May 18th in Aviation History

May 18th in Aviation History

1916 – Kiffin Yates Rockwell is the first American to claim an air victory when he shoots down a German plane over the Alsace battlefield in France.

1934 – The Douglas DC-2, an American 14-seat, twin-engined airliner, enters service with Transcontinental and Western Air.

1940 – First flight of Saab 17 (shown), Swedish bomber-reconnaissance aircraft.

1971 – Birth of Desiree Tyler Horton, American helicopter pilot and television personality; she is one of the few female helicopter pilots and on-camera reporters in Los Angeles, Calif., television history.

1973 – Death of Dieudonné Costes, French record-setting aviator; he was also a fighter ace during World War I.

2006 – The world’s biggest passenger jet, the Airbus A380, lands at London’s Heathrow Airport for the first time, making its UK debut.

Updated: May 17, 2018 — 5:31 PM
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