Today in 1970, Lt Porter piloting a helicopter in Vietnam was inspecting an area of suspected enemy activity and instantly receives intense small arms fire.

Today in 1939, First Lieutenant Benjamin Scovill (“Ben”) Kelsey took the prototype Lockheed XP-38 on a record-breaking transcontinental flight and crashes.

Today in 1896, the most significant pre-Wright aeronautical experimenter and glider pioneer, Otto Lilienthal, dies from a broken spine caused by a crash.

Today in 1921, Lt. John A. Macready marked the beginning of modern crop dusting when he made the first aerial dusting application with a modified Curtiss JN-6 “Super Jenny” over caterpillar-infested trees in Ohio.

Today in 1917, Edwin Harris Dunning of the Royal Naval Air Service became the first person to land an aircraft on the deck of a ship underway.