SEP24
1852 - French engineer, Henri Giffard, flies the 1st powered, manned airship. Powered by a steam engine and propeller, the airship flies at about 5-mph and covers 17 miles from Paris to Trappes, France. The craft marks the beginning of the practical airship
1884 - Birth of William 'Billy' C. Robinson, Early american aviator and aircraft designer.
http://earlyaviators.com/erobbil1.htm - http://www.casamusica.com/Ewart/Billy%20Robinson.htm
1889 - Death of Charles Leroux, born as Joseph Johnson, American balloonist and parachutist, drowned in his parachute as strong winds brought him to the sea in Tallinn, russia.
1892 - Birth of Hans Schilling, german WWI flying ace (as observer).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Schilling_(aviator) - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/schilling.php
1892 - Birth of Edwin Charles "Ted" Parsons, American former French Foreign Legionnaire, WWI flying ace, Rear Admiral of the US Navy, Hollywood aviation technical advisor, FBI Special Agent, and author.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_C._Parsons - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/parsons.php
1893 - Birth of Jean Pie Hyacinthe Paul Jerome Casale, French WWI fighter ace, record setter and test pilot for Blériot.
1895 - Birth of Hans Joachim Wolff, German WWI flying ace.
1910 - 1st UK aircraft reconnaissance is made during the British Army's autumn manoeuvres, when Captain Bertram Dickson locates the 'Blue Army'. Unfortunately, Dickson is captured when he lands in 'enemy territory' to make his report and is later interviewed by the Home Secretary, Winston S. Churchill, who shows great interest in the possibilities of aerial reconnaissance in warfare.
1911 - HMA N°1 'Mayfly', aerial scout airship for the British Royal Navy, 1st British rigid airship to be built, breaks in half and is wrecked during a pre-commissioning ground test.
1912 - While being removed from its shed to commence acceptance trials, Admiralty Airship HMA No.1 'Mayfly' is caught by a sudden squall and after being righted her back broke. The airship is not repaired and never flies.
1914 - Lieutenants D.S. Lewis and B.T. James use airborne radio for the 1st time in warfare. Both members of No.4 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, were involved in directing an artillery shoot from the air during the 1st Battle of the Aisne. Their radio log begins "A very little short. Fire! Fire!" And ends 40 minutes later with "I am coming home now".
1916 - 11 Zeppelins attack England in a mass air-raid. Two are shot down, LZ 76 by ground fire, and LZ 74 by Lt Frederick Sowrey with his BE2c .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Sowrey#World_War_I_aerial_service
1918 - Lt David Ingalls claims his 5th victory with a Sopwith Camel, becoming the only US Navy ace of WWI and 1st USN fighter ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ingalls - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/ingalls.php
1918 - Death of Edward Dannett Asbury, British WWI flying ace, killed in action in his D.H.9
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/asbury.php
1920 - Birth of Richard Ira "Dick" Bong, US highest-scoring air ace, (40 Japanese aircraft during WWII, all with the P-38 Lightning).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bong - http://www.historynet.com/richard-ira-bong-american-world-war-ii-ace-of-aces.htm
1921 - Birth of Paul Howard Poberezny, American aviator, WWII and Korean war pilot, aircraft designer, famous for his work in establishing the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and promoting homebuilt aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Poberezny
1923 - The sole French fighter prototype Liore-Olivier LeO-9 crashed at Villacoublay after the wing folded during a very sharp turn, killing test pilot Gaston Martin. Project cancelled.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/liore_9.php
1926 - Death of Heinrich Kostrba, Austro Hungarian WWI flying ace, 1st Austro-Hungarian pilot to score 3 victories in a single day and who founded and led the Czechoslovakian Flying Corps Post war, killed in a flying accident.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Kostrba - http://theaerodrome.com/aces/austrhun/kostrba.php
1929 - Lt Jimmy Doolittle is the 1st pilot to make a completely blind take-off, flight, and landing.
http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/1993/November%201993/1193doolittle.aspx
1930 - 1st flight of The Short S.8/8 Rangoon, British three-engined biplane flying-boat, Developed from the Short S.8 Calcutta.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Rangoon
1930 - Birth of John Watts Young, American astronaut, test pilot, naval officer, and aeronautical engineer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Young_(astronaut)
1934 - Alan Cobham takes off from Portsmouth in the prototype Airspeed AS.5 Courier (British six-seat single-engined light aircraft) on an attempted flight to India, being refuelled from a Handley Page W.10 but makes a forced landing at Malta due to a broken throttle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airspeed_Courier#Development
1935 - 1st flight of the Potez 453, French single seat monoplane flying boat fighter prototype.
http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/potez-453.php - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1597
1935 - French aviatrix Maryse Hilz set a women's altitude record of 7,388 metres with the trainer/touring aircraft prototype Mauboussin M-122 'Corsaire Major'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauboussin_M.120 - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9524
1938 - A Tupolev ANT-37 (DB-2) takes off for a world's record for distance flown by a woman crew (Valentina Grizodubova, Polina Osipenko, and Marina Raskova).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_ANT-37
1942 - 1st flight of the Canadian Built de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito, British multi-role combat aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Mosquito#Bombers
1943 - Ernst Jachmann complete an endurance flight of 55 hrs and 51 min in a thermal with his single-seat glider.
1944 - The Akitsushima, seaplane tender of the Imperial Japanese Navy, is sunk in Coron Bay off Coron Island in the Philippine Islands, by U.S. Navy carrier aircrafts from Task Force 38.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_seaplane_tender_Akitsushima#Operational_Service
1946 - Cathay Pacific, flag carrier of Hong Kong, is formed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathay_Pacific_Airways
1956 - Formation of the post war German air force: the Luftwaffe der Deutschen Bundesrepublik.
1958 - 1st successful use of an AIM-9 Sidewinder, a F-86 Sabre from Taiwan shot down a Chinese Mig-15.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_F-86_Sabre#1958_Taiwan_Strait_Crisis
1959 - Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux (TAI) Douglas DC-7C crashed during its departure from Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport, France when it flew into trees, killing 54 over 65.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959_TAI_Douglas_DC-7_accident
1960 - 1st nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (CVN-65), is launched.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(CVN-65)
1966 - Marina Solovyeva sets a new women's airspeed record of 2,044 km/h (1,270 mph) in the Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-76
1970 - Luna 16 (Ye-8-5 series), Soviet unmanned space mission to the moon is back on earth. It is the 1st robotic probe to land on the Moon and return a sample of lunar soil to Earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_16
1975 - Garuda Indonesia Airways Flight 150 Fokker F-28 Fellowship crashed on approach due to poor weather and fog just 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) from the town of Palembang, killing 25 out of 61 and one person on ground.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garuda_Indonesia_Flight_150
1975 - Death of René Thomas, French motor racing champion and pioneer aviator. One of the 1st two pilots involved in a mid-air collision.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rene_Thomas_(auto_racing)
1981 - An Ilyushin Il-86 flown by Commander G Volokhov and Second Pilot A Tyuryumin set Fédération Aéronautique Internationale records for flying payloads of 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75 and 80-tonne payloads over a 1,000 km closed circuit at an average of 962 km/h
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-86#Setting_records
1987 - 1st unrefuelled transatlantic crossing by a British fighter is made by a Panavia Tornado F3 returning to the United Kingdom from Arizona. The aircraft covered the 2200 nautical miles from Canada in 4 hours 45 minutes.
1996 - Death of Henry Charles Gordon, USAF fighter pilot in the Korean and Vietnam wars, test pilot and astronaut in the X-20 Dyna-Soar program.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_C._Gordon
1998 - 1st flight of The Beriev Be-200 Altair, Russian multipurpose amphibious aircraft , designed for fire fighting, search and rescue, maritime patrol, cargo, and passenger transportation,.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beriev_Be-200
1998 - 1st flight of The CarterCopter, American experimental compound autogyro to demonstrate slowed rotor technology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CarterCopter
2010 – Wind Jet Flight 243, operated by Airbus A319-132, landed short of the runway at Punta Raisi Airport, Palermo, Italy after encountering a thunderstorm and windshear on approach. The aircraft was substantially damaged when it impacted the localiser. Both main undercarriage sets collapsed and the aircraft was evacuated by the emergency slides. Around 20 passengers were injured in the evacuation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_Jet#Incidents_and_accidents
2011 - The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), NASA-operated orbital observatory whose mission to study the Earth’s atmosphere, particularly the protective ozone layer, re-entered Earth's atmosphere. Considerable media attention surrounded the event, largely due to NASA's predictions that substantial parts of the satellite might reach the ground, potentially endangering inhabited areas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Atmosphere_Research_Satellite