1930

Master Index

1932

1932 Chronology of Aviation History
Major Aviation Events

1931 Aviation Records

• Speed: (UK), 406.94-mph, G.H. Stainforth, “Supermarine S.6.B”, 9/29/1931.

• Distance: (France), 6,444.27-miles, Le Brix and Doret, “Dewoitine D-33”, 6/10/1931.

• Altitude: (USA), 43,166-feet, Apollo Soucek, Wright “Apache”, 6/4/1930.

• Weight: (Germany), 123,457-lbs, Dornier, “Do.X”.

• Engine Power: (Italy), 3,058-hp, Fiat, “AS.6”.

(undated) 1931

• 1931 — Manufacturer Airspeed Ltd. founded in York, England.

• 1931 — First Bendix trophy race.

January 1931

• January 6 — General Italo Balbo leads the first formation flight across the South Atlantic. Twelve Savoia-Marchetti “S.55's” 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.

February 1931

• February 26 — Imperial Airways begins scheduled services between England and Africa using Armstrong Whitworth“ Argosy's”.

March 1931

• March 3 — First flight of the Fairey “Gordon”.

• March 9 — First flight of the Blériot “125” (F-ALZD).

• March 25 — First flight of the Hawker “Fury”.

• March 26 — Swissair is formed by the merger of Ad Astra Aero and Balair.

• March 31 — The crash of a TWA Flight 599 of 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.

April 1931

• No data.

May 1931

• 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.

June 1931

• 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 to 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.

July 1931

• July 22 to 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”.

August 1931

• August 7 — First flight of the “RWD-5”.

• August 29 — The “Graf Zeppelin” pioneers the air route between Germany and Brazil.

September 1931

• September — First flight of the Heinkel “He.59”.

• September 13 — The United Kingdom wins the Schneider Trophy outright. Flight 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).

October 1931

• 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 to 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 26 — First flight of the De Havilland “Tiger Moth” DH.82 prototype (G-ABRC).

• October 27 — The Detroit Aircraft Corporation files for bankruptcy. Eventually, the Lockheed portion of the company is bought out of receivership.

• October 27 — “USS Akron” entered service with the United States Navy.

• October 31 — First flight of the Westland “Wallace”.

November 1931

• 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.

• November 19 —The Sikorsky S-40 entered service with Pan American.

• November 27 — First flight of the Fairey “Seal”.

December 1931

• December 29 — First flight of the Hawker “Audax”.

Works Cited

1. Gunston, Bill, et al. Chronicle of Aviation. Liberty, Missouri: JL Publishing Inc., 1992. 14-17
2. Parrish, Wayne W. (Publisher). "United States Chronology". 1962 Aerospace Yearbook, Forty-Third Annual Edition. Washington, DC: American Aviation Publications, Inc., 1962, 446-469.
3. Wikipedia, 1931 in aviation
4. Shupek, John (photos and card images), The Skytamer Archive. Skytamer.com, Whittier, CA