1931 in aviation

yearbox
in?=in aviation
cp=19th Century
c=20th century
cf=21st century
yp1=1928
yp2=1929
yp3=1930
year=1931
ya1=1932
ya2=1933
ya3=1934
dp3=1900s
dp2=1910s
dp1=1920s
d=1930s
dn1=1940s
dn2=1950s
dn3=1960s

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

Events

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

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.

February

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

August

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

eptember

* 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).

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.

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.

First flights

March

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

August

* August 7 - RWD-5

eptember

* Heinkel He 59

October

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

November

* November 27 - Fairey Seal

December

* December 29 - Hawker Audax

Entered service

October

* October 27 - USS "Akron" with the United States Navy

November

* November 19 - Sikorsky S-40 with Pan American