1928 in aviation - Definition and Overview

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1928:

Events

January

• January 6-8 - Lt Christian Schilt makes ten flights in an O2U Corsair to evacuate wounded marines from the besieged village of Quilali, Nicaragua. He is awarded the Medal of Honor.

February

• February 7 - Bert Hinkler leaves Croydon in an Avro Avian, attempting the first solo flight from England to Australia. He will arrive in Darwin on February 22.
• February 12 - Lady Mary Hearth 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.

March

• March 30 - Mario di Bernardi sets a new airspeed record - the first over 300 mph (483 km/h). He flies a Macchi M.52bis.

April

• April 13 - the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic from East to West is made by Hermann Köhl, Baron Gunther von Hunefeld, and Major James Fitzmaurice in a Junkers W.33 named the Bremen.

May

• May 15 - Rev John Flynn founds the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia at Cloncurry, Queensland, using a de Havilland DH.50. The service takes medical services to remote parts of the Australian bush.
• May 23 - Umberto Nobile commands the Italian airship Italia on an ill-fated flight over the North Pole. The airship crashes on its way back, and Roald Amundsen is killed trying to rescue survivors.

June

• June 17 - Amelia Earhart becomes first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.
• June 9 - Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew make the first flight across the Pacific Ocean in the Fokker F.VIIb-3m Southern Cross. They 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 the first aircraft to fly under rocket power.
• July 12 - Emilio Carranza crashes in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey while returning from New York City to Mexico City on a historic goodwill flight.

August

• The Daily Mail newspaper fits out a de Havilland DH.61 to use as a mobile press office. It carries its own darkroom and a motorcycle.

September

• September 18 - Don Juan de la Cierva flies a Cierva C.8 autogiro from Croydon, England, to Le Bourget, France, making the first crossing of the English Channel in a rotary wing aircraft.

October

• October 11 - the Zeppelin Graf Zeppelin crosses the Atlantic in 71 hours.

December

• December 12 - Royal Air Force Vickers Victorias evacuate British civilians from Kabul.
• December 19 - Harold Pitcairn flies his first autogiro.

First flights

January

• January 7 - Polikarpov Po-2

March

• March 5 - Beardmore Inflexible

May

• Sikorsky S-38

December

• December 7 - De Havilland Hawk Moth

Entered service

May

• Junkers G.31 with Lufthansa