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1930 in aviation
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in aviation 19th Century 20th century 21st century 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1900–19091900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
Aviation
thumb|right | 1930, Zeppelin LZ 127 being held down
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1930:
Events
The Surrey Aero Club inaugurates recreational flights from Gatwick Race Course (now London Gatwick Airport).
The German airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin makes its first crossing of the South Atlantic.
The Aeromarine-Klemm Corporation, formerly the Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company, goes out of business, although the Uppercu-Burnelli Corporation takes over production of Aeromarine aircraft engines.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 37.
French test pilot Roger Baptiste achieves a speed of 280 km/h mph on 0 at an altitude of 4000 m ft 0 in the Bernard 20 monoplane fighter prototype.Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, 0-7607-0592-5, p. 125.
Nineteen-year-old Rex Finney of Los Angeles, California, uses the first successful wingsuit, employing it to increase horizontal movement and maneuverability during a parachute jump.https://books.google.com/books?id=oj2kYPmFMOIC&pg=PA28 Flying Magazine January 1934
A prize for gliding is added to the annual Hindenburg Cup (de Hindenburg-Pokal). Founded in 1928, it had previously recognized only achievements in powered flight.Anders Karl Eichelbaum Hans Wörterbuch des Flugwesens Dictionary of Aviation 1937 Quelle und Meyer Leipzig GermanSupf Peter Das Buch der deutschen Fluggeschichte The Book of German Aviation History 2 1935 Klemm Berlin-Grunewald German Brütting Peter Das Buch der deutschen Fluggeschichte The Book of German Aviation History 3 1979 Drei-Brunnen-Verlag Stuttgart German 3-87174-001-2
At the Hamilton Standard Propeller Corporation, Frank W. Caldwell develops the first practical variable-pitch propeller. The new propeller improves the propulsive efficiency of modern aircraft with highly supercharged engines, giving them more thrust than a fixed-pitch propeller during takeoff and allowing adjustment to a more efficient setting for flight at different altitudes and speeds. 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
Cleveland Municipal Airport (the future Cleveland Hopkins International Airport) in Cleveland, Ohio, becomes the first airport in the United States to establish radio control of airport traffic.
During the year, the percentage of United States Navy enlisted personnel with an aviation-related rating rises to 9 percent.Isenberg, Michael T., Shield of the Republic: The United States Navy in an Era of Cold War and Violent Peace, Volume I: 1945-1962, New York: St. Martin's Press, 0-312-09911-8, p. 489.
Autumn 1930 – The Royal Air Force rededicates No. 443 Flight of the Fleet Air Arm as the first British catapult flight of aircraft assigned to operate from battleship and cruiser catapults.Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, 0-87021-026-2, p. 17.
January
The U.S. National Aeronautic Association announces that the U.S. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) has won the 1929 Collier Trophy for the greatest achievement in American aviation in 1929 for developing the NACA cowling, a major advance in the reduction of aerodynamic drag that has enabled significant gains in speed and fuel efficiency. White, Graham Allied Aircraft Piston Engines of World War II 1995 7–8 1-56091-655-9Hansen James R. Engineering Science and the Development of the NACA Low-Drag Engine Cowling https://www.nasa.gov/history/SP-4219/Chapter1.html September 17, 2024 www.nasa.gov
January 1 – Australian National Airways (ANA), the first airline of that name, begins scheduled services. Australian Dictionary of Biography Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith (1897–1935) National Centre of Biography, Australian National University https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kingsford-smith-sir-charles-edward-6964 13 September 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080730191623/http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090602b.htm 30 July 2008 live Using six airplanes — five Avro 618 Tens it owns Southern Cloud clock National Museum of Australia http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/southern_cloud_clock/ 2008-09-13 11 June 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110611173150/http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/southern_cloud_clock/ dead and co-founder Charles Ulm's Fokker VII/3m Southern Cross — it operates a regular passenger and airmail service between Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne, Australia.https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/51681100 Strait Aerial Service Examiner 17 January 1931
January 2 – Leroy Grumman, Leon Swirbul, and William Schwender found the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation at Baldwin on Long Island, 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. 214.
January 15 – The United States Department of Commerce's Aeronautics Branch (predecessor of the Federal Aviation Administration) has issued a total of 287 type certificates to aircraft.
January 16
On speed trials, the British airship R100 reaches 81 mph km/h on, making her the fastest airship in the world.
British Royal Air Force officer and engineer Frank Whittle receives a patent for his design of a turbojet aircraft engine. Manufacture of an experimental version of the engine will begin in 1936.
January 17 – Record-setting aviator Frank Hawks attempts to take off in the Lockheed Air Express Texaco Five (registration NR7955) from a soggy field in West Palm Beach, Florida, but the plane is destroyed in a spectacular crash into a row of three parked aircraft. Hawks is unharmed.Allen, Richard Sanders, Revolution in the Sky: Those Fabulous Lockheeds, The Pilots Who Flew Them, Brattleboro, Vermont: The Stephen Greene Press, 1964, p. 36.Pentland Andrew Civil Aircraft Register - United States (17) Golden Years of Aviation http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_N17.html 19 April 2021 Leeds UK
January 19 – Trying to return to Tijuana, Mexico, after taking off in poor weather for a scheduled passenger flight to Los Angeles, California, Maddux Airlines Flight 7 – the Ford 5-AT-C Tri-Motor NC9689 – crashes in Oceanside, California, and catches fire, killing all 16 people on board. It is the deadliest aviation accident in American history at the time.Aviation Safety Network: Accident description
January 25
In an amendment to the Air Commerce Regulations, the United States Department of Commerce's Aeronautics Branch sets 500 ft off 0 as the minimum altitude at which aircraft may fly over the United States, except when landing and taking off.
American Airways is formed out of a group of air carriers that had operated separately under the Aviation Corporation (Avco), a holding company. American Airways will be renamed American Airlines in April 1934.
February
At the Philadelphia Navy Yard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the United States Navy tests a Ford 5-AT-74 Trimotor equipped with 30-foot (9.1-meter) floats during the month for use as a torpedo bomber, but does not pursue the concept further.Polar, Norman, "'There's a Ford in Your Future'," Naval History, December 2015, pp. 14-15.
February 1 – The Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics terminates its activities, having determined that the time had come when private enterprise would find it "practicable and profitable to carry on" the fund's mission.
February 10 – The Air Union Farman F.63bis Goliath F-FHMY suffers a tailplane structural failure during a flight from Paris-Le Bourget Airport outside Paris to Croydon Airport in London with six people on board. The pilot tries to land at the Pagehurst Emergency Landing Ground in Marden, Kent, England, but the plane stalls and crashes at Marden. Two passengers die, and the other two passengers and both crew members suffer injuries.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
February 15
The Italian air power theorist Giulio Douhet dies at the age of 60.
The United States Department of Commerce's Aeronautics Branch (predecessor of the Federal Aviation Administration) issues its first airport rating, giving Pontiac Municipal Airport (the future Oakland County International Airport) at Pontiac, Michigan, the highest possible rating of A-1-A. The United States Government intends the rating program — in which airport operators submit voluntary applications for inspection by the Aeronautics Branch — to enable pilots to know at a glance what facilities to expect at any of the rated airports and is part of the Aeronautics Branch’s efforts to encourage airport development through promotional and other activities.
February 17 – A fire destroys the workshops of the Société d'Aviation Letord at Meudon, France, as well as aircraft, including the first Couzinet 20 and the Couzinet 27 Arc-en-ciel II.
February 24 – Rancho-Boyeros Airport – the future José Martí International Airport – opens at Havana, Cuba.
March
The Government of Chile creates the Directorate General of Civil Aviation as Chile′s national civil aviation authority.
March 21 – The Chilean army and navy air arms are combined to form the Chilean Air Force.
March 26 – The United States Department of Commerce's Aeronautics Branch (predecessor of the Federal Aviation Administration) begins issuing approved repair station certificates that entitle repair stations in the United States to repair aircraft of types for which they are adequately equipped, eliminating the previous requirement for them to submit to the Aeronautics Branch detailed drawings of the repairs they make to licensed aircraft and, in some cases, a stress analysis. Boeing Air Transport of Oakland, California, and National Air Transport of Chicago, Illinois, receive the first two certificates.
March 28 – The Imperial Ethiopian Air Force flies its first mission, when three of its biplanes drop propaganda leaflets over the army of the rebel Gugsa Welle as it advances across Ethiopia's Begemder province. The leaflets prompt some members of his army to desert.
March 30 – Towed by a Waco ASO biplane, the glider Texaco Eaglet, piloted by Frank Hawks, takes off from San Diego, California, to make a multi-day flight across the continental United States to New York City."Glider is towed by plane across the nation." Popular Mechanics, June 1930.
March 31 – The three Imperial Ethiopian Air Force biplanes reappear over Gugsa Welle's army and bomb it at the beginning of the Battle of Anchem in the first combat mission in the air force's history. The bombing proves decisive, as it prompts so many members of Gugsa Welle's army to desert that it is badly outnumbered by the time ground combat begins between it and Imperial forces at Debre Zebit, when many more of its members desert, resulting in its defeat and Gugsa Welle's death.
April
A float-equipped Cierva C.12 autogyro – dubbed the "Hydrogiro" – takes off from Southampton Water off the south coast of England. It is the first time that a rotary-wing aircraft takes off from a body of water.
April 1 – Gerhard Fieseler founds the Fieseler aircraft manufacturing company under the name Fieseler Flugzeugbau Kassel.
April 2
The first Korean aviator, An Chang-nam, dies in the crash of his aircraft while he is returning to the airport at the Shanxi Aviation Academy at Taiyuan, Shanxi, China, in bad weather.
The prototype of the Latécoère 340 trimotor parasol-winged flying boat (registration F-AKDI) breaks up in the air and crashes while being demonstrated for a French Navy official, killing both men on board. No further examples of the aircraft are built.
April 6
Flying the Wright XF3W-1 Apache, United States Navy Lieutenant Apollo Soucek sets a world altitude record, climbing to 43,166 ft m off us.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. 462.
Towed by a Waco ASO biplane, the glider Texaco Eaglet, piloted by Frank Hawks, arrives at New York City after an eight-day journey from San Diego, California, during which it has spent 44 hours 10 minutes in the air. The flight demonstrates the feasibility of towing gliders over long distances.
April 9 – Flying his de Havilland DH.60 Moth Miss India, Man Mohan Singh becomes the first Indian to fly solo from England to British India, landing at RAF Drigh Road in Karachi one month and one day after departing from Croydon Airport.
April 10 – Flying the Junkers G 38 D-2000, Wilhelm Zimmermann sets four new world records for an aircraft carrying a payload of 5000 kg lb 0, averaging a record 184.5 km/h mph on over a distance of 100 km mi 1 and a record 172.9 km/h mph on over a distance of 500 km mi 0 and setting a distance record of 501.6 km mi and an endurance record of 3 hours 2 minutes.German Aviation History Homepage: Junkers Who is Who? Wilhelm Zimmermann https://web.archive.org/web/20110225135822/http://hugojunkers.pytalhost.com/ju_who_z.htm 2011-02-25
April 10–20 – The English aviator and ornithologist Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford, and her personal pilot C. D. Barnard make a record-breaking flight in the Fokker F.VII Spider (G-EBTS) of 9,000 mi km 3 from Lympne Airport in Lympne, England, to Cape Town, South Africa, in 100 flying hours over 10 days.
April 23 – A diesel-engined Verville Air Coach cabin monoplane crashes into a hill near Attica, New York, in a blinding snowstorm during a flight from Detroit, Michigan, to New York City, killing the three men on board. Among the dead is Lionel Woolson, designer of the radial air-cooled aero diesel engine used in the plane.Roger Curry Engines of Change 2021 222 April 23, 1930 Diesel Designer Dies in Air Crash http://home.earthlink.net/~ralphcooper/pimage24.htm Attica, New York Associated Press 30 May 2026 3 March 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160303195339/http://home.earthlink.net/~ralphcooper/pimage24.htm dead
April 27 – During an air show at Fayetteville, Tennessee, pilot Milton P. Covert's plane loses altitude and crashes on a railroad embankment while approaching the landing area, striking spectators standing on the embankment. Covert survives, but at least nine spectators are killed and about 20 injured.Airplane Falls on Crowd, Seven Killed The Frederick Post Associated Press 28 Apr 1930 https://www.gendisasters.com/tennessee/9225/fayetteville-tn-flying-circus-airplane-crash-apr-1930 12 July 2009 26 September 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080926184832/http://www3.gendisasters.com/tennessee/9225/fayetteville-tn-flying-circus-airplane-crash-apr-1930 deadHeld for Deaths in Crash: Pilot of Plane Which Killed Nine at Fayetteville, Tenn., Arraigned The New York Times 28 April 1930 http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10715F6345A147A93C3A8178ED85F448385F9 20 September 2009
April 29 – The United States Congress passes the Air Mail Act of 1930, also known as the McNary-Watres Act. It changes the way in which the United States Government pays airlines to carry air mail, replacing weight as the basis for computing payment with a space-mile formula. It also gives the Postmaster General of the United States very broad regulatory control over air mail route locations, route consolidations and extensions, contract bidding conditions, service conditions, equipment and personnel accounts, and compensation.
May
May 5 – Hoping to stimulate passenger air traffic, the United States Post Office Department orders the installation of at least two passenger seats in each mail plane operated by day.
May 5–14 – Amy Johnson makes the first solo flight from England to Australia by a woman, flying from Croydon to Darwin in a de Havilland Gipsy Moth.Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the Worlds Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978, 0-89009-771-2, p. 30.
May 11 – The New York Air Show of the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce is held at Madison Square GardenAIR SHOW CLOSES; VIEWED BY 120,000 - New York Times May 12, 1930
May 12–13 – Flying for Aéropostale, the French pilot Jean Mermoz makes the first nonstop commercial flight across the South Atlantic Ocean, flying from Dakar, Senegal, to Natal, Brazil, in the float-equipped Latécoère 28-3 mail plane Comte de la Vaulx. The 3,058 km mi off us on flight takes 19 hours 35 minutes, and the plane carries 122 kg lb off of mail.Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the Worlds Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978, 0-89009-771-2, p. 34. On the return flight, Mermoz is forced to ditch Comte de la Vaux at sea; although he, his two companions, and the mail are saved, the aircraft sinks and is lost.
May 15
Boeing Air Transport inaugurates the first "airline stewardess" (now known as flight attendant) service. The first stewardess is Ellen Church, a registered nurse who has been described as the first female crew member aboard a commercial airliner.
The United States Department of Commerce issues a requirement for airlines in the United States engaged in interstate passenger service to obtain a certificate of authority to operate. To qualify, an airline must demonstrate that its aircraft are properly equipped and maintained and that it has a sufficient number of qualified airmen and an adequate ground organization for the services it provides. In addition, the routes an airline serves must possess such air navigation facilities as the Department deems necessary for safe and reliable operations. Airlines must apply for the certificate by July 15, although this deadline later is extended to August 15.
May 18 – The German dirigible Graf Zeppelin leaves Friederichshafen, Germany, on the first airship flight across the South Atlantic, bound for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a trial flight to test the feasibility of regular airship service between Germany and Brazil.
May 19 – Postmaster General of the United States Walter Folger Brown holds the first of a series of meetings with representatives of the large American commercial airlines to discuss air mail routes to be awarded under the Air Mail Act of 1930, also known as the McNary-Watres Act. All but two of the 22 air mail contracts awarded under the act go to airlines which attend the meetings, which subsequently are criticized as "spoils conferences."
May 23 – President Herbert Hoover presents the crew of the flying boat NC-4 with gold medals for completing the first transatlantic flight in 1919.A Chronological History of Coast Guard Aviation: The Early Years, 1915-1938.
May 27 – A CLASSA Ford 4-AT trimotor makes the first flight between Peninsular Spain and the Canary Islands, landing at Los Rodeos Airport on Tenerife Island.
June
June 3 – In a brief ceremony on the grounds of the White House in Washington, D.C., the U.S. National Aeronautic Association presents the U.S. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) with the 1929 Collier Trophy for the greatest achievement in American aviation in 1929 for developing the NACA cowling, a major advance in the reduction of aerodynamic drag that has enabled significant gains in speed and fuel efficiency. President Herbert Hoover presents the trophy to NACA chairman Dr. Joseph S. Ames.
June 4 – United States Navy Lieutenant Apollo Soucek sets a new seaplane altitude record of 43,166 ft m on in an F3W Apache.
June 5 – Just after takeoff from Jeffery Field in Boston, Massachusetts, for a flight to New York City with 15 people on board, the Colonial Air Transport Ford 5-AT-B Trimotor NC9675 noses down and crashes into the sea, coming to rest in 7 ft m off us of water 60 yd m off us from the breakwater. One of the passengers is killed and the aircraft is damaged beyond repair, but the other 12 passengers and both crew members survive.Aviation Safety Network: Accident description
June 13 – Making his 92nd crossing of the Andes carrying mail between Argentina and Chile for Aéropostale, French aviator Henri Guillaumet crashes his Potez 25 in bad weather at Laguna del Diamante near Mendoza, Argentina. He walks through three mountain passes before reaching a village and safety on June 19.
June 20 – The United States Department of Commerce's Aeronautics Branch (predecessor of the Federal Aviation Administration) issues an aircraft type certificate to a glider for the first time. The Detroit G1 Gull receives the certificate.
July
July 12 – Flying a Waco JYM biplane to Chicago, Illinois, Northwest Airways pilot Mal Freeburg sees that the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad trestle near Trevino, Wisconsin, is on fire shortly after he flies over a Burlington Blackhawk express passenger train headed for the trestle. He flies at low level back up the tracks and makes three low passes to warn the train, flashing his landing lights and dropping landing flares. The train stops only 400 yd m short of the burning trestle.Johnson, Frederick L., "Modest Mal," Aviation History, March 2012, p. 18.
July 16–August 8 – The second International Tourist Aircraft Contest Challenge 1930 takes place in Berlin. The German crew of Fritz Morzik wins it in the BFW M.23.
July 19
Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA), the future Trans World Airlines is incorporated as a first step in merging Transcontinental Air Transport and Western Air Express to form TWA. Postmaster General of the United States Walter Folger Brown forces the merger so that he will have a larger airline to which he can award air mail contracts.
Record-holding aviator Frank Goldsborough dies in a crash in Vermont on his 20th birthday.Rummel Robert Howard Hughes and TWA 1991 Smithsonian Institution Press 9781560980179 32Karash Julius Montgomery Rick TWA: Kansas City's Hometown Airline 2001 Kansas City Star Books Kansas City 9780967951997 12–14
July 20-August 1 – A 7,560 km mi on on race over Europe takes place as part of the Challenge 1930 contest.
July 23 – Aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss dies, aged 52.
July 29 – The British airship R100 sets out on a test flight from the United Kingdom to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and back. She will arrive at Montreal 78 hours later, remain there for 12 days, then begin the return trip to the United Kingdom on August 13, arriving in London on August 16 after a flight of 57½ hours.Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the Worlds Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1983, 0-89009-771-2, p. 29.
August
August 3 – The Imperial Japanese Navy practices dive bombing for the first time, using fighters to sink the retired protected cruiser Akashi with 4 kg lb on on practice bombs in Tokyo Bay.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. 40.
August 8 – End of the Challenge 1930 contest, won by Fritz Morzik.
August 13 – Flying the Travel Air Type R Mystery Ship Texaco 13, Frank Hawks sets a new west-to-east transcontinental airspeed record for a flight across the continental United States, completing the flight in 12 hours 25 minutes 3 seconds. At the time, it is the fastest crossing of the United States ever made.[Pahl, Gerard, "Mystery Ship," Air Classics, Volume 41, No. 9, September 2005, p. 80.]
August 18 – Eastern Air Transport (the future Eastern Air Lines) begins its first passenger service, flying passengers between New York City and Washington, D.C.
August 22 – Attempting to avoid a thunderstorm in poor weather on a domestic passenger flight in Czechoslovakia from Kbely Airport in Bratislava to Brno, the Czechoslovak State Airlines Ford 5-AT-C Tri-Motor OK-FOR banks sharply to avoid a 35-meter-tall (115-foot-tall) smokestack, strikes the ground, and crashes at Jihlava, killing 12 of the 13 people aboard.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
August 23 – The Ford National Reliability Air Tour starts in Chicago.
August 25 – Eddie August Schneider sets the junior transcontinental air speed record. He flies from Westfield, New Jersey.
August 27 – Piloting the Lockheed 5C Vega Winnie Mae in the National Air Races, Wiley Post flies from Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California, in a record time of 9 hours 9 minutes 4 seconds. Lockheed Vega Winnie Mae https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/lockheed-vega-winnie-mae/nasm_A19360030000 National Air and Space Museum 2 June 2026
September
September 1–2 – Flying the Breguet 19 Super Bidon "?" from Paris to New York City, French aviators Dieudonné Costes and Maurice Bellonte make the first nonstop westbound heavier-than-air flight across the North Atlantic Ocean between the European and North American mainlands, covering either 5,850 or 6,200 km mi on, according to different sources, in 37 hours 18 minutes.
September 11 – The sixth Ford National Reliability Air Tour begins as its 18 entrants take off from Ford Airport in Dearborn, Michigan. The tour cross-markets Ford Motor Company and its Stout Metal Airplane Division and showcases Henry Ford's interest in aviation.The Public Image of Henry Ford An American Folk Hero and His Company David L. LewisLevine Barry June 3, 2021 The Greatest Flight: Schlee and Brock’s 1927 Around-the-World Attempt https://historynet.com/the-greatest-flight-schlee-and-brocks-1927-around-the-world-attempt/ historynet.com HistoryNet May 22, 2026Forden, Lesley. The Ford Air Tours: 1925–1931. New Brighton Minnesota: Aviation Foundation of America, 2003, First edition 1972. No ISBN.
September 27 – The sixth Ford National Reliability Air Tour concludes with the return of the participants to Dearborn, completing a 4,814 mi nmi km on 0 route which began with stops at Kalamazoo, Michigan; Chicago, Illinois; Davenport, Iowa; Wausau and Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Duluth, Minnesota; and Grand Forks, North Dakota, before the itinerary took them into Canada. There they had made stops at Winnipeg and Brandon, Manitoba; Regina, Moose Jaw, Saskatoon, and North Battleford, Saskatchewan; and Edmonton, Calgary, and Lethbridge, Alberta. They had then returned to the United States and stopped at Great Falls, Montana; Sheridan, Casper, and Cheyenne, Wyoming; Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado; Garden City and Wichita, Kansas; Enid, Oklahoma; Kansas City, Missouri; Springfield, Illinois; Terre Haute, Indiana; and Cincinnati, Ohio. Harry Russell takes first place in a Ford Trimotor, and Eddie August Schneider, who finishes in eighth place overall in a Cessna AW, wins the Great Lakes Trophy, presented for the first time to the fastest plane with an engine of 510 cuin cm3 off 0 or less.Great Lakes Aircraft Gives New Light Plane Trophy 1929 Michigan Manufacturer & Financial Record 4 https://books.google.com/books?id=qNQfAQAAMAAJ&q=Great+Lakes+Trophy+1930+offered+to+the+plane+with+an+engine
October
October 1 – Western Air Express and Transcontinental Air Transport merge to form Transcontinental and Western Air, Inc.,TWA History Timeline https://web.archive.org/web/20150410102544/http://twaflightattendants.com/liftoffhtml/historytimeline.html 2015-04-10 which in 1950 will be renamed Trans World Airlines.
October 5 – The British dirigible R101, at the time the world's largest airship, crashes in France while on a flight from Cardington, Bedfordshire, England, to Karachi in British India. Forty-eight of the 54 people on board are killed, including Royal Air Force Air Vice Marshal Sir Sefton Brancker; the Irish aviator and athlete Herbert Carmichael Irwin, who was the captain of R101; the noted British airship pilot and engineer George Herbert Scott; and British Secretary of State for Air Christopher Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson.
October 7 – Upon the completion of the final game of the 1930 World Series in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Frank Hawks flies photographs of the game to North Beach Airport in Queens, New York, in the Travel Air Type R Mystery Ship Texaco 13, delivering them only 20 minutes after the end of the game and faster than wire services, demonstrating that fast air courier services are feasible.
October 9–10 – First flight by a Canadian, pilot Capt. J. Erroll Boyd (1891–1960), from North America (Harbour Grace, NL) to England, in the Wright-Bellanca WB-2 Maple Leaf (aka, Columbia), navigated by the American, Lieut. Harry Connor. This flight was also notable for transporting mail bearing a surcharged stamp as a commemorative overprint.Dyer Norris R. 1998 Famous Newfoundland Flights of the 1930s-Then and Now 55 1 20–31 http://bnatopics.org/journals/nfld/1998/Pages%20from%20BNA%20Topics,%20Vol.%2055,%20No.%201,%20Jan-Feb-Mar%201998,%20Whole%20No.%20474.pdf BNA Topics Toronto, ON Philaprint Inc. 23 Apr 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20160620133432/http://bnatopics.org/journals/nfld/1998/Pages%20from%20BNA%20Topics,%20Vol.%2055,%20No.%201,%20Jan-Feb-Mar%201998,%20Whole%20No.%20474.pdf 20 June 2016 dead
October 15 – American Airways (the future American Airlines) begins all-air service between Atlanta, Georgia, and Los Angeles, California.
October 25 – Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA), the future Trans World Airlines, begins the first all-air coast-to-coast passenger service betyween coastal cities in the United States with regular passenger flights between Newark, New Jersey (serving New York City) and Los Angeles, California. The service begins with simultaneous takeoffs by two TWA airliners, one heading west from Newark and one heading east from Los Angeles. The trip takes 30 hours and includes an overnight stop in Kansas City, Missouri.
October 30 – The Imperial Airways Handley Page W.8g Hamilton City of Washington (registration G-EBIX) crashes into high ground in dense fog at Boulogne, France, during a scheduled flight from Paris-Le Bourget Airport outside Paris to Croydon Airport in London. Three of the six people on board die.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
November
November 3 – Brothers Thomas Elmer Braniff and Paul Revere Braniff found their second airline, Braniff Airways, Inc. It eventually will become Braniff International Airways.
November 13 – Braniff Airways begins operations, using Lockheed Vega aircraft to offer service between Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Wichita Falls, Texas.
November 21 – The Dornier Do R4 Superwal flying boat airliner I-RONY, operating on a passenger flight for the Italian airline Società Anonima Navigazione Aerea (SANA), disappears over the Mediterranean Sea during a flight from Barcelona, Spain, to Marseille, France, with the loss of all six people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
November 24 – The Ford Motor Company Ford 5-AT-C Trimotor NX419H crashes on landing at Ford Airport in Dearborn, Michigan, killing both people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
December
The German aircraft company Bäumer Aero is liquidated at the end of 1930.
December 3 – A commercial airline flight arrives in Jamaica for the first time when a Pan American Airways Consolidated Commodore flying boat lands in the harbor at Kingston.
December 16–17 – Representatives of 45 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands attend the National Conference on Uniform Aeronautic Regulatory Laws to discuss uniformity of air regulations in the United States and its territories. The United States Department of Commerce's Aeronautics Branch (the predecessor of the Federal Aviation Administration) hosts the conference.
December 17 – The Junkers W 34 Bolivar makes the first international flight from Venezuela to Colombia to commemorate the centennial of the death of Simón Bolívar.globalsecurity.org Venezuelan Air Force: Fuerzas Aereas or Aviacion Aviación Militar Bolivariana
December 31 – Airworthiness regulations for aircraft components and accessories go into effect in the United States.
First flights
Aichi AB-2
Arado Ar 64
Avro 626
Bellanca Aircruiser
Bellanca CH-400 SkyrocketDonald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, 0-7607-0592-5, p. 120.
Dewoitine D.33Durand, William Frederick - Aerodynamic Theory. A General Review of Progress. Under a Grant of the Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics. Vol. 1. California Institute of Technology, 1943.
Farman F.141
FBA 310
Focke-Wulf A 32
Focke-Wulf A 33
Kawasaki Type 92
Martin XT6M
Nakajima E4N
Nakajima Ki-6
Northrop Alpha
Pitcairn PA-8
Polikarpov TB-2
Potez 38
Saro Cloud
Texaco Eaglet, prototype of the Franklin PS-2
Yokosuka K4Y
Spring 1930 – RWD-4
January
Potez 39
January 13 – Farman F.300
January 30 – Boeing Model 202, later redesignated Boeing XP-15Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 81.
February
Boeing Model 205, later redesignated Boeing XF5B-1
Latécoère 340 F-AKDI
March
Dornier Do Y
March 30 – Polikarpov I-6
April
RWD-3
April 29 - Polikarpov I-5
May
Bernard S-72Bernard S-72 - Course - Un siècle d'aviation françaiseLiron Jean Les avions Bernard Bernard Aircraft 1990 Éditions Larivière Paris 2-84890-065-2 Collection Docavia 31 638
Bernard S-73
Mitsubishi K3M (Allied reporting name "Pine")Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, 978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 254, 339.
Berliner-Joyce XFJ-1Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 59.
Cessna CR-2
Curtiss XP-10Angelucci, 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. 142.
May 6 – Boeing Monomail
May 16 – Blériot 110
May 28 – Blackburn Segrave
June
Curtiss XP-17 HawkAngelucci, 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. 143.
June 12 – Handley Page H.P. 38, prototype of the Handley Page Heyford
June 28 – Avro 621, prototype of the Avro Tutor and Avro Sea TutorDonald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 79.
July
Saunders A.7 Severn
July 18 - Blackburn Sydney
August
August 24 – Latécoère 380
September
Lockheed Altair
September 1 - Berliner-Joyce P-16
September 12 - Taylor E-2
September 24 - Short Rangoon
October
PZL P.7
October 5 – Junkers Ju 52
October 10 – Short S.15 K.F.1, prototype of the Kawanishi H3K
October 13 – Junkers Ju 52/1m
October 16 – Saro A.21 Windhover ZK-ABW
October 22 – Fairchild 100
November
First week of November – Couzinet 20
November 14 – Handley Page HP.42
November 18 – Boeing Model 96, later redesignated Boeing XP-9Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, pp. 81, 83.
November 25 – Fairey Hendon
November 27 – Bernard 80 GRLiron Jean Les avions Bernard 1990 Éditions Larivière Paris 2-84890-065-2 Collection Docavia 31 124–144, 225
December
Curtiss XP-21Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 132.
Westland C.O.W. Gun Fighter
December 22 - Tupolev ANT-6
Entered service
Amiot 122 with the French Air Force
Polikarpov R-5 with the Soviet Air Force
Saro A17 Cutty Sark
January
January 1 – Avro 618 Ten with Australian National Airways
May
May 1 – Curtiss F8C Helldiver, the first United States Navy dive bomber designed as such, with Fighter Squadron 1 (VF-1B) aboard Saratoga CV-3Angelucci, 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. 140.
July
Levasseur PL.7 with French Naval Aviation aboard the aircraft carrier Béarn
November
November 9 – Ford RR-4, a version of the Ford Trimotor, with the U.S. Navy.Polar, Norman, "'There's a Ford in Your Future'," Naval History, December 2015, p. 15.
Retirements
Curtiss P-1 Hawk by the United States Army Air CorpsAngelucci, 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. 128.
May
Curtiss TS-1 by the United States NavyAngelucci, 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. 119.
References
Category:Aviation by year