1953 in aviation - Definition and Overview

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1953:

Events

The first year in which the world's airlines carried more than 50 million people (ICAO statement, 29 December)

January

• January 26 - The first meeting of the Experimental Aircraft Association takes place at Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Curtis-Wright Field.

February

• No. 194 Squadron is commissioned as the Royal Air Force's first helicopter squadron

March

• March 10 - Czechoslovakian Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s shoot down a USAF F-86 Sabre in Czech airspace.
• March 12 - an RAF Avro Lincoln is shot down by Soviet fighters over East Germany
• March 27 - the Royal Netherlands Air Force becomes a separate command

April

• April 1 - BEA and Air France introduce "tourist class" fares
• April 3 - BOAC introduces a weekly service to Tokyo by de Havilland Comet jet airliner

May

• May 18 - Jacqueline Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier

June

• June 18 - a USAF C-124 Globemaster crashes near Tokyo, killing 129 people in the worst air crash to date. It is the first crash in which over 100 people were killed.

• June 30 - A SNCASO S.O. 4000 (prototype of the Sud Vautour fighter-bomber) becomes the first European aircraft to exceed the speed of sound in a shallow dive.

July

• July 1 - air traffic control for West Germany is handed back to German authorities
• July 3 - first tethered flight by the Rolls-Royce Thrust Measuring Rig VTOL aircraft
• July 8 - Sabena begins the first international helicopter service, linking Belgium, the Netherlands and France
• July 27 - end of the Korean War

September

• September 1 - a B-47 Stratojet is refueled by a KB-47 in the first jet-to-jet aerial refueling
• September 21 - North Korean pilot No Kum-Sok defects, bringing his MiG-15 with him to Seoul and collecting a $US 100,000 reward.

October

• October 10 - an RAF English Electric Canberra wins the Christchurch Centenary air race, flying 11,792 miles (18,976 km) from England to New Zealand in 23 hours 50 minutes
• October 20 - a TWA Lockheed Constellation makes the first non-stop, scheduled passenger flight across the United States

November

• November 20 - Scott Crossfield flies the Douglas Skyrocket past Mach 2, the first flight to reach this speed. The world airspeed record is now set at 1,291 mph (2,078 km/h)

First flights

March

• March 2 - Sud-Ouest SO 9000 Trident

April

• April 9 - Convair XF2Y-1

May

• May 16 - Leduc O.21
• May 25 - North American YF-100A

June

• June 14 - Blackburn Beverley

September

• Lualdi-Tassotti ES 53
• Mooney M20
• September 3 - Pilatus P-3

October

• October 13 - North American X-10
• October 13 - Short Seamew
• October 24 - Convair YF-102

December

• December 14 - Miles Sparrowjet

Entered service

January

• January 13 - Vickers Viscount with BEA