1893 – Birth of Cosimo Rizzotto, Italian World War I flying ace.
1909 – The first commercial sale of an airplane in the U.S. is made as Glenn H. Curtiss sells one of his planes to the Aeronautic Society of New York for $7,500. This action spurs the Wright brothers to begin a patent suit to prevent him from selling airplanes without a license.
1940 – The Royal Air Force disbands the Advanced Air Striking Force; since the German offensive in the West began on May 10, the AASF had lost 229 aircraft.
1942 – First flight of the Grumman F6F Hellcat (5N variant shown), a U.S. carrier-based fighter.
1988 – Air France Flight 296, an Airbus A320 on a demonstration flight at an airshow at Mulhouse-Habsheim, crashes and kills four people, including the pilot and co-pilot.
2005 – Death of Gordon Leonard Sinclair, British World War II flying ace.
