1924 in aviation - Definition and Overview

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1924:

Events

January

• January 29 - Pateras Pesara flies an experimental helicopter in Paris. The machine flew 800 metres (2,640 ft) in just over 10 minutes.

February

• February 20 - Three French Army officers make the first two-way aerial crossing of the Sahara Desert in a Breguet 14.

March

• Huff Darland Dusters is established as the world's first crop dusting company in Georgia (United States). It will eventually grow into Delta Air Service, then Delta Airlines.
• March 25 - Royal Air Force officers McLaren, Plenderleith, and Andrews set off in an attempted round-the-world flight in a Vickers Vulture II. Their attempt will ultimately fail in Siberia in early August.

April

• April 1 - Imperial Airways is formed, with the backing of the British government.
• April 1 - Britain's Fleet Air Arm is established
• April 1 - The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.

May

• May 19 - the first aerial circumnavigation of Australia is carried out, by an RAAF crew in a Fairey IIID.

June

• June 23 - Lt Russell Maughan makes the first one-day crossing of the United States, completing the flight from Long Island to San Francisco in a Curtiss PW-8 in 21 hours, 48 minutes.

July

• July 1 - Regular night airmail services commence in the United States, linking Chicago with Cheyenne.
• July 17 - Pelletier d'Oisy completes a flight from Paris to Tokyo. The journey takes 120 hours in the air.

August

• The Bolivian Air Force is formed, as the Cuerpo de Aviación.
• August 8 - US Navy airship USS Shenandoah docks with the USS Patoka while the latter is underway, showing that airships could operate from support ships far out to sea.
• August 24 - the USS Richmond rescues the crew of an Italian flying boat that is forced down in the Arctic Ocean by bad weather.

September

• September 11 - Canada's first regular airmail service begins, with Laurentide Air Services linking Haileybury with Rouyn.
• September 28 - six Douglas World Cruisers arrive in Seattle, completing the first aerial circumnavigation of the world. They had left the city on April 6, taking 175 days for the journey.

October

• October 12-15 - transportation of the Zeppelin-Airship "LZ 126" (ZR III "Los Angeles") to USA under guidance of H. Eckener.

November

• November 11 - Lt Dixie Kiefer makes the first night catapult launch from a ship, the USS California.
• November 24 - a KLM Fokker F.VII makes the first flight from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies, taking 127 hours 16 minutes.

December

• December 13 - in an early parasite fighter experiment, Lt Clyde Flinter unsuccessfully attempts to dock his Sperry Messenger with the US Army airship TC-3.
• December 14 - a Martin MO-1 is launched using an explosive-driven catapult fitted to a turret on USS Mississippi, requiring less distance than ever for the take-off.

First flights

March

• Fairey Fawn

May

• May 4 - Sikorsky S-29-A
• May 26 - Tupolev ANT-2

June

• June 23 - Focke-Wulf A-16

August

• Savoia Marchetti S.55
• Hawker Cygnet
• August 21 - Fokker F.VII

September

• Aero A-24

Entered service