1906: Having abandoned his helicopter project, Alberto Santos-Dumont unveils a new aircraft, the No.14 bis. at Bagatelle, France. The odd-looking machine is dubbed canard [duck].

1917: Maj. Benjamin D. Foulois, one of the great figures of early American aviation, is appointed commanding officer of the Airplane Division of the U.S. Signal Corps.

1937: The International Military Aircraft Competition at Dübendorf near Zürich provides the picturesque venue for the first major demonstration of the Messerschmitt Bf 109.

1954: Cathay Pacific VR-HEU, a Cathay Pacific Douglas DC-4 (VR-HEU) from Bangkok to Hong Kong was shot down by the People's Liberation Army Air Force in the South China Sea near Hainan Island. Ten people died, leaving eight survivors. After the incident, Cathay Pacific received an apology and compensation from the People's Liberation Army Air Force. It was apparently mistaken for a Nationalist plane.

1956: First flight of the Dassault Étendard II.

1977: After threats of shutting down transatlantic air traffic, the U.S. and British governments reach the Bermuda II accord, giving British airlines additional ports of entry in the United States and removing American airlines' rights to carry passengers beyond London and Hong Kong.

1979: The British government announces plans to privatize British Airways and publicly sell British Aerospace shares.

1980: First flight of the Aérospatiale Dauphin II.

1983: An Air Canada Boeing 767-233, Fin 604 C-GAUN glided to an emergency landing in Gimli after running out of fuel 12,300 meters (40,400 ft) above Red Lake, Ontario. Few people suffered minor injuries during the evacuation due to the steep angle of the escape chute at the rear of the plane; caused by the collapsed nose at the front.