1909 – Birth of Noel Francis Parrish, U.S. Air Force pilot, commander of the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II and brigadier general after the Korean War.
1935 – Man first sees the Earth’s curvature when the National Geographic Society and the U.S. Army Air Corps launch their new helium-filled, high-altitude balloon “Explorer II.” It reaches a record height of 72,395 feet with Orvil Arson Anderson, William E. Kepner and Albert William Stevens aboard.
1942 – First flight of the Lockheed XP-49 (shown above), an American twin-engine fighter prototype based on the P-38 Lightning.
1955 – Death of Arthur Henry “Harry” Cobby, Australian World War I fighter ace and World War II high-ranking officer.
1979 – Hawaiian Airlines celebrates 50 years of accident-free air passenger service.
1996 – ADC Airlines Flight 86, a Boeing 727, crashes after the crew tries to avoid a mid-air collision on approach to Lagos, Nigeria; all 153 aboard perish.
