1894 – Birth of Alexander Nikolaievich Prokofiev de Seversky, Russian-American aviation pioneer, World War I flying ace, inventor and influential advocate of strategic air power.
1912 – First machine gun fired from an airplane; U.S. Army Capt. Charles Chandler fired a prototype Lewis Gun from the foot-bar of a Wright Model B Flyer.
1933 – The last Ford Trimotor (also called the Tri-Motor, and nicknamed “The Tin Goose”), American three-engined transport plane (shown above), is produced.
1942 – Death of Clarence Leonard Tinker, Osage Indian and World War II pilot; he was the first American Indian in U.S. Army history to attain the rank of major general and the first American general killed in WWII. He led a force of early model Consolidated B-24 Liberators against retreating Japanese naval forces. Near Midway Island, his bomber was seen to go out of control and plunge into the sea. Gen. Tinker and eight other crewmen perished. His body was never recovered.
1981 – Operation Opera begins; General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons of the Israeli Air Force make a long-range strike into Iraq to destroy the nuclear reactor at Osirak.
1994 – At 12 years old, Vicki van Meter becomes the youngest female pilot to fly the Atlantic in a Cessna 210.
