1889 – Birth of Godwin Brumowski, the most successful ace of the Austro-Hungarian Air Force during World War I.
1912 – U.S. Navy Lt. John Rodgers and Ensign Charles Maddox, in a Wright B1 Flyer, send the first wireless message from an airplane to a ship, the torpedo boat U.S.S. Stringham, near Annapolis, Md.
1929 – Frenchman Joanny Burtin sets a world altitude record of 26,531 feet for airplanes with a 1-ton load. Burtin’s flight also proves that at high altitudes, fuel consumption drops considerably and wind resistance is reduced, making high-altitude flying more economical and profitable.
1944 – The first jet aircraft combat takes place when Alfred Schreiber, flying Luftwaffe Messerschmitt a Me 262, intercepted and attacked a Royal Air Force de Havilland Mosquito PR, a photo-reconnaissance aircraft, during World War II.
1964 – Death of Joseph “Joe” B. Duckworth, a U.S. Air Force and commercial pilot; he was regarded as the father of modern instrument flight and was the first person to fly through the eye of a hurricane.
2010 – The Sikorsky X2 demonstrator (shown above), an American experimental compound helicopter with coaxial rotors, unofficially breaks the speed record for rotorcraft, when it achieves a maximum speed of 225 knots in a one-hour test flight.
