1999 – China’s first spacecraft, Shenzhou 1, is launched.
1977 – TAP Portugal Flight 425, a Boeing 727 registered CS-TBR, crashes on its third attempt to land in Funchal, Portugal. In heavy rains and strong winds, the aircraft touched down 2,000 ft past the runway threshold and began to hydroplane. After vacating the runway the aircraft slid down a 200 ft hill, killing 131 of the 164 on-board.
1969 – Mohawk Airlines Flight 411, a Fairchild FH-227B (registered N7811M) crashes into a mountain on approach to Glens Falls, NY, killing all 14 on-board. The NTSB attributed the crash to the pilot not following the proper approach procedure to runway 19.
1969 – Apollo 12 lands on the Moon, allowing Charles “Pete” Conrad and Alan L. Bean to become the third and fourth humans to walk on its surface. (Check out detailed images of the landing site from NASA’s LRO here.)
1958 – The first two Fokker F-27 Friendships are delivered to Aer Lingus.
1952 – North American F-86 Sabre sets the world aircraft speed record at 698mph.
1938 – Construction begins on what will later become Ronald Reagan National Airport. Around this time, Ronald Reagan was starring in the movie “Cowboy from Brooklyn”.
1922 – Malert is formed, later to transform into MALEV Hungarian Airlines.
