1918 – Flying a Nieuport 28 fighter, the top-scoring American ace of World War I, Eddie Rickenbacker, scores his first victory by shooting down a German Pfalz D.III fighter near Baussant, France.
1945 – The Royal Air Force begins Operation Manna; an “airdrop” of 11,000 tons of food into the still-unliberated western part of the Netherlands, with the acquiescence of the occupying German forces, to help feed civilians in danger of starvation in the Dutch famine.
1953 – Birth of Nikolai Mikhailovich Budarin, Russian cosmonaut.
1961 – First flight of the Potez 840 (shown), a French 4-engined, 18-passenger executive aircraft; it is the last model to use the Potez name.
1964 – The Vickers VC10, a long-range British airliner, is introduced to regular passenger service between London and Lagos.
2006 – Death of Alvin Swauger White, American test pilot, engineer, and astronaut; he also was the chief test pilot for the North American XB-70 Valkyrie.