1939 in aviation - Definition and Overview

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1939:

Events

January

• January 12 - the RAF Auxiliary Air Force Reserve is formed

February

• February 9 - Alex Henshaw sets a new speed record for the round trip between England and Cape Town in 4 days 10 minutes in a Percival Mew

March

• March 30 - Hans Dieterle sets a new airspeed record in a Heinkel He 100 of 746 km/h (464 mph).

April

• April 28 - Vladimir Kokkinaki and Mikhail Godienko attempt a non-stop flight from the Soviet Union to New York but are forced down on Miscou Island in bad weather the next day.

June

• June 16 - Air France commences hourly flights from Paris to London
• June 28 - Britain's Women's Auxiliary Air Force is formed.

July 20

• July 6, Olga Klepikowa sets a world record by flying a glider 746 km (466 miles) from Moscow to Otradnoje.
• July 20 - first flight powered by liquid-fuelled rocket made by Erich Warsitz in the Heinkel He 176

August

• August 11 - Pan American World Airways begins scheduled flights from New York, New York to Southampton, England.
• August 26 - the Messerschmitt Me 209 sets a new world speed record of 755 km/h (469 mph).
• August 27 - first flight made entirely on turbojet power made by Erich Warsitz in the Heinkel He 178

September

• September 1 - Germany invades Poland. The Luftwaffe plays a key tactical bombing role in neutralising Polish defences.
• September 3 - Britain and France declare war on Germany. World War II breaks out.
• September 3 - Paratroops are used for the first time, with German units dropped into Silesia, behind Polish lines.
• September 3 - Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys are used to drop propaganda leaflets into German cities.
• September 4 - first British bombs of the war dropped on German targets, with a Bristol Blenheim attacking the German fleet.

October

• October 8 - First RAF victory of World War II when a Lockheed Hudson shoots down a Dornier Do 18 over Jutland.
• October 16 - the Luftwaffe attacks its first British targets - Royal Navy warships in the Firth of Forth.

November

• the Luftwaffe begins dropping sea mines around the British coastline.
• November 24 - BOAC is formed by the merger of Imperial Airways and the original British Airways.
• November 30 - Soviet air raids on Helsinki and Viipuri mark the outbreak of the Winter War.

December

• December 18 - the Royal Air Force abandons daylight raids on Germany after a raid by Vickers Wellingtons takes heavy losses.
• December 26 - the first RAAF squadrons to join the war arrive in Britain

First flights

January

• January 27 - Lockheed XP-38

March

• March 31 - Miles Master production aircraft N 7408

April

• April 1 - Mitsubishi Zero

May

• May 7 - Petlyakov VI-100
• May 14 - Short Stirling

June

• June 1 - Focke-Wulf Fw 190

July

• July 17 - Bristol Beaufighter prototype R 2052
• July 20 - Heinkel He 176, first aircraft powered by liquid-fuelled rocket
• July 25 - Avro Manchester

August

• August 13 - Vickers Warwick
• August 27 - Heinkel He 178, first aircraft powered by turbojet

September

• September 14 - Sikorsky VS-300, first helicopter to enter mass production.
• September 24 - Handley Page Halifax H.P.57 prototype L 7244

December

• December 29 - Consolidated XB-24

Entered service

February

• Lockheed Hudson with No. 224 Squadron RAF

August

• Miles Master

October

• Bristol Beaufort with No. 22 Squadron RAF (Coastal Command)

December

• Boulton Paul Defiant with No. 264 Squadron RAF