Portal:Aviation/Historical anniversaries/October in aviation/October 20

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October 20

• 1980 - first dog fights of the Iran-Iraq War. An Iraqi Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 is shot down by Iranian F-4 Phantoms

• 1969 - Finnair introduces an inertial navigation system on its aircraft, becoming the first airline to dispense with the need for a navigator aboard.

• 1953 - a TWA Lockheed Constellation makes the first non-stop, scheduled passenger flight across the United States

• 1950 - US paratroops are used to cut off supplies from Pyongyang

• 1934 - MacRobertson Air Race flown from England to Melbourne, Australia to celebrate the centenary of the state of Victoria. The £75,000 prize money is won by Charles Scott and Tom Black flying de Havilland DH.88 Comet Grosvenor House.

• 1922 - Lt Harold Harris makes the first parachute escape from a stricken aircraft, bailing out of a Loening PW-2 over Dayton, Ohio.