On This Day in Aviation History

On This Day in Aviation History

1898 – Birth of Arthur William Wood, British World War I flying ace.

1931 – Amelia Earhart climbs to a record altitude of 18,415 feet in a Pitcairn PCA2 autogyro at Willow Grove, near Philadelphia, Pa.

1943 – First flight of the Douglas BTD Destroyer (XSB2D-1 shown), an American dive bomber developed for the U.S. Navy during World War II.

1950 – Soviet Lavochkin La-11s shot down a Consolidated PB4Y Privateer of the U.S. Navy over the Baltic Sea; the 10 members of the Privateer’s crew is lost.

1959 – Death of Mario de Bernardi, Italian World War I fighter pilot, seaplane air racer, and test pilot of early Italian experimental jets.

2010 – A Dassault Mirage F1 of the French Air Force crashes during training exercises in a field four miles from the Orleans-Bricy Air Base southwest of Paris.

Updated: April 8, 2015 — 12:43 AM
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