1932

Master Index

1934

1933 Chronology of Aviation History
Major Aviation Events

1933 Aviation Records

• Speed: (Italy), 423.82-mph, Francesco Agello, Macchi-Castoldi “MC-72”, 4/18/1933.

• Distance: (France), 6,587.45-miles, Bossouttrot and Rossi, “Blériot 110”, 3/26/1932.

• Altitude: (France), 44,816-feet, Gustave Lemoine, “Potez 50”, 9/28/1933.

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

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

1933

• 1933 — The “PZL P.7a” entered service with the Polish Air Force.

January 1933

• January 16 — Jean Mermoz and crew make a non-stop flight from Senegal to Brazil, across South Atlantic, in 17 hours 27 minutes.

February 1933

• February 6-8 — Gayford and Nicholetts make the first non-stop flight from England to South Africa in a Fairey “Long-Range Monoplane”. The 5,309 mile (8,544 km) flight is a new distance record. They take 57 hours 25 minutes.

• February 6-9 — Jim Mollison flies a de Havilland “Puss Moth” from the United Kingdom to Brazil, via Senegal, across South Atlantic. He becomes the first person to fly solo across the North and South Atlantics.

• February 8 — First flight of the “Boeing 247”.

• February 10 — First flight of the Hawker “Demon”.

• February 19 — First flight of the “Vultee V-1”.

• February 25 — “USS Ranger”, the U.S. Navy's first ship designed from the outset as an aircraft carrier, is launched.

March 1933

• No data.

April 1933

• April 1 — The Indian Air Force is formed.

• April 3 — Two British aircraft, the Westland “PV-3” and Westland “PV-6” piloted by Squadron Leader the Marquess of Clydesdale and Flight Lt. David MacIntyre make the first flight over Mount Everest.

• April 4 — U.S. Navy airship “USS Akron” crashes during a storm, killing 76 of its 79 crew.

• April 10 — Francesco Agello sets a new airspeed record in the Italian seaplane the “Macchi M.C.72”, of 682 km/h (424 mph).

• April 10 — First flight of the Airspeed “Courier” (G-ABXN).

• April 21 — First flight of the “USS Macon”.

• April 27 to June 24 — Turkish Airlines is formed under the name “State Airlines”.

• April 29 — The Reichsluftfahrtministerium (“Reich Aviation Ministry”) is formed by the Nazi government.

May 1933

• May 7-8 — Stanislaw Skarzynski flies the South Atlantic from Senegal to Brazil in a small single-seater tourist airplane “RWD-5bis”, in 20 hours 30 minutes, over a distance of 3,582 km (2,238 miles). The “RWD-5bis” was the smallest plane to have ever flown the Atlantic. The empty weight is below 450 kg (990 lb), loaded 1100 kg. It is a part of 17,885 km Warsaw - Rio de Janeiro flight from April 27 to June 24.

• May — First flight of the Northrop “Delta”.

• May 27 — First flight of the de Havilland “Leopard Moth”.

June 1933

• June 21 — First flight of the Supermarine “Walrus”.

July 1933

• July — First flight of the “Bloch MB.200”.

• July — First flight of the “Curtiss XF12C”.

• July 1 — First flight of the “Douglas DC-1”.

• July 14-22 — Wiley Post, flying a Lockheed “Vega”, makes the first around the world solo flight. His flight begins and ends at Floyd Bennett Field in New York, with stops at Berlin, Moscow, Irkutsk and Alaska — a total distance of 25,099 km (15,596 miles).

• July 15-17 — Lithuanians Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas were supposed to make a non-stop flight from New York City to Kaunas, Lithuania in Bellanca aeroplane, but fatally crashed in Germany after 37 hours, 11 minutes, covering distance of 6411 km, only 650 km short of their final destination.

August 1933

• August — First flight of the Short “Scion”.

• August 5-7 — Maurice Rossi and Paul Codes fly a “Blériot 110” from New York to Rayal, Syria, establishing a new distance record of 9,104 km (5,657 miles).

• August 14 — First flight of the Tupolev “ANT-14”.

• August 24 — First flight of the Blackburn “Shark”.

September 1933

• September 7-8 — Six U.S. Navy Consolidated “P2Y” flying boats make a non-stop formation flight from Norfolk, Virginia to the Panama Canal, covering 2,059 miles (3,314 km) in 25 hours 20 minutes.

• September 28 — Lemoine sets a new altitude record of 13,661 m (44,820 ft) in a “Potez 50”.

October 1933

• October 4-11 — Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, in a Percival “Gull”, sets a new solo flight record between England and Australia of 7 days 4 hours 44 minutes.

• October 10 — A United Airlines Boeing “Model 247” was destroyed by a bomb over Chesterton, Indiana, killing 10, in the first proven case of air sabotage.

• October 11 — First flight of the Blackburn “Perth”.

• October 15 — The Rolls-Royce “Merlin” engine is started for the first time.

• October 31 — Air France is founded.

November 1933

• November 4 — Brazilian airline VASP is established.

December 1933

• December 1 — Indian National Airways commences the first daily service in India, between Calcutta and Dacca.

• December 31 — First flight of the Polikarpov “I-16”.

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, 1933 in aviation
4. Shupek, John (photos and card images), The Skytamer Archive. Skytamer.com, Whittier, CA