1918: Lloyd Andrews Hamilton becomes the first American to receive a commission in the British Royal Flying Corps when he is assigned as lieutenant with No. 3 squadron in France.

1932: The 20-months-old son of aviator Charles Lindbergh has been kidnapped from the family’s home in Hopewell, New Jersey.

1949: Commanded by Capt. James G. Gallagher, the crew of 14 aboard the Strategic Air Command B-5A Lucky Lady II of the Forty-third Bombardment Group, USAF, completes the first nonstop round-the-world flight of 94 hours 1 minute. Flying a distance of 23,452 miles the B-50A is refueled four times by KB-29 tankers before landing back at Carswell AFB, Texas.

1955: First flight of the Dassault Super Mystère.

1968: USSR launches space probe Zond 4; fails to leave Earth orbit.

1969: After a lengthy succession of taxi and runway tests, the first prototype Concorde 001 (F-WTSS) makes its first flight, with Andre Turcat at the controls. The flight lasts 29 minutes.

1972: The American space craft Pioneer 10 is launched.

1978: Soyuz 28 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Czechoslovakian) to Salyut 6.

1995: Space shuttle STS-67 (Endeavour 8), launches.

1996: NEAR, USA Asteroid Orbiter (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) imaged Comet Hyakutake.

2012: The last departure of an official Continental Airlines flight takes place at 11:59 pm Pacific Standard Time as Continental Flight 1267 departs Phoenix, Arizona, bound for Cleveland, Ohio. On 3 March, Continental Airlines disappears into United Airlines, completing the two airlines' 2010 merger. Continental had operated since 1934.