1891 – Birth of Fernand Eugene Guyou, French World War I flying ace, airliner pilot and World War II pilot.
1931 – Australian Guy Lambton Menzies crash-lands the Avro Sports Avian “Southern Cross Junior” upside-down in the La Fontaine Swamp near Hari Hari on New Zealand’s west coast after an almost 12-hour flight from Blenheim, New Zealand; the incident completes the first solo trans-Tasman Sea flight.
1942 – First flight of the Supermarine Seafire, a naval version of the famous Supermarine Spitfire fighter adapted for operation from aircraft carriers.
1947 – Death of Helen Richey (shown), American pioneering female aviator and first woman to be hired as a pilot by a commercial airline in the U.S.
1981 – A Boeing 747 of CAAC lands at JFK International Airport, marking the first time since 1949 that a flight from mainland China to the U.S. is performed.
2012 – A Cameron A-210 hot air balloon collides with a high-voltage power line while attempting to land, causing it to catch fire, disintegrate and crash just north of Carterton, New Zealand; all 11 aboard perish.
