1877: Maurice Farman (1877-1964), aviation pioneer and manufacturer, is born in Paris, France. In 1908 he made the first circular flight of more than one mile (1,6 km) with his brother, Henri.

1908: Henri Farman covers 6,275 feet in 3 minutes 47 seconds in his Voisin-Farman No.1 bis at Issy-les-Moulineaux.

1933: Fairey’s TSR.1 torpedo spotter-reconnaissance airplane makes its first flight at Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England.

1933: James L. Kinney makes the first cross-country test of blind flying and landing from College Park, Maryland to Newark, New Jersey.

1946: The Strategic Air Command of the United States Army Air Force is formed.

1951: Flying a U.S. Navy F9F Panther of Fighter Squadron 191 (VF-191) from the aircraft carrier USS Princeton (CV-37), Ensign Floryan "Frank" Sobieski is blinded by enemy ground fire over Korea. Guided and encouraged by his wingman, Lieutenant junior grade Pat Murphy, and assisted by Princeton's landing signal officer, Sobieski lands safely aboard Princeton wihout being able to see. He later recovers full vision.

1965: US Ranger 9 launched; takes 5,814 pictures before lunar impact.

1968: First SR-71 (976) operational mission over North Vietnam flown from Kadena Okinawa.Pilot Jerry O’Malley, RSO Ed Payne.

1971: First flight of the Westland Lynx XW835.

1996: Tupolev and NASA begin joint research into civil supersonic transports using a refurbished Tupolev Tu-144.

1996: NEAR, USA Asteroid Orbiter (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) imaged Comet Hyakutake.