1932 in aviation - Definition and Overview

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1932:

Events

• The Canadian Siskins aerobatic team is retired.

January

• Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carriers Hosho and Kaga sail into Chinese territorial waters at the outbreak of the Shanghai Incident.
• January 20 - Imperial Airways weekly airmail service is extended through Africa as far as Cape Town.

February

• February 14 - Ruth Nichols sets a new altitude record for a diesel-powered aircraft, 6,047 m (19,928 ft) in a modified Lockheed Vega

March

• The final Avro 504 leaves the production line. The type has been in continuous production for nineteen years.
• March 20 - Luftschiffbau Zeppelin begins regular trans-atlantic services between Germany and Brazil, using the Graf Zeppelin.
• March 24-28 - Jim Mollison sets a new speed record between the United Kingdom and Cape Town, taking 4 days 17 hours in a de Havilland Puss Moth
• March 25 - Dobroflot is expanded into a USSR-wide service and has its name changed to Aeroflot

April

• April 19-28 - Charles Scott sets a new solo speed record between the UK and Darwin, taking 8 days 20 hours in a de Havilland Gipsy Moth
• April 27 - Imperial Airways commences a regular passenger service to Cape Town.

May

• the Egyptian Air Force is formed
• Albert Hegenberger makes the first completely blind solo flight in a Consolidated NY-2.
• May 20-21 - Amelia Earhart, flying a Lockheed Vega, becomes the first woman to make solo flight across the North Atlantic, from Harbour Grace in Newfoundland to Londonderry in Northern Ireland.

June

• June 29 - a F9C Sparrowhawk parasite fighter hooks onto the USS Akron for the first time.

July

• July 21 - Wolfgang von Gronau sets out to make a round-the-world trip in a Dornier Wal. One hundred and eleven days later, it will be the first such trip made in a flying boat.
• July 23 - an aviation pioneer, Alberto Santos-Dumont hangs himself

August

• August 14-28 - the third International Tourist Aircraft Contest Challenge 1932 in Berlin, won by the Polish crew Franciszek Zwirko and Stanislaw Wigura on the RWD-6 plane.
• August 14-23 Frances Mersalis and Louise Thaden set a women's endurance record of 8 days 4 hours.
• August 18 - Auguste Piccard and Max Cosyns set a new balloon altitude record of 16,201 m (53,153 ft).
• August 18-19 - Jim Mollison makes the first solo East-to-West crossing of the Atlantic, flying a de Havilland Puss Moth from Dublin to New Brunswick
• August 21-27 - 7,363 km race over Europe of the Challenge 1932 contest.
• August 25 - Amelia Earhart makes the first transcontinental flight across the US by a woman. She flies a Lockheed Vega.

September

• September 3 - Jimmy Doolittle sets a new landplane airspeed record of 296 mph (476 km/h) in the Gee Bee R-1
• September 7 - Thomas Settle and Winfield Bushnell set a new balloon distance record of 1,550 km (963 miles) between Basle, Switzerland and Vilna, Poland.
• September 11 - Polish Challenge 1932 winners, Franciszek Zwirko and Stanislaw Wigura died in an aircrash.
• September 16 - Cyril Uwins sets a new heavier-than-air altitude record of 43,976 ft (13,404 m) in a Vickers Vespa.
• September 25 - Lewis Yancey sets an autogiro altitude record of 21,500 ft (6,553 m) in a Pitcairn PCA-2

October

• October 15 - Tata Sons opens an airmail route between Karachi and Madras, the first regular air service within India.

November

• November 14-18 - Amy Johnson breaks the UK-Cape Town speed record, shaving 11 hours off Mollison's record in March. She flies a de Havilland Puss Moth.
• November 19 - a national monument to the Wright Brothers is unveiled at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

First flights

January

• January 29 - De Havilland Fox Moth

March

• March 20 - P-26 Peashooter

May

• May 7 - Dornier Do 11

June

• June 3 - RWD-6
• June 6 - Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta
• June 18 - Dewoitine D.500
• June 25 - Farman 1000

July

• July 8 - Supermarine Scapa

August

• August 7 - RWD-5
• August 13 - Gee Bee R-1

September

• September 30 - Blackburn Baffin

November

• November 4 - Beech Staggerwing
• November 24 - De Havilland Dragon

December

• December 1 - Heinkel He 70
• December 21 - Vickers Vincent

Entered service

February

• De Havilland Tiger Moth with RAF Central Flying School.

December

• PZL P.7a in the Polish Air Force