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1897 – Birth of Elsa Andersson, Sweden’s first female aviator and stunt parachutist. 1910 – Frenchman Louis Paulhan takes off his Farman III in the London to Manchester air race, marking the first long-distance aeroplane race in England, the first take-off of a heavier-than-air machine at night, and the first powered flight into Manchester from […]

1898 – Birth of René Leduc, French engineer and aircraft designer who becomes acclaimed for his work on ramjets. 1917 – Lt. Col. William “Billy” Mitchell becomes the first U. S. Army officer to fly over German lines. 1946 – First flight of the Yakovlev Yak-15 (shown), a first-generation Soviet turbojet fighter. 1984 – Death of Philip Fletcher Fullard, British World War I […]

1908 – Birth of Charles “Chuck” L. Sharp, Jr., who led CNAC (China National Aviation Corp.) through turbulent times in China, Burma and India. 1924 – First flight of the Stout 2-AT “Pullman” (shown), an American single-engine, all-metal monoplane designed to haul passengers and cargo. 1941 – German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers sink the […]

1928 – Sir (George) Hubert Wilkins and pilot Carl Ben Eielson complete the first-ever crossing of the Arctic by airplane from Point Barrow, Alaska, to Spitsbergen, Norway, in their Lockheed Vega. 1933 – First flight of the U.S.S. Macon (shown), an American rigid airship built and operated by the U.S. Navy for scouting and capable […]

1891 – Birth of Charles Humphrey Kingsman, British naval aviator during World War I and a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He later makes the first aerial torpedo attack on a ship. 1936 – Vladimir Konstantinovich Kokkinaki performs the Nesterov Loop for the first time with a twin-engine aircraft, […]