On this day in 1944, Nazi Germany launches the V-1 Flying
Bomb, marking the first use of a cruise missile in warfare.

Dubbed "buzz bombs," these pilotless terrors droned
ominously over London, delivering destruction and
dread in equal measure.

The V-1, officially designated Fieseler Fi 103, was developed
by the Luftwaffe at the Peenemünde Army Research Center
in 1942.

It was powered by a pulsejet engine, which produced its
distinctive buzzing sound, and featured a simple guidance
system using a gyroscope, magnetic compass, barometric
altimeter, and a nose-mounted vane anemometer.

A V-1 on display in the Musée de l’Armée, Paris.

Aviator Charles A. Lindbergh landed at Le Bourget Field
in Paris, successfully completing the first solo, nonstop
transatlantic flight and the first ever nonstop flight
between New York to Paris.

His single-engine monoplane, The Spirit of St. Louis, had
lifted off from Roosevelt Field in New York 33 1/2 hours
before.

The Spirit of St. Louis on display at the National Air and
Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution in Washington,
DC.

At 7:52 a.m., American aviator Charles A. Lindbergh took
off from Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York, on the
world’s first solo, nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean
and the first ever nonstop flight between New York to Paris.

Lindbergh, a young airmail pilot, was a dark horse when he
entered a competition with a $25,000 payoff to fly nonstop
from New York to Paris.

He ordered a small monoplane, configured it to his own
design, and christened it the Spirit of St. Louis in tribute
to his sponsor–the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce.

Lindbergh’s achievement made him an international celebrity
and won widespread public acceptance of the airplane and
commercial aviation.

Charles Augustus Lindbergh
(February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974)

A Delta Airlines DC-9-30 similar to the one involved.
     
   

Sam Byck was an American hijacker and attempted assassin
who on February 22, 1974 attempted to hijack a Delta Airlines
jet flying out of Baltimore/Washington International Airport,
intending to crash into the White House in the hopes of killing
President Richard Nixon.

In fact, Byck killed a policeman and a pilot, but was shot and
wounded by another policeman before committing suicide.

Samuel Joseph Byck
(January 30, 1930 – February 22, 1974)

A film based on his story, The Assassination of
Richard Nixon, was released in 2004.

The film starred Sean Penn as Bicke (the surname
spelling having been changed)

Rising American rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P.
“The Big Bopper” Richardson, along with the pilot, were killed
when their chartered Beechcraft Bonanza plane crashed in
Iowa a few minutes after takeoff from Mason City on a flight
headed for Moorhead, Minnesota. Investigators blamed the
crash on bad weather and pilot error.

Pictured above is a Beechcraft Bonanza similar to the one
chartered for the flight.  

Memorial at crash site, 2024.