1948 in aviation

Years in aviation:	1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951
Centuries:	19th Century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
Years:	1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1948:

Events

• Publication of Nevil Shute's novel No Highway set in the world of research into air safety.

January

• January 17 – BOAC begins to replace its Boeing 314 flying boats with the Lockheed Constellation on the Baltimore, Maryland-to-Bermuda route.
• January 29 – An Airline Transport Carriers Douglas C-47B-40-DK Skytrain under contract to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service crashes in the Diablo Mountains west of Coalinga, California, killing all 32 people on board. Among the dead are 28 Mexican migrant farm workers being deported to Mexico, leading singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie to write the protest song "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)."
• January 30 – British South American Airways Avro Tudor IV Star Tiger (G-AHNP) en route from Santa Maria in the Azores to Bermuda disappears without trace with the loss of all 31 people on board. At last contact, the plane was estimated to be just under two hours away from Bermuda.
• January 30 – Orville Wright, co-inventor of the world's first practical fixed-wing aircraft, dies in Dayton, Ohio at the age of 76.

March

• The Israeli Air Force is formed along with the new state of Israel
• March 10 – Fighter Squadron 5 (VF-5) becomes the first United States Navy aircraft carrier squadron to be equipped with jet aircraft.
• March 12 – Northwest Airlines Flight 4422, a chartered Douglas C-54G-1-DO, crashes into Mount Sanford in the Territory of Alaska, killing all 30 people on board.
• March 19 – The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) extends its Hong Kong service to Japan.
• March 23 – Group Captain John Cunningham sets a new world altitude record of 59,446 ft (18,119 m) in a de Havilland Vampire.
• March 24 – A Boulton Paul P.108 Balliol becomes the first aircraft to fly with a single turboprop engine (an Armstrong Siddeley Mamba).
• March 28 – United States Air Force B-29 Superfortresses undergo aerial refueling tests, demonstrating the viability of this technique to extend the range of strategic bombers.

April

• Two specially modified Gloster Meteors begin carrier trials aboard HMS Implacable.
• Pacific Ocean Airlines discontinues operations.
• April 3 – Alitalia launches its first postwar service from Italy (Rome-Ciampino) to the United Kingdom (London's Northolt Aerodrome).
• April 5 – A Soviet Air Force Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter harassing aircraft flying into West Berlin during the Berlin Blockade collides with a British European Airways Vickers VC.1B Viking airliner as it is levelling off to land at RAF Gatow in West Berlin. Both aircraft crash, killing the fighter pilot and all 14 people aboard the airliner and leading to a diplomatic standoff between the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom and United States.
• April 15 – The Pan American World Airways Lockheed L-1049C-55-81 Super Constellation Clipper Empress of the Skies, operating as Flight 1-10, crashes short of the runway at Shannon Airport in Shannon, Ireland, killing 30 of the 31 people on board and leaving the lone survivor injured.
• April 21 – The Vickers 610 Viking 1B G-AIVE, operating as British European Airways Flight S200P, crashes into Irish Law Mountain in North Ayrshire, Scotland. Although the left engine and wing break off and the rest of the aircraft breaks into three pieces and bursts into flames, there are no fatalities; 13 of the 20 people aboard suffer injuries.
• April 26 – During a dive, a North American YP-86 flown by George Welch becomes the first American fighter aircraft to exceed Mach 1.
• April 28 – The U.S. Navy launches two P2V-3C Neptune aircraft – a version of the P2V configured for carrier launch carrying a nuclear weapon – from the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea (CVB-43) off the coast of Virginia. The first carrier launches of any type of P2V, they establish the U.S. Navy's first, interim carrier-based nuclear strike capability pending the acquisition of aircraft designed from the outset to be capable of carrying a nuclear weapon from a carrier.
• April 28–29 – Leonardo Bonzi and Maner Lualdi set a light plane distance record of 4,170 km (2,590 mi) flying from Campoformido (Italy) to Massawa (Eritrea) in an Ambrosini S.1001.

May

• May 15 – Tel Aviv is attacked by the Egyptian Air Force. The Israeli Air Force retaliates by striking Arab troops near Samakh.
• May 28 – The Royal Netherlands Navy commissions its first fleet aircraft carrier, HNLMS Karel Doorman (R81), which formerly had served in the British Royal Navy as HMS Venerable. She replaces the first Dutch carrier, the escort carrier HNLMS Karel Doorman (QH1).

June

• The United States Air Force changes its designation for its fighter aircraft from P (for "pursuit") to F (for "fighter") and its designation for its ground-attack aircraft from A (for "attack") to B (for "bomber").
• June 1 - British European Airways (BEA) commences the first helicopter air mail service in the United Kingdom.
• June 4 – Philippine Airlines begins the first transpacific sleeper service, using Douglas DC-6 airliners between San Francisco, California, and Manila in the Philippine Islands.
• June 8 – Air-India commences a regular Bombay-London service by Lockheed Constellation.
• June 17 – The Douglas DC-6 Mainliner Utah (NC37506), operating as United Airlines Flight 624, crashes near Aristes, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board.
• June 26 – The Berlin Airlift begins, with USAF, Royal Air Force, and British civil transport aircraft carrying supplies into West Berlin
• June 28 – Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Basil Arkel sets a new helicopter speed record of 124 mph (200 km/h) in a Fairey Gyrodyne.

July

• July 4 – A Scandinavian Airlines Douglas DC-6 and an Avro York C.1 of No. 99 Squadron, Royal Air Force, collide over Northwood in London in the United Kingdom. Both aircraft crash, killing all seven people aboard the York and all 32 people on board the DC-6. Among the dead is High Commissioner for the Federation of Malaya Sir Edward Gent, who had been a passenger aboard the York.
• July 6 – The U.S. Navy forms its first two carrier-based airborne early warning squadrons, Airborne Early Warning Squadron 1 (VAW-1) and Airborne Early Warning Squadron 2 (VAW-2).
• July 14 – Vampire F3s of No. 54 Squadron RAF become the first jet aircraft to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. The six aircraft, commanded by Wing Commander D. S. Wilson-MacDonald, DSO, DFC, go via Stornoway, Iceland, and Labrador to Montreal on the first leg of a goodwill tour of Canada and the United States, where they give several formation aerobatic displays.
• July 14 – Silver City Airways makes the first car-carrying flight between England and France.
• July 16 – Catalina seaplane Miss Macao (VR-HDT), operated by a Cathay Pacific subsidiary, with 23 passengers and 3 crew on board flying from Macau to Hong Kong is hijacked mid-way over the Pearl River Delta by a group of 4 hijackers attempting to rob the passengers on board. The pilot is attacked and the aircraft loses control during the ensuing struggle in the cockpit. The subsequent crash kills all on board except one passenger, who was later identified to be the lead hijacker. This is the first known case of airliner hijack.
• July 21 – A U.S. Air Force Boeing F-13 Superfortress photographic reconnaissance aircraft on a low-level atmospheric research flight accidentally ditches in Nevada's Lake Mead and sinks. The entire crew of five escapes safely in life rafts.

August

• August 29 – Northwest Airlines Flight 421, a Martin 2-0-2, loses part of its left wing in a thunderstorm and crashes between Fountain City, Wisconsin, and Winona, Minnesota, killing all 37 people on board.

September

• September 2 – The Australian National Airways Douglas DC-3 Lutana crashes into the North West Slopes of Australia's Great Dividing Range near Nundle, New South Wales, killing all 13 people on board.
• September 5 – A U.S. Navy Martin JRM Mars sets a new cargo record of 62,262 lb (28,242 kg).
• September 6 – A de Havilland DH.108 breaks the sound barrier, the first British aircraft to do so.
• September 15 – Flying an F-86A Sabre fighter, U.S. Air Force Major Richard L. Johnson sets a world speed record of 670.981 mph (1,079.6 km/hr).

October

• October 2 – The pilots of the Det Norske Luftfartsselskap flying boat Bukken Bruse, a Short Sandringham with 43 people on board, lose control of the aircraft while attempting to land at Hommelvika in Malvik, Norway; the aircraft crashes and rapidly fills with water. Nineteen people die; the British philosopher Bertrand Russell is among the survivors and is hospitalized.
• October 6 – A U.S. Air Force B-29-100-BW Superfortress bomber on a flight to test the secret Sunseeker infrared homing device later used on the AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile crashes in Waycross, Georgia, shortly after takeoff from Robins Air Force Base, killing nine of the 13 men on board. The four survivors parachute to safety.
• October 20 – The KLM Lockheed L-049-46-25 Constellation Nijmegen crashes in high ground on approach to Glasgow Prestwick Airport, in Prestwick, Scotland, killing all 40 people on board. Among the dead is the German noble Prince Alfred of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg.

December

• December 1 – The United States Air Force creates the Continental Air Command and subordinates the Air Defense Command and the Tactical Air Command to it.
• December 16 – The Royal Australian Navy commissions its first aircraft carrier, HMAS Sydney (R17).
• December 17 – The original Wright Flyer goes on display in the Smithsonian Institution.
• December 28 – The Douglas DC-3 NC16002 disappears on a flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Miami, Florida, with the loss of all 32 people on board.

First flights

January

• January 8 - Lavochkin La-174, prototype of the La-15

February

• February 4 - Douglas Skyrocket
• February 22 - LWD Junak

March

• March 5 – Curtiss XP-87 Blackhawk, the last Curtiss-designed aircraft
• March 9 – Gloster E.1/44
• March 22 – Lockheed TF-80C, protoype of the Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star
• March 23 – Douglas XF3D-1, prototype of the Douglas F3D Skyknight

May

• May 7 - Tupolev Tu-78

June

• June 12 – Avro Athena
• June 23 – Arsenal VG 70

July

• July 3 - Douglas XAJ-1
• July 8 - Ilyushin Il-28
• July 16 - Vickers Viscount

August

• August 16 - Northrop XF-89, prototype of the F-89 Scorpion
• August 23 - XF-85 Goblin

September

• September 1 – Saab J-29, Sweden's first jet
• September 18 – Convair XF-92, the world's first delta-winged airplane
• September 29 – Vought XF7U-1, prototype of the F7U Cutlass

October

• October 20 – McDonnell XF-88 Voodoo
• October 26 – Gloster Meteor T7

December

• December 16 - X-4 Bantam
• December 29 - Supermarine Type 510

Entered service

• North American P-82 Twin Mustang, last United States Army Air Forces piston-engined fighter to enter service, with the 27th Fighter Group

March

• March 10 – North American FJ-1 Fury – the United States Navy's first operational jet aircraft – with Fighter Squadron 1 (VF-1) aboard USS Boxer (CV-21)

May

• May 5 – McDonnell FH Phantom with U.S. Navy Fighter Squadron 17 (VF-17) aboard USS Saipan (CVL-48)

June

• June 1 – Convair CV-240 Convairliner with American Airlines
• June 2 – Convair B-36 Peacemaker with the United States Air Force's 7th Bombardment Wing (Heavy)

November

• North American B-45 Tornado with the U.S. Air Force's 47th Bombardment Wing

Retirements

• Curtiss Hawk 75A by the Finnish Air Force

September

• September 14 – Brewster F2A Buffalo by the Finnish Air Force

Births

• August 8 - Svetlana Savitskaya, cosmonaut