1913 – Lincoln Beachey performs the first loop in the U.S. over North Island near San Diego, Calif.
1920 – Birth of Alfred William “Bill” Bedford, British World War II fighter pilot, instructor and Hawker Siddeley test pilot; he later pioneers the development of V/STOL aircraft.
1944 – Death of Roger Amedee Del’Haye, Canadian World War I flying ace.
1949 – A Douglas C-74 Globemaster carries 103 passengers and crew over the North Atlantic, the largest number to make the crossing in a single flight to date.
1955 – First powered flight of the Bell X-2 (shown with support equipment), an American research aircraft built to investigate flight characteristics in the Mach 2-3 range.
1985 – The first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, is flown to Washington Dulles International Airport atop a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and transferred from NASA to the Smithsonian Institution for eventual museum display.
