1949 in aviation - Definition and Overview

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1949:

Events

• Aerolíneas Argentinas established.
• Royal Jordanian Air Force forms as the Arab League Air Force
• Republic of Korea Air Force forms
• Lebanese Air Force forms

January

• January 7 - No. 208 Squadron RAF loses four Supermarine Spitfires and a Hawker Tempest to Israeli Air Force fighters

February

• February 26-March 2 - B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II of the 43rd Bombardment Group, completed the first non-stop around-the-world flight from and to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona. The 23,452 mile (37,742 km) journey takes 94 hours 1 minute.

April

• April 4 - NATO is formed
• April 20-21 - a Short Sunderland flies medical personnel and supplies to HMS Amethyst, shelled by Chinese Communist forces on the Yangtze River.

May

• the United States Marine Corps practices deploying by helicopter for the first time, in Exercise Packard III.
• May 4 - The Canadian Blue Devils aerobatic team is formed.
• May 11 - No. 28 Squadron RAF flies from Malaya to Hong Kong to help reinforce the island against Communist forces on mainland China.
• May 19 - a JRM Mars sets a new record of 308 for the largest number of people to be carried on a single aircraft.
• May 21 - a Sikorsky S-52 sets a new helicopter altitude record of 21,200 ft (6,468 m).

July

• July 25 - Second Lieutenant Bob Kipp of the Canadian Blue Devils aerobatic team is killed in a training accident.

August

• August 23 - BOAC commences its first services to the Far East to be flown entirely by landplanes.

September

• September 30 - the Berlin Airlift officially ends, with 2,325 tons (2,362 tonnes) of food and supplies having been flown into the city. The final flight is made a week later.

November

• November 18 - a Douglas C-74 Loadmaster carries 103 passengers and crew over the North Atlantic, the largest number to have made the crossing in a single flight.

First flights

January

• January 23 - Dassault Ouragon

March

• March 9 - Avro Shackleton prototype VW126

April

• April 14 - Aero Ae 50
• April 14 - Helio Courier
• April 21 - Leduc 0.10

May

• May 13 - English Electric Canberra prototype VN799

June

• June 4 - Lockheed XF-90
• June 20 - Blackburn Beverley

July

• July 17 - Vickers Varsity
• July 27 - De Havilland Comet

September

• September 2 - De Havilland Venom
• September 4 - Avro 707
• September 4 - Bristol Brabazon
• September 19 - Fairey Gannet prototype VR546
• September 24 - North American XT-28

November

• November 7 - Sikorsky S-55

Entered service

April

• April 1 - Boeing Stratocruiser with Pan Am

May

• F9F Panther with VF-51