On This Day in Aviation History

On This Day in Aviation History

1917 – Death of John Arthur Vessey, British World War I flying ace; he is killed in a flying accident in his Sopwith 1½ Strutter.

1919 – French aviatrix Baronne Delaroche sets an altitude record of 15,748 feet.

1924 – Birth of George Herbert Walker Bush, World War II naval aviator and American politician; he later served as the 41st U.S. president.

1940 – First flight of the Napier-Heston Racer (shown), a British single-seat racing monoplane prototype, private venture for an attempt on the World Air Speed Record.

1942 – The U.S. Navy makes its first operational test with Loran (long-range navigation) equipment with a receiver mounted in a K-2 airship on a flight from the Lakehurst (N.J.) Naval Air Station.

1972 – Cuban Air force pilot Eduardo Guerra Jiminez, who defected with his Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-17 just three years earlier to the U.S., hijacks Delta Air Lines Flight 1061 back to Havana.

Updated: June 12, 2014 — 11:08 PM
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