1931 in aviation
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This is a list of aviation-related events from 1931:
Contents |
[edit] Events
- Manufacturer Airspeed Ltd founded in York, England.
- Alexander Seversky founds the Seversky Aircraft Corporation.[1]
- Watanabe Iron Works, the ancestor of the Kyūshū Airplane Company Ltd., begins to manufacture aircraft.[2]
- First Bendix trophy race.
- The Imperial Japanese Navy decides to abolish its airship units and phase airships out of the fleet over the next few years.[3]
- In New York City, the Empire State Building is completed, topped with a 200-foot (61-meter) mooring mast for airships. Plans to disembark airship passengers prove impractical, and the mast is never used except for a single three-minute contact by the United States Navy blimp J-4.[4]
[edit] January
- January 6 - Gen Italo Balbo leads the first formation flight across the South Atlantic. Twelve Savoia-Marchetti S.55s fly from Portuguese Guinea to Brazil.
- January 7 - Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing his Avro Sports Avian on New Zealand's west coast.
- January 9 - The Pratt-MacArthur agreement defines the United States Navy's naval air force as an element of the fleet that moves with the fleet and helps it carry out its missions. The agreement settles a lengthy controversy between the United States Army and the Navy over the role of naval aviation in overall national defense, as well as internal Navy debates over the role of naval air power.[5]
[edit] February
- February 14 – The United States Congress authorizes a new award, the Air Mail Medal of Honor, which the President of the United States is to award to pilots who perform distinguished service in connection with U.S. Air Mail service.[6] It will first be awarded in December 1933.[7]
- February 26 – Imperial Airways begins scheduled services between England and Africa using Armstrong Whitworth Argosys.
[edit] March
- March 26 – Swissair is formed by the merger of Ad Astra Aero and Balair.
- March 21 – Australia suffers its first airline disaster when the Australian National Airways Avro 618 Ten Southern Cloud disappears in bad weather over the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales, Australia, with the loss of all eight people on board. The aircraft's wreckage will not be discovered until October 26, 1958.
- March 31 – Transcontinental and Western Airways Flight 599, a Fokker F.10, crashes near Bazaar, Kansas, killing all eight on board, including American football coach Knute Rockne. The crash prompts the first grounding of an aircraft type, ordered by the United States Department of Commerce.
[edit] April
- April 10 - C. W. A. Scott breaks the record for the fastest solo flight from England to Australia. Flighing from April 1–10 in a time of 9 days 4 hr. 11 min.
[edit] May
- May 27, Swiss professor Auguste Piccard and his assistant Kipfer take a stratosphere-balloon to 15,781 meters (51,774 feet), starting in Augsburg and landing on a glacier in Austria.
[edit] June
- June 5 - C. W. A. Scott breaks the record for the fastest solo flight from Australia to England, flying the 10,660 miles (17,160 km) from Wyndham, Australia to Lympne, England from May 26 to June 5, in 10 days 23 hours piloting a DH.60 Moth (Gipsy II).
- June 11 - The 40 passenger Handley Page HP-42 four-engine biplane enters service with British airline Imperial Airways, setting new standards of passenger service and comfort.
- June 23-July 1, Wiley Post and Harold Gatty fly around the world in a Lockheed Vega, the Winnie Mae, covering 15,474 miles in 8 days 15 hours 51 minutes - a new record.
[edit] July
- July 22-September 1 - Sir Alan Cobham and crew make a 19,800 km (12,300 mi) return flight between England and the Belgian Congo in a Short Valletta.
[edit] August
- August 29 – The German dirigible Graf Zeppelin pioneers the air route between Germany and Brazil.
[edit] September
- September 7 – Lowell Bayles wins the 1931 Thompson Trophy in the Gee Bee Model Z racer at the National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio, with a speed of 236.24 mph (380.42 km/hr).
- September 13 – The United Kingdom wins the Schneider Trophy outright by winning its third consecutive Schneider Trophy race. Flt. Lt. John Boothman of the RAF High-Speed Flight completes the course at Calshot Spit in Supermarine S.6B serial S1595 at 547.297 km/h (340.1 mph). With the trophy retired, the Schneider Trophy races, begun in 1913, come to an end.
- September 23 – A Pitcairn XOP-1 autogyro conducts landing and take-off trials aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Langley (CV-1). It is the U.S. Navy's first experiment with a shipborne rotary-wing aircraft.[8]
- September 29 – Following the Schneider Trophy success, Flt Lt. George Stainforth in S.6B serial S1596 breaks the 400 mph air speed record barrier at 407.5 mph (655.67 km/h).[9]
[edit] October
- October 1 – KLM begins a regular service between Amsterdam and Batavia by Fokker F.XII. At 13,744 km (8,540 mi) this is the longest regular air route in the world at the time.
- October 3 – Brazil reestablishes Brazilian Navy control over naval aviation, creating a naval aviation corps which takes over the control of naval aircraft from the general staff.[10]
- October 3–5 – Hugh Herndon and Clyde Pangborn make the first non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean, from Samushiro Beach, Japan, to Wenatchee, Washington in 41 hours in a Bellanca Skyrocket.
- October 17 – The first hook-on test of the U.S. Navy's parasite fighter program takes places, as the Curtiss XF9C-1 prototype successfully docks with the dirigible USS Los Angeles (ZR-3).[11]
- October 27 – The Detroit Aircraft Corporation files for bankruptcy. Eventually, the Lockheed portion of the company is bought out of receivership.
[edit] November
- The first production R-6 rolled off the assembly line at the N22 factory in Moscow.
- November 2 - United States Marine Corps squadrons VS-15M and VS-14M embark on USS Lexington (CV-2) and USS Saratoga (CV-3), the first time Marine Corps squadrons are assigned to aircraft carriers.
[edit] November–December
- U.S. Army Second Lieutenant William A. Cooke sets world gliding records for endurance and distance, flying an estimated 600 statute miles (966 km) in 21 hours 34 minutes 15 seconds at Wheeler Field, Territory of Hawaii.[12]
[edit] December
- December 5 – Lowell Bayles, winner of the 1931 Thompson Trophy, dies when the Gee Bee Model Z racer he is piloting crashes during a speed run at Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Michigan.
[edit] First flights
- ANF Les Mureaux 110A.2, prototype of ANF Les Mureaux 113R.2[13]
- ANF Les Mureaux 112GR[14]
- Arado Ar 65
- Arrow Active
- Nakajima Army Type 91 Fighter
[edit] March
- Curtiss XF9C-1, prototype of the Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk[15]
- March 3 – Fairey Gordon
- March 9 – Blériot 125 F-ALZD
- March 25 – Hawker Fury
- March 28 – Mitsubishi 2MR8
[edit] April
[edit] May
- May 22 - Berliner-Joyce XFJ-2[17]
[edit] June
- Curtiss YP-20 Hawk[18]
- Curtiss XP-22 Hawk, prototype of the P-6E Hawk[19]
[edit] July
[edit] August
- August 7 - RWD-5
[edit] September
- Heinkel He 59
- Lockheed-Detroit XP-900, prototype of the Lockheed-Detroit YP-24[20]
- September 29 — Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.11
[edit] October
- October 26 - De Havilland Tiger Moth DH.82 prototype G-ABRC
- October 31 - Westland Wallace
[edit] November
- November 27 - Fairey Seal
[edit] December
- December 29 - Grumman FF[21]
- December 29 - Hawker Audax
[edit] Entered service
- Dornier Do Y with the Royal Yugoslav Air Force
- Nakajima Ki-6 with Japan Air Transport
[edit] October
- October 27 - USS Akron (ZRS-4) with the United States Navy
[edit] November
- November 19 - Sikorsky S-40 with Pan American
[edit] December
[edit] References
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 382.
- ^ Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, ISBN 0-87021-313-X, p. 22.
- ^ Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, ISBN 1-55750-432-6, p. 16.
- ^ Polmar, Norman, "Ships That Were Lighter Than Air," Naval History, June 2011, p. 19.
- ^ Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, Second Edition, London: Putnam, 1976, ISBN 0-370-10054-9, p. 2.
- ^ Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: Medal, Air Mail Medal of Honor
- ^ Johnson, Frederick L., "Modest Mal," Aviation History, March 2012, p. 19.
- ^ Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, p. 124.
- ^ Price, Alfred (1977). Spitfire: a Documentary History. London: Macdonald and Jane’s. p. 12. ISBN 0354010778.
- ^ Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-295-8, p. 195.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 145.
- ^ Aviation Hawaii: 1930-1939 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii
- ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 50.
- ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 50.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 146.
- ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 48.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 60.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 144.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 144.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 262.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, pp. 218, 219.
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