 - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1268

1931 - Lowell R. Bayles flying the Granville Gee Bee Model Z 'City of Springfield', wins the Thompson Trophy in Cleveland at an average speed of 236.24 miles per hour (380.19 km/h).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gee_Bee_Model_Z#Operational_history - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell_Bayles#Flying

1934 - 1st flight of the Hawker Hardy, general-purpose variant of the british Hawker Hart (two-seater biplane light bomber) tropicalised, a production Hart modified with a modified radiator, a message pick-up hook, water containers and a desert survival kit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Hart#Hardy

1939 - Birth of Stanley David Griggs, US Navy test pilot and NASA astronaut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._David_Griggs

1940 - Largest mass air combat in history takes place during the 4th phase of the Battle of Britain, with 1,200 British and German aircraft operating in an area of only 24 x 48 km (15 x 30 miles). It leaded Hermann Göring to order the Luftwaffe to stop targeting British airfields and attack London itself instead.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-military-aviation/1940.aspx

1940 - 1st flight of The Blohm & Voss BV 222 Wiking, German large, six-engined WWII flying boat, Originally designed as a commercial transport, and produced in only limited quantities, it was both the largest flying boat and largest aircraft to achieve operational status during the war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blohm_%26_Voss_BV_222

1940 - Death of Edmund Rumpler, Austrian automobile and aircraft designer.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Rumpler

1941 - Hawker Hurricane I fighters of No.81 and No.134 Squadrons fly off HMS Argus to land on a Soviet airfield at Vaenga, near Murmansk, to help re-enforce local fighter defences.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-military-aviation/1941.aspx

1942 - 1st flight of The Consolidated B-32 Dominator (Consolidated Model 34), WWII USAAF heavy bomber, last Allied aircraft to be engaged in combat during WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-32_Dominator

1946 - A new world speed record of 615mph is established by Group Captain E.H. Donaldson of the RAF High Speed Flight, while flying a Gloster Meteor IV over Littlehampton.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-military-aviation/1946.aspx

1951 - 1st flight of The Auster B.4, unusual British prototype in an attempt to create a light cargo aircraft issued from the Auster. The conventional fuselage was considerably redesigned, turning it into a pod-and-boom configuration carrying the tail unit on a high boom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auster_B.4

1953 - A new world speed record is established by Squadron Leader Neville Frederick Duke, who averaged a speed of 727mph in runs over a 3 kilometre course at Littlehampton in Sussex, while flying a Hawker Hunter MK3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Duke#Test_pilot - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Hunter#P.1067

1955 - 1st flight of The Sukhoi Su-7 (Fitter-A), soviet swept wing, supersonic fighter aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-7

1959 - 1st flight of The Tupolev Tu-22 'Blinder', 1st supersonic bomber to enter production in the Soviet Union.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-22

1965 - During an aerial combat over enemy territory during the Indo-Pakistan War, Squadron Leader Mohammad Mahmood Alam, of Pakistan Air Force, in an F-86 Sabre Jet, shot down two enemy Hawker Hunter aircraft and damaged three others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Mahmood_Alam#Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1965

1956 - Iven C. Kincheloe becomes the 1st pilot ever to climb above 100,000 ft (30,500 m) as he flew the Bell X-2 to a peak altitude of 126,200 ft (38,466 m).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X-2#Operational_history

1965 - 1st flight of the Bell 209 "Super Cobra", American tandem-seat combat helicopter derived from single-engined UH-1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_AH-1_Cobra#Model_209

1970 - 1st flight of the AEREON 26, American experimental aircraft developed to investigate lifting body design with a view to using its shape to create hybrid designs, part airship, part conventional aircraft. It was powered by a piston engine, driving a pusher propeller, and generated lift through the aerodynamics of its lozenge-shaped fuselage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AEREON_26#Flying_history

1972 - 1st flight of the 2nd prototype Dassault Mercure, French twin-engined jet-powered airliner.

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

1981 - Death of Edwin Albert Link, American pioneer in aviation, underwater archaeology, and ocean engineering, most remembered for inventing the flight simulator, commercialized in 1929, called the "Blue Box" or "Link Trainer".

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

1968 - American Max Conrad, with a Piper PA-23 Aztec, sets a distance record over closed course of 8,549.2 km (5,312.2 mi)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Conrad#FAI_certified_world_records

1982 - 1st flight of the Bell 222UT, (Utility Twin) Utility evolution of the american twin-engined light helicopter.

http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/bell_222.php

1988 - Soyuz TM-5, Soviet mission to Mir, is back on earth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TM-5

1988 - 1st flight of The McDonnell Douglas F-15 STOL/MTD (Short Takeoff and Landing/Maneuver Technology Demonstrator), modified F-15 Eagle. Research for studying the effects of vectored thrust and enhanced maneuverability.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-15_S/MTD

1990 - Death of Earle Everard "Pat" Partridge, USAF pilot, Movie stunt pilot (Wings) and high ranking officer during and post WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earle_E._Partridge

1991 - Death of Chandler Cole 'Chan' Ross, American engineer. Director of numerous advanced projects at Aerojet (including Aerotojet, Aerorocket, NERVA).

http://www.astronautix.com/astros/rosschan.htm

1995 - Launch of STS-69, Space Shuttle Endeavour mission.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-69

1997 - 1st flight of The Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor, american single-seat, twin-engine 5th-generation supermaneuverable fighter aircraft that uses stealth technology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-22_Raptor

2009 - Indonesian Navy GAF Nomad N.24A crashed during a patrol in the area of Bulungan, East Borneo, killing 5 over 9.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAF_Nomad#Notable_incidents

2010 - Alrosa Mirny Air Enterprise Flight 514 Tupolev Tu-154M suffered a complete electrical failure en route, leading to a loss of navigational systems. The electrically operated fuel transfer pumps were also affected, meaning that the aircraft was unable to reach its intended destination. The aircraft overran the disused runway at the closed Izhma Airport on emergency landing and was damagedbut none of the 81 on board were injured.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alrosa_Mirny_Air_Enterprise_Flight_514

2010 - 1st flight of the Aerovel Flexrotor, American vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS).

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/flexrotor-makes-first-flight-347112/

http://www.aerovelco.com/Flexrotor.html

2011 - A Yakovlev Yak-42D passenger plane was destroyed when it crashed about 2 km from the runway of Yaroslavl Airport (IAR), Russia. 44 people were killed over 45. The aircraft ran off the runway before lifting off, failed to gain altitude, struck a tower mast, caught fire and crashed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Lokomotiv_Yaroslavl_air_disaster

2013 - Launch of The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), NASA lunar exploration mission to study the lunar exosphere and dust in the Moon's vicinity.

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