SEP28
1879 - On a trip in high winds from East St. Louis, Illinois over Lake Michigan, American balloonist John Wise disppeared with his balloon 'Pathfinder'. No trace of Wise or the balloon "Pathfinder" have ever been found.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wise_(balloonist)#Disappearance
1892 - Birth of Edmond Thieffry, Belgian WWI flying ace and aviation pioneer, cofounder of Sabena, who made the 1st successful flight between Belgium and Congo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmond_Thieffry - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/belgium/thieffry.php
1892 - Birth of Belvin (Melvin) Womble Maynard, American early aviator, Army pilot and raid pilot.
http://www.archives.ncdcr.gov/ffc/Flight/Aviation/Belvin_Maynard.html
1894 - Birth of Antonio Amantea, Italian WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Amantea - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/amantea.php
1894 - Birth of Frank Benjamin Tyndall, American WWI pilot, test pilot.
1896 - Birth of Carleton Cole Champion, US Naval aviator and record setter.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=64501160
1902 - Birth of Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasishchev, Soviet aircraft designer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Mikhailovich_Myasishchev
1903 - Birth of Tateo Kato, Japanese 2nd Sino-Japanese War and WWII fighter ace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tateo_Kat%C5%8D - http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/japan_kato.htm - http://www.cieldegloire.com/010_kato_t.php
1912 - Death of Frank S. Scott, 1st enlisted member of the United States armed forces to lose his life in an aircraft accident, Killed in the crash of a Type-B Wright biplane along with pilot Lewis C. Rockwell.
1913 - Death of Bertram Dickson, pioneer Scottish airman and 1st British serviceman to qualify as a pilot, One of the two 1st pilots (René Thomas) involved in a mid-air collision.
1915 - Birth of Frank Neubert, German WWII dive bomber pilot, believed to have been the 1st victor in aerial combat in WWII.
1917 - Death of Kurt Wissemann, German WWI flying ace, Killed in action, credited with shooting down french fighter ace Georges Guynemer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Wissemann - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/wissemann.php
1917 - Death of lwyne Travers "Button" Loyd, British WWI flying ace, killed in action in his D.H.5.
http://theaerodrome.com/aces/england/loyd.php
1918 - Death of Risdon MacKenzie Bennett, british WWI flying ace, Killed in action.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/bennett3.php
1920 - American pilot Howard Max Rinehart, flying a Dayton-Wright R.B Racer, becomes the 1st person to fly an airplane fitted with a retractable landing gear during the Gordon Bennett Trophy at Reims, France.
http://eaa958.org/newsletters/0912.pdf
1921 - Lt. John Arthur Macready flew his Packard-Le Peré LUSAC-11 Biplane to a 34,508-foot (10,518 m) world record, receiving the Mackay Trophy for this record.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packard-Le_Per%C3%A9_LUSAC-11#Operational_history - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackay_Trophy#1920s
1923 - The Schneider Trophy race flown at Cowes, UK, is Won by David Rittenhouse (USA) in a Curtiss CR.3 at 285.5 km/h (177.4 mph).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schneider_Trophy
1924 - 2 of 4 Douglas World Cruisers ('Chicago' and 'New Orleans') of the U.S. Army Air Service arrive in Seattle, completing the 1st aerial circumnavigation of the world, taking 175 days for the journey, a Flying time of 371 hours 11 minutes which required 57 stops.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_World_Cruiser
1925 - 1st flight of the SPAD S-56/2, French single engine biplane small airliner prototype, re-engined version of the initial prototype.
http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9398 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bl%C3%A9riot-SPAD_S.56
1925 - 1st Annual Aerial Reliability Tour (Ford Reliability Tour) starts. The course was over 1900 miles with stops in 10 cities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_National_Reliability_Air_Tour#1925_National_Air_Tour
1927 - Lt Dick Bently of the South African Air Force arrives in South Africa after having made the 1st solo flight there from England in a de Havilland DH60X Moth.
1933 - French Gustave Lemoine sets a new altitude record of 13,661 m (44,820 ft) in a Potez 506
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_altitude_record - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=10156
1934 - 1st flight of The Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 'Sparviero', 3-engined Italian medium bomber with a wood and metal structure originally designed as a fast passenger aircraft. This low-wing monoplane, set 26 world records that qualified it for some time as the fastest medium bomber in the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savoia-Marchetti_SM.79
1936 - Squadron Leader F.R.D. Swain took off from Farnborough with the Bristol Type 138 and climbed to an indicated 51,000 ft (15,440 m), engaging the auxiliary supercharger at 35,000 ft ( m). Swain ran low on oxygen on the two-hour flight and had to break the window of his pressure helmet once he had descended to a safe height. The data from this flight was homologated by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale as a world's record of 49,967 ft (15,230 m).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Type_138#Operational_history
1938 - 1st flight of The Avia B.35 (RLM designation Av-35), fighter prototype aircraft built in Czechoslovakia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avia_B.35
1940 - Birth of Aleksandr Sergeyevich Ivanchenkov, Soviet cosmonaut.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Ivanchenkov
1952 - 1st flight of The Dassault MD.454 Mystère IV, French fighter-bomber aircraft, 1st transonic aircraft to enter service in French Air Force
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Myst%C3%A8re_IV - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1014
1954 - The North American X-10 Navaho Successfully made extreme maneuvers at Mach 1.84. However automated landing system attempted to make landing flare 6 m below the runway level. Vehicle impacted at high speed and was destroyed. However the flight set a speed record for a turbojet-powered aircraft.
http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/navhox10.htm
1955 - Death of Lionel Wilmot Brabazon Rees, Welsh WWI Flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Rees - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/wales/rees.php
1955 - 1st flight of The CASA C-207 Azor, spanish twin engine transport aircraft, scaled-up version of the CASA C-202 Halcón.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CASA_C-207_Azor
1956 - Death of William Edward Boeing (born "Wilhelm Edward Böing"), American aviation pioneer who founded The Boeing Company.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Edward_Boeing
1964 - Birth of Pier Paolo Racchetti, Italian Airliner pilot.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier_Paolo_Racchetti
1967 - Death of William Gordon Claxton Canadian WWI flying ace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gordon_Claxton - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/claxton.php
1970 - 1st flight of The Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Westwind, business jet that became a cornerstone of the Israeli aircraft manufacturing industry. (Initialy Aero Commander 1121 Jet Commander)
http://www.aviastar.org/air/israel/iai_westwind.php
1970 - Death of St. Clair Streett, known as "Bill", American aviation pioneer, USAF major general and writer who first organized and led the Strategic Air Command (SAC).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Clair_Streett
1971 - Launch of Luna 19 (a.k.a. Lunik 19) (Ye-8-LS series), Soviet unmanned space mission to the moon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_19
1972 - 1st flight of the Robin HR-100/210 'Safari', French 4 seat cabin monoplane tourer.
http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=10092
1976 - Death of Raymond 'Collie' Collishaw, WWI RAF distinguished Canadian fighter ace, squadron leader, and commanding officer who served in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) and later the Royal Air Force. He was the highest scoring RNAS flying ace and the second highest scoring Canadian pilot of WWI and also served during WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Collishaw - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/collishaw.php
1979 - 1st flight of the Eurocopter AS355 Ecureuil 2 (Twin Squirrel - Twin Star), French multirole twin engined 5 seat helicopter.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocopter_AS350_%C3%89cureuil#AS355_.C3.89cureuil_2_:_bimoteur
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocopter_AS355
1980 - 1st to fly the Atlantic standing on wing : German Stuntman Jarorim Wagner start a 46 hrs flight from Lutzellinden (Germany) to New-york (USA)
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BCtzellinden#Besondere_Ereignisse
1988 - 1st flight of the Ilyushin Il-96, Russian four-engined long-haul widebody airliner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-96
1992 - Pakistan International Airlines Flight 268 Airbus A300B4-203 crashed on approach to Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport killing all 167.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIA_Flight_268
2007 - 1st flight of The Kawasaki XP-1 (previously P-X), Japanese military Maritime patrol aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_P-1
2008 - Shenzhou 7, human spaceflight mission of the Chinese space program, is back on earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhou_7
2008 – SpaceX launches the 1st ever private spacecraft, the Falcon 1, into orbit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_1
2009 - 1st flight of The TAI/AgustaWestland T-129, (AgustaWestland designation AW729) , Italian/Turkish attack helicopter, enhanced version of the Agusta A129 Mangusta.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAI/AgustaWestland_T-129
2012 - Sita Air Flight 601 Dornier Do 228 stroke a bird shortly after takeoff from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, crashed on the banks of the Manohara river and caught fire. All 19 perished.