2011 – Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center on its final mission, STS-133.
2011 – The US Air Force awards a massive contract to build new tanker aircraft to the Boeing’s KC-46A proposal, a jet based on the venerable 767 airliner.
2010 – The fourth Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner test plane (N7874) makes its first flight.
1999 – China Southwest Airlines Flight 4509, a Tupolev TU-154M (B-2622) airliner crashes into a field on approach to Wenzhou airport in eastern China, killing all 61 on board. Witnesses saw the plane nosedive from around 2,300 feet.
1989 – United Airlines Flight 811, a Boeing 747-100 (N4713U) suffers explosive decompression while climbing out of Honolulu enroute to Auckland when the forward cargo door fails, sucking nine passengers out of the plane and sending them hurtling to their deaths. The accident would be blamed on a faulty door locking mechanism design by Boeing.
1983 – A 9 year old boy pilots a Cessna 150 in Mexicali, Mexico, becoming the youngest known solo pilot in history.
1957 – SAS begins the world’s first route over the North Pole between Europe and the Far East, flying from Copenhagen to Tokyo with a DC-7.
1940 – The Hawker Typhoon fighter makes its first test flight in England.
1931 – John Lankester Parker pilots the first flight of the luxurious Short S.17 Kent flying boat, from the river Medway in Kent, England.
1921 – Lt. William D. Coney lands in Jacksonville from Rockwell Field, San Diego after 22 hours and 27 minutes flying time.
