On May 26, 1981, during night operations off Pensacola, Florida, a Marine Corps EA-6B "Prowler" crashed on the deck of the Nuclear powered Aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, igniting a fire and causing a string of explosions that resulted in the death of 14 members of her crew.
October 5 represents the anniversary of what is generally considered to have been an aviation first, the first time that the crew of one airplane shot down another airplane- the first aerial victory in history.