2004 – A Swedish DC-3 that had been shot down by a Russian Mig-15 in 1952 is recovered from the Baltic Sea.
1982 – Randy Rhoads, a heavy metal guitarist who played with Ozzy Osborne and the band Quiet Riot, dies in a plane crash in Florida, along with the two other men onboard. The pilot of the 1955 Beechcraft Bonanza was attempting to buzz the band’s tour bus when the wing clipped the bus, causing the plane to flip and crash into a garage, where it burst into flames.
1976 – Paul Kossoff, a well-known British rock guitarist of the band Free, dies of a drug-induced heart attack aboard a flight from Los Angeles to New York.
1969 – Nordair launches the first scheduled jet service within the Arctic Circle with weekly service between Montreal and Resolution Bay, Canada.
1948 – BOAC extends its London to Hong Kong service to Japan.
1941 – The US Army Air Corp’s 99th Pursuit Squadron, popularly known as the Tuskegee Airmen, is activated.
1916 – In the United States’s first air-combat mission ever, eight planes of the 1st Provisional Aero Squadron (now known as the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron) take off in pursuit of Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa.
1909 – The International Aero and Motor-Boat Exhibition opens in London, which includes a Wright Flyer on display, which you could fly home for $7,000.
