1931

Master Index

1933

1932 Chronology of Aviation History
Major Aviation Events

1932 Aviation Records

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

• Distance: (France), 6,587.45-miles, Bossouttrot and Rossi, “Blériot 10”, 3/26/1932.

• Altitude: (UK), 43,976-feet, Cyril F. Uwins, Vickers “Vespa”, 9/16/1932.

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

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

(undated) 1932

• 1932 — The Canadian Siskins aerobatic team is retired.

January 1932

• January — Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carriers “Hosho” and “Kaga” sail into Chinese territorial waters at the outbreak of the Shanghai Incident.

• January 20 — Imperial Airways weekly airmail service is extended through Africa as far as Cape Town.

• January 29 — First flight of the De Havilland “Fox Moth”.

February 1932

March 1932

• March 20 — Luftschiffbau Zeppelin begins regular trans-Atlantic services between Germany and Brazil, using the “Graf Zeppelin”.

• March 20 — First flight of the Boeing “P-26 Peashooter”.

• March 24-28 — Jim Mollison sets a new speed record between the United Kingdom and Cape Town, taking 4 days 17 hours in a de Havilland “Puss Moth”.

• March 25 — Dobrolyot is expanded into a USSR-wide service and has its name changed to “Aeroflot”.

April 1932

• April 19-28 — Charles Scott sets a new solo speed record between the UK and Darwin, taking 8 days 20 hours in a de Havilland “Gipsy Moth”.

• April 27 — Imperial Airways commences a regular passenger service to Cape Town.

May 1932

• May — The Egyptian Air Force is formed.

• May 7 — First flight of the Dornier “Do.11”.

• May 9 — Captain Albert Hegenberger makes the first completely blind solo flight entirely on instruments, in a Consolidated “NY-2”.

• May 20-21 — Amelia Earhart, flying a Lockheed “Vega”, becomes the first woman to make a solo flight across the North Atlantic, from Harbour Grace in Newfoundland to Derry in Northern Ireland.

June 1932

• June 3 — First flight of the “RWD-6”.

• June 6 — First flight of the Armstrong Whitworth “Atalanta”.

• June 18 — First flight of the Dewoitine “D.500”.

• June 25 — First flight of the “Farman 1000”.

• June 29 — A Curtiss F9C “Sparrowhawk” parasite fighter hooks onto the USS Akron for the first time.

July 1932

• July 8 — First flight of the Supermarine “Scapa”.

• July 21 — Wolfgang von Gronau sets out to make a round-the-world trip in a Dornier “Wal”. One hundred and eleven days later, it will be the first such trip made in a flying boat.

• July 23 — An aviation pioneer, Alberto Santos-Dumont hangs himself.

August 1932

• August 13 — First flight of the Gee Bee R-1.

• August 14-28 — The third International Tourist Aircraft Contest Challenge 1932 in Berlin, won by the Polish crew Franciszek Zwirko and Stanislaw Wigura on the “RWD-6” plane.

• August 14-23 — Frances Mersalis and Louise Thaden set a women's endurance record of 8 days 4 hours.

• August 18 — Auguste Piccard and Max Cosyns set a new balloon altitude record of 16,201 m (53,153 ft).

• August 18-19 — Jim Mollison makes the first solo East-to-West crossing of the Atlantic, flying a de Havilland “Puss Moth” from Dublin to New Brunswick.

• August 21-27 — 7,363 km race over Europe of the “Challenge 1932” contest.

• August 25 — Amelia Earhart makes the first transcontinental flight across the U.S. by a woman. She flies a Lockheed “Vega”.

September 1932

• September 3 — Jimmy Doolittle sets a new land plane airspeed record of 296 mph (476 km/h) in the “Gee Bee R-1”.

• September 7 — Thomas Settle and Winfield Bushnell set a new balloon distance record of 1,550 km (963 miles) between Basle, Switzerland and Vilna, Poland.

• September 11 — Polish Challenge 1932 winners, Franciszek Zwirko and Stanislaw Wigura died in an air crash.

• September 16 — Cyril Uwins sets a new heavier-than-air altitude record of 43,976 ft (13,404 m) in a Vickers “Vespa”.

• September 25 — Lewis Yancey sets an autogyro altitude record of 21,500 ft (6,553 m) in a Pitcairn “PCA-2”.

• September 30 — First flight of the Blackburn “Baffin”.

October 1932

• October 15 — Tata Sons opens an airmail route between Karachi and Madras, the first regular air service within India.

November 1932

• November 4 — First flight of the Beech “Staggerwing”.

• November 14-18 — Amy Johnson breaks the UK-Cape Town speed record, shaving 11 hours off Mollison's record in March. She flies a de Havilland “Puss Moth”.

• November 19 — A national monument to the Wright Brothers is unveiled at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

• November 24 — First flight of the De Havilland “Dragon”.

December 1932

• December — The “PZL P.7a” entered service in the Polish Air Force.

• December 1 — First flight of the “Heinkel He.70”.

• December 21 — First flight of the Vickers.

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, 1932 in aviation
4. Shupek, John (photos and card images), The Skytamer Archive. Skytamer.com, Whittier, CA