• 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. • French
test pilot Roger Baptiste achieves a speed of at an altitude of in the
Bernard 20 monoplane fighter prototype. • 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. • During the year, the percentage of
United States Navy enlisted personnel with an aviation-related
rating rises to 9 percent. • 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.
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. • January 2 –
Leroy Grumman,
Leon Swirbul, and
William Schwender found the
Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation at
Baldwin on
Long Island,
New York. • January 16 – On speed trials, the British
airship R100 reaches , making her the fastest airship in the world. • 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. • 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. • January 25 –
American Airways is formed.
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. • 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. • February 15 – The Italian air power theorist
Giulio Douhet dies at the age of 60. • 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 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. • 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 autogiro – 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 . • 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 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 from
Lympne Airport in
Lympne,
England, to
Cape Town,
South Africa, in 100 flying hours over 10 days. • April 23 – A
diesel engineed aircraft crashes in
New York (state); among the 3 killed is Lionel Woolson, designer of the radial air-cooled aero diesel engine. • 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.
May • 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. • May 11 –
The New York Air Show of the
Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce is held at
Madison Square Garden • 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 flight takes 19 hours 35 minutes, and the plane carries of mail. 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 –
Ellen Church becomes the world's first female
flight attendant, working for
Boeing Air Transport. • 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 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 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.
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 short of the burning trestle. • 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 – Record-holding aviator
Frank Goldsborough dies in a crash in
Vermont on his 20th birthday. • July 20-August 1 – A 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.
August • August 3 - The
Imperial Japanese Navy practices
dive bombing for the first time, using
fighters to sink the retired
protected cruiser Akashi with practice
bombs in
Tokyo Bay. • 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. • 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. • 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.
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 , according to different sources, in 37 hours 18 minutes. • September 3 – The
Ford National Reliability Air Tour finishes in Chicago. Harry Russell takes first place, and
Eddie August Schneider finishes in eight place, but wins the Great Lakes Trophy.
October • October 1 –
Western Air Express and
Transcontinental Air Transport merge to form Transcontinental and Western Air, Inc., 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. • October 25 – Transcontinental and Western Air begins the first all-air coast-to-coast passenger service in the
United States with regular passenger flights between
New York,
New York, and
Los Angeles,
California. The trip takes 30 hours and includes an overnight stop in
Kansas City,
Missouri.
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. • 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.
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 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. == First flights ==