2009: A 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.
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 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.”
1971: The Agusta A109 helicopter makes its first test flight.
1950: The US Army’s Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) completes its first helicopter medical evacuation during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter near Pusan, South Korea. The helicopter: A Sikorsky H-5.
1942: First aerial victories by the U.S. Army Air Forces Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter scores its first aerial victories when two from the 343rd Fighter Group shoot down two Japanese Kawanishi H6K4 flying boats near the Aleutian Islands.
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.
1908: Wilbur Wright completes first flight ever using stick controls in Le Mans, France.
