1793 – The first balloon flight in North America is made by Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard, ascending from Philadelphia, Pa., and landing in Deptford, Gloucester County, N.J.
1900 – Birth of Richard Halliburton, American traveler, adventurer, and author; he would later fly around the world (Flying Carpet Expedition) in a Stearman C-3B.
1918 – Death of Max Ritter von Müller, German World War I fighter ace, when his Albatros D.Va is shot down by two Royal Aircraft Factory SE5a fighters near Moorslede, Belgium.
1943 – Boeing B-29 Superfortresses (A model shown) based at Kunming, China, attack Japanese shipping along the coast of Formosa, while Mariana Islands-based B-29s drop 122 tons of bombs on Japan.
1951 – First flight of the Tupolev Tu-85 “Barge,” a Soviet prototype strategic bomber based on the Tu-4, itself an unlicensed copy of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress.
2011 – Iran Air Flight 277, a Boeing 727, crashes while performing a go-around at Urmia Airport; 77 of the 106 people aboard perish, and 26 are injured.
