1896 – Birth of Giovanni “Giannino” Ancillotto, Italian World War I flying ace.
1916 – First flight of the Boeing Model 2, American two-place training seaplane; it is the first “all-Boeing” design and the company’s first financial success.
1944 – U.S. Navy Lt. Robert M. Elder makes the first carrier landing of a North American P-51D Mustang (shown above) aboard the U.S.S. Shangri-La (CV-38), followed by three more landings and four takeoffs; the PBJ-1 (the Navy version of North American’s B-25 Mitchell) also makes its first carrier landings and launches from the Shangri-La.
1956 – A Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) Douglas DC-7C sets a distance record for commercial airlines by flying 6,005 miles nonstop from Los Angeles to Stockholm, Sweden, following the Great Arctic Circle route.
1972 – Ansett Airlines Flight 232, a Fokker Friendship bound for Alice Springs from Adelaide, becomes the first victim of an attempted hijacking in Australia; the would-be hijacker dies in the incident.
1974 – Death of Hermann Vallendor, German World War I flying ace.