1783: In a demonstration for King Louis XVI, a sheep, duck, and rooster fly up to 1,700 feet in a hot air balloon and return to the ground safely.

1907: The 1st piloted helicopter rises at Douai in France. Piloted by Volumard, it rises only about 2 feet and is steadied by men on the ground. It does not constitute free, vertical flight.

1928: The 1st diesel engine to power a heavier-than-air aircraft is flight tested in Utica, Michigan.

1946: TAP Portugal commences flight operations.

1949: First flight of the Fairey Gannet prototype VR546.---In1969…First flight of the Mil Mi-24, the most widely exported helicopter gunship.

1976: A Turkish Airlines Boeing 727 (registered TC-JBH) crashes into a mountain while on approach to Antalya, Turkey. It was later learned that the pilots were referencing the approach charts for a different airport.

1988: Israel launches its first satellite, for secret military reconnaissance.

1989: UTA flight 772, McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft (registered N54629), crashes in the Sahara Desert in Niger after a bomb explodes while enroute to Paris, killing all 170 on board. The bomb would eventually be blamed on Libyan terrorists.

1994: Congress passed the FY95 defense authorization bill and added $100 million to bring three SR-71s out of storage.