2005 – Boeing launches the 747-8 program, announcing the plane’s specs and orders for 34 747-8 Freighters from Cargolux and Nippon Cargo.
1974 – The first McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is delivered to the United States Air Force.
1970 – Southern Airways Flight 932, a DC-9 (registered N97S) flying from Kinston, North Carolina to Ceredo, Virginia, crashes into a hill on approach to Tri-State Airport, killing all 75 on-board. Among the victims are 37 members of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team. The crash’s exact cause is unknown, with possibilities ranging anywhere from improper use of cockpit instrumentation data or altimetry system error. The movie “We are Marshall” was made based on the crash and its consequences on the University.
1969 – Apollo 12, the second manned space mission to the Moon is launched.
1946 – A KLM C-47 (DC-3, registered PH-TBW) crashed in Amsterdam, Netherlands on its third attempt to bad in bad weather. While trying to make a last minute adjustment to line up on the runway, the wing clipped the ground and exploded, killing all 26 on-board.
1938 – A KLM DC-3 (registered PH-ARY) crashed on approach to Schiphol, Amsterdam in low visibility, killing 6 of the 19 on-board.
1932 – Amy Johnson breaks the UK-Cape Town speed record, shaving 11 hours off Mollison’s record in March. She flies a de Havilland Puss Moth.
1910 – The aircraft carrier is born when Eugene Ely takes off from the cruiser USS Birmingham on a Curtiss biplane. The warship had an 83-foot platform built over the foredeck for the take-off. The airplane plunged downward as soon as it cleared the 83-foot platform runway; and the aircraft wheels dipped into the water before rising.
