American Aviation Historical Society

1874

Prof. Washington H. Donaldson performs the world’s first aerial wedding, between Miss Elizabeth Walsh, a featured equestrienne with P.T. Barnum’s Roman Hippodrome act, and Charles Colton, another Barnum performer. Besides Donaldson, the bride and the groom, the balloon carried two witnesses and the Rev. Howard B. Jefferies. The flight departed from Cincinnati’s Lincoln Park.

1917

McCook Field established - Oct 19, 1917 - Aeronautical experimental station for the Army Signal Corps in Dayton OH.

1928

An American six-man machine gun team parachuted from a six-plane formation

1955

F-105A exceeded speed of sound on first flight

1968

USAF test pilot Major William “Pete” Knight wins the Harmon international aviator’s trophy for “exceptional individual piloting performance”.