1898 – Jake Swirbul, American co-founder of Grumman Aircraft
Engineering Corp., was born. 1916 – German ace Ernst Udet scores
his first kill; his 62 victories were second only to Manfred von
Richthofen, his commander in the Flying Circus. 1939 – The first
Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner, due to be delivered to Pan Am
after testing and certification, crashes, killing all 10 people
on board. The accident results in the formation of an expanded
aerodynamic research group headed by Eddie Allen, with more
emphasis on pre-flight testing. 1958 – Austrian Airlines takes
off on its first flight with a Vickers Viscount from Vienna to
London with a stop in Zurich. 2002 – The HAL Dhruv, a twin-
engined helicopter designed and built in India (shown above),
enters service with the Indian Coast Guard. 2010 – Aviastar-TU
Flight 1906, a Tupolev Tu-204, crashed on approach to Domodedovo
International Airport, Moscow. It was the first hull loss for
Aviastar and the first of a Tu-204, a twin-jet similar to a
Boeing 757.