On This Day in Aviation History

On This Day in Aviation History

1893 – Birth of Rex Buren Beisel (shown), American aeronautical engineer who lated led the design of the Vought F7U Cutlass, the Vought F4U Corsair and won the Wright Brothers Medal in 1934 for work related to the cooling of radial aircraft engines.

1912 – Harry Hawker wins the British Empire Michelin Cup for endurance and altitude  when he flies for 8 hours, 23 minutes, in a Burgess-Wright airplane.

1942 – The first daylight attack on Italy is mounted by the Royal Air Force Bomber Command aircraft based in the UK when 88 Avro Lancasters of No. 5 Group attack Milan.

1945 – American Overseas Airlines launches international landplane flights with the Douglas DC-4 “New England” on a New York-London route.

1976 – Death of Andrei E. Durnovtsev, Soviet Air Force pilot; he dropped the Tsar Bomba on Oct. 30, 1961, the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated.

1984 – First flight of the PZL-130 Orlik, a Polish turboprop two-seat trainer.

Updated: October 24, 2014 — 5:17 PM
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