Date On This Date In Aviation History Information Source 4/20/1944 Bomber Command Target: Cologne The Bomber War by Robin Neillands 4/20/1937 First flight of the Curtiss XP-37 USAAF SerNo 35-375 derivative of the P-36. Complete Book of Fighters, 2001 4/20/1942 The USS Wasp (CV-7), on special ferry duty out of Glasgow, Scotland, entered the Mediterranean and launched 47 Spitfires of the RAF to Malta. When the operation was duplicated on 9 May, it was the occasion for Winston Churchill's message, "Who says a Wasp cannot sting twice?" United States Naval Aviation 1910-1960 by Deputy Chief Of Naval Operations 4/20/1914 US Naval aviation's first combat action began when three aircraft from the base detachment left Pensacola on the USS Mississippi to assist forces at Vera Cruz, Mexico where they flew observation and photographic sorties Wright To Fly, by Peter R. March 4/20/1914 France hosted the Schneider Trophy Contest at Monaco and it was won by Australian Howard Pixton in a Sopwith Tabloid floatplane, powered by a 100hp Gnome Monosoupape rotary engine. His average speed beat the previous record (44.75 mph) by 25mph. Wright To Fly, by Peter R. March 4/20/1916 The Escadrille Americans was established as an American volunteer flying unit fighting on the Western Front, later becoming the famed Lafayette Escadrille. Wright To Fly, by Peter R. March 4/20/1942 Malta was re-enforced by 47 Spitfires that took off from USS Wasp. Wright To Fly, by Peter R. March 4/20/1979 The 16th and last production Concorde flew. Wright To Fly, by Peter R. March 4/20/1981 Initial flight of the first production Sukhoi Su-27 'Flanker'. Wright To Fly, by Peter R. March 4/20/1994 The Italian Navy received its first of sixteen AV-8B Harrier IIs ordered for operations from its new carrier, the Guiseppe Garibaldi. Wright To Fly, by Peter R. March 4/20/1942 Forty-seven Spitfires arrive aboard the USS Wasp to bolster the defense of Malta. Aviation Century - World War II by Ron Dick & Dan Patterson 4/20/1956 First flight of the Sud-Est SE 212 delta mixed-powered interceptor. X Planes and Prototypes By Jim Winchester