1931 in aviation - Definition and Overview

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1931:

Events

• Manufacturer Airspeed Ltd founded in York, England.

January

• January 6 - Gen Italo Balbo leads the first formation flight across the South Atlantic. Twelve Savoia-Marchetti S.55s fly from Portuguese Guinea to Brazil.

February

• February 26 - Imperial Airways begins scheduled services between England and Africa using Armstrong Whitworth Argosys

March

• March 26 - Swissair is formed by the merger of Ad Astra Aero and Balair.
• March 27 - the crash of a TWA Fokker F.10 at Bazaar, Kansas prompts the first grounding of an aircraft type. The grounding was ordered by the US Department of Commerce.

May

• May 27, Swiss professor Auguste Piccard and his assistant Kipfer take a stratosphere-balloon to 15,781 m, starting in Augsburg and landing on a glacier in Austria.

June

• June 23-July 1, Wiley Post and Harold Gatty fly around the world in a Lockheed Vega, the Winnie Mae, covering 15,474 miles in 8 days 15 hours 51 minutes - a new record.

July

• July 22-September 1 - Sir Alan Cobham and crew make a 19,800 km (12,300 mile) return flight between England and the Belgian Congo in a Short Valetta.

August

• August 29, the Graf Zeppelin pioneers the air route between Germany and Brazil.

September

• September 13 - the United Kingdom wins the Schneider Trophy outright. Lt. John Boothman completes the course at Calshot Spit in a Supermarine S.6B at 547.297 km/h (340.1 mph).

October

• October 1 - KLM begins a regular service between Amsterdam and Batavia by Fokker F.XII. At 13,744 km (8,540 miles) this is the longest regular air route in the world at the time.
• October 3-5 - Hugh Herndon and Clyde Pangborn make the first non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean, from Samushiro Beach, Japan, to Wenatchee, Washington in 41 hours in a Bellanca Skyrocket.

November

• November 2 - US Marine Corps squadrons VS-15M and VS-14M embark on USS Lexington and USS Saratoga, the first time Marine Corps squadrons are assigned to aircraft carriers.

First flights

March

• March 3 - Fairey Gordon
• March 25 - Hawker Fury

October

• October 26 - De Havilland Tiger Moth DH.82 prototype G-ABRC
• October 31 - Westland Wallace

November

• November 27 - Fairey Seal

December

• December 29 - Hawker Audax

Entered service

October

• October 27 - USS Akron with the United States Navy

November

• November 19 - Sikorsky S-40 with Pan American