1905 – Birth of Elizabeth Muriel Gregory “Elsie” MacGill, a Canadian known as the “Queen of the Hurricanes,” who became the world’s first female aircraft designer.
1927 – Royal Air Force’s first all-metal fighter, the Armstrong Whitworth Siskin IIIA, enters service with No. 41 Squadron.
1945 – Operation Starvation, the aerial mining of Japan’s ports and waterways begins; the mining runs were made by Boeing B-29 Superfortresses at night at moderately low altitudes.
1975 – First flight of the de Havilland Canada DHC-7 (shown), popularly known as the Dash 7, a turboprop-powered regional airliner with STOL capabilities.
1987 – Death of Hans-Georg von der Osten, German World War I flying ace who also served in World War II.
1999 – A Soviet anti-aircraft missile takes down a U.S. Air Force Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk in the Kosovo War; it is the first and last time the stealth fighter is lost to enemy action. The pilot survives.
