1784 – The first balloon flight made in Italy takes place from the grounds of a villa owned by Chevalier Paul Andreani near Milanand uses a modified hot air design built by the brothers Charles and Augustin Gerli.
1930 – Ralph O’Neil lands in Miami on the first mail service of America airline New York, Rio and Buenos Aires Line (NYRBA) between Buenos Aires and New York after a difficult 6-day flight from Argentina.
1958 – During joint exercises with the U.S. Navy at Naval Station Mayport near Jacksonville, Fla., a flight of four Royal Canadian Navy McDonnell F2H-3 Banshee fighters (shown above) performs a formation takeoff but immediately flies into a dense fog bank; the rearmost aircraft drops out of formation and vanishes. The airplane’s nosewheel and pilot Lt. Barry Troy’s helmet are later found floating in the ocean nearby, but no other signs of the missing aircraft or pilot are ever found.
1965 – First flight of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9.
1975 – U.S. Air Force Brig. General (ret.) Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier, flies his final USAF sortie.
1990 – Smoke-free flights become mandatory throughout North America for all U.S. airlines.
