• The
Soviet Unions
first five-year plan (1928–1932) begins, placing a high priority on the construction of new aircraft factories. It begins a rapid expansion of the Soviet aircraft industry. • The
Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company renames itself the Aeromarine-Klemm Corporation and begins to produce the
German-designed
Klemm aircraft. • The Douglas Company renames itself the
Douglas Aircraft Company. • The
Kawanishi Aircraft Company is founded. • The
Mitsubishi Internal Combustion Engine Company Ltd. changes its name to Mitsubishi Aircraft Company Ltd. •
Italy officially records its production rate for military aircraft at 150 per month, with a capacity to expand to 600 per month in wartime. The
Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force), meanwhile, determines that it will require a production rate of 900 aircraft per month during a war. • The
United States Coast Guard establishes an Aviation Section at its headquarters. •
Frank Hawks makes a nationwide goodwill tour of the
United States for
Texaco piloting the custom-built
Ford Trimotor Texaco One. He visits more than 150 cities and covers approximately . An estimated 500,000 people see
Texaco One, and Hawks carries 7,200 passengers in the plane without mishap. • Twenty-three-year-old
Karolina Iwaszkiewicz becomes the first woman from Poland to earn a pilot's license.
January • Hoping to become the first person to fly a small, open-
cockpit plane solo from
South Africa to
London,
Mary, Lady Heath, takes off in an
Avro Avian for what she hopes will be a three-week trip. Instead, the trip will take three months, and she will not arrive in London until
May. • To advertise
Texaco,
Frank Hawks flies a
Texas delegation in the custom-built
Ford Trimotor Texaco One from
Houston, Texas, to
Mexico City,
Mexico. The first goodwill trade extension air tour from the United States to Mexico, the flight receives widespread coverage in American and Mexican newspapers. • January 6–8 –
United States Marine Corps First Lieutenant Christian Schilt makes ten flights in an
O2U Corsair to evacuate wounded Marines from an airfield hacked out of the
jungle at the village of
Quilali,
Nicaragua, which is besieged by the guerrilla forces of
Augusto César Sandino. Schilt will receive the
Medal of Honor for the flights. • January 10 –
John Moncrieff and George Hood disappear attempting the first trans-
Tasman Sea flight between
Australia and
New Zealand in the
Ryan B-1 Brougham Aotearoa (registration G-AUNZ). No trace of them or their aircraft ever is found. Theirs is the first aircraft ever to disappear without trace in or near New Zealand. • January 26 – Veteran movie actor
Earl Metcalfe is killed during a flying lesson when he falls or jumps from a plane at an altitude of over
Burbank,
California, when it goes into a double roll.
February • February 3 –
New York City decides to build its first municipal airport. • February 7–22 – Australian aviator
Bert Hinkler makes the first solo flight from
England to
Australia, flying from
Croydon to
Darwin in an
Avro Avian. His flight sets a new time world record for an England-to-Australia flight of just under 15½ days, smashing the previous record of 28 days. He then flies on to
Bundaberg,
Queensland, Australia, arriving there on February 27. • February 12 –
Mary, Lady Heath leaves
Cape Town in an Avro Avian in an attempt to make the first solo flight by a woman from
South Africa to England. She will arrive in Croydon on May 17. • February 13 –
Charles Lindbergh arrives in
St. Louis,
Missouri, completing a goodwill tour of
Latin America at the controls of the
Spirit of St. Louis which started with a nonstop flight from
Washington, D.C. to
Mexico City on
December 13–14, 1927, and included stops elsewhere in
Mexico and in
Guatemala,
British Honduras,
El Salvador,
Honduras,
Nicaragua,
Costa Rica,
Panama,
Colombia,
Venezuela, the
Virgin Islands,
Puerto Rico, the
Dominican Republic,
Haiti and
Cuba. • February 15 –
Aeroput, the
flag carrier of the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Yugoslavia's first civilian airline, makes its first flight, a 2-hour 25-minute trip from
Belgrade International Airport in
Belgrade to
Borongaj Airfield in
Zagreb by a
Potez 29/2 (registration X-SECD) carrying two pilots and five journalists and news photographers. The airliner makes passes over Zagreb before landing. In the afternoon, the airliner returns to Belgrade, again carrying journalists as passengers.
March • Fourteen months after its liquidation, the French aircraft manufacturer
Dewoitine is reestablished as
Société Aéronautique Française (or
Avions Dewoitine). • March 1 – The British
aircraft carrier HMS Courageous enters service as the worlds first
aircraft carrier with transverse
arresting gear. • March 5 –
de Havilland Canada is established by
de Havilland as a Canadian subsidiary. • March 12 – Attempting to set a new world airspeed record,
South African pilot
Flight Lieutenant Samuel M. "Kinky" Kinkead, commander of the
Royal Air Force High Speed Flight and a decorated
World War I flying ace, dies when his
Supermarine S.5 seaplane,
N221, suddenly nose-dives into the
Solent off
Englands
Isle of Wight. • March 26 – The Italian Secretary of State for Air,
Italo Balbo, founds the airline
Società Aerea Mediterranea (SAM) as an early step toward an
Italian Fascist government takeover of all Italian airlines and rationalization of their routes. • March 30 –
Mario de Bernardi sets a new airspeed record of at
Venice,
Italy – the first over and the first over . He flies a
Macchi M.52bis.
April • The
Imperial Japanese Navy begins to experiment with coordinated
torpedo attacks by aircraft and surface ships. It will not abandon the concept as impractical until the mid-1930s. • April 1 – The
Imperial Japanese Navy forms its first seagoing
aircraft carrier organization, the
First Carrier Division. • April 3–5 – The
French Air Force's
Amiot 122 BP2 prototype bomber makes a flight from
Paris to
Timbuktu to
Dakar and back to Paris, crossing the
Sahara along the way. • April 13 – The first non-stop flight across the
Atlantic Ocean from east to west is made by
Hermann Köhl,
Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld, and
Major James Fitzmaurice in a
Junkers W.33 named
Bremen. • April 14 – In the
Breguet 19 G.R. Nungesser-Coli, the French aviators
Dieudonné Costes and
Joseph Le Brix complete a round-the-world flight they had begun on October 10, 1927, traveling with a total flying time of 350 hours, although they have covered the segment between
San Francisco,
California, and
Tokyo, Japan, aboard ship. Their route has taken them from Paris to
Senegal,
Argentina,
Brazil, the
United States, Japan,
India,
Greece, and back to Paris, and has included the first aerial crossing of the
South Atlantic Ocean and flights to every country in
South America. • April 25 –
Floyd Bennett, after whom
Floyd Bennett Field will be named, dies in
Quebec City of pneumonia, developed during a rescue flight to
Greenly Island, in the
Strait of Belle Isle northwest of
Newfoundland, to save the crew of the German airplane
Bremen, which had crash-landed after flying the Atlantic. • April 27 –
Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force)
General Alessandro Guidoni is killed at
Montecelio,
Italy, when a new model of
parachute he personally is testing fails. In 1937, the town and surrounding
comune will be renamed
Guidonia Montecelio in his honor.
May • During the month, Sumitoshi Nakao becomes the first Japanese aviator to save his life by parachute when he bails out of one of two
Mitsubishi 1MF2 Hayabusa-type fighter prototypes when it disintegrates during a diving test during official
Imperial Japanese Army trials at Tokorozawa. He is uninjured. • During the month, brothers
Thomas Elmer Braniff and
Paul Revere Braniff found their first airline,
Tulsa-Oklahoma City Airline. It is owned by Paul R. Braniff, Inc. • May 1 – When a
United States Army Air Corps Curtiss O-1B Falcon carrying
Thaddeus C. Sweet, a member of the
United States House of Representatives representing
New York's
32nd Congressional District, lands in a field near
Whitney Point, New York, to escape a
thunderstorm, it somersaults, killing Sweet. The pilot is uninjured. • May 11 – The Ryan NYP
Spirit of St. Louis, in which
Charles Lindbergh had made the first non-stop
transatlantic flight in
May 1927, goes on display in the
Smithsonian Institution′s
Arts and Industries Building in
Washington, D.C. It will remain there until 1975, when it is removed for cleaning and restoration before going on display in the Smithsonian's new
National Air and Space Museum that opens in Washington, D.C., in
July 1976. • May 15 –
The Reverend John Flynn founds the
Royal Flying Doctor Service at
Cloncurry,
Queensland,
Australia, using a
de Havilland DH.50. The service takes medical services to remote parts of the Australian bush. • May 17 •
Mary, Lady Heath, arrives at
Croydon Aerodrome in
London, completing a 9,000-mile (14,500-kilometer) flight from
South Africa in an
Avro Avian, stepping out of the
cockpit to greet a cheering crowd wearing a pleated skirt, high heels, a fur coat, and a
cloche hat. When she had begun the journey in South Africa in
January, she had hoped to complete the flight in three weeks, but various setbacks – including a crash-landing outside
Southern Rhodesia after she suffered
heat stroke – have led to the trip taking three months. She becomes the first person to fly from South Africa to London solo in a small, open-cockpit plane. • May 23 – With
Umberto Nobile in command, the
Italian airship Italia sets out on her ill-fated third
Arctic flight, during which she will fly over the
North Pole.
Italia will crash on her way back. • May 25 – Sixty-one
Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force)
seaplanes – 51
Savoia-Marchetti S.59bis and 10
Savoia-Marchetti S.55s – led by
General Italo Balbo set out from
Orbetello,
Italy, on a six-stage, mass-formation flight circuiting the
Western Mediterranean. The flight is intended to improve the operational skills of
Regia Aeronautica aircrews and ground crewmen, showcase the Italian aviation industry to potential foreign buyers of Italian-made aircraft, and enhance the prestige of
Benito Mussolinis
Italian Fascist government.
June • June 2 – Sixty-one
Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force)
seaplanes – 51
Savoia-Marchetti S.59bis and 10
Savoia-Marchetti S.55s – led by
General Italo Balbo return to
Italy after a six-stage, 1,750-mile (2,818-km) mass-formation flight circuiting the
Western Mediterranean. Since departing Italy on May 25, the aircraft have completed the journey in six segments of three or four hours flying time each. Their stops have included
Cagliari,
Sardinia;
Tortosa,
Spain, and
Marseille,
France. • June 9 – Australian aviator
Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew make the first flight across the
Pacific Ocean in
Fokker F.VIIb/3m
Southern Cross. They had left
Oakland, California on May 31 and reach
Brisbane via
Honolulu and
Fiji. The flight takes 83 hours. • June 11 • At the
Wasserkuppe,
Alexander Lippisch's
Ente becomes as part of
Opel RAK program by
Max Valier and
Fritz von Opel the first aircraft to fly under
rocket power, completing a circuit of the landing strip. • In response to a
December 1927 United States-
Mexico flight by
Charles Lindbergh,
Emilio Carranza departs Valbuena Field,
Mexico City, Mexico, in
The Excelsior-Mexico, a
Ryan Brougham B-1, to attempt a non-stop goodwill flight to
Washington, D.C. Unable to navigate using
U.S. Airmail light beacons because of
fog, he instead lands at approximately 3:00 a.m. on June 12 in
Mooresville,
North Carolina. Carranza departs Mooresville early on the afternoon of June 12 and flies on to
Bolling Field in Washington, D.C., where he arrives at about 5:15 p.m. and is greeted by
United States Under Secretary of State Robert E. Olds,
Mexican Ambassador Manuel C. Tellez, other officials, and spectators. On June 13, he has lunch with
President Calvin Coolidge at the
Pan American Union Building in Washington, D.C. Later, Carranza flies to
Roosevelt Field on
Long Island,
New York. • June 17–18 – Aviator
Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to make a successful
transatlantic flight, flying as a passenger in a
Fokker F.VIIb/3m piloted by
Wilmer Stultz from the
Dominion of Newfoundland to
Wales. • June 18 – A
Latham 47 flying boat carrying
Norwegian polar explorer
Roald Amundsen and five others on a flight to search for survivors of the
Italian airship Italia disappears. Their bodies are never found. • June 20 –
Tulsa-Oklahoma City Airline, the first airline founded by brothers
Thomas Elmer Braniff and
Paul Revere Braniff, begins operations, using a single, five-passenger
Stinson Detroiter to offer service between
Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma, and
Tulsa, Oklahoma.
July • July 3–5 – Italian aviators
Arturo Ferrarin and
Carlo Del Prete set a new nonstop flight distance record, flying a
Savoia-Marchetti S.64 from
Montecelio,
Italy, to
Brazil. Departing on July 3 and hoping to reach
Rio de Janeiro, they are forced to turn back due to bad weather and attempt to land at
Natal, Brazil, but their flight ends in a forced landing on a beach at
Touros, Brazil, on July 5 after they remain airborne for 48 hours 14 minutes and cover nonstop. The
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale recognizes the flight as establishing a new official nonstop distance record of , the
great-circle distance between Montecelio and Natal. • July 4 – While crossing the
English Channel with several other people during a flight from
Croydon,
England, to
Brussels,
Belgium, aboard his private
Fokker F.VII trimotor, wealthy Belgian financier
Alfred Loewenstein excuses himself to visit the
lavatory. When he does not return, his secretary investigates and finds the lavatory empty, the aircraft's adjacent entrance door open, and Loewenstein missing from the plane, having jumped or fallen thousands of feet to his death. His body will be discovered in the sea near
Boulogne,
France, on July 19. • July 12 – Mexican aviation pioneer
Emilio Carranza is killed in the crash of his
Ryan Brougham The Mexico Excelsior in the
New Jersey Pine Barrens near
Tabernacle,
New Jersey, when he flies into a thunderstorm during an attempt to fly non-stop from
Roosevelt Field on
Long Island,
New York, to
Mexico City,
Mexico.* • July 13 – The
Imperial Airways Vickers Vulcan G-EBLB crashes near
Purley,
Surrey, in the
United Kingdom, during a
test flight, killing four of the six people on board. After the crash, Imperial Airways ends the practice of allowing airline staff to take "joy rides" during test flights. • July 27 –
Irish-born aviator
Mary, Lady Heath, becomes the first woman appointed as a
co-pilot with a civil airline,
KLM. • August 8 – The
Couzinet 27 Arc en Ciel II crashes in
France during trials. Its mechanic dies instantly and its pilot dies of his injuries a few days later, leaving only survivor of the crash. • August 11 – Only a little over five weeks after completing their record-breaking
Italy-
Brazil flight, Italian aviators
Arturo Ferrarin and
Carlo Del Prete are injured in the crash during a demonstration flight of a
Savoia-Marchetti SM.62 flying boat during ongoing post-flight celebrations in Brazil. Del Prete will die of his injuries on August 16. • August 19 – The
Italian Fascist leader
Italo Balbo is given the rank of
general of the air force in the
Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force).
September • September 10–11 –
Charles Kingsford Smith and crew make the first successful trans-Tasman flight. • September 12 – The Norwegian
whaling ship C. A. Larsen departs
Naval Air Station Norfolk,
Virginia, bound for
Antarctica carrying the four aircraft — the
Ford 4-AT-B Trimotor Floyd Bennett, the
Fokker Super Universal The Virginia (NC4453), the
Fairchild FC-2W2
Stars and Stripes, and a
G.A.C. 102 Aristocrat — of
Richard E. Byrd's first Antarctic expedition. All but the Aristocrat are destined to operate in Antarctica, and
Floyd Bennett will become the first airplane to fly over the
South Pole in
November 1929. • September 18 –
Don Juan de la Cierva flies a
Cierva C.8 autogyro from Croydon, England, to
Le Bourget,
France, making the first crossing of the
English Channel in a
rotary wing aircraft. He makes the crossing of the Channel in 18 minutes at an altitude of . • September 25 – Over
France near
Paris, Baron
Willy Coppens,
Belgium's top scoring fighter ace of
World War I, sets a new world parachute record, descending safely from an altitude of . • September 30 – By the end of September,
wind tunnel tests of "
Cowling No. 10" by the U.S.
National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) have demonstrated not only that it cools an engine more efficiently than leaving an engine's
cylinders open to the air, but also — to the surprise of engineers — that it reduces
aerodynamic drag by a factor of 2.6 compared to any other cowling. It will become known as the "
NACA cowling." Later tests of the cowling on a
United States Army Air Corps Curtiss AT-5A trainer demonstrate that it also could significantly increase an aircraft's maximum speed, in the case of the AT-5A from to .
October • October 10 – Flying a
United States Army Air Corps Engineering Division XCO-5 observation aircraft,
St. Clair "Bill" Streett (pilot) and
Albert William Stevens (passenger) set an unofficial altitude record for an aircraft carrying a passenger of . Temperatures of −61 °C (−78 °F) freeze the controls, preventing Streett from losing altitude or turning off the engine; he waits 20 minutes for the engine to run out of
gasoline (petrol), then glides to a
deadstick landing. • October 11 – The
Zeppelin Graf Zeppelin completes a crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in 71 hours.
November • The
Aeronautical Corporation of America is incorporated at
Cincinnati,
Ohio. It will change its name to
Aeronca Aircraft Corporation in 1941. • The
Washington, D.C., office of the U.S.
National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) announces to the press that aircraft manufacturers could install the new low-
drag NACA cowling as an airplane's standard equipment for about
US$25 per aircraft and that the possible annual savings from the aircraft industry's use of the
cowling was in excess of US$5 million. • December 12 –
Royal Air Force Vickers Victorias evacuate British civilians from
Kabul,
Afghanistan. • December 15–17 – French aviators
Dieudonné Costes and
Paul Codos set a world distance record for flight over a closed circuit, flying . • December 19 –
Harold Pitcairn flies his first
autogyro. • December 20 – Pilot
Carl Ben Eielson carries explorer
Hubert Wilkins in the first extended flight over
Antarctica, using
Lockheed Vega Los Angeles flying from
Deception Island. They fly the entire length of
Graham Land. • December 25 –
Richard E. Byrd's first Antarctic expedition arrives by ship off the
Ross Ice Shelf in
Antarctica with three disassembled and crated aircraft — the
Ford 4-AT-B Trimotor Floyd Bennett, the
Fokker Super Universal The Virginia (NC4453), and the
Fairchild FC-2W2
Stars and Stripes — aboard. Days later, the expedition's members begin to set up a base,
Little America, on the Ross Ice Shelf, from which they will begin air operations in
January 1929 and from which Byrd will make the first flight over the
South Pole aboard
Floyd Bennett in
November 1929. == First flights ==