1919 in aviation - Definition and Overview

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1919:

Events

• Avianca begins services.

January

• January 8 - Civil aviation resumes in Germany
• January 10 - Airco DH.4s of No.2 (Communications) Squadron, RAF are converted for transporting passengers and mail between London and Paris, in support of the Versailles Peace Conference
• January 16 - Maj A.S.C. MacLaren and Cpt Robert Halley arrive in Delhi, completing the first England-India flight, in a Handley Page V/1500
• Januray 19 - Jules Védrines claims a FF25,000 prize by landing an aircraft (a Caudron G-3) on the roof of a department store in Paris. Védrines is injured and his aircraft is damaged beyond repair in the hard landing in a space only 28 m x 12 m (92 ft x 40 ft).

February

• February 8 - Henry Farman carries 11 paying passengers in his F.60 Goliath plane from Paris to London on first commercial flight between the two cities.

March

• March 1 - German airline DLR begins scheduled flights to Hamburg.
  • An airmail service begins Folkestone and Cologne
• March 3 - The first US international airmail is carried between Seattle and Victoria, British Columbia by William Boeing in a Boeing CL-4S.
• March 22 - Henry Farman carries 11 paying passengers in his Farman F.60 Goliath plane from Paris to London, in what became the first commercial flight between the two European cities.
• March 24 - Igor Sikorsky flees Europe for the United States

April

• April 18 - CMA (Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes) commences a mail and freight service between Paris and Lille, using ex-military Breguet 14s.
• April 23 - The North Sea Aerial Navigation Company begins a passenger run between Leeds and Houndslow in ex-military Blackburn RT.1s

May

• A Fairey IIIC seaplane is used for a regular newspaper run, carrying the Evening Times to towns along the Kent coast.
• May 8 - A US Navy flying boat, NC-4 begins an Atlantic crossing, flying by short stages from Long Island, New York to Lisbon, Portugal. It arrives 19 days later on May 28.
• May 18 - Harry Hawker and Lt Cdr Kenneth Mackenzie-Grieve attempt a non-stop Atlantic crossing but are forced to ditch their aircraft only 2,253 (1,400 miles) after leaving Newfoundland. London's Daily Mail newspaper awards them a prize of £5,000 for their attempt anyway.

June

• June 1 - A permanent flight of aircraft is stationed in San Diego to serve as a forest fire patrol. The machines are war-surplus Curtiss JN-4s.
• June 12 - Baroness Raymonde de Laroche breaks the women's altitude record, flying to a height of 5,150 m (16,896 ft).
• June 14 - Cpt John Alcock and Lt Arthur Whitten Brown set out on the first successful non-stop Atlantic crossing, flying a Vickers Vimy from Newfoundland to Ireland in 16 hours. They win £10,000 from the Daily Mail and are both knighted.
• June 23 - six Zeppelins (LZ 46, LZ 79, LZ 91, LZ103, LZ 110, and LZ 111) are destroyed at Nordholz by their own crews in order to prevent them from falling into Allied hands.

July

• July 1 - London's first airport is opened, at Hounslow Heath. The facilities include a permanent Customs hall.
• July 2 - Airship R 34 sets out of the first airship crossing of the Atlantic, leaving East Fortune, Scotland, to arrive in New York on July 6. The journey becomes a successful two-way crossing when the airship arrives in back in the UK on July 13.
• July 14 - A Fiat BR makes the first direct flight from Rome to Paris.
• July 21 - Anthony Fokker founds the Dutch Aircraft Factory at Schiphol.

August

• August 7 - Cpt Ernest Hoy makes the first aircraft crossing of the Rocky Mountains, from Vancouver to Calgary.
• August 25 - the first daily international flights begin, with the Aircraft Transport and Travel company flying a de Havilland DH.16 between London and le Bourget.

September

• September 24 - the Schneider Trophy race is flown at Bournemouth, UK. An Italian Savoia S.13 is the only finisher, but is disqualifed for missing a turning buoy. When judges ask pilot Guido Janello to complete another lap, he runs out of fuel.
• September 30 - the British Aerial Transport Company begins domestic flights between London and Birmingham in a Koolhoven FK.26.

October

• October 7 - KLM is formed.
• October 8 - The US Army Air Service begins a trans-continental air race. By the time Lt Belvin Maynard wins it on October 31, seven airmen have died in the attempt.
• October 11 - Handley Page Transport begins offering the first in-flight meals, on its London-Brussels service. They are sold at 3s.
• October 13 - Convention relating to the Regulation of Aerial Navigation signed in Paris.

November

• November 12 - Keith and Ross Smith set out to fly a Vickers Vimy, G-EAOU, from England to Australia, the first flight between these two places. They arrive in Darwin on December 18.
• November 14 - The American Railway Express Company hires a Handley Page V/1500 to carry 454 kg (1,000 lb) of parcels from New York to Chicago, but the attempt fails due to mechanical problems.
• November 16 - Cpt Henry Wrigley and Lt Arthur Murphy make the first aerial crossing of Australia, flying a Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2e from Melbourne to Darwin, taking 46 hours.

December

• December 5 - Avianca is founded as the Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transporte Aéreo in Barranquilla.
• December 18 - Sir John Alcock is killed in a crash at Rouen.

First flights

• Savoia S.16 flying boat
• Armstrong Whitworth Siskin
• Aero A.10

February

• February 21 - Thomas Morse MB-3, first US-built fighter

April

• British Aerial Transport Company F.K.26 Commercial - first purpose-built airliner

May

• May 10 - Avro Baby

June

• June 25 - Junkers F.13

December

• December 27 - Boeing model 6, Boeing's first commercial design

Entered service