July 28

What happened on July 28 in aviation and space history.

• July 28, 1935

  First flight of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

  First flight — The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress flew for the first time on 1935-07-28.

• July 28, 1935

  First flight of the Model 299, the B-17 prototype

  First flight — On 28 July 1935 the Model 299 — Boeing's company-funded prototype of what would become the B-17 — made its first flight in Seattle with chief test pilot Leslie Tower at the controls. The day before, a Seattle Times reporter had coined the nickname "Flying Fortress" after seeing the number of machine guns bristling from the fuselage. The aircraft combined features of the experimental XB-15 bomber and the Model 247 transport, powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet engines.

• July 28, 1945

  End of B-17 production

  Milestone — The last B-17 — the 8,680th built under licence by Lockheed (Vega) — rolled off the line on 28 July 1945. Counting combined production by Boeing, Douglas and Vega, 12,731 airframes had been built since 1935.