Years in aviation:	1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934
Centuries:	19th Century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
Years:	1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1931:

Contents 1 Events 1.1 January 1.2 February 1.3 March 1.4 May 1.5 June 1.6 July 1.7 August 1.8 September 1.9 October 1.10 November 2 First flights 2.1 March 2.2 August 2.3 September 2.4 October 2.5 November 2.6 December 3 Entered service 3.1 October 3.2 November

[edit] Events

• Manufacturer Airspeed Ltd founded in York, England.
• First Bendix trophy race

[edit] January

• January 6 - Gen Italo Balbo leads the first formation flight across the South Atlantic. Twelve Savoia-Marchetti S.55s fly from Portuguese Guinea to Brazil.
• January 7 - Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing his Avro Sports Avian on New Zealand's west coast.

[edit] February

• February 26 - Imperial Airways begins scheduled services between England and Africa using Armstrong Whitworth Argosys

[edit] March

• March 26 - Swissair is formed by the merger of Ad Astra Aero and Balair.
• March 31 - the crash of a TWA Flight 599 a Fokker F.10 at Bazaar, Kansas prompts the first grounding of an aircraft type. The grounding was ordered by the US Department of Commerce.

[edit] May

• May 27, Swiss professor Auguste Piccard and his assistant Kipfer take a stratosphere-balloon to 15,781 m, starting in Augsburg and landing on a glacier in Austria.

[edit] June

• June 11 - The 40 passenger Handley Page HP-42 four-engine biplane enters service with British airline Imperial Airways, setting new standards of passenger service and comfort.

• June 23-July 1, Wiley Post and Harold Gatty fly around the world in a Lockheed Vega, the Winnie Mae, covering 15,474 miles in 8 days 15 hours 51 minutes - a new record.

[edit] July

• July 22-September 1 - Sir Alan Cobham and crew make a 19,800 km (12,300 mile) return flight between England and the Belgian Congo in a Short Valletta.

[edit] August

• August 29, the Graf Zeppelin pioneers the air route between Germany and Brazil.

[edit] September

• September 13 - the United Kingdom wins the Schneider Trophy outright. Flt Lt John Boothman of the RAF High Speed Flight completes the course at Calshot Spit in a Supermarine S.6B at 547.297 km/h (340.1 mph).

[edit] October

• October 1 - KLM begins a regular service between Amsterdam and Batavia by Fokker F.XII. At 13,744 km (8,540 miles) this is the longest regular air route in the world at the time.
• October 3-5 - Hugh Herndon and Clyde Pangborn make the first non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean, from Samushiro Beach, Japan, to Wenatchee, Washington in 41 hours in a Bellanca Skyrocket.
• October 27 - The Detroit Aircraft Corporation files for bankruptcy. Eventually, the Lockheed portion of the company is bought out of receivership.

[edit] November

• The first production R-6 rolled off the assembly line at the N22 factory in Moscow.
• November 2 - US Marine Corps squadrons VS-15M and VS-14M embark on USS Lexington and USS Saratoga, the first time Marine Corps squadrons are assigned to aircraft carriers.

[edit] First flights

[edit] March

• March 3 - Fairey Gordon
• March 9 - Blériot 125 F-ALZD
• March 25 - Hawker Fury

[edit] August

• August 7 - RWD-5

[edit] September

• Heinkel He 59

[edit] October

• October 26 - De Havilland Tiger Moth DH.82 prototype G-ABRC
• October 31 - Westland Wallace

[edit] November

• November 27 - Fairey Seal

[edit] December

• December 29 - Hawker Audax

[edit] Entered service

[edit] October

• October 27 - USS Akron with the United States Navy

[edit] November

• November 19 - Sikorsky S-40 with Pan American

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