1917 – Birth of Rex Theodor Barber, American World War II fighter pilot, best known as a member of the top secret mission to intercept the aircraft carrying Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.
1919 – The first commercial flight, from Canada to the U.S., occurs as a Canadian Curtiss aircraft flies 150 pounds of raw furs from Toronto to Elizabeth, N.J.
1937 – The Zeppelin Hindenburg (shown above) bursts into flames and crashes while attempting a landing at Naval Air Engineering Station, Lakehurst, N.J.; of the 97 people on board, 35 are killed; one person on the ground also dies.
1941 – First flight of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. In its 25 years of service, more than 15,600 were made by Republic Aviation in Farmingdale, N.Y.
1963 – Death of Paul Ward Spencer “George” Bulman, highly decorated British World War I pilot, air racer and chief test pilot for Hawker Aircraft.
2012 – A U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle strike in eastern Yemen kills Fahd al-Quso, the al-Qaeda leader in Yemen, wanted in connection with the October 2000 bomb attack on the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole (DDG-67).
