1919 – Six Zeppelins (LZ 46, LZ 79, LZ 91, LZ103, LZ 110 and LZ 111) are destroyed at Nordholz, Germany, by their own crews to prevent them from falling into Allied hands.
1931 – Wiley Post and his navigator, Harold Gatty, leave Roosevelt Field on Long Island, N.Y., in the Lockheed Vega “Winnie Mae” in a flight plan that will take them around the world.
1952 – Birth of Rita Maiburg, German pilot; she was the first female airline captain.
1970 – Death of Roscoe Turner, American aviator and three-time winner of the Thompson Trophy.
1980 – First flight of the Mudry CAP-21, a French aerobatic competition aircraft.
2006 – The Royal Air Force retires the English Electric Canberra (B2 shown), Britain’s first-generation jet-powered light bomber, from service after 55 years.
