1920: French aviator Sadi Lacointe, piloting a Nieuport-Delage 29V, becomes the first pilot to set a new Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) world speed record after World War I. He reaches a measured speed of 275.862 km/h (171.141 mph) along 1 km (3,280 ft.) course.
1927: Georgetown University medical school in Washington, D.C., offers the first aviation medicine course in the United States.
1934: The first airmail flight between Australia and New Zealand is made by Charles Ulm in an Avro Ten. The flight time is 14 hours 10 minutes.
1937: The prototype Blackburn B.24 Skua two-seat fighter/dive-bomber makes its maiden flight, piloted by “Dasher” Blake at Brough, Yorkshire; it is Britain’s first dive-bomber.
1958: One of the best British soccer teams, Manchester United, has been virtually wiped out in an air crash. The team was returning from Belgrade after victory against a Yugoslav opponent when their British European Airways (BEA) Airspeed AS.57 Ambassador failed to take off and crashed into a house in Munich, Germany.
1959: After much refueling, a Cessna lands in Las Vegas after 65 days in the air.
1964: First photo of a YF-12 released. Aircraft 934. (Q)
1968: Lockheed ordered to destroy A-12, YF-12 and SR-71 tooling. (Q)
1984: Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger become the first to use the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) in space during the first untethered space walk. Mission Specialist Bruce McCandless II makes the most distant space walk from a spacecraft at 320 feet.
1999: Stardust - USA Comet Sample Return launched. Stardust rendezvoused with comet P/Wild 2 in January 2004, studied the object, and collected material for analysis on Earth. The return capsule arrived back on Earth on January 15, 2006.
2009: A Manaus Aerotaxi EMB-110 (PT-SEA) crashes into Mancapuru River in Amazonas, Brazil. The aircraft carried more passengers than it was meant to, then lost an engine just after departure, ditching in the river. Four survivors escaped through an emergency exit in the rear of the aircraft, whereas the other 24 aboard drowned.
