Civilian

1920 – Birth of Ivan Mykytovych Kozhedub, Soviet Ukrainian military aviator and World War II fighter ace who also served during Korean War. 1926 – Death of Jurgis Dobkevicius, Lithuanian aviator and aircraft designer, who dies in the crash of a Dobi-III, a single-seat, high-wing monoplane of his own design. 1953 – The U.S. Air Force […]

1890 – Birth of Andre Jean Delorme, French World War I flying ace. 1933 – The last Ford Trimotor (also known as “The Tin Goose”), an American three-engined transport plane, is produced. 1938 – First flight of the Douglas DC-4E (shown), an American experimental airliner that resulted in an entirely new design, the successful DC-4/C-54. 1985 – Death of Frank Harold Taylor, […]

The pilot of a U.S. Navy Blue Angels jet was killed Thursday during practice for a weekend air show, hours after an Air Force Thunderbirds F-16 crashed following a flyover at the U.S. Air Force Academy commencement ceremony attended by the President, officials said. The Navy said the Blue Angels pilot died from injuries suffered […]

1905 – Birth of Carlo Romagnoli, Spanish War and World War II Italian flying ace. 1936 – First flight of the Fairey Seafox, a British single-engine reconnaissance floatplane. 1961 – The first crossing of the English Channel by a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft is made by the Short SC.1 (shown), flown by A. Roberts, […]

1914 – Death of Gustav Hamel, pioneer British aviator, over the English Channel while returning from Paris in a new 80-hp Morane-Saulnier monoplane. 1916 – Birth of Tiberiu Vinca, Romanian World War II flying ace. 1938 – First flight of the Fiat CR.42 (shown), Italian single-seat sesquiplane fighter. 1958 – Flying a Douglas F4D-1 Skyray, U.S. Marine Corps Major Edward N. LeFaivre breaks five world climb-to-height records, […]