1897 – Birth of Franz Rudorfer, Austro-Hungarian World War I flying ace and volunteer in the Ukrainian Military Air Service; he later took part on the Polish-Ukrainian war before escaping with his Nieuport 23 to Czechoslovakia.
1909 – The first airplane flight in Sweden is made by Frenchman Georges Legagneux in his Voisin biplane in Stockholm.
1936 – During the Spanish Civil War, the German air force begins carrying the Nationalist Army from Spanish Morocco to Spain in the world’s first major military airlift using Junkers Ju-52s.
1952 – A U.S. Air Force North American RB-45C Tornado completes the first non-stop transpacific flight by jet aircraft, having been refueled aloft twice along the way. Maj. Lou Carrington and his crew of the 91st Reconnaissance Wing flew from Alaska to Japan in less than 10 hours to win the MacKay Trophy.
1978 – Death of Josef Carl Peter Jacobs, the fourth German World War I fighter ace and a post-WWI aircraft manufacturer.
1985 – First flight of the Kawasaki T-4 (shown above), a Japanese subsonic intermediate jet trainer aircraft also used by the country’s military Blue Impulse aerobatic team.
