1880 – Death of Charles-Alphonse Pénaud, French pioneer of aviation and inventor of the rubber band-powered model airplane.
1922 – Amelia Mary Earhart with her yellow Kinner Airster biplane nicknamed “The Canary” reaches an altitude of 14,000 feet, setting a world record for female pilots.
1933 – Birth of Donald Herod Peterson, U.S. Air Force pilot and NASA astronaut.
1938 – Lt. Col. Mario Pezzi of the Italian Air Force sets a world altitude record of 56,047 feet in a Caproni Ca.161bis (shown above); the record still stands for piston-engined aircraft.
1955 – First flight of the Republic F-105 Thunderchief.
2011 – The Twin Balloons airship, made by JP Aerospace, flies to 95,085 feet to set an world record for airships; the unmanned craft flies nearly four miles higher than any airship before and is provided with two electric motors, each spinning a propeller.