John Denver (Henry John Deutschendorf Jr.)
(December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997)

To those who bought records like “Rocky Mountain High”
and “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by the millions in
the 1970s, John Denver was much more than just a great
songwriter and performer.

There never was and there probably never will be a star
quite like John Denver, who died on October 12, 1997
when his experimental amateur aircraft (below) crashed
into Monterey Bay on the California coast.

Quote from the NTSB Report: "The National Transportation Safety
Board determined the probable cause of the accident was the
pilot’s diversion of attention from the operation of the airplane
and his inadvertent application of right rudder that resulted in
the loss of airplane control while attempting to manipulate the
fuel selector handle.

On September 21, 1942, the U.S. B-29 Superfortress made its
debut flight in Seattle, Washington. It was the largest bomber
used in the war by any nation.        
        
        
        
        
   
The B-29 was conceived in 1939 by Gen. Hap Arnold.

On September 17, 1976, NASA publicly unveiled its first space
shuttle, the Enterprise, during a ceremony in Palmdale, California. Development of the aircraft-like spacecraft cost almost $10
billion and took nearly a decade. In 1977, the Enterprise became
the first space shuttle to fly freely when it was lifted to a height
of 25,000 feet by a Boeing 747 airplane and then released, gliding
back to Edwards Air Force Base on its own accord.

Regular flights of the space shuttle began on April 12, 1981, with
the launching of Columbia from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

United Airlines Flight 93 was a domestic scheduled passenger
flight that was hijacked by four al-Qaeda terrorists on the
morning of September 11, 2001, as part of the September
11 attacks.

They failed in their primary mission when the passengers
fought back, forcing the terrorists to crash the plane in
Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

Boeing 757-222

Amelia Mary Earhart
(July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead
January 5, 1939)

Aviation trailblazer Amelia Earhart became the first woman to
fly solo across the U.S. nonstop on this day in history, Aug. 24,
1932.

Earhart piloted her Lockheed Vega 5B from Los Angeles to
Newark in 19 hours and 5 minutes.  She set an official U.S
record for women’s distance and time.

Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Vega 5B in the National Air
and Space Museum.