1929 in aviation - Definition and Overview

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1929:

• Greatest number of fatal civil aircraft crashes in US history.

Events

• Cubana de Aviacion begins service.
• Pan Am begins service.
• The Canadian Siskins aerobatic team is formed.

January

• January 1 - Polish airline LOT formed.
• January 1-7 – Carl Spaatz, Ira Eaker, and Elwood Quesada set an endurance record of 151 hours aloft in a Fokker F.VIIa-3m.
• January 27 - USS Saratoga carries out a successful simulated dawn raid on the Panama Canal in a training exercise.

March

• March 30 - Imperial Airways commences the first scheduled air service between England and India.

April

• April 24-26 - Sqn Ldr A. G. Jones-Wiliams and Flt Lt N. H. Jenkins make the first non-stop flight from England to India using a Fairey Long-Range Monoplane

July

• July 3 - Lt A. W. Gordon hooks a Vought VO-1 onto US Navy airship USS Los Angeles in successful parasite fighter experiments.
• July 7 - Transcontinental Air Transport commences a regular service transporting passengers right across the United States in 48 hours, using a combination of trains and aircraft for different legs of the journey.
• July 22 - Lufthansa uses a catapult to launch a Heinkel He 12 mailplane from the passenger liner Bremen, 400 km (249 miles) out of New York, speeding the mail on its way before the ship reached port.

August

• August 4 - 16 - the first International Tourist Aircraft Contest Challenge 1929 in Paris, with 5,942 km race over Europe, won by the German crew of Fritz Morzik on the BFW M.23 plane.
• August 8-29 airship Graf Zeppelin makes a round-the-world flight, from and to Lakehurst, New Jersey.

September

• September 6 - Schneider Trophy race flown at Calshot Spit, UK. Won by Flt. Off. Henry Waghorn in a Supermarine S.6 at 528.9 km/h (328.7 mph).
• September 24 - Lt Jimmy Doolittle makes a completely blind take-off, flight, and landing.
• September 29 - Dieudonne Costes and Maurice Bellonte arrive in Manchuria in a Breguet 19, having set a new distance record of 7,905 km (4,912 miles) from Le Bourget, France.

November

• November 27-28 - Richard Byrd and crew make the first flight over the South Pole in a Ford Trimotor.

First flights

January

• Gloster Gauntlet

July

• July 29 - Dornier Do X

September

• September 9 - De Havilland Puss Moth
• September 17 - Adcox Student Prince

October

• October 2 - Acme Sportsman

November

• November 6 - Junkers G.38

Entered service

May

• Bristol Bulldog with No.3 Squadron RAF