On This Day in Aviation History

On This Day in Aviation History

1851 – Birth of Carl Berg, German entrepreneur and airship builder.

1920 – Pierre van Ryneveld and Quentin Brand set out in a Vickers Vimy from Cairo to cross Africa by air from north to south; they will arrive in Cape Town on March 20.

1944 – A U. S. Army Air Forces Boeing B-24 Liberator flies the first Allied photographic reconnaissance mission against Truk Atoll, Japan’s main base in the South Pacific Ocean, making a 1,700-nautical mile flight from Bougainville.

1948 – First flight of the Douglas Skyrocket (D-558-2 shown), an American rocket and jet-powered supersonic research aircraft.

1966 – All Nippon Airways Flight 60, a Boeing 727, plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133.

1966 – Death of Giorgio Michetti, Italian World War I flying ace.

Updated: February 3, 2016 — 10:47 PM
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