2013 – French Mirage 2000Ds strike Islamist positions around Konna, Mali.
2009 – Alitalia (Linee Aeree Italiane S. p. A) cease operations, bought by the private company Alitalia (Compagnia Aerea Italiana).
2009 – A Sikorsky UH-60L Blackhawk, 91-26321, c/n 70-1617, of the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, Texas Army National Guard, crashes on the campus at Texas A&M University just after take-off due to tail rotor failure, killing 2nd Lt. Zachary Cook, 2008 Texas A&M graduate, member of the Texas A&M ROTC, and Aggie Corps of Cadets and injuring four other Army personnel. The helicopter was participating in the Rudder's Rangers Annual Winter Field Training.
2008 – Macedonian Armed Forces Mil Mi-17 crash: Occurred when a Macedonian Army Mil Mi-17 helicopter crashes in thick fog southeast of Skopje, killing all 11 military personnel on board.
2005 – The Deep Impact space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral aboard a Delta 2 rocket. Its mission is to collide with and analyze the composition of the comet 9P/Tempel, which it did successfully in June 2005.
1998 – Operation Manu Tama'i, Chilean air Force mounts a training operation sending F-5E Tigers refueled by a Boeing KB 707 to Rapa Nui (Easter Island).
1997 – A non-stop, round-the-world balloon flight by Bertrand Piccard and Vim Verstraeten ends in failure when a fuel leak forces the balloonists to ditch in the Mediterranean shortly after take-off.
1997 – Launch: Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-81 at 09:27:23 UTC. Mission highlights: Shuttle-Mir docking.
1990 – USMCDouglas A-4M Skyhawk, BuNo 158149, c/n 14186, of VMA-131, crashes on approach to NAS Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, after an engine fire, coming down in Upper Moreland Township, impacting in an intersection, debris tearing off roof of an auto-leasing business, destroying four autos, and damaging six houses, but no injuries on the ground. Pilot Capt. Duane Pandorf, 35, parachutes into tree, suffering only minor injuries.
1986 – Launch: Space Shuttle ColumbiaSTS-61-C at 5:58:51 am PST. Mission highlights: Comsat deployment, flight of US Representative Bill Nelson.
1985 – Death of Karl Deilmann, German WWI flying ace and industrial.
1981 – A United States Marine CorpsMcDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom II crashes into the Atlantic Ocean while attempting a landing aboard the USS Forrestal off Jacksonville, Florida, officials at MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina said on 15 January. The pilot is listed as lost at sea after an unsuccessful search, but radar intercept officer, Capt. C. F. Toler ejects, is rescued and reported in satisfactory condition aboard the carrier.
1981 – Leftist terrorists, the Puerto Rican Popular Army, also known as the "Machete Wielders", seeking Puerto Rican independence, use home-made bombs to destroy eight Air National GuardLTV A-7D Corsair IIs and a retired Lockheed F-104C Starfighter at the Puerto Rico Air National Guard's Muñiz Air National Guard Base, located on the north-eastern corner of the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Three bombs in two planes were removed before they exploded. Security at the base was so slack that the bombers were able to enter and leave without detection.
1972 – Braniff Flight 38, a Boeing 727, is hijacked after takeoff from William P. Hobby Airport in Houston; all 94 passengers are allowed to deplane after landing at Dallas Love Field; the crew escapes 6 hours later; the hijacker is arrested with no casualties to the 101 people on board.
1970 – A Pan AmBoeing 747, on a proving flight from New York, is the first wide-bodied airliner to make a landing at Heathrow Airport in London.
1970 – Death of Blanche Stuart Scott, also known as Betty Scott, possibly the first American woman aviator.
1969 – The New York Jets, so named in honor of the airport (LaGuardia) next to their home of Shea Stadium, win Super Bowl III over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts.
1966 – Birth of Sergei Nikolayevich Revin, Russian cosmonaut and pilot.
1965 – The last of 820 Boeing KC-135 aerial tankers is delivered to the Air Force.
1961 – Henry Deutschendorf and his crew secured the 2000km closed-circuit record at 1708.8 km/h with a Convair B-58 Hustler.
1961 – Two Convair F-102 Delta Daggers of the 111th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, Texas Air National Guard, Ellington AFB, Texas, are scrambled to intercept an unidentified aircraft approaching the Texas Gulf coast. For unknown reasons, F-102A-55-CO, 56-1015, catches fire and crashes in a rice field near Alvin, Texas, killing the pilot.
1960 – Death of Nevil Shute Norway, popular British novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer.
1953 – The United States Navy (USN) begins operational flight tests from the first angled-deck aircraft carrier, the USS Antietam (CV-36).
1953 – "An Eglin (AFB) North American F-86 Sabre crash landed on Range 51 injuring the pilot." Aircraft was North American F-86F-30-NA, 52-4306, of the 3200th Flight Test Squadron, 3200th Proof Test Group, piloted by Robert G. Loomis; suffered engine failure.
1952 – Prototype RAFVickers Valiant, WB210, catches fire during in-flight engine relight trials, crew bails out but the co-pilot is killed when his ejection seat strikes tail.
1949 – During the Berlin Airlift, the crash of a Douglas C-54D-5-DC Skymaster, 42-72629, c/n 10734, on approach to Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, kills three crew, 1st Lt. Ralph H. Boyd, 1st Lt. Craig B. Ladd, and T/Sgt. Charles L. Putnam.
1945 – (12-13) Kamikazes resume attacks in Lingayen Gulf, damaging a destroyer escort, a destroyer-transport, an attack transport, and several merchant ships.
1945 – With 850 aircraft aboard its carriers, Task Force 38 strikes targets along a 420-nautical mile (778-km) stretch of the coast of French Indochina, flying 1,465 sorties; sinking 12 tankers, 17 other merchant ships, the disarmed French cruiser La Motte-Picquet, and 15 Japanese naval vessels, including the light cruiser Kashii; and destroying 15 Japanese aircraft in the air, 77 on the ground, and 20 floatplanes on Camranh Bay in exchange for the loss of 23 U. S. aircraft.
1944 – Lance C. Wade, American pilot, dies (b. 1916). Wing Commander Lance Cleo “Wildcat” Wade, was an American pilot who joined the British Royal Air Force during the Second World War and became a flying ace. He was described in “Fighter Aces of the USA” by Toliver and Constable, as a “distinguished American fighter ace who epitomized perhaps more than any other American airman the wartime accords between Britain and the United States”. Since he never transferred to the USAAF, or any other American Air service, W/Cmdr. Wade never got the publicity that other American Aces received and thus is more obscure than his peers.
1944 – U.S. NavyGrumman F6F-3 Hellcat, BuNo 66237, c/n A-1257, 'Z 11', suffers engine failure on functional check flight out of NAS San Diego, North Island, California, pilot Ens. Robert F. Thomas ditches in the Pacific Ocean ~12 miles (19 km) from the base, gets clear of sinking airframe and survives to become an ace in the Pacific theatre. Hellcat is discovered in 3,400 feet (1,000 m) of water by Lockheed research submarine RV Deep Quest on 17 March 1970. Recovered by USN on 9 October 1970. An M-2 .50 calibre machine gun from the wing is taken to the Naval Weapons Laboratory at Dahlgren, Virginia, for test firing. Showing little signs of deterioration after the long immersion, the weapon, after cleaning and lubrication, fires without a stoppage or mechanical failure. Airframe was displayed as of 1974 at Pima County Air Museum, Tucson, Arizona, now at the National Museum of Naval Aviation, NAS Pensacola, Florida.
1942 – Death of Owen Morgan Baldwin, British WWI fighter ace.
1942 – Death of Erbo Graf von Kageneck, German fighter pilot and WWII flying ace.
1942 – Death of Vladimir Mikhailovich Petlyakov, Soviet aircraft designer, killed in an air crash near Arzamas while flying e Pe-2 to Moscow.
1939 – The RAF Auxiliary Air Force Reserve is formed.
1937 – Western Air Express Flight 7, a Boeing 247, crashes into a mountain near Newhall, California. Five of the 13 people aboard die, including famed adventurer, author and filmmaker, Martin Johnson.
1936 – In the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, aircraft of the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) begin the Battle of Genale Doria by dropping two tons (1,814 kg) of mustard gas on Ethiopian positions.
1935 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman pilot to fly solo between Hawaii and the USA. She took off from Wheeler Field, Oahu, Honolulu, to fly her Lockheed Vega across the eastern Pacific to Oakland, California. Earhart lands after 18 hours 15 min.
1933 – Jean Mermoz takes off His Couzinet 70 'Arc en Ciel' from Paris-Le Bourget to Buenos Aires for a south-Atlantic crossing.
1918 – A decree issued by the Council of Peoples’ Commissars of the Republic puts all Russian aircraft manufacturing companies under state control.
1917 – Death of Thomas Mottershead VC, DCM, British WWI pilot, from injuries after a dogfight with two Albatros D.III 5 days before, managing to take his burning FE-2d back to the Allied lines and made a successful forced landing saving his observer's life.
1907 – Birth of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer in the Space Race between the USA and the Soviet Union during the 1950s and 1960s. He is considered by many as the father of practical astronautics
1904 – Birth of Richard Llewellyn Roger Atcherley KBE, CB, AFC & Bar, British racing pilot, senior commander in the RAF who also served as chief of Air Staff for the Royal Pakistan Air Force.
1899 – Birth of Clennell Haggerston "Punch" Dickins OC, OBE, DFC, pioneering Canadian aviator and bush pilot
1894 – Birth of Hiram Franklin Davison, Canadian WWI flying ace.
1893 – Birth of Mikhail Iosifovich Gurevich, Soviet aircraft designer, partner (with Artem Mikoyan) of the famous MiG military aviation bureau.
1893 – Birth of Hermann Wilhelm Göring, German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. WWI fighter ace, He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe until the end of WWII.
1892 – Mikhail Gurevich, Russian aircraft designer, is born (d. 1976). Gurevich was a Soviet aircraft designer, a partner (with Artem Mikoyan) of the famous MiG military aviation bureau.
1891 – Birth of Leo C. Young, American radio engineer who had many accomplishments during a long career at the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory. Although self-educated, he was a member of a small, creative team that is generally credited with developing the world's first true radar system.
1891 – Birth of Jean Georges Bouyer, French WWI flying ace.
1883 – Birth of Gustav Otto, German aircraft and aircraft-engine designer and manufacturer, inventor of the four-stroke internal combustion engine.
1879 – Birth of Calbraith Perry Rodgers, pioneer American aviator who made the first transcontinental airplane flight across the U. S.
1866 – The Aeronautical Society of Great Britain is founded in London (later to become the Royal Aeronautical Society) and is still in existence today.
