1949 in aviation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1949:
Contents |
[edit] Events
- Aerolíneas Argentinas is established.
- Royal Jordanian Air Force is formed as the Arab League Air Force.
- Republic of Korea Air Force is formed.
- Lebanese Air Force is formed.
- The de Havilland Sea Hornets of No. 801 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, embark aboard the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Implacable, becoming the first British twin-engined single-seat aircraft to operate from an aircraft carrier.[1]
- The American Section of the International League of Aviators awards the National Trophy, a Harmon Trophy awarded from 1926 to 1938 to the outstanding aviator of the year in each of the 21 member countries of the now-defunct League and since 1945 by the American Section, for the last time. The trophies it presented from 1945 to 1949 stirred much controversy, with the awards going largely unrecognized.
- Early 1949 – The Royal Navy experiments with landing undercarriage-less aircraft aboard aircraft carriers, landing an experimental de Havilland Sea Vampire F.21 with strengthened undersides with its landing gear retracted aboard HMS Warrior. Warrior has rubberized deck surfaces installed for the experiments.[2]
[edit] January
- January 7 – No. 208 Squadron RAF loses four Supermarine Spitfires and a Hawker Tempest to Israeli Air Force fighters.
- January 17 – The British South American Airways Avro Tudor IV Star Ariel (G-AGRE) disappears without trace on a flight from Bermuda to Kingston, Jamaica, with the loss of all 20 people on board.
[edit] February
- February 19 – A British European Airways Douglas Dakota and a Royal Air Force Avro Anson T21 collide in clear weather over Exhall, England. Both aircraft crash, killing all 10 people on the Dakota and the entire four-man crew of the Anson.
- February 26-March 2 – The B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II of the United States Air Force's 43rd Bombardment Group completes the first non-stop around-the-world flight, from and to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona. The 23,452-mile (37,742-km) journey takes 94 hours 1 minute.
[edit] March
- March 9 – Viet Minh leader Ho Chi Minh orders the organization of an Air Force Research Committee for the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
[edit] April
- The Fleet Air Arm re-forms No. 702 Squadron at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose to spearhead the introduction of jet aircraft into Royal Navy service.[3]
- April 4 – The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is formed.
- April 20–21 – A Royal Air Force Short Sunderland flying boat flies medical personnel and supplies to the Royal Navy sloop HMS Amethyst, which had been shelled by Chinese Communist forces on the Yangtze River.
[edit] May
- The United States Marine Corps practices deploying by helicopter for the first time, in Exercise Packard III.
- May 4 – An Avio Linee Italiane ("Italian Airlines") Fiat G212.CP airliner crashes into the Superga hill near Turin, Italy, killing all 31 people on board. Among the dead are 18 players and club officials of the Torino A.C. – also known as Il Grande Torino – football (soccer) team, journalists accompanying the team, and the plane's crew.
- May 4 – The Canadian Blue Devils aerobatic team is formed.
- May 11 – No. 28 Squadron RAF flies from Malaya to Hong Kong to help reinforce the island against Communist forces on mainland China.
- May 13 – The first flight of the first British jet bomber occurs, as the English Electric EE.A1 – prototype of the English Electric Canberra and Martin B-57 Canberra – flies for the first time.[4]
- May 19 – A United States Navy JRM Mars flying boat sets a new record of 308 for the largest number of people to be carried on a single aircraft.
- May 21 – A Sikorsky S-52 sets a new helicopter altitude record of 21,200 ft (6,468 m).
[edit] July
- July 2 – The MacRobertson Miller Aviation Douglas DC-3 airliner Fitzroy, registration VH-MME, crashes on takeoff during a driving rain from Perth, Australia, killing all 18 people on board.
- July 25 – Second Lieutenant Bob Kipp of the Canadian Blue Devils aerobatic team is killed in a training accident.
[edit] August
- August 7 – Using the probe-and-drogue aerial refueling system, a Royal Air Force Gloster Meteor Mk 3 remains aloft continuously for 12 hours 3 minutes, with pilot comfort appearing to be the only factor limiting an ability to stay aloft even longer.[5]
- August 9 – United States Navy Lieutenant J. L. Fruin loses control of his F2H-1 Banshee and ejects, becoming the first American pilot to use an ejector seat during an actual in-flight emergency.
- August 15 – A de Havilland Tiger Moth makes the first service flight by an aircraft of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
- August 19 – The British European Airways Douglas DC-3 G-AHCY crashes into a hill at Oldham, Manchester, England, killing 24 of the 32 people on board.
- August 23 – BOAC commences its first services to the Far East to be flown entirely by landplanes.
[edit] September
- September 9 – In order to kill his wife Rita, Albert Guay conspires with Généreux Ruest and Marguerite Pitre to plant a dynamite bomb in Rita Guay's luggage aboard Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108, a Douglas DC-3. The bomb explodes in mid-flight over Cap Tourmente near Sault-au-Cochon, Quebec, Canada, en route from Quebec City to Baie-Comeau, Quebec, killing Rita Guay and all of the other 22 people on board. Albert Guay, Ruest, and Pitre all will be hanged for the crime, the worst mass murder in Canadian history at the time.
- September 17 – The Shuttleworth Collection's Blackburn Type D monoplane of 1912 makes its first flight after restoration, the oldest airworthy British aircraft.[6]
- September 30 – Berlin Airlift officially ends, with 2,325 tons (2,362 tonnes) of food and supplies having been flown into the city. The final flight is made a week later.
[edit] October
- October 27 – Air France Lockheed Constellation crashes in the Azores. 48 die including French boxing star Marcel Cerdan and the young concert violinist, Ginette Neveu.
[edit] November
- The New Tachikawa Aircraft Company is formed in Japan.
- November 1 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 537, a Douglas C-54B-10-DO, en route from Boston, Massachusetts to Washington, D.C. collides with a P-38 fighter on its final approach to National Airport. Both planes crash, killing all 55 people on board the Douglas. The P-38 pilot, Eric Rios Bridaux (a Bolivian Air Force pilot), survives. Among the dead are Congressman George J. Bates and former Congressman Michael J. Kennedy.
- November 18 – A Douglas C-74 Loadmaster carries 103 passengers and crew over the North Atlantic, the largest number to have made the crossing in a single flight.
- Nivember 20 – The Aero Holland Douglas DC-3 PH-TFA crashes at Hurum, Norway, while on approach to Fornebu Airport outside Oslo, killing 34 of the 35 people on board. Of the 26 Jewish children aboard on their way to Israel, only one, a 12-year-old boy, survives.
- November 29 – American Airlines Flight 157, a Douglas DC-6, crashes while on final approach at Love Field in Dallas, Texas, killing 28 of the 46 people on board and injuring 16 of the 18 survivors.
[edit] December
- The Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm takes delivery of its first British-built helicopter, a Westland Dragonfly.[7]
- December 8 - Muroc Army Airfield is renamed Edwards Air Force Base in honor of test pilot Glen Edwards.
[edit] First flights
- Late 1949 – Aerocar Aerocar[8]
[edit] January
- January 23 - Dassault Ouragan
[edit] March
- March 9 - Avro Shackleton prototype[9] VW126
[edit] April
- April 14 – Aero Ae 50
- April 14 – Helio Courier
- April 16 – Lockheed YF-94, prototype of the F-94 Starfire[10]
- April 21 – Leduc 0.10
[edit] May
- May 9 – Republic XF-91 Thunderceptor[11]
- May 13 – English Electric EE.A1 VN799, prototype of the English Electric Canberra, the first British jet bomber[12]
[edit] June
- June 4 - Lockheed XF-90
- June 20 - Blackburn Beverley
[edit] July
- July 17 – Vickers Varsity
- July 27 – De Havilland Comet, the world's first jet-propelled airliner, at Hatfield, Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom
[edit] August
- August 10 – Avro Canada C102 Jetliner[13]
[edit] September
- September 2 – De Havilland Venom
- September 4 – Avro 707 VX784
- September 4 – Bristol Brabazon
- September 19 – Fairey Gannet prototype VR546
- September 22 – Convair XAT-29, prototype of the Convair T-29[14]
- September 24 – North American XT-28, prototype of the T-28 Trojan
[edit] November
- November 7 - Sikorsky S-55
- November 10 - Piasecki HRP-2 Rescuer, improved version of HRP helicopter which also will serve as H-21 Shawnee and H-21 Workhorse[15]
- November 27 - C-124 Globemaster II
[edit] December
- December 22 – North American F-95A, prototype of the F-86D Sabre, also known as the "Sabre Dog," "Dog Sabre," and "Dogship"[16]
[edit] Entered service
[edit] March
- Vought F6U Pirate with the United States Navy[17]
[edit] April
- April 1 – Boeing Stratocruiser with Pan American World Airways
[edit] May
[edit] December
- December 29 – Lockheed F-94 Starfire with the United States Air Force
[edit] References
- ^ Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-076-2, p. 103.
- ^ Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-076-2, p. 108.
- ^ Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, ISBN 0-87021-026-2, p. 164.
- ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 88.
- ^ Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the World's Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day, London: Anness Publishing Ltd., 2006, ISBN 13579108642, p. 47.
- ^ "1912 - Blackburn monoplane Type 'D'". Shuttleworth Collection. http://www.shuttleworth.org/shuttleworth-collection/aircraft-details.asp?ID=5. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, ISBN 0-87021-026-2, p. 182.
- ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 16.
- ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 85.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 278.
- ^ 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. 406.
- ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 88.
- ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 87.
- ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 272.
- ^ Polmar, Norman, "Historic Aircraft: The Flying Banana," Naval History, August 2010, p. 17.
- ^ 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. 343.
- ^ 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. 447.
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