1897 – Birth of Alexandre Léonel Pierre “Lionel” de Marmier, French World War I flying ace and Nieuport test pilot; he also became a pioneering airliner and airmail pilot, as well as a test pilot for Air France, and flew in the Spanish War and World War II.
1914 – The German Navy forms its first seaplane unit.
1965 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 853, a Lockheed Super Constellation, collides in mid-air with Trans World Airlines Flight 42, a Boeing 707, while approaching on the U.S. East Coast. Flight 42 makes an emergency landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport, while Flight 853 crash lands on Hunt Mountain near Danbury, Conn. Only four of 108 people aboard perish.
1970 – Death of Benjamin Odell Howard, American aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, air racer and aircraft designer.
1983 – In reprisal to an attack on U.S. military bases in Beirut, 28 U.S. Navy Grumman A-6 Intruders attack suspected terrorist bases in Libya. One Intruder and an LTV A-7 Corsair II are downed by Syrian missiles.
2009 – First flight of the Eurocopter EC175 (shown), a European medium utility helicopter.
