1937 IN AVIATION

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1937:

Contents

Events

March

April

May

June

July

August

November

First flights

January

February

March

May

June

July

August

September

October

December

Entered service

February

March

April

May

October

November

December

Events

March

★ March 5 - Imperial Airways opens a new flying boat base at Hythe, Hampshire.

April

★ April 9 - The ''Kamikaze'' arrives at Croydon Airport in London - it is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.

★ April 12 - Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft at the British Thomson-Houston factory in Rugby, England.

★ April 26 - Luftwaffe bombers of Legion Condor attack Guernica

★ April 30 - Nationalist Spanish battleship ''España'' sunk by air attack by Republican forces.

May

★ May 6 - German zeppelin ''Hindenburg'' caught fire and was destroyed whilst attempting to dock with its mooring mast at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, New Jersey.

June

★ June 18-20, Valery Chkalov, G.F.Baidukov, A.V.Belyakov flew from Moscow to Vancouver, Washington, USA via the North Pole

July

★ July 3, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappear on a flight from Lae, New Guinea to Howland Island, and are never seen again.

★ July 3-6 - Pan Am and Imperial Airways flying boats conduct joint survey flights over the Atlantic in preparation for the commencement of regular services.

★ July 12-14 - Mikhail Gromov, A. B. Yumashev, and S. A. Danilin establish a new distance record of 10,148 km (6,303 miles) from Moscow to San Jacinto, California, USA via the North Pole.

August

★ August 15 - Lufthansa begins seaplane services between the Azores and New York with the assistance of seaplane tenders stationed along the route.

November

★ November 16 - A Sabena Junkers Ju 52 en route from Cologne, Germany to London via Brussels crashed near Ostend with 11 on board. All aboard were killed, including the Grand Duke and eight-months pregnant Grand Duchess of Hesse and their two small sons.

First flights

January

★ January 13 - Fairey Fulmar

February

★ February 9 - Blackburn Skua

March

★ Miles Magister

★ March 10 - Hawker Henley

May

★ May 7 - Lockheed XC-35

★ May 20 - de Havilland Albatross

★ Arado Ar 196

June

★ June 18 - de Havilland Don

★ June 19 - Airspeed Oxford

★ June 22 - de Havilland Moth Minor

July

★ July 27 - Short Mayo Flying-boat / seaplane composite

★ July 27 - Focke-Wulf Fw 200 prototype ''D-AERE''

★ July 29 - Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra

August

★ August 11 - Boulton Paul Defiant prototype ''K 8310''

September

★ September 1 - Bell YFM-1 Airacuda

October

★ October 16 - 'Short S.25' ''K 4774'', prototype of the Short Sunderland

December

★ 'Brewster B-139', prototype of the Brewster Buffalo

★ December 24 - Macchi C.200

Entered service

February

★ Gloster Gladiator with No. 3 and No. 72 Squadron RAF

March

★ March 9 - Armstrong Whitworth Whitley with No. 10 Squadron RAF

★ Bristol Blenheim with No. 114 Squadron RAF

April

★ Vickers Wellesley

★ Junkers Ju 87 with I/StG 162

★ April 16 - Supermarine Stranraer

May

★ May 20 - Fairey Battle with No. 63 Squadron RAF

October

★ Miles Magister

★ TBD Devastator with VT-3 aboard USS ''Saratoga''

November

★ Airspeed Oxford

December

★ SB2U Vindicator with VB-3 aboard USS ''Saratoga''