1926 IN AVIATION

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1926:

Contents

Events

January

March

April

May

June

July

October

November

First flights

April

May

June

October

Entered service

June

August

September

December

Events

★ United Airlines established.

January

★ January 6 - Deutsche Lufthansa is formed by the merger of Deutsche Aero Lloyd and Junkers Luftverkehr

★ January 26 - The ''Plus Ultra'', a Dornier Do J hydroplane completes a Trans-Atlantic flight with a crew of Spanish aviators, including Ramón Franco and Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz.

March

★ March 1 - Four Royal Air Force Fairey IIIDs begin a long-distance flight, taking them from Cairo to Cape Town and then on to Lee-on-Solent, England, where they will arrive on June 2

★ March 16 - Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fuelled rocket near Auburn, Massachusetts.

April

★ April 1 - Italian airline Società Italiana Servizi Aerei begins operations linking Trieste, Venice, Pavia, and Turin with Cant 10 flying boats.

★ April 6 - Varney Speed Lines begins operations in the US. It will later become Continental Airlines

★ April 30 - Bessie Coleman, the first licensed African-American female pilot was killed along with mechanic William Wills, who was piloting the plane, after they crashed as a result of a wrench that Wills had accidentally left loose and that got stuck in the control gears.

May

★ May 9 - Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett make the first flight over the North Pole in a Fokker VIIa-3m.

★ May 11 - 14 – Roald Amundsen makes the first airship flight over the North Pole. The ''Norge'' leaves Spitzbergen and arrives in Teller, Alaska three days later.

June

★ June 30 - Alan Cobham sets out on a round trip from England to Australia in a de Havilland DH.50. He will arrive back in London on October 1 and receive a knighthood for his accomplishment.

July

★ July 1 - A Blackburn Dart makes the first night landing on an aircraft carrier, HMS ''Furious''

★ July 2 - the United States Army Air Service becomes the United States Army Air Corps.

★ July 24 - two Lufthansa Junkers G.24s leave Berlin to make a round-trip to Beijing. They will return on September 26.

October

★ October 21 - British airship R.33 makes further parasite fighter tests, releasing two Gloster Grebes from 2,500 ft (762 m).

November

★ November 13 - Schneider Trophy race flown at Hampton Roads, USA. Won by Mario De Bernardi (Italy) in a Macchi M.39 at 396.698 km/h (246.5 mph).

★ November 15 - T. Neville Stack and B. S. Leete leave England in an attempt to reach India by air in a de Havilland DH.60. They will arrive in Karachi on January 8 1927.

First flights

★ Boulton Paul Sidestrand

April

★ April 24 - Handley Page Harrow (HP.31)

May

★ May 7 - Blériot 127

June

★ June 19 - Blackburn Iris

October

★ October 27 - Blériot 165

Entered service

June

★ June 16 - Armstrong Whitworth Argosy with Imperial Airways

August

★ Lioré et Olivier 21 with Air Union

September

★ Martin T3M with the United States Navy

December

★ SABCA S-2 with SABENA