1891 – Birth of Carl “Charly” Degelow, German World War I fighter ace; he is the last German pilot and final German serviceman to be awarded the Blue Max, the German Kingdom of Prussia’s highest order of merit.
1930 – During the British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE), Royal Australian Air Force pilot Stuart Campbell and Douglas Mawson, a professor, with a D.H.60 Gipsy Moth confirm an extensive new coast of ice cliffs and rocky mountains. Mawson names it MacRobertson Land.
1949 – Charles “Chuck” Yeager conducts the only conventional runway takeoff performed during the Bell X-1 program, reaching 23,000 feet in 90 seconds.
1964 – First flight of the Short Belfast (shown), a British heavy lift turboprop freighter.
1981 – Death of James Martin, British engineer and co-founder of the Martin-Baker Aircraft Co., a leading producer of aircraft ejection seats.
2011 – An attempt is made to hijack Turkish Airlines Flight 1754, a Boeing 737-800, from Gardermoen Airport, Oslo, to Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul. The hijacker is overpowered by other passengers on the flight and arrested when the aircraft lands.
