This Day In Aviation History — June
June Aviation Events & Milestones

1 June 1921 (USA) — Aeromarine Airways transports 1044 passengers with baggage and mails between Key West and Havana in 6 months. Starts intercity flying boat service at New York.

1 June 1921 (USA) — United States Weather Bureau starts daily flying weather bulletins.

1 June 1925 (USA) — A car dealer covers himself in stamps worth $718 in a bid to be sent airmail from San Francisco to New York; the United States Post Office refuses to accept him.

1 June 1938 (USA) — Flying a Pratt & Whitney powered Marcoux-Bromberg “Special,” Earl Ortman, flies from San Francisco, California to San Diego California in record time of 1 hour, 48 minutes, 1 second.

1 June 1940 (USA) — United States Army Air Corps announces plans for the construction of the world’s most powerful wind tunnel at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio.

1 June 1949 (USA) — A survey conducted by a firm of New York aviation consultants shows that for the first time in history air travel volume is greater than first class rail travel. Revenue passengers-miles for domestic airlines totals 603 million compared to 582 million for Pullman trains.

1 June 1967 (USA/France) — First non-stop Trans-Atlantic helicopter flight, two Sikorsky HH-3E “Jolly Green Giants”, New York to Paris.

2 June 1794 (France) — J. M. J. Coutelle and N. J. Conte of the French army’s “"Aerostiers” at Mauberge, France, make the first military use of a balloon, when they observe enemy positions from their captive balloon.

2 June 1910 (England) — Charles Rolls makes a non-stop double crossing of the Channel from Dover, England, in one hour, 35 minutes.

2 June 1931 (USA) — Northwest Airways, Inc., inaugurates airmail service between Fargo and Mandan, North Dakota.

2-9 June 1938 (USA/New Guinea) — Flying a Consolidated “Flying Boat” powered by two Wright “Cyclone” engines, Richard Archbold flies from San Diego, California, to Hollandia, New Guinea with Russell Rogers, Lewis Yancey, G. D. Brown, S. Barrinka and Ray Booth covering a total distance of 7,200 miles.

2 June 1957 (USA) — The first solo balloon flight into the stratosphere (the upper portion of the atmosphere above seven miles) is made by United States Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr. In his plastic balloon “Manhigh 1,” he stays in the air for six hours, 36 minutes and reaches an altitude of 96,000 feet.

2 June 1986 (USA) — The greatest distance achieved by a hang-glider is made by American Randy Haney who flies an unpowered hang-glider 199.75 miles (321.47 km) from his takeoff point.

2 June 1995 (USA) — Two North American Rockwell B-1B “Lancers” from Dyess AFB, Texas, set three speed records on a historic around-the-world flight.

3 June 1785 (France) — Jean-Pierre Blanchard experiments with a parachute, releasing a silk parachute 20 feet in diameter, loaded with weight over England. Later he drops dogs attached to parachutes from his balloon.

3 June 1936 (England) — The British Air Ministry awards a contract to Hawker for 600 “Hurricane Mk. I” fighters, the first of a new breed of high-speed, eight-gun interceptors for the RAF. This is the biggest peacetime order placed in Britain to date.

3 June 1959 (USA) — Graduation of the first United States Air Force Academy class.

3 June 1973 (France) — The first crash of a supersonic transport aircraft occurs as a Tupolev Tu-144 goes down during a demonstration flight at the Paris Air Show.

4 June 1783 (France) — In Annonay, France, the Montgolfier brothers, Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne, give the first public demonstration of their hot-air balloon by sending up a large model made of linen lined with paper.

4 June 1784 (France) — Madame Elisabeth Thible of Lyons, France, is the first woman to make an untethered balloon flight.

4 June 1927 (USA/Germany) — The first non-stop flight from New York to Eisleben, Germany is made by Americans Clarence D. Chamberlain and Charles A. Levine in a Bellanca monoplane. They fly 3,905 miles in 42 hours, 15 minutes.

4-5 June 1931 (France) — Flying a Latécoère 28-3 powered by a Hispano-Suiza engine, Lieutenant de Vaisseau Paris and M. Gonord establish closed-circuit distance record for seaplanes of 3,113.816 miles at Arachon, France.

4-5 June 1931 (France) — Flying a Latécoère 28-3 powered by a Hispano-Suiza engine, Lieutenant de Vaisseau Paris and M. Gonord establish a duration record for seaplanes of 36 hours 57 minutes at Arachon, France.

4 June 1938 (Germany) — Flying a Junkers Ju.90, Karlheinz Kindermann and Ruprecht Wendel, pilots and Ing. Hotopf, passenger, set world altitude record with pay-load of 5,000 kgs. of 30,551.120 feet at Dessau, Germany.

4-5 June 1942 (South Pacific) — Battle of Midway.

4 June 1965 (USA) — USAF Majors McDivitt and White set a U. S. space endurance record of 97 hours, 30 seconds.

5 June 1909 (USA) — John Berry and Paul McCullough win the United States’s first National Balloon Race, covering 377.9 miles — from Indianapolis, Indiana to Fort Payne, Alabama — in 25 hours 35 minutes.

5 June 1909 (France) — The first monoplane flight of over one hour is made by Englishman Hubert Latham on the “Antoinette IV” for one hour, seven minutes, 37 seconds.

5 June 1920 (USA) — An appropriation bill limited United States Air Service to land bases.

5 June 1938 (Germany) — Flying a BD 601 powered Heinkel He.112U, Major General Ernst Udet, sets a world land-plane speed record for 100 kms of 394.147 mph over Wustrow-Muritz course.

5 June 1963 (USA) — President Kennedy announces that his administration would seek funds for the sponsored development of a supersonic transport aircraft.

5 June 1969 (USSR) — The Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic airliner becomes the first aircraft of its class to fly through the sound barrier when it exceeds Mach 1 at a height of 36,000 feet.

5 June 1989 (USSR) — The massive Antonov An-225 “Mriya” flies in to Paris-Le Bourget for the 1989 Paris Air Show, carrying the Soviet Shuttle “Buran” on its Back. When it takes of from Kiev to fly to Paris, the combination has a takeoff weight of 1,234,600 lbs., the greatest weight ever lifted into the air.

6 June 1903 (France) — After several stationary stability trials, Ferdinand Ferber makes the first full trial of his glider No.6. It fails to take off in Nice, France.

6 June 1910 (France) — Robert Martinet wins the first cross-country air race, between Angers and Saumur, France (27 miles), in a Farman; he takes 31 minutes and 35 seconds.

6-8 June 1921 (Italy) — National Aeronautical Congress at Turin, Italy.

6-14 June 1931 (Rumania) — Annual F.A.I. congress held at Bucharest, Rumania.

6 June 1938 (USA) — Daniel Guggenheim Medal for 1938 awarded to A. H. R. Fedden, for “contributions to the development of aircraft engine design and for the specific design of the sleeve valve aircraft engine.”

6 June 1944 (England/France) — A huge airborne armada, nine planes wide and 200 miles long, carries American and British troops across the British Channel for the D-Day invasion of Europe.

6 June 1944 (England/France) — AAF and Allied aircraft flew approximately 15,000 sorties in support of the D-Day invasion.

6 June 1964 (England) — Silver City Airways (British) announces that it has recorded the one-millionth car it has flown between the UK cross-Channel car ferry by air in 1948.

7 June 1912 (USA) — Capt. Charles Chandler of the United States Army Signal Corps test fires a Lewis gun fitted to a Wright “Model B” biplane flown by Lieutenant Thomas Milling in Maryland. It is the first time a machine gun has been fired from an airplane in the United States

7 June 1920 (USA) — The United States Army orders 20 GAX (Ground Attack Experimental) triplanes from Boeing as the Model 10, an order later reduced to 10 before the first was delivered in May 1921.

7 June 1927 (England) — The Supermarine S.5 racer, constructed to take part in the 1927 Schneider cup race, makes its first flight in Suffolk, England, piloted by Flight Lieutenant O. E. Worsley.

7-10 June 1931 (France) — Flying a Hispano-Suiza powered Dewoitine, Joseph LeBrix and Marcel Doret establish a closed distance record of 6,444.881 miles at Istres, France.

7 June 1942 (Alaska) — Japanese invade the Aleutian Islands.

8 June 1905 (France) — Gabriel Voisin succeeds in lifting off from the river Seine in his box-kite glider when towed by a motorboat.

8 June 1920 (USA) — Lieutenant John Wilson makes a world record parachute jump from 19,861 feet in San Antonio, Texas.

8 June 1921 (USA) — The first flight of a United States Army Air Service pressurized cabin airplane is made with a D-9-A aircraft. This allows flying beyond the “comfortable” breathing altitude of about 8,000 feet.

8 June 1931 (USA) — Pennsylvania Airlines, Inc., extends airmail service from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Washington, D. C.

8 June 1938 (France) — Flying a Amiot 370, powered by two Hispano-Suiza 860-hp engines, Commander M. Rossi (pilot) and A. Vigroux (mechanic) set three world speed records for 5,000 kms — without payload and with 500 and 1,000 kgs — of 249.051 mph over Istres-Cazaux-Istres course.

8 June 1938 (Germany) — Flying a Junkers Ju.90 (D-ALAT), Karlheinz Kindermann and Ing. Hotopf, set a world altitude record with payload of 10,000 kgs. of 23,759.795 feet at Dessau, Germany.

8 June 1995 (Bosnia) — Capt. Scott O’Grady, USAF General Dynamics F-16 “Fighting Falcon” pilot rescued in Bosnia, after six days in hostile territory.

9 June 1861 (USA) — Two members of the First Rhode Island Regiment, James Allen and Dr. William H. Helme, make the first United States Army trial captive balloon ascent.

9 June 1908 (USA) — The Aeronautical Society of the United States is established in New York.

9 June 1916 (England) — With an envelope capacity of 170,000 ft³ and an endurance of 11 hours, the first of 45 Coastal (C)-type, non-rigid British airships ordered for the Royal Naval Air Service makes its first flight from the airship station at Pembroke.

9 June 1961 (USA) — Delivery of the first Boeing C-135 jet cargo aircraft is made to the Military Air Transport Services.

9 June 1974 (USA) — The first flight of Northrop YF-17 “Cobra” experimental lightweight fighter is made. It is built to test what might be called the aerodynamics of agility, with all of the factors of weight, materials, and design geared to making it as agile as possible. The Northrop YF-17 “Cobra” involved into what is now the F/A-18 “Hornet” series.

10 June 1913 (France/Poland) — Marcel Brindejone des Moulinais wins the Pommeroy Cup in Warsaw for the longest flight between sunrise and sunset, flying 900 miles from Paris.

10 June 1921 (USA) — Lt. Alex Pearson, USAS makes aerial survey of Grand Canyon of Arizona.

10 June 1921 (Argentina) — First Sergeant Luis Barrufaldi, an Argentine, breaks the South American altitude record, ascending 24,272 feet.

10-13 June 1938 (USA) — International Air Races, Municipal Airport, Oakland, California.

10 June 1953 (USA) — The final experimental test flight for the turbojet powered #3 Douglas D-558-I “Skystreak” is flown by A. Scott Crossfield.

10 June 1989 (USA) — Capt. Jacquelyn S. Parker becomes the first female pilot to graduate from the Air Force Test Pilot School.

11 June 1926 (USA) — The first flight of the Ford 4-AT "Trimotor," an all-metal monoplane which competes with the three-engine Fokker and becomes a pioneer American airliner. It is known affectionately as the "Tin Goose."

11 June 1921 (USA) — Lieutenant R. C. Moffat, USAS, wins Hamilton Memorial Trophy Race, Hartford, Connecticut to Springfield, Massachusetts.

11 June 1928 (Germany) — The first rocket-powered manned airplane flight is made by Frederich Stamer from the Wasserkuppe peak in the Rhön Mountains of Germany. His tail-first glider flies about one mile.

11 June 1931 (England) — The Handley Page HP.42 four-engine biplane enters service with the British airline Imperial Airways and sets new standards of passenger service and comfort. It carries 40 passengers.

11 June 1943 (Italy) — Enemy garrison on an island near Sicily surrendered without firing a shot.

11 June 1971 (Polar) — British pilot Shelia Scott makes the first flight by a light plane from equator to equator via the North Pole. Flying in a Piper "Aztec D," she covers 34,000 miles (54,718 km).

12 June 1909 (France) — Louis Blériot flies his Blériot XII monoplane at Issy-les-Moulineaux with two passengers, Alberto Santos-Dumont and André Fournier. This is the first time a pilot has flown with two passengers.

12 June 1919 (France) — France’s Baroness Raymonde de Laroche breaks the women’s altitude record by flying to a height of 16,896 feet.

12 June 1942 (Romania) — Twelve B-24 "Liberators" made the first attack against the Ploie?ti refineries.

12 June 1979 (England/France) — The first man-powered aircraft to cross the English Channel is the "Gossamer Albatross," designed and built under the leadership of Paul MacCready. Flown by bicyclist Bryan Allen, it crosses from Folkestone, England to the French coast in two hours, 49 minutes.

13 June 1916 (Germany) — The Zeppelin-Lindau Dornier Rs II hydroplane, piloted by Schröter and Schulte, succeeds in taking off from Lake Constance, Germany, and makes a four-minute flight.

13 June 1931 (USA) — Flying a Szekely powered Buhl "Bull Pup," Mrs. May Haizlip establishes a women’s altitude record for light airplanes of 18,097 feet at St. Clair, Michigan.

13 June 1942 (USA) — The United States Navy makes its first operational test with Loran (long-range navigation) equipment with a receiver mounted in a K-2 airship on a flight from the Lakehurst, N. J. Naval Air Station.

13 June 1962 (USA) — Capt. Richard H. Coan, USAF, sets a new closed-circuit distance record for helicopters when he flies a Kaman H-43B "Huskie" a distance of 656.258 mi. This beats the previous record of 625.464 miles set by a Soviet Mil Mi-1 “Hare.”

14 June 1912 (USA) — Corporal Vernon Burge became U. S. Army’s first enlisted pilot.

14 June 1919 (Canada/Ireland) -The first direct non-stop crossing of the Atlantic by airplane is made by a British two-man team. Capt. John Alcock and Lt. Arthur Whitten-Brown fly a Vickers "Vimy" bomber from St. Johns, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Ireland. They fly some 1,950 miles in 16 hours, 27 minutes.

14 June 1921 (France) — Georges Kirsch reaches an altitude of 32,153 feet in a Nieuport, in France.

14 June 1921 (England) — Mooring Mast for airships operating in Pulham, England.

14 June 1923 (New Zealand) — The New Zealand Permanent Air Force is established.

14 June 1929 (England) — In efforts to encourage passenger traffic for their expanding international air routes, British Imperial Airways makes the first 30-minute “Tea” flight over London, costing £2 2s, reduced in 1931 to £1 10s.

15 June 1910 (France) — The world’s youngest flyer, 15-year-old Frenchman Marcel Hanriot, gets his pilot’s brevet, no. 15.

15 of June 1921 (Haiti) — U. S. Marine Corps aviators make aerial survey of the Haitian coastline.

15 June 1928 (England/Scotland) — An Imperial Airways A. W. “Argosy” piloted by Gordon Olley races the London and North Eastern Railway’s “Flying Scotsman” train the 390 miles from London to Edinburgh. The “Argosy” takes 84 minutes to refuel twice en route and beats the train by only 15 minutes.

15 June 1928 (USA) — Mail is successfully transferred from an airplane in flight to a train as Lt. Karl S. Axtater flies directly over an Illinois Central train and transfers a mail bag to a railway clerk.

15 June 1931 (USA) — American Airways, Inc., extends airmail service from Nashville, Tennessee, to Fort Worth, Texas.

15 June 1931 (USA) — American Airways, Inc., inaugurates airmail service between St. Louis, Missouri, and New Orleans, Louisiana.

15 June 1943 (Germany) — The first operational jet-bomber, the German-built Arado Ar-234 “Blitz,” makes its first flight.

15 June 1944 (Japan) — A flight of 47 Boeing B-29 "Superfortresses" made the first B-29 strike against Japan.

15 June 1944 (South Pacific) — U. S. Marines invade Saipan and the Mariana Islands.

16 June 1909 (USA) — A two-day celebration in Dayton, Ohio marks the homecoming of the Wrights.

16 June 1922 (USA) — A hybrid aircraft — part airplane (three fixed wings) and part helicopter (twin rotor blades) designed by American inventor Emile Berliner — makes a short vertical flight.

16 June 1928 (USA) — Superchargers to provide sea level pressure at 30,000 feet successfully tested.

16 June 1932 (USA) — The Lockheed Aircraft Corp. finally closes down eight months after the receivers were called in to its parent company, Detroit Aircraft Corp. On June 21, investment broker Robert Ellsworth Gross leads a consortium that buys the assets and opens a new company under the same name.

17 June 1928 (Canada/Wales) — Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the Atlantic as a passenger as she accompanies pilot Wilmer Stiltz and mechanic Louis Gordon on their flight from Newfoundland to Wales in a Fokker C-2. Less than four years later, she flies the Atlantic alone.

17 June 1942 (USA) — United States Army Air Forces conduct a test at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, successfully picking up gliders from the ground by an airplane flying at more than 100 mph.

17 June 1959 (France) — The first flight of the Dassault “Mirage IV,” the first European supersonic jet bomber, is made in France. This high-performance combat aircraft flies at Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound).

17 June 1983 (USA) — The first launch of a new generation ICBM, the MX “Peacekeeper,” is made from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

18 June 1861 (USA) — Thaddeus S. C. Lowe transmits the first telegraphic message ever sent from a balloon during a test at the Columbia Armory, Washington, D.C.

18 June 1877 (USA) — Samuel Archer King makes a two-hour airmail flight of 26 miles between Nashville and Gallatin, Tennessee, in the balloon Buffalo.

18 June 1922 (Germany) — The first soaring flight of one hour in slope lift (using hill currents) is made by Arthur Martens in a “Vampyr” sailplane designed by Wolfgang Klemmperer at the Wasserkuppe, Rhön, Germany.

18 June 1939 (Canada/Ireland) — The first direct transatlantic seaplane service is begun by Pan American Airways. It flies from New York to Southampton, England, by way of Botwood, Newfoundland, and Foynes, Ireland.

18 June 1965 (Vietnam) — Boeing B-52 “Stratofortress” Activities begin against the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese.

19 June 1894 (England) — Frederick W. Lanchester, British aeronautical and automobile pioneer, announces his theory of circulatory air-flow to the Birmingham Natural History and Philosophical Society in England. This theory is later to become of pivotal importance in aerodynamics.

19 June 1901 (USA ) — American experimenter Samuel P. Langley tests a quarter-scale model of his Aerodrome, a gasoline-driven flying machine. It makes four disappointingly short flights.

19 June 1930 (Romania) — The all-metal Polish fighter, the PZL P-1, is the star of the International competition for fighter airplanes in Bucharest, Romania, winning 8 of the 15 prizes. This is a triumph for the brilliant designer Zygmund Pulawski, whose aircraft consistently out-performed those of his rivals.

19 June 1931 (England/France) — Lissant Beardmore flies across the English Channel in a glider in 1 hour 30 minutes. He was Aero-towed from Lympne to an altitude of 14,000 feet (4,300 m) and landed at Saint-Inglevert Airfield, Pas-de-Calais.

19 June 1944 (South Pacific) — "Marianas Turkey Shoot" — U. S. Carrier-based fighters shoot down 220 Japanese planes while only 20 American planes are lost.

19 June 1970 (USA) — First flight of "Minuteman III" missiles became operational.

20 June 1540 (Portugal) — Joao Torto, in Viseu, Portugal, builds two pairs of cloth-covered wings, an upper and lower, which are connected by iron hoops. While preparing to jump from the town’s cathedral to the nearby St. Matthew’s fields, he is killed when the elaborated helmet slips over his eyes and he falls onto a roof.

20 June 1897 (England) — Percy Pilcher is towed about 750 feet in the “Hawk,” the fourth of his hang gliders.

20 June 1931 (England/France) — Robert Kornfeld makes round-trip flight across English Channel in a glider, winning a prize of $5000 offered by London Daily Mail.

20 June 1938 (Germany) — Flying a Focke-Wulf FW.61-VI powered by a Siemens SH.14a, 160-hp engine, engineer Carl Bode, sets a world helicopter distance record of 143.069 miles from Fassberg to Rangsdorf, Germany.

20 June 1941 (USA) — The United States Army Air Forces is established.

20 June 1951 (USA) — The first flight of aircraft with variable-sweep wings is made as the research aircraft Bell X-5, flies for 30 minutes at Edwards, California.

21 June 1907 (France) — Romanian Trajan Vuia makes a flight in Paris of almost 66 feet, at a height of 16 feet, in his second machine which has a 24-hp Antoinette engine running on carbonic acid and has its wheels fitted with shock absorbers.

21 June 1908 (USA) — The first flight of the Aerial Experiment Association’s (AEA) promising “June Bug” biplane, their third machine, takes place in New York State. It has a 40-hp air-cooled Curtiss engine.

21 June 1913 (USA) — The first woman to make a parachute jump from an airplane is Georgia “Tiny” Broadwick. The 18-year-old American descends 1,000 feet over Los Angeles, California.

21 June 1921 (USA) — German Submarine “U-117” sunk by bombs dropped by Navy F-5-L planes and the first aerial warfare demonstration off Virginia Capes.

21 June 1930 (USA) — Randolph Field at San Antonio, Texas is dedicated.

22 June 1909 (USA) — Wykoff, Church and Partridge, a car sales firm, becomes the USA’s first airplane sales agency.

22 June 1910 (Germany) — The German firm “Delag” inaugurates the first regular passenger-carrying airship service. Between 1910-1914, its five Zeppelin airships carry nearly 35,000 passengers without a fatality over inland German routes.

22 June 1933 (USSR) — The Tupolev ANT-25 monoplane, designed to win the world long-distance record for the USSR, makes its first flight.

22 June 1945 (South Pacific) — Japanese resistance ends on Okinawa.

22 June 1946 (USA) — Two Army Lockheed P-80 “Shooting Stars” make first jet air mail delivery.

23 June 1905 (USA) — Wilbur and Orville Wright make their first flight of 1905 in Huffman Prairie, Ohio, in their new “Flyer III,” the first practical airplane in history.

23 June 1913 (Russia) — The first large airplane designed exclusively as a bomber makes its first flight in Russia. Known as the “Russki Vityaz,” (Russian Knight) it was designed by Igor Sikorsky and built by the RBVZ [Russko-Baltijskij Vagonnyj Zavod (Russo-Baltic Cart Works)].

23 June 1921 (England) — Airship Z.R.-2 (R.-38) makes trial flight over Cardington, Bedford, England.

23 June 1924 (Germany) — With the success of their earlier designs Focke and Wulf formed the Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau GmbH in 1924 and their first design was an all-wood three/four passenger airliner or light transport the prototype A.16 was first flown by Georg Wulf on 23 June 1924.

23 June to 1 July 1931 (Global) — Flying a Pratt & Whitney “Wasp” powered Lockheed “Vega,” Wiley Post and Harold Gatty, starting from Roosevelt Field, Garden City, Long Island, New York, fly around the world in 8 days, 15 hours, 51 minutes, covering 15,474 miles 4 days, 10 hours, 8 minutes of actual flying time.

23 June 1938 (USA) — President Roosevelt signs Civil Air Authority Act creating Civil Aeronautics Authority of five members, an Executive Administrator and a 3-man Safety Board.

23 June 1950 (USA) -President Truman authorized air strikes against targets in North Korea.

24 June 1784 (USA) — Edward Warren, a boy of 13, makes the first, tethered, balloon ascent in the United States in Baltimore, Maryland; he volunteers when the craft proves too weak to lift its builder, Peter Carnes.

24 June 1918 (Canada) — The first air mail in Canada is flown from Montreal to Toronto.

24 June 1930 (USA) — Dr. Albert Taylor and Leo Young of the Aircraft Research Laboratory, near Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., succeed in tracing the position of airplanes in flight using wireless detection equipment.

24-25 June 1931 (Canada/Germany) — Flying a Wright J-6 powered Bellanca “Pacemaker,” Holger Hoiriis and Otto Hillig fly from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, to Krefeld, Germany in 32 hours 6 minutes.

24 June 1943 (USA) — Lieutenant Colonel W. R. Lovelace made record parachute jump from 42,200 feet.

25 June 1914 (Canada) — Tom Blakely flies the West Wind in Calgary, Canada. The Curtiss-type biplane was designed by Frank Ellis.

25 June 1919 (Germany) — The world’s most modern airliner, the Junkers F-13, makes its first flight at Dessau, Germany. It is made entirely of metal, with a strong, corrugated outer skin and cantilever wing structure, without struts or bracing wires.

25 June 1928 (USA) — The Boeing Model 83 biplane, the last from this company in which wood was used for the wing frame and the last biplane built by Boeing, makes its first flight.

25 June 1938 (USA) — Forty-seven U. S. Navy Consolidated PBY-1s, powered by Pratt & Whitney “Twin Wasp” engines, make a non-stop mass flight from San Diego, California to Seattle, Washington covering a distance of 1,100 miles.

25 June 1938 (England) — Royal Air Force Display, Hendon, England.

25 June to 10 July 1938 (USA) — Ninth Annual National Soaring Contest, Elmira, New York.

25 June 1951 (USA) — USAF Arnold Engineering Development Center dedicated by President Truman.

26 June 1869 (France) — Largest hydrogen balloon ever to make a free (untethered) ascent, makes a short flight from the Champs de Mars in Paris, France. It has a capacity of 424,000 ft³ (c. 130,000 m³).

26 June 1909 (USA) — The first commercial sale of an airplane in the United States is made as Glenn H. Curtiss sells one of his planes to the Aeronautic Society of New York for $7,500. This action spurs the Wright brothers to begin a patent suit to prevent him from selling airplanes without a license.

26 June 1911 (USA) — As spectators watch in amazement, Lincoln Beachey flies his Curtiss pusher biplane over Horseshoe Falls, the most spectacular of the Niagara Falls.

26 June 1921 (France) — Georges Kirsch reaches height of 32,889 feet over Versailles, France, in a Nieuport.

26 June 1936 (Germany) — The first flight of the first practical helicopter with two side-by-side rotors is made in Germany. Designed by Henrich Focke, the Focke-Achgelis FW-61 makes many flights, the longest being one hour and 20 minutes.

26 June 1946 (USA) — The United States Army Air Force and Navy adopt the “knot” and “nautical mile” as standard aeronautical units for speed and distance. A nautical mile is about 6,080 ft. (1,853 m), and knot is the equivalent of one nautical mile per hour.

26 June 1948 (Germany) — The “Berlin Airlift” was initiated in response to the Russian blockade of Berlin, Germany.

27 June 1909 (USA) — Three New York Papers (the Sun, Times and Herald) carry the world’s first advertisements of a practical airplane for sale to the general public.

27 June 1923 (USA) — The first refueling in mid-air (with hose) of one airplane by another is made by a De Havilland D.H.4-b from another one over San Diego, California. The planes are flown by Capt. L. H. Smith and Lt. J. P. Richter.

27 June 1950 (Korea) — USAF Lieutenants Hudson and Fraser flying a North American F-82G “Twin Mustang” down the first enemy aircraft of the “Korean Conflict.”

28 June 1911 (USA) — The first airplane charter flight is made by English aviator Thomas Sopwith who is hired by Wannamaker’s New York store to deliver repaired glasses to Philadelphia merchant W. A. Burpee.

28 June 1921 (USA) — Radio fog signals established on Atlantic coast.

28 June 1927 (USA) — The first non-stop flight between the United States and Hawaii is made by United States Lts. Albert F. Hegenberger and Lester J. Maitland. They fly 2,407 miles (3,874 km) from Oakland to Honolulu in 25 hours, 30 minutes.

28-29 June 1931 (France/Russia) — Flying a Salmson powered Klemm, Maryse Bastie establishes a women’s distance record of 1,849.763 miles from Le Bourget, Paris, France to Urino, Russia.

28 June 1934 (USA) — Contract signed with the Boeing Aircraft Company for design of the B-17.

28 June 1945 (Philippines ) — General MacArthur’s headquarters announces the end of all Japanese resistance in the Philippines.

29 June 1877 (Italy) — Italian Professor Enrico Forlanini’s steam-powered helicopter is tested at Milan, Italy.

29 June 1909 (USA) — In opening demonstration flights before the United States Army at Fort Myer, Virginia, Orville Wright makes the first flight with the new Wright A built to replace the one destroyed in September 1908.

29 June 1914 (USA) — Glenn Curtiss takes up nine passengers in New York in his seaplane “America,” built for Rodman Wanamaker, to make an attempt on the £10,000 prize offered by the Daily Mail for the first transatlantic crossing in a heavier-than-air machine.

29 June 1921 (USA) — The USS Iowa, radio-controlled, was used as a target for Navy and Marine Corps bombers, with dummy bombs, in 2^nd phase aerial warfare demonstration.

29 June 1948 (USA) — The Air Parcel Post Bill becomes U. S. law, establishing domestic air parcel post and raising first class postage rates for air mail from five cents to six cents.

29 June 1955 (USA) — First Boeing B-52 “Stratofortress” entered operational service with USAF.

30 June 1901 (Germany) — At enormous personal risk, Herr Berson and Professor Süring of the Berliner Verein für Luftschiffahrt establish the first ratified altitude record for balloons. Their 8,510 ft³ balloon Preussen (Prussia) ascends to 35,435 feet.

30 June 1910 (USA) — The first airplane bombing tests are made as Glenn H. Curtiss drops dummy bombs from his own Curtiss biplane on the shape of a battleship marked by flagged buoys on Lake Keuka, New York.

30 June 1911 (USA) — The Curtiss A-1 “Triad” seaplane is tested for the first time by Glenn Curtiss.

30 June 1921 (Egypt/Iraq) — Cairo-Bagdad air route opened by British Royal Air Force.

30 June 1977 (USA) — President Carter cancels the Rockwell B-1 “Lancer” bomber program.