1935 in aviation

none in aviation 19th Century 20th century 21st century 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1900–19091900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s Aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1935: Events Employing aerial refueling, a sustained flight record of 653 hours 34 minutes (27 days, 5 hours, 34 minutes) is set by brothers Al and Fred Key of Meridian, Mississippi. It remains unbroken. March 2, 1943 Major Algene Key is awarded DSC https://www.newspapers.com/image/772572798/ The York Daily News-Times York, Nebraska 5 March 28, 2024 newspapers.com subscription Maj. Algene E. Key of Meridian, Miss., who with his brother Fred set an endurance flight record of 653 hours and 34 minutes in 1935, has been awarded the distinguished service cross for flying his severely damaged heavy bomber in formation during a raid on German-held France, the war department announced today. Consolidated Aircraft Corporation moves from Buffalo, New York, to San Diego, California.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 95. Imperial Japanese Navy dive bombers practice against a full-size mock-up of the United States Navy aircraft carrier Saratoga (CV-3) at the Kashima bombing range.Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, 978-1-55750-432-6, p. 41. Pan American World Airways builds a seaplane base for its transpacific China Clipper flying boats on Sand Island at Midway Atoll.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume IV: Coral Sea, Midway, and Submarine Actions, May 1942-August 1942, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 72. The Soviet Union has the largest bomber force in the world.Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, 978-0-87474-510-8, p. 47. The Kalinin K-7 programme ends with the construction of only one K-7, which had been lost in 1933. The end of the programme brings the cancellation of the construction of two additional K-7s. The United States Army places a rotary-wing aircraft in service for the first time when it purchases a Kellet KD-1 autogiro for evaluation. The autogiro is designated the YG-1 in U.S. Army service. Approximately 20 cities in the United States have established radio control of airport traffic. The first — Cleveland Municipal Airport (the future Cleveland Hopkins International Airport) in Cleveland, Ohio — had done so in 1930. FAA HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY, 1926-1996 https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/about/history/chronolog_history/b-chron.pdf faa.gov Federal Aviation Administration 18 May 2026 January thumb|Romanian pilot Irina Burnaia. Helen Richey begins flying as a first officer for Pennsylvania Central Airlines. Operating a Ford Tri-Motor between Washington, D.C., and Detroit, Michigan, via Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Cleveland, Ohio, she is the first female pilot for a regularly scheduled commercial airline.Lynch, Adam, "Hometown Heroine," Aviation History, March 2012, p. 56. January 1 – In accordance with the Air Mail Act of 1934, it becomes illegal in the United States for an airline with an air mail contract to own any other aviation enterprise, or for any other aviation enterprise to own an air line with an airmail contract, with the exception that both airlines and other aviation enterprises still may own airfields. The most significant practical effect of the legislation is that aircraft manufacturers no longer may own airlines and vice versa. January 3 – As a part of the Romanian air tours over Africa, Irina Burnaia starts her journey from Bucharest, Romania, to Lake Victoria in Africa piloting an IAR-22.Tașcău Loreman Cristinel 2011 Avioane fabricate la Brașov: IAR-22 no. 2 Modelism Internațional 1 ro January 11–12 – Amelia Earhart makes the first solo flight from Hawaii to North America, flying from Honolulu to Oakland, California, in 18 hours 15 minutes.Aviation Hawaii: 1930-1939 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii It is also the first solo flight across any portion of the Pacific Ocean. January 15 – United States Army Air Corps Major James Doolittle establishes a record for a transport flight across the United States, from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, in 11 hours 59 minutes. January 26 – During a mail flight, the Hillman's Airways de Havilland Dragon Rapide G-ACPO crashes in bad weather at Derbyhaven on the Isle of Man. January 29 – With parachutist Edith Clark aboard as a passenger, pilot Madeleine Charnaux climbs to 6,115 m off, setting an altitude record for light aircraft.http://www.janinetissot.fdaf.org/jt_clark.htm Edith CLARK www.janinetissot.fdaf.org 2017-01-22 January 31 – During a scheduled passenger flight from Moscow in the Soviet Union to Berlin, Germany, the Deruluft Junkers Ju 52/3mge D-AREN crashes into a hill in fog and rain, killing all 11 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description February February 3 – The German aircraft designer Hugo Junkers dies February 12 – The U.S. Navy rigid airship Macon ZRS-5 crashes and sinks in the Pacific Ocean off Point Sur, California. Two of her crewmen die. February 21 – Sisters Jane and Elizabeth Du Bois, daughters of the American consul at Naples, Italy, Coert du Bois, force open the door of a Hillman Airways de Havilland Dragon Rapide airliner in flight and jump to their deaths. Both women had been engaged to be married to pilots killed in the crash of a Royal Air Force flying boat off Sicily on February 15.Sydney Morning Herald, February 26, 1935, p. 11. February 22 It becomes illegal for airplanes to fly over the White House in Washington, D.C.McCabe, Scott, "Crime History", Washington Examiner, February 22, 2012, p. 8."Today in History", The Washington Post Express, February 22, 2012, p. 26. President Franklin D. Roosevelts complaint that aircraft disturb his sleep prompts the new law. Leland Andrews breaks Doolittle's January record, completing a transcontinental transport flight across the United States in 11 hours 34 minutes. Wiley Post takes off from Burbank, California, to begin his first attempt to make the "First Air Mail Stratosphere Flight" over U.S. Air Mail Route #2 (AM-2) from Los Angeles, California, to New York City and set a speed record for a flight across the continental United States. Mechanical problems force him to land his Lockheed 5C Vega Winnie Mae at Muroc Dry Lakein the Mojave Desert after a flight of only 57 mi nmi km 0. An inspection reveals that a mechanic had sabotaged the flight by placing emery dust in the air inlet of the plane's supercharger at the request of a disgruntled pilot, causing the engine to ingest a U.S. quart (0.8 imp qt; 0.95 liter) of the dust.Mohler Stanley R. Johnson Bobby H. 1971 Wiley Post, His Winnie Mae, and the World's First Pressure Suit (Smithsonian Annals of Flight, Number 8) Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C. 978-1780392714 99, 101 https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/18678/SAoF-0008-Lo_res.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y 2 June 2026 February 26 In Germany, Adolf Hitler orders Hermann Göring to secretly establish the Luftwaffe, violating the provision of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 that Germany never again possess armed aircraft.The Military History of the Luftwaffe https://web.archive.org/web/20110421001048/http://luftwaffefighters.co.uk/luftwaffe.htm 2011-04-21 Robert Watson-Watt and Arnold Wilkins first demonstrate the reflection of radio waves from an aircraft, near Daventry in England;IET http://tv.theiet.org/technology/communications/219.cfm Passive Covert Radar – Watson-Watt's Daventry Experiment Revisited 2011-06-07 https://web.archive.org/web/20110513210855/http://tv.theiet.org/technology/communications/219.cfm 13 May 2011 live on June 17, the first radio detection of an aircraft by ground-based radar is made at Orford Ness. March March 1 – The United States Department of War establishes General Headquarters Air Force within the United States Army.Maurer, Maurer Air Force Combat Units of World War II 1961 http://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf https://archive.today/20210115181723/https://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf dead January 15, 2021 reprint 1983 Office of Air Force History Washington, DC 0-912799-02-1 61060979 6 March 9 – The Nazi Government in Germany publicly announces the formation of the Luftwaffe in defiance of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. Hermann Göring is made its commander-in-chief, a position he holds almost until the end of World War II in 1945.Murray, Williamson, Strategy for Defeat: The Luftwaffe 1933-1945, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press, 1983, no ISBN, p. 5. March 15 – Wiley Post's second attempt to make the "First Air Mail Stratosphere Flight" over U.S. Air Mail Route #2 (AM-2) from Los Angeles, California, to New York City and set a speed record for a flight across the continental United States fails when mechanical problems force him to turn around 100 mi nmi km 0 east of Cleveland, Ohio, and land his Lockheed 5C Vega Winnie Mae at Cleveland. Nonetheless, he achieves a 2,035 mi nmi km on 0 nonstop flight from Burbank, California, reaching Cleveland in a record time of 7 hours 19 minutes. Winnie Mae averages 279 mph 0 for the flight — 100 mph 0 higher than the plane's normal top speed — and reaches 340 mph 0 at times, indicating that Post had operated in the jet stream during the flight. Although falling short of its goal of reaching New York, the flight demonstrates the practicality of both Post's pressure suit and Winnie Mae'''s oxygen system for high-altitude flight, and that aircraft operating at such high altitudes on westbound flights can achieve impressive boosts in speed thanks to the jet stream. Lockheed Vega Winnie Mae https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/lockheed-vega-winnie-mae/nasm_A19360030000 National Air and Space Museum 2 June 2026Mohler Stanley R. Johnson Bobby H. 1971 Wiley Post, His Winnie Mae, and the World's First Pressure Suit (Smithsonian Annals of Flight, Number 8) Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C. 978-1780392714 101–102 https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/18678/SAoF-0008-Lo_res.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y 2 June 2026 (This sources places the flight on March 5 rather than March 15) March 28 – Robert Goddard launches the world's first successful liquid-fuelled rocket. April April 1 – Swissair begins services between Zürich and London. April 4 – United Airways Ltd is formed to operate services between England and the Isle of Man. April 13 - Qantas and Imperial Airways provide regular connecting flights between Brisbane, Australia, and London. April 14 – Wiley Post's third attempt to make the "First Air Mail Stratosphere Flight" over U.S. Air Mail Route #2 (AM-2) from Los Angeles, California, to New York City and set a speed record for a flight across the continental United States fails when his Lockheed 5C Vega Winnie Mae suffers mechanical problems that force him to land at Lafayette, Indiana, after a 1,760 mi nmi km on 0 flight from Burbank, California, that takes about eight hours.Mohler Stanley R. Johnson Bobby H. 1971 Wiley Post, His Winnie Mae, and the World's First Pressure Suit (Smithsonian Annals of Flight, Number 8) Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C. 978-1780392714 102 https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/18678/SAoF-0008-Lo_res.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y 2 June 2026 (This sources places the flight on March 5 rather than March 15) April 16–17 – The Pan American Airways Sikorsky S-42 Pioneer Clipper makes the first airline survey flight from California to Hawaii, departing from Alameda, California, and arriving at Pearl Harbor. The flight, which takes 17 hours 44 minutes, is the beginning of the development of an orderly commercial air transportation system in the Pacific Ocean.Horvat William J., Lieutenant Colonel 1966 Above the Pacific Aero Publishers, Inc. 131 https://aviation.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Above-the-Pacific-by-Lieutenant-Colonel-William-J.-Horvat-1966.pdf 3 June 2026 May May 6 TWA Flight 6, a scheduled passenger flight from Albuquerque Municipal Airport in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Kansas City, Missouri, aboard the Transcontinental & Western Air Douglas DC-2-112 NC13785, crashes near Atlanta, Missouri, killing five of the eight people on board. United States Senator Bronson M. Cutting of New Mexico is among the dead. Controversy over conflicting findings by the Bureau of Air Commerce and by a U.S. Senate committee regarding the cause of the crash will lead to the establishment in the United States of an independent air safety board under the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description Frank Hawks arrives at Los Angeles, California, completing a 39-hour 52-minute flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to demonstrate the long-range capabilities of the Northrop Gamma 2E attack aircraft to the Argentine Navy, making eight rest and refueling stops along the way. Taking off from Buenos Aires on May 3 with Northrop chief test pilot Gage H. Irving in the plane's gunner's seat, Hawks has broken ten intercity speed records during the 8,090-mile (13,020-km) trip, including on the 3,430-mile (5,523-km) leg from Cristóbal, Panama, to Los Angeles, which he covers in a record-breaking 17 hours 50 minutes.aircargo.com "Time Flies at 70" May 18 – A Polikarpov I-5 fighter collides with the Tupolev ANT-20 Maxim Gorky while trying to conduct a loop around Maxim Gorky during a demonstration flight over Moscow. Maxim Gorky crashes near Tushino. Fifty-six people die, making it the worst heavier-than-air crash and second-worst air crash in history at the time, exceeded only by the death toll of 73 in the April 1933 crash of the U.S. Navy dirigible Akron ZRS-4. May 31 – Hickam Field is dedicated in the Territory of Hawaii. June June 15 – Wiley Post attempts his fourth and final attempt to make the "First Air Mail Stratosphere Flight" over U.S. Air Mail Route #2 (AM-2) from Los Angeles, California, to New York City and set a speed record for a flight across the continental United States. He takes off from Burbank, California, in the Lockheed 5C Vega Winnie Mae and passes over the Rocky Mountains at 35,000 ft 3 us, but as he crosses Kansas in the stratosphere Winnie Mae's engine fails, forcing him to make a deadstick landing at Wichita, Kansas, after a nonstop flight of 1,188 mi nmi km 0. The incident leads Post to retire the record-setting Winnie Mae due to age and declining reliability.Mohler Stanley R. Johnson Bobby H. 1971 Wiley Post, His Winnie Mae, and the World's First Pressure Suit (Smithsonian Annals of Flight, Number 8) Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C. 978-1780392714 103 https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/18678/SAoF-0008-Lo_res.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y 2 June 2026 (This sources places the flight on March 5 rather than March 15) June 24 – A Ford Trimotor of Servicio Aéreo Colombiano (SACO) collides with another Ford Trimotor of Sociedad Colombo Alemana de Transporte Aéreo (SCADTA) in Medellín, Colombia. Fifteen people are killed, including the world-famous tango singer Carlos Gardel, the journalist, dramatist, and lyricist Alfredo Le Pera, and other musicians traveling with them to promote the new movie El día que me quieras ("The Day That You Will Love Me").Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1930s June 25 – United States Coast Guard Lieutenant Richard L. Burke sets a world seaplane speed record carrying a 500 kg lb on on 0 load over a 100 km mi on on 1 course at an average speed of 280.105 km/h mph flying a Grumman JF-2 Duck.A Chronological History of Coast Guard Aviation: The Early Years, 1915-1938. June 26 – Soviet military balloon pilots Christian Zille and Yury Prilutsky and Professor Alexander Verigo attempt to set a new altitude record for human flight in the balloon USSR-1 Bis. Launching from Moscow's Kuntsevo District, they fall some 19,000 ft m off us short of the record when the balloon begins an unexpected descent from an altitude of 53,000 ft m off us. As the rate of descent increases dangerously, Verigo bails out at 3,500 m ft off us and Prilutsky at 2,500 m ft off us, after which Zille manages to bring the descent under control and makes a soft landing in the gondola near Trufanovo in the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic's Tula Oblast. The Soviet government will award all three crew members the Order of Lenin for the flight. June 27 – United States Coast Guard Lieutenant Richard L. Burke sets a world seaplane altitude record of 5,449.050 m ft carrying a 500 kg lb on on load, flying a Grumman JF-2 Duck. July Facing bankruptcy, the Société des Avions Bernard (fr Bernard Aircraft Company) goes out of business. It and its two predecessor companies had manufactured aircraft since 1917. 16 May 2001 Adolphe-Bernard http://fandavion.free.fr/Bernard_constructeur.htm Fan d'Avions 7 May 2026 fr July 1 – The American flying team The Flying Keys sets an endurance record by flying a Curtiss Robin non-stop for 653 hours, 34 minutes in the vicinity of Meridian, Mississippi. During the flight, which began on June 4, the Robin's two-man crew receives fuel, other supplies, and fuel in mid-air from a similar aircraft. The flight covers 52,320 mi km off us and uses more than 6,000 gallons (4,996 Imperial gallons; 22,712 liters) of gasoline. July 10 – The Bell Aircraft Corporation is founded in Buffalo, New York.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 37. July 13 – The Shoreham Airport terminal building is opened at Lancing, England. July 30 – During United States Navy tests of an instrument flying system, Lieutenant Frank Peak Akers takes off from Naval Air Station San Diego in San Diego, California, in a Berliner-Joyce OJ-2 outfitted with a hooded cockpit to locate and land aboard the aircraft carrier Langley CV-1, which is operating at an unspecified location somewhere in the Pacific Ocean about 150 nmi in 2 west of California. Flying "blind" the entire way, he uses instrument to find Langley and land safely aboard her. He will receive the Distinguished Flying Cross for his achievement. May 9, 2026 9 May 1932 https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/instrument-flight/ thisdayinaviation.com This Day in Aviation 30 May 2026 August Because of deteriorating relations between Italy and Ethiopia, the British aircraft carriers HMS Courageous and HMS Glorious disembark their aircraft at Alexandria, Egypt, to guard against any outbreak of war spreading to British-controlled territory. The aircraft remain ashore in Egypt until early 1936.Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, 0-87021-026-2, p. 19. August 5 – French aviator Marcel Cagnot takes off in the Farman F.1001 in an attempt to set a new world altitude record. The attempt ends in tragedy when one of the F.1001's cupola windows fail at an altitude of 10,000 m ft 0 off us, leading to a rapid decompression and the death of Cagnot. August 15 – Wiley Post, the first pilot to fly solo around the world, and his passenger, the humorist Will Rogers, are killed in the crash of a hybrid Lockheed Orion/Lockheed Explorer aircraft near Point Barrow in the Territory of Alaska. September September 15 – A Seversky SEV-3 sets a world speed record for piston-engined amphibious airplanes, reaching 230.413 mph km/h on. The record still stands.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, 978-0-517-56588-9, p. 384. September 17 – Professional baseball player Len Koenecke of the Brooklyn Dodgers becomes so drunk on a flight to New York City that he is shackled to his seat and removed from the airliner in Detroit, Michigan. After sleeping in an airport chair there, he charters a plane to take him to Buffalo, New York. While the plane flies over Canada, Koenecke has a disagreement with the pilot and another passenger and attempts to seize control of the plane. To avoid a crash, the pilot and other passenger hit him over the head with a fire extinguisher, and he dies of a cerebral hemorrhage.>http://www.cbssports.com/u/ce/feature/0,1518,1375940_52,00.html Flashback Friday – The Fateful Fire Extinguisher Robinson James G. cbssports.com CBS 21 December 2010 June 2017 InternetArchiveBot yes planecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1930s September 27 – The three obsolete biplanes that constitute the entire serviceable strength of the Ethiopian Air Force conduct a flypast as part of a military procession at Addis Ababa for the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I, who is trying to prepare Ethiopia for war with Italy.Barker, A. J., The Rape of Ethiopia 1936, New York: Ballantine Books, Inc., 1971, p. 31. September 30 – Hillman's Airways, Spartan Air Lines, and United Airways Limited merge to form Allied British Airways, Ltd. The new airline will begin flight operations on January 1, 1936. October Helen Richey, the first female pilot for a regularly scheduled airline, resigns her position as a first officer at Pennsylvania Central Airlines after 10 months. She had found the experience demeaning: she had received few opportunities to fly; male pilots ignored her or made her uncomfortable in the cockpit, had threatened to strike, and had voted to deny her membership in the Air Lines Pilot Association; and the Bureau of Air Commerce had ordered her grounded in bad weather and had backed the pilots unions request that the airline limit her to three flights per month. October 1 – The first company to bear the name British Airways Ltd is formed, by the merger of Hillman's Airways, Spartan Air Lines and United Airways Ltd. October 3 – Italy invades Ethiopia from its colony in Eritrea, beginning the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. The Italian expeditionary force has 150 aircraft – including Savoia-Marchetti SM.81, Caproni Ca.113, and Caproni Ca.133 bombers, Savoia-Marchetti S.55 flying boats, and IMAM R.37bis strategic reconnaissance planes – while the serviceable portion of the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force consists only of three small, obsolete biplanes.Barker, A. J., The Rape of Ethiopia 1936, New York: Ballantine Books, Inc., 1971, pp. 20, 31, 62-67. October 5 – Italian aircraft conduct a destructive and bloody bombing of Adowa, Ethiopia, after Ethiopian forces had withdrawn from it. The village had been the site of a disastrous defeat of Italian troops by Ethiopian forces in the Battle of Adowa in 1896.Barker, A. J., The Rape of Ethiopia 1936, New York: Ballantine Books, Inc., 1971, p. 35. October 6 – The Société des Avions Bernard (fr Bernard Aircraft Company) goes into receivership. It had closed in July. October 7 – United Airlines Trip 4, a Boeing 247D, crashes east of Silver Crown, Wyoming, killing all 12 people on board. October 9 – The Martin M-130, a flying boat designed for Pan American Airways (the future Pan American World Airways) receives its type cerificate from the United States Department of Commerce's Aeronautics Branch. October 29 – Allied British Airways Ltd is renamed British Airways Ltd. It will begin flight operations on January 1, 1936. October 30 The Boeing Model 299, prototype of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, crashes at Wright Field, Ohio, because of its gust locks remaining engaged on takeoff, killing Boeing test pilot Leslie Tower and United States Army Air Corps test pilot Ployer Peter Hill. A United Airlines Boeing Model 247D airliner on an instrument check flight with no passengers on board crashes near Cheyenne, Wyoming, killing the entire crew of four. November November 2 – The Pan American Airways Martin M-130 flying boat China Clipper makes an experimental 2,400 mi on 2 round-trip flight from Miami, Florida, to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to test the plane's capability to make non-stop flights between California and Hawaii. The China Clipper makes the outbound flight in 8 hours 15 minutes, then makes a quick turnaround at San Juan and flies back to Miami, suffering only a minor malfunction in one engine. November 8 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and his copilot Tommy Pethybridge in the Lockheed Altair Lady Southern Cross disappear over the Andaman Sea off the coast of Burma near Aye Island during an attempt to set an England-to-Australia speed record, never to be seen again. November 11 – A. W. Stevens and O. A. Anderson set a new balloon altitude record of 72,395 ft m November 11–13 – Jean Batten becomes the first woman to fly solo across the South Atlantic, taking 2 days 13 hours from England to cross from Senegal to Brazil in a Percival Gull. She also breaks the speed record for this crossing, by a full day. November 21 – The American polar explorer Lincoln Ellsworth and his pilot, Herbert Hollick-Kenyon, take off from Dundee Island east of the northeastern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula in the Northrop Gamma Polar Star to attempt the first flight across Antarctica, bound for the abandoned base at Little America on the Ross Ice Shelf, a journey of about 2,200 miles (3,500-kilometers). Antarctic Aerial Exploration https://www.centennialofflight.net/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/south_pole/EX20.htm centennialofflight.net U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission 29 April 2025 November 22 Pan American Airways commences both the first regular transpacific air service to Hawaii and the first transpacific air mail service, flying the Martin M-130 flying boat China Clipper from Alameda, California, to Manila, where it arrives on 29 November after overnight stops at Honolulu, Midway Atoll, Wake Island, and Sumay, Guam. The aircraft carries more than 110,000 pieces of mail. Among its crew are pilot Edwin C. Musick and navigator Fred Noonan."Today in History," The Washington Post Express, November 22, 2013, p. 30. On the island of Hawaii, the volcano Mauna Loa's Mokuʻāweoweo crater begins an eruption with the potential to destroy Hilo, prompting the United States Army Air Corps to begin surveillance flights to monitor the eruption.Horvat William J., Lieutenant Colonel 1966 Above the Pacific Aero Publishers, Inc. 132 https://aviation.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Above-the-Pacific-by-Lieutenant-Colonel-William-J.-Horvat-1966.pdf 3 June 2026 November 23 – As Lincoln Ellsworth and Herbert Hollick-Kenyon fly across Antarctica, they discover mountains which Ellsworth pthorgraphs and names the Sentinel Range. The Sentinel Range is later found to be the northern half of a mountain range which is named the Ellsworth Mountains in honor of Ellsworth. December To mark the 300th anniversary of French rule in the Americas, the Latécoère 521 flying boat Lieutenant de Vaisseau Paris makes a demonstration flight from France to Dakar, Senegal, then across the South Atlantic Ocean to Natal, Brazil, then to the French West Indies. It then flies on to Pensacola, Florida, where it suffers damage in a storm. It later is repaired and returns to service. A United States Marine Corps Grumman JF-2 Duck sets an unofficial world speed record for single-engine amphibian aircraft, reaching 191 mph km/h offr).Polmar, Norman, "Historic Aircraft: If It Flies Like a Duck...," Naval History, October 2015, p. 14. December 6 – Transcontinental and Western Air's first flight attendants – known at the time as "air hostesses" – begin flying, serving passengers aboard the airline's Douglas DC-2 aircraft.TWA History Timeline https://web.archive.org/web/20150410102544/http://twaflightattendants.com/liftoffhtml/historytimeline.html 2015-04-10 December 10 – A Sabena Savoia-Marchetti S.73 crashes into a hillside at Tatsfield, Surrey, in the United Kingdom, killing all 11 people on board. Among the dead is English tank and vehicle designer Sir John Carden. December 15 – The American polar explorer Lincoln Ellsworth and his pilot, Herbert Hollick-Kenyon, arrive on foot at the abandoned base at Little America on the Ross Ice Shelf, completing a journey of about 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) from Dundee Island and becoming the first people to fly across Antarctica. The journey — which includes a number of unplanned landings due to problems with navigational equipment and bad weather, a storm that keeps them grounded for three days, a final forced landing when their Northrop Gamma aircraft Polar Star runs out of fuel less than four miles (6 km) from Little America, and a 10-day walk to Little America — has taken an unexpectedly long three and a half weeks, of which 14 hours were in the air.https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/northrop-gamma-polar-star Northrop Gamma "Polar Star" 18 March 2016 National Air and Space Museum 30 March 2018July 2026 InternetArchiveBot They claim 350,000 sqmi of territory for the United States during their flight. A faulty radio prevents them from reporting their arrival and they are declared missing. Searchers find them alive and well at Little America on 16 January 1936."Ellsworth and Kenyon Found Safe: Missing Men Located At Byrd's Camp", Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner. January 17, 1936. Page A1. December 26 – General Rodolfo Graziani requests permission from Benito Mussolini to use poison gas against Ethiopian forces. He receives it, and during the last few days of December Italian aircraft begin dropping mustard gas on Ethiopian troops around the Takkaze River and on the village of Jijiga. Italian planes will drop poison gas for the remainder of the war, and continue to use it against Ethiopian guerrillas after the war ends.Barker, A. J., The Rape of Ethiopia 1936, New York: Ballantine Books, Inc., 1971, pp. 56-57. December 27 – Under the direction of volcanologist Thomas Jaggar, U.S. Army Air Corps Keystone B-4 bombers from Wheeler Field on Oahu bomb lava tubes to divert a flow of lava from Mauna Loa that is threatening Hilo on the island of Hawaii, and tragedy strikes when two of the bombers crash upon their return to Oahu at Luke Field on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, killing several aviators. The bombing diverts the lava flow within a day, and additional bombing by U.S. Navy amphibious aircraft diverts lava away from Hilos waterworks. December 31 – The Imperial Airways Short S.8 Calcutta flying boat City of Khartoum (registration G-AASJ) suffers a catastrophic failure of all three engines shortly before the end of its flight between Crete and Alexandria, Egypt, just after nightfall and makes a forced landing on the Mediterranean Sea. The pilot is the only survivor; all nine passengers and the other three crew members die on impact or drown when the aircraft is overwhelmed by high seas and sinks."Report of the investigation of the accident to the aircraft G-AASJ "City of Khartoum" off Alexandria on the 31st of December, 1935" (Cmd. 5220), HMSO, 1936. First flights Arado Ar 81 Avro 636 Bellanca 31-40 Senior Pacemaker Focke-Wulf Fw 58 Focke-Wulf Fw 159 Grigorovich E-2 (also known as Grigorovich DG-55) Grigorovich IP-1 Henschel Hs 122 Miles M.2 Hawk Trainer Miles M.5 Sparrowhawk Miles M.6 Hawcon Northrop 3AAngelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, 978-0-517-56588-9, p. 361. Piaggio P.23M Potez 452 Potez 60 Spring 1935 Arado Ar 80 Henschel Hs 123 Summer 1935 – Ilyushin TsKB-26 Autumn 1935 – Hafner A.R.III Gyroplane Late 1935 – Yokosuka B4Y (Allied reporting name "Jean")Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, 978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 449, 568. January Amiot 142 ANF Les Mureaux 117R.2Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 50. Polikarpov R-Z January 5 – Tachikawa Ki-9 (Allied reporting name "Spruce")Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, 978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 246, 569. January 7 – Avro 652Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 80. January 10 – Latécoère 521 January 18 – Blohm & Voss Ha 137 January 28 – Potez 62 February Watanabe E9W (Allied reporting name "Slim"), first Japanese aircraft designed specifically for operation from a submarineGuttman, Robert, "Magnificent Lightning," Aviation History, January 2016, p. 13. February 4 – Mitsubishi A5M (Allied reporting name "Claude")Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, 978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 343. February 5 – Westland CL.20 February 21 – Rolls-Royce PV-12 aero engine, prototype of the Rolls-Royce Merlin (in a Hawker Hart)Lumsden, Alec, British Piston Engines and their Aircraft, Marlborough, Wilts: Airlife Publishing, 2003, 1-85310-294-6, p. 203. February 24 – Heinkel He 111 March Kawasaki Ki-10 (Allied reporting name "Perry")Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, 978-0-87021-313-7, p. 86. March 6 – ANF Les Mureaux 115R.2 March 15 – Dornier Do 18 March 20 – Grumman XF3F-1, prototype of the Grumman F3FAngelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 222. March 24 – Avro Anson military prototype K4771 March 28 – Kassel 12A April Douglas DB-1, prototype of the B-18 Bolo Martin-Baker MB 1 April 1 – The NA-16 prototype of the T-6 Texan/Harvard April 5 – Fairchild 91 April 12 – Bristol Type 142, the Britain First, prototype of the Bristol Blenheim May May 15 – Curtiss Model 75, prototype of the P-36 HawkAngelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 155. May 11 – Miles M.4 Merlin prototype U-8, later G-ADFE May 19 – Consolidated XPBY-1, prototype of the PBY Catalina May 29 – Messerschmitt Bf 109 V1 D-IABI May 31 – Fairchild Model 45 June Cessna C-34 Airmaster June 4 – Armstrong Whitworth AW.23 K3585 June 19 – Vickers WellesleyAir International July 1980 28 June 23 – Bristol Bombay K3583 June 25 – Grumman J2F-1, first version of the Grumman J2F Duck June 25 – Farman F.1000Borget 1974 25–26 July Mitsubishi Ka-15, prototype of the Mitsubishi G3M (Allied reporting name "Nell")Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, 978-0-87021-313-7, p. 352. Tachikawa Ki-17 (Allied reporting name "Cedar")Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, 978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 248-249. July 6 – Fairchild 82 July 11 – Yakovlev AIR-19, prototype of the Yakovlev UT-2 July 17 – Boeing Model 299 (US civil "eXperimental" registration NX13372), prototype of the B-17 Flying Fortress July 25 – Latécoère 582 July 27 – Miles Falcon Six August August 8 – Morane-Saulnier MS.405 August 9 – Dewoitine D.338Danel Raymond Cuny Jean Les Avions Dewotine Docavia 17 1982 Paris Éditions Larivère fr 402de Narbonne Roland Les grands trimoteurs Dewoitine: La légende et la tragédie Le Fana de l'Aviation December 2007 457 fr 42 August 12 – De Havilland Dragonfly August 15 – Seversky SEV-1XP, prototype of the Seversky P-35 August 17 – Hughes H-1 Racer August 19 CANT Z.506 Northrop XBT-1, prototype of the Northrop BT August 21 – Bücker Bü 133 JungmeisterHaufschild Schneider 2017 9 September Heinkel He 112 September 17 – Junkers Ju 87 October October 22 – Dewoitine D.620 November November 6 – Hawker Hurricane K5083December December 17 – Douglas DST, prototype of the Douglas DC-3 December 18 – Miles M.7 Nighthawk December 31 – Avro Anson Mark I, first production version of the AnsonDonald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, 0-7607-0592-5, p. 80. Entered service Aeronca L Beriev MBR-2 with Soviet Naval Aviation Breguet 521 Bizerte with French Naval Aviation Junkers Ju 160 with Deutsche Luft Hansa Levasseur PL.101 with French Naval Aviation aboard the aircraft carrier Béarn'' Nakajima Ki-4 with the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Polikarpov R-Z with the Soviet Air Force January January 28 – Grumman F2F with United States Navy Fighter Squadron 2 (VF-2B) aboard Lexington CV-2 and Fighter Squadron 3 (VF-3B) aboard Ranger CV-4Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 220. March March 11 – Avro 652 with Imperial Airways April April 26 – Boeing Y1B-9 by the United States Army Air CorpsPelletier Alain End of the Dinosaurs: Boeing's B-9, Breaking the Bomber Mold Air Enthusiast 101 September–October 2002 48–49 July Amiot 143 with the French Air Force August Avro 636 with the Irish Air Corps October Nakajima E8N (Allied reporting name "Dave") with the Imperial Japanese NavyFrancillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, 978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 409-410. November Hawker Hind November 22 – Martin M-130 with Pan American Airways Retirements Westland Interceptor October Handley Page Hinaidi by the Royal Air Forcerafmuseum.org.uk "Handley Page Hyderabad and Hinaidi" References Borget Michel Le Farman 1000–1001: Farman à l'assaut de la stratophère (3) L'Album du fanatique de L'Aviation October 1974 59 24–27 fr Haufschild Rainer Schneider Heinz-Dieter Bücker Bü 133 Jungmeister – the most famous aerobatic plane: production in Germany from 1936 to 1941 Air-Britain Archive Spring 2017 7–12 0262-4923 The Wellesley: Geodetics in Action Air International July 1980 19 1 25–33, 49–50 0306-5634 Air International July 1980 Category:Aviation by year