On This Day in Aviation History

On This Day in Aviation History

1875 – Birth of Augustus Roy Knabenshue,  American aeronautical engineer and aviator; he became the first to make a dirigible flight over New York City in 1905.

1927 – First flight of the Bristol Bagshot (also known as the Type 95), a British fighter prototype.

1952 – A pair of U.S. Air Force Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaws make the first transatlantic crossing by helicopter.

1942 – The Republic of China Air Force’s American Volunteer Group, the “Flying Tigers,” is transferred to the U.S. Army Air Forces, in which it becomes the 23rd Fighter Group; in its six months of Chinese service, the unit has shot down 286 Japanese aircraft in exchange for 12 of its own lost in air-to-air combat.

1970 – The Tupolev Tu-144 exceeds Mach 2 in level flight, the first commercial aircraft to do so.

2012 – Death of Sadamu Komachi (shown), Japanese World War II fighter ace who participated in the last Japanese combat mission.

 

 

Updated: July 15, 2014 — 12:50 PM
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