1949 IN AVIATION

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

Contents

Events

January

February

April

May

July

August

September

October

November

December

First flights

Entered service

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 9 - US Navy Lt. J. L. Fruin loses control of his F2H-1 Banshee and ejects, becoming the first American pilot to use an ejector seat during an actual in-flight emergency.

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

September

★ September 9 – Canadian Pacific Airlines DC-3 exploded in mid-flight en route from Quebec City to Baie-Comeau as the result of an on board bomb, killing all 23 on board. See Albert Guay affair.

★ 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.

October

★ October 27 – Air France Lockheed Constellation crashed in the Azores – 48 died including French boxing star Marcel Cerdan and the young concert violinist, Ginette Neveu.

November

★ November 1 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 537, a Douglas C-54B-10-DO, en route from Boston, Massachusetts to Washington, D.C. collided with a P-38 fighter on its final approach to National Airport. Both planes crashed, killing all 55 people on board the Douglas. The P-38 pilot, Eric Rios Bridaux, survived. Bridaux was a Bolivian Air Force pilot. Among the dead were Congressman George J. Bates and former Congressman Michael J. Kennedy.

★ 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.

★ November 29 - American Airlines Flight 157, a Douglas DC-6 enroute from New York City to Mexico City, veers off the runway and strikes buildings after an engine failure on final approach to Dallas Love Field. 26 passengers and 2 crew members are killed.

December

★ December 8 - Muroc Army Airfield was renamed Edwards Air Force Base in honor of test pilot Glen Edwards

First flights

'January'

★ January 23 - Dassault Ouragan
'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 ''VX784''

★ September 4 - Bristol Brabazon

★ September 19 - Fairey Gannet prototype ''VR546''

★ September 24 - North American XT-28
'November'

★ November 7 - Sikorsky S-55

★ November 27 - C-124 Globemaster II

Entered service

'April'

★ April 1 - Boeing Stratocruiser with Pan Am
'May'

★ F9F Panther with United States Navy VF-51