1896 – Birth of Helmut Steinbrecher, German World War I flying ace and the first pilot in history to successfully parachute from a stricken airplane.
1934 – Due to bad weather and technical problems, brothers Benjamin and Joseph Adamowicz land their Bellanca J300 “City of Warsaw” in a small meadow near Caen, France. They are the first amateur pilots in the world to make a transatlantic flight.
1947 – First flight of the Vickers Valetta (T.4 variant shown), a British twin-engine military transport.
1950 – Death of Pierre Prier, French engineer, early aviator and aircraft manufacturer.
1962 – Aeroflot Flight SSSR-42370, a Tupolev Tu-104A, is hit by a stray anti-aircraft missile from an air defense exercise in the area. All 84 aboard perish.
1977 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter cancels the Rockwell B-1 Lancer advanced bomber program; it is later resurrected by Carter’s successor, Ronald Reagan.
