1807: Andre-Jacques Garnerin in Paris, France makes the first night ascent in a balloon.
1901: Octave Chanute arrives at the Wright brothers’ camp at Kill Devil Hill and photographs their flight tests with the 1901 glider.
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1908: Count von Zeppelin takes the LZ4 on a 24-hour flight from Lake Constance, down the Rhine to Basel, then to Strasbourg and Mainz and back to Stuttgart, a total non-stop distance of 435 miles.
1908: Wilbur Wright makes the first flight using stick controls near Le Mans, France. The flight lasts 1 minute and 45 seconds.
1929: The first Challenge International de Tourisme 1929 (International Tourist Plane Contest), a sort of aviation rally race around Europe, kicks off in Paris. Sponsored by air racing governing body Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), German Fritz Morik flies his BFW M.23 to victory on August 16th.(N)
1954: English Electric P.1, prototype of the English Electric Lightning.
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1955: First flight of a U-2 (article 341), the pilot was Tony LeVier. The term “article” was a Skunk Works designation which was similar to the term “serial number.”
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2007: NASA’s Phoenix spacecraft launches from Cape Canaveral, enroute to a landing on Mars which would take place on May 25th, 2008.
2007: A a suitcase containing US$800,000 in undeclared cash is discovered while being x-rayed at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery in Buenos Aires, sparking an international rift between Argentina and Venezuela known as “Maletinazo,” or “the suitcase incident.”
2009: Bangkok Airways ATR72 crashes into an unused control tower at Ko Samui Airport (USM) in Thailand while landing in heavy crosswinds and rain, killing the captain. 10 of the 70 passengers on board are injured.
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