1783 – Jacques Alexandre César Charles flies the first balloon filled with gas rather than fire-heated air; he uses hydrogen produced by pouring 489 pounds of sulfuric acid on 1,000 pounds of iron. The balloon has a diameter of 12 feet.
1923 – An Air Union Farman F.60 Goliath crashes near East Malling, Kent, England, due to engine failure and panic among the passengers; one of 13 aboard dies.
1939 – Death of Hiromichi Shinohara, highest-scoring fighter ace of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAF); he is killed by Soviet Polikarpov I-16 fighters in his Nakajima Ki-27 during a bombing escort mission.
1959 – Birth of Yves Rossy, Swiss pilot, inventor and aviation enthusiast; he becomes the first person to achieve sustained human flight using a jet-powered fixed wing strapped to his back.
1946 – First flight of the Avia S 92.1 Turbina (shown), a Czech-built Messerschmitt Me 262.
2009 – Avianova, a Russian low-cost airline, begins operations.
