These Days in Aviation History: Today, Tomorrow, and The Next Day + Looking Ahead

There is so much aviation history out there, it can be difficult to pick which event(s) to share with you.  I could fill pages of history every time I send you an email.  But while looking back is vital, so is looking ahead.  So, Looking Ahead comprises, first, a little video I’m sharing with you this Sunday evening followed by three aviation history vignettes, just three of the hundreds…and depending on the day…even thousands of aviation historical events available that I could recount.

And anyway, I wouldn’t expect you to invest the time required to read pages of my historical selections, except for perhaps just once in a while 😊.

But first an editorial comment on the Looking Ahead video: If the average driver of a terrestrial vehicle can’t be trained to use their turn signals, what makes us think they can be trained to also fly?   

The Looking Ahead video can be seen here, courtesy of MSN.com.  https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/flying-sports-car-switchblade-street-legal-vehicle/vi-AA1GZVEQ?ocid=chromentpnews&pc=U526&cvid=37490567957d484d91b625eb20db61bc&ei=88

OK. Now for some aviation history today, tomorrow, and the next day (from the Goodfellows Historical Foundation editors):

1. “Today on August 10, 2005 Roy Marlin “Butch” Voris passed away.  He was a World War II ace and the founder of the Navy’s flight demonstration squadron, the Blue Angels.  During his 22-year naval career Voris flew everything from biplanes to modern jet aircraft, and afterward was instrumental in the development of the Navy’s F-14 Tomcat strike fighter and NASA’s Apollo Lunar Landing Module (LM), both produced by Grumman Aerospace.
2. “Tomorrow on August 11, 2010 “Sye” Feldman passed away.  He was a former WWII RAF Pilot Officer shot down 13 German V-1 rockets, and received the British Distinguished Flying Cross. Later, flying Mk IX Spitfires for the Israeli Air Force in the 1948-’49 War for Independence he shot down an RAF Spitfire. Also, tomorrow on August 11, 2022 Dean “Diz” Samuel Laird passed away.  He became the only Navy Ace in World War II to shoot down both German and Japanese aircraft.

RAF Spitfire.  Courtesy Encyclopedia Brittanica.

      3. “And finally, on the next day on August 12, 1908 – Thomas Baldwin and Glenn H. Curtiss, flew the Signal Corps’ first Army dirigible (SC-I), in flight trials at Fort Meyer near Washington, D.C.”

Onward and upward!

Sources:  Goodfellows Historical Foundation Editors, Encyclopedia Brittanica, MSN.com