1851 – Birth of Carl Berg, German entrepreneur and airship builder.
1920 – Pierre van Ryneveld and Quentin Brand set out in a Vickers Vimy from Cairo to cross Africa by air from north to south; they will arrive in Cape Town on March 20.
1944 – A U. S. Army Air Forces Boeing B-24 Liberator flies the first Allied photographic reconnaissance mission against Truk Atoll, Japan’s main base in the South Pacific Ocean, making a 1,700-nautical mile flight from Bougainville.
1948 – First flight of the Douglas Skyrocket (D-558-2 shown), an American rocket and jet-powered supersonic research aircraft.
1966 – All Nippon Airways Flight 60, a Boeing 727, plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133.
1966 – Death of Giorgio Michetti, Italian World War I flying ace.