On July 18th,

• 1914, the U.S. Congress forms the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, formerly known as the Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps. Six name changes and 33 years later, it would become the United States Air Force.
• 1942, the world’s first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft and first mass-produced jet aircraft, the Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe, is flown in Germany for the first time. It wouldn’t enter service until near the end of the war in 1944.
• 1965, the first Russian satellite to complete a lunar flyby, Zond 3, is launched.
• 1966, Gemini 10, the first mission to complete a double rendezvous with other spacecraft, is launched from Cape Canaveral.
• 1984, Beverly Lynn Burns becomes the first female Boeing 747 airline captain, flying PEOPLExpress flight 604 from Newark to LAX. The achievement earned her extensive media attention, congratulatory honors from several local politicians–and even an invitation to President Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration. By the time she retired from Continental in 2008, she had captained the 727, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777 and DC-10.