1890 – Birth of Constant Emmanuel Plessis, French World War I flying ace.
1917 – Death of Mortimer Sackville West, British World War I flying ace, killed in a flying accident.
1935 – United Airlines Flight 227, a Boeing 727, crashes short of the runway while attempting a scheduled landing at Salt Lake City International Airport; 43 of 91 aboard perish.
1937 – A Bf 109 V13, flown by Messerschmitt’s chief pilot Dr. Hermann Wurster and powered by a 1,650-hp DB 601R racing engine, sets a world air speed record for landplanes with piston engines of 379.62 mph. The feat gives the title for Germany for the first time.
1946 – First flight of the Short Solent (shown), a British passenger flying boat developed from the Short Seaford.
1998 – Operation Desert Thunder begins in response to threats by Iraq’s president Saddam Hussein to shoot down American Lockheed U-2s, and violate the no-fly zone set up over his country.
