1889 – Birth of Thomas Sydney Sharpe, British World War I flying ace.
1921 – First flight of the Douglas Cloudster (shown), American biplane aircraft; the only product of the Davis-Douglas Co., it is designed to make the first non-stop flight coast-to-coast across the U.S.
1945 – Death of James Herbert Knight, American pilot who made the first overnight transcontinental air mail delivery; he also was an airline pilot and a vice president of United Airlines.
1956 – The Gloster Javelin, a twin-engined, all-weather jet interceptor, begins service with No. 46 Squadron of Royal Air Force.
1957 – Scandinavian Airline Services (SAS) opens the first regularly scheduled service from Europe to the Far East over the North Pole, with departures from Copenhagen, Denmark, and Tokyo, Japan.
1996 – A Mikoyan MiG-29UB fighter of the Cuban Air Force shoots down two Cessna Skymasters of the Cuban exile activist group Brothers to the Rescue off Havana, Cuba, killing four members of the group, including pilot Carlos Costa; a third Skymaster escapes.
