1891 – Birth of Konstantin Konstantinovich Artseulov, Russian test pilot, World War I pilot and glider designer; he was one of the founders of soaring in the Soviet Union.
1908 – First passenger flight in Europe occurs as Henri Farman takes up Ernest Archdeacon for a brief flight at Issy-les-Moulineaux, France.
1935 – First flight of the Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, a German World War II fighter (shown above). As one of the first modern fighters of the era, it includes such features as an all-metal monocoque construction, a closed canopy, a retractable landing gear and was powered by a liquid-cooled, inverted V-12 engine.
1944 – Luftwaffe fighter ace Friedrich-Karl “Tutti” Müller (140 victories in 600 World War II combat sorties) is killed in a landing accident at Salzwedel, Germany, when his Messerschmitt Bf 109 stalls on landing approach at low altitude. He is posthumously promoted to oberstleutnant.
1953 – The first of two 40-passenger de Havilland Comets arrived in Ottawa, Canada. With the arrival of the four-engined planes, the Royal Canadian Air Force becomes the first air force in the world to operate jet transports and the first operator to make scheduled trans-Atlantic crossings.
2001 – Three crewmen are killed when a Republic of Korea Army Boeing Vertol CH-47D Chinook crashes in Seoul, South Korea, while installing a torch-shaped sculpture on the Han River Olympic Bridge, built to commemorate the 1988 Olympic Games.
