This is a list of aviation-related events from 1949:
Contents |
Events
- Aerolíneas Argentinas is established.
- Royal Jordanian Air Force is formed as the Arab League Air Force.
- Republic of Korea Air Force is formed.
- Lebanese Air Force is formed.
January
- January 7 - No. 208 Squadron RAF loses four Supermarine Spitfires and a Hawker Tempest to Israeli Air Force fighters.
February
- February 26-March 2 - B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II of the 43rd Bombardment Group, completes the first non-stop around-the-world flight, from and to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona. The 23,452 mile (37,742 km) journey takes 94 hours 1 minute.
April
- April 4 - NATO is formed.
- April 20-21 - Short Sunderland flies medical personnel and supplies to HMS Amethyst, shelled by Chinese Communist forces on the Yangtze River.
May
- United States Marine Corps practices deploying by helicopter for the first time, in Exercise Packard III.
- May 4 - Canadian Blue Devils aerobatic team is formed.
- May 11 - No. 28 Squadron RAF flies from Malaya to Hong Kong to help reinforce the island against Communist forces on mainland China.
- May 19 - A JRM Mars sets a new record of 308 for the largest number of people to be carried on a single aircraft.
- May 21 - A Sikorsky S-52 sets a new helicopter altitude record of 21,200 ft (6,468 m).
July
- July 25 - Second Lieutenant Bob Kipp of the Canadian Blue Devils aerobatic team is killed in a training accident.
August
- August 9 - US Navy Lt. J. L. Fruin loses control of his F2H-1 Banshee and ejects, becoming the first American pilot to use an ejector seat during an actual in-flight emergency.
- August 23 - BOAC commences its first services to the Far East to be flown entirely by landplanes.
September
- September 9 – Canadian Pacific Airlines DC-3 explodes in mid-flight en route from Quebec City to Baie-Comeau as the result of an on board bomb, killing all 23 on board. See Albert Guay affair.
- September 30 - Berlin Airlift officially ends, with 2,325 tons (2,362 tonnes) of food and supplies having been flown into the city. The final flight is made a week later.
October
- October 27 – Air France Lockheed Constellation crashes in the Azores. 48 die including French boxing star Marcel Cerdan and the young concert violinist, Ginette Neveu.
November
- November 1 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 537, a Douglas C-54B-10-DO, en route from Boston, Massachusetts to Washington, D.C. collides with a P-38 fighter on its final approach to National Airport. Both planes crash, killing all 55 people on board the Douglas. The P-38 pilot, Eric Rios Bridaux (a Bolivian Air Force pilot), survives. Among the dead are Congressman George J. Bates and former Congressman Michael J. Kennedy.
- November 18 - A Douglas C-74 Loadmaster carries 103 passengers and crew over the North Atlantic, the largest number to have made the crossing in a single flight.
- November 29 - American Airlines Flight 157, a Douglas DC-6 en route from New York City to Mexico City, veers off the runway and strikes buildings after an engine failure on final approach to Dallas Love Field. 26 passengers and 2 crew members are killed.
December
- December 8 - Muroc Army Airfield is renamed Edwards Air Force Base in honor of test pilot Glen Edwards.
First flights
January
March
- March 9 - Avro Shackleton prototype VW126
April
- April 14 - Aero Ae 50
- April 14 - Helio Courier
- April 21 - Leduc 0.10
May
- May 9 - XF-91 Thunderceptor
- May 13 - English Electric Canberra prototype VN799
June
July
- July 17 - Vickers Varsity
- July 27 - De Havilland Comet - the world's first jet-propelled airliner at Hatfield, Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom
September
- September 2 - De Havilland Venom
- September 4 - Avro 707 VX784
- September 4 - Bristol Brabazon
- September 19 - Fairey Gannet prototype VR546
- September 24 - North American XT-28
November
Entered service
April
- April 1 - Boeing Stratocruiser with Pan Am
May
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