This is a list of

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot a ...

-related events from 1946:

Events

* The American Section of the International League of Aviators resurrects the National Trophy, a

Harmon Trophy The Harmon Trophy is a set of three international trophies, to be awarded annually to the world's outstanding aviator, aviatrix, and aeronaut (balloon or dirigible). A fourth trophy, the "National Trophy," was awarded from 1926 through 1938 to th ...

awarded from 1926 to 1938 to the outstanding aviator of the year in each of the 21 member countries of the now-defunct League. It will be awarded until 1949 amid much controversy, with the awards going largely unrecognized. * The

Electric Boat Company Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

purchases Canadair from the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

, an important step toward the 1952 founding of

General Dynamics Corporation General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the U ...

. * The ''

Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile The Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA, ) is an agency of the French government, responsible for investigating aviation accidents and incidents and making safety recommendations based on what is learned from those inve ...

'' (BEA), or Bureau of Investigation and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety, is formed as the

French government The Government of France (French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who i ...

agency responsible for investigating aviation accidents and incidents and making safety recommendations based on what is learned from those investigations. * The

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

n airline

LANICA Líneas Aéreas de Nicaragua, operating as LANICA, was an airline from Nicaragua. Headquartered in the capital Managua, it operated scheduled passenger flights within South and Central America, as well as to the United States. History The ...

begins flight operations.

January

Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela C.A. is a state-owned airline of Venezuela based in Torre Polar Oeste in Caracas, Venezuela. It operates domestic services and international services in the Caribbean. Its main base is Simón Bolívar Internation ...

(LAV) inaugurates its second international route, offering service between

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and Aruba in the Netherlands East Indies. The route connects LAV with

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

′s international route structure. * January 1 **A British South American Airways

Avro Lancastrian The Avro 691 Lancastrian was a Canadian and British passenger and mail transport aircraft of the 1940s and 1950s developed from the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber. The Lancaster was named after Lancaster, Lancashire; a Lancastrian is an inhabita ...

becomes the first commercial flight to depart from

London Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

. **

East African Airways East African Airways Corporation, more commonly known as East African Airways, was an airline jointly run by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. It was set up on 1 January 1946, starting operations the same year. The airline was headquartered in the Sa ...

begins flight operations. **

Middle East Airlines Middle East Airlines – Air Liban S.A.L. ( ar, طيران الشرق الأوسط ـ الخطوط الجوية اللبنانية ''Ṭayyarān al-Sharq al-Awsaṭ – al-Khuṭūṭ al-jawiyyah al-lubnāniyyah''), more commonly known as Middle ...

begins flight operations, flying three de Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapides between

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

, and Nicosia,

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

. * January 6 –

Pennsylvania Central Airlines Flight 105 Pennsylvania Central Airlines Flight 105 was a regularly scheduled commercial flight between New York City and Birmingham, Alabama which crashed in the pre-dawn hours of January 6, 1946 while landing at Birmingham Municipal Airport, resulting in ...

, a Douglas DC-3-393, crashes while landing at

Birmingham Municipal Airport Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, killing three and injuring five of the 19 people on board. * January 8 – The U.S.

Joint War Plans Committee A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...

reports that by July 1946, as a result of post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

demobilization, the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

will have only five heavy bomber

groups A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, with only a 65-percent readiness level, and a reserve force of five heavy bomber groups in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, with only a 20-percent readiness level. It also reports that the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

will have 13 aircraft carriers at a high state of readiness by that time. It finds that in the event of war with the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, the only effective American response will be the delivery of atomic bombs by aircraft of the U.S. Army Air Forces and the

, and recommends atomic strikes by Army Air Forces

B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 F ...

bombers based in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

; Foggia,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

;

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra i ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

; and

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese pro ...

, Republic of China, on 17 Soviet cities to target administrative and research and development centers and aircraft and

munitions Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

factories, with an expectation of a B-29 loss rate of 35 percent. It recommends an inventory of 196 atomic bombs in order to carry out this campaign. * January 10 – A Sikorsky R5 sets an unofficial helicopter altitude record of 6,400 m (20,997 ft) at Stratford,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

. * January 12 – The U.S.

Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...

note that the use of atomic bombs alone will be insufficient to defeat the Soviet Union in the event of a war, and that substantial conventional air, ground, and naval forces will remain necessary. * January 14 – Pan American Airways becomes the first airline to offer transatlantic

Lockheed Constellation The Lockheed Constellation ("Connie") is a propeller-driven, four-engined airliner built by Lockheed Corporation starting in 1943. The Constellation series was the first pressurized-cabin civil airliner series to go into widespread use. Its press ...

service, beating its rival Transcontinental & Western Air in providing transatlantic Constellation service by three weeks. * January 18 – The most decorated

ship of

, the aircraft carrier , arrives at Bayonne,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, completing the second of her two round-trip voyages between the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

area and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, to bring American military personnel back to the

as part of

Operation Magic Carpet Operation Magic Carpet was the post-World War II operation by the War Shipping Administration to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European, Pacific, and Asian theaters. Hundreds of Liberty ships, Victory ships ...

. She never puts to sea again. * January 26 –

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

William Councill sets a new U.S. transcontinental speed record of 4 hours 13 minutes in a

Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star was the first jet fighter used operationally by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II. Designed and built by Lockheed in 1943 and delivered just 143 days from the start of design, prod ...

. * January 28 –

Iraqi Airways Iraqi Airways Company, operating as Iraqi Airways ( ar, الخطوط الجوية العراقية ''al-Xuṭūṭ al-Jawwiyyah al-ʿIrāqiyyah, Kurdish: ھێڵی ئاسمانی عێراق''), is the national carrier of Iraq, headquartered ...

begins flight operations, offering a service to Syria using five

De Havilland Dragon Rapide The de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide is a 1930s short-haul biplane airliner developed and produced by British aircraft company de Havilland. Capable of accommodating 6–8 passengers, it proved an economical and durable craft, despite its rel ...

February

* Misr Airlines, the future EgyptAir, ceases all flight operations until

May May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...

because of three accidents in late 1945 and resulting strikes demanding that the airline acquire newer, safer aircraft. * February 4 –

Pan American Airways Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

begins its first

transatlantic Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film) ...

landplane service, scheduling seven

Douglas DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1 ...

flights per week from

LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia ...

Hurn Airport Hurn is a village and civil parish in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Hampshire and the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. Situated between the River Stour, Dorset, River Stour and River Avon, Hampshire, River Avon, admin ...

at Bournemouth in

and two per week between LaGuardia Airport and Lisbon,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. The flights to Bournemouth take 17 hours 40 minutes one-way and those to Lisbon take 20 hours 45 minutes one-way. The flights are a great advance over Pan Am's one-every-two-week

Boeing 314 The Boeing 314 Clipper was an American long-range flying boat produced by Boeing from 1938 to 1941. One of the largest aircraft of its time, it had the range to cross the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. For its wing, Boeing re-used the design from ...

flying boat service from LaGuardia to Lisbon, which requires 29 hours 30 minutes one way, and the airline soon ends flying boat service. * February 5 –

Transcontinental and Western Air Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with ...

, the future Trans World Airlines, inaugurates its first international service, using

s on the route

–

Gander, Newfoundland Gander is a town located in the northeastern part of the island of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, approximately south of Gander Bay, south of Twillingate and east of Grand Falls-Windsor. Located on the nor ...

– Shannon, Ireland–

Paris, France Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

.TWA History Timeline
* February 8 –

Trans Australia Airlines Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), renamed Australian Airlines in 1986, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its merger with Qantas in September 1992. As a result of the "COBRA" (or Common Brand ...

is founded. It will begin flight operations in

September September is the ninth month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the third of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the fourth of five months to have a length of fewer than 31 days. September in the Northern H ...

. * February 11 – After lengthy negotiations, American and British government representatives reach the

Bermuda Agreement The Bermuda Agreement (formally Agreement between the government of the United Kingdom and the government of the United States relating to Air Services between their respective Territories), reached in 1946 by American and British negotiators i ...

, the first bilateral agreement regulating international commercial air transport. Agreement also is reached for the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to coordinate and fix international air fares. * February 14 – Using

s, National Airlines launches both the first nonstop service between

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, and

and the first four-engined commercial flights between the two cities. * February 25–26 (overnight) –

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

guerrillas attack three

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

bases in the

British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to: * Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. * Mandatory P ...

simultaneously. The attacks destroy 22

Handley Page Halifax The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester. The Halifax has its orig ...

es, seven Supermarine Spitfires, and four

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCA ...

March

* March 3 – The second jet fighter to serve in the Royal Air Force, the

De Havilland Vampire The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and the first to be powered by ...

, enters service with 247 Squadron. * March 8 – The

Bell 47 The Bell 47 is a single-rotor single-engine light helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It was based on the third Bell 30 prototype, which was the company's first helicopter designed by Arthur M. Young. The 47 became the first he ...

receives the worlds first type certificate awarded to a civil helicopter. * March 9 – The

establish the

Air Materiel Command Air Materiel Command (AMC) was a United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force command. Its headquarters was located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. In 1961, the command was redesignated the Air Force Logistics Command wi ...

. * March 10 – The

Australian National Airways Australian National Airways (ANA) was Australia's predominant aerial carrier from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s. The Holyman's Airways period On 19 March 1932 Flinders Island Airways began a regular aerial service using the Desoutter Mk.I ...

Douglas DC-3 VH-AET crashes into Frederick Henry Bay off Seven-Mile Beach south of

Cambridge Aerodrome Cambridge Aerodrome , also known as Cambridge Airport, is a minor airport located in Cambridge, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is located only a few kilometres from the primary airport, Hobart International Airport. Cambridge ...

just after takeoff from Hobart,

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, Australia, killing all 25 people on board. At the time it is the second-deadliest aviation accident and deadliest civil aviation accident in Australian history. * March 12 – The U.S. Army Air Forces redesignate the Army Air Forces School at

Maxwell Field Maxwell Air Force Base , officially known as Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, is a United States Air Force (USAF) installation under the Air Education and Training Command (AETC). The installation is located in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. O ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

, as the Air University. * March 14 – The

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...

commissions its first aircraft carrier, , which the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

has transferred to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. She will serve until replaced by in 1948. * March 21 – A major reorganization of the

creates the Strategic Air Command, the Air Defense Command, and the Tactical Air Command. * March 23 – The Royal Netherlands Navy commissions its first aircraft carrier, the escort carrier HNLMS ''Karel Doorman'' (QH1). Formerly the British carrier , she will serve until replaced in 1948 by the fleet carrier HNLMS ''Karel Doorman'' (R81). * March 29 – Maszovlet (the Hungarian-Soviet Civil Air Transport Joint Stock Company) is founded as

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

's first post-

airline. In November 1954 it will be renamed

Malév Hungarian Airlines MALÉV Ltd. ( hu, Malév Zrt.), which did business as MALÉV Hungarian Airlines ( hu, Magyar Légiközlekedési Vállalat, abbreviated ''MALÉV'', ), was the flag carrier of Hungary from 1946 until 2012. Its head office was in Budapest, with i ...

. * March 31 **The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff assess that a U.S. atomic arsenal and bombers capable of delivering it promptly could deter the Soviet Union from launching a war. **

inaugurates international service from the United States to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, and

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

April

* April 5 **

Brewster Aeronautical Corporation The Brewster Aeronautical Corporation was an American defense contractor that operated from the 1930s until the end of World War II. History Originally a carriage builder, Brewster & Co.'s involvement in aviation began in the aftermath of W ...

is dissolved by its shareholders. ** A

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its ...

, ''HE274'', crashes into a residential area in Rabat,

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

during a training exercise, killing all 4 crew members and 16 civilians on the ground. * April 9 - The

Indonesian Air Force The Indonesian Air Force ( id, Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Udara (TNI-AU), literally "''Indonesian National Military-Air Force''") sometimes shortened as IDAF / IdAF, is the aerial branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. The I ...

is founded by Indonesian Republican forces in the Netherlands East Indies. Initially it is equipped with a limited number of small aircraft left behind by Japanese military forces at the end of

May

* Pacific Ocean Airlines initiates air passenger service between the

continental United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...

and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

.Aviation Hawaii: 1940-1949 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii
/ref> * Misr Airlines, the future EgyptAir, resumes flight operations. It had suspended flights in February because of three accidents in late 1945 and resulting strikes demanding that the airline acquire newer, safer aircraft. * May 1 –

inaugurates international service from the United States to Lisbon and

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

. * May 20 – A

Beechcraft C-45F Expediter flying in fog from

Lake Charles Army Air Field A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

to Newark Airport in

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

, crashes into the north side of

40 Wall Street 40 Wall Street, also known as the Trump Building, is a Gothic Revival architecture, neo-Gothic skyscraper on Wall Street between Nassau Street (Manhattan), Nassau and William Street (Manhattan), William streets in the Financial District, Manh ...

, striking the 58th floor. The crash creates a 20-by-10-foot (6.1-by-3-meter) hole in the

masonry Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...

and kills all five people aboard the plane, one of them a

Women's Army Corps The Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) on 15 May 1942 and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the United States ...

officer. No one on the street below and none of the 2,000 people in the building are injured. * May 27 – In '' United States v. Causby'', the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

rules that the

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...

doctrine that persons who own real property own it ''

Cuius est solum, eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos ''Cuius est solum, eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos'' (Latin for "whoever's is the soil, it is theirs all the way to Heaven and all the way to Hell") is a principle of property law, stating that property holders have rights not only to th ...

'' ("from the depths to the heavens") "has no place in the modern world" at least as far as

air rights Air rights are the property interest in the "space" above the earth's surface. Generally speaking, owning, or renting, land or a building includes the right to use and build in the space above the land without interference by others. This lega ...

are concerned, but that it remains "fundamental to property rights in land" as a source of law, and therefore a landowner does own "at least as much of the space above the ground as he can occupy or use in connection with the land" and invasions of that airspace "are in the same category as invasions of the surface." The ruling entitles the plaintiff to collect damages from the

United States Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

under the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution for forcing him out of the business of raising chickens on his farm because of the negative effect on the chickens of U.S. military aircraft operating from a nearby airport, but it does not specifically define where private property rights end and public airspace begins over private property in the United States. * May 31 -

is officially opened.

June

* The United States possesses nine atomic bombs, two of them earmarked for use in tests. * The United States estimates that the

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

has 14,000 combat aircraft and that the Soviet Navy has 2,000 aircraft. * With post-

demobilisation underway, 100,000 members of the British

Women's Auxiliary Air Force The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...

have left the service. * June 4 –

SABENA The ''Societé anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne'' (French; ), better known by the acronym Sabena or SABENA, was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its base at Brussels National Airport. After its ba ...

inaugurates its first

route, using

airliners to fly between

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and

. * June 8 – A celebration of the Allied victory in

is held in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. It includes a flypast of 300 British aircraft over the city that stretches for 60 miles (97 km), led by a

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness b ...

that had fought in the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

in 1940. * June 11 – Capitol Airways is founded.planespotters.net History of Capitol Airways
/ref> * June 15 – The

s newly formed Navy Flight Exhibition Team, better known as the

Blue Angels The Blue Angels is a flight demonstration squadron of the United States Navy.

, gives its first public performance at Jacksonville-Craig Field at

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. * June 21 – A U.S. Army Air Forces P-80 Shooting Star carries the first air mail flown by a

turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, an ...

-powered aircraft. * June 22 –

creates the

Venezuelan Air Force , colours = Bleu celeste , colours_label = , march = , "Hymn of the National Military Aviation" , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 December (Air Force Day) , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = , decorations = , battle_honou ...

as an independent service equal with the Venezuelan Army and

Venezuelan Navy ) , mascot = , battles = Venezuelan War of Independence and the Battle of Lake Maracaibo , anniversaries = July 24, Birthday of Simon Bolivar, Navy Day and Battle of Lake Maracai ...

July

* The Government of Iran establishes the

Iran Civil Aviation Organization The Civil Aviation Organization of Islamic Republic of Iran (CAO.IRI), ( fa, سازمان هواپیمایی کشوری جمهوری اسلامی ایران Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

's civil aviation authority. * July 1 **As part of

Operation Crossroads Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity in July 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the ...

, the U.S. Army Air Forces

509th Bombardment Group 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...

'' Dave's Dream'' drops an atomic bomb on

Bikini Atoll Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese: , , meaning "coconut place"), sometimes known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946 is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. After the Seco ...

in the central

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

in nuclear test ''Able''. The bomb detonates at an altitude of 520 feet (128 meters) but inflicts less damage than expected on

target ship A target ship is a vessel — typically an obsolete or captured warship — used as a seaborne target for naval gunnery practice or for weapons testing. Targets may be used with the intention of testing effectiveness of specific types of ammunit ...

s anchored around the

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gr ...

because it misses its aim point by 2,130 feet (649 meters). **The U.S. Navy establishes Experimental Squadron 3 (VX-3). Equipped with Piasecki HRP-1 Rescuer helicopters, it probably is the worlds first official all-helicopter squadron. **With post-World War II demobilization well underway, the U.S. Navys force of aircraft carriers has dropped to 23 of all types with more decommissionings planned, while its aircraft force has declined from 41,000 to 24,000 within the past year and continues to decline rapidly. * July 4 – The aircraft carriers and are among ten U.S. Navy ships participating in the celebration at

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

of the independence of the

Republic of the Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. * July 11 – A fire begins in the baggage compartment of the Transcontinental and Western Airways

Lockheed L-049 Constellation The Lockheed L-049 Constellation was the first model of the Lockheed Constellation aircraft line. It entered service as the C-69 military transport aircraft during World War II for the United States Army Air Forces and was the first civilian ver ...

''Star of Lisbon'' during a training flight with no passengers on board designated Flight 513. The fire spreads and the plane crashes near

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, killing five of the six people on board. As a result of the accident, all Constellations are grounded from July 12 to August 23 for the installation of cargo fire detection equipment. * July 21 – A

McDonnell The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer based in St. Louis, Missouri. The company was founded on July 6, 1939, by James Smith McDonnell, and was best known for its military fighters, including the F-4 Phantom I ...

XFD-1 Phantom executes the first intentional and controlled landing by a purely jet-powered aircraft aboard a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, . * July 26 ** The U.S.

report that the

has 4,000 combat aircraft based in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

at a high state of readiness and able to strike virtually without warning.Ross, Steven T., ''American War Plans 1945-1950: Strategies For Defeating the Soviet Union'', Portland, Oregon: Frank Cass, 1996, , p. 9. ** Trans-Pacific Airlines (the future

Aloha Airlines Aloha Airlines was an American airline headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, operating from a hub at Honolulu International Airport (now Daniel K. Inouye International Airport). Operations began on July 26, 1946, and ceased operations on March 3 ...

) begins non-scheduled interisland service in

. *July 31 –

Philippine Airlines Philippine Airlines (PAL), a trade name of PAL Holdings, Inc. (Philippine Stock Exchange, PSEPAL (Philippine Air Lines until 1970), is the flag carrier airline of the Philippines. Headquartered at the Philippine National Bank, PNB Financial Cen ...

becomes the first Asian airline to cross the Pacific using a chartered Douglas DC-4 on the first of several flights to ferry home 40 US servicemen. Each crossing took 41 hours with fuelling stops at Guam, Wake, Kwajelein and Honolulu.

August

* The United Kingdom loans the aircraft carrier to France, which commissions her as ''Arromanches''. ''Arromanches'' becomes the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

s first non-experimental

fleet aircraft carrier A fleet carrier is an aircraft carrier designed to operate with the main fleet of a nation's navy. The term was developed during World War II, to distinguish it from the escort carrier and other less capable types. In addition to many medium-siz ...

. France will purchase the ship outright in 1951. * The first peacetime deployment of American naval air power in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

in history begins with the arrival there of the aircraft carrier . * August 1 – The United Kingdom establishes

British European Airways British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The a ...

as a state-owned corporation. * August 5 – The U.S. Joint Warfare Planning Committee predicts that after 1950 the Soviet Union will be able to strike the United States with guided missiles and strategic bombers armed with atomic weapons, seize territory in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

and

from which to launch air attacks against the United States, and employ airborne forces to attack vital targets. It recommends that the United States develop air warning, air defense, and

antiaircraft artillery Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...

systems with which to counter such operations. * August 9 – As three U.S. Army Air Forces A-26 Invader attack aircraft make a low-level pass during an air show at the North Montana State Fair in

Great Falls Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

, two of them collide 750 feet (228 meters) from a grandstand crowded with 20,000 spectators. The

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is e ...

of one A-26 shears off the tail of the other. The tail-less A-26 crashes into a horse barn, killing three crew members, three people on the ground, and twenty

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...

horses; the other A-26 continues to fly for between one and five miles (1.6 and 8 kilometers) (sources differ) before crashing in a field, killing one of its crewmen. The third bomber in the formation lands safely. * August 15 – The U.S. Joint Warfare Planning Committee submits Plan Gridle for the defense of Turkey against the Soviet Union, which finds that the

Turkish Air Force The Turkish Air Force ( tr, ) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The Turkish Air Force can trace its origins back to June 1911 when it was founded by the Ottoman Empire, however, the air force as it is known to ...

of fewer than 700 aircraft could offer only token resistance against a Soviet offensive and would have to be reinforced by ten American fighter

, followed by the establishment of U.S. Army Air Forces heavy bomber bases in Turkey. * August 23 – The U.S. Joint Intelligence Staff assesses that by 1948 the Soviet Union will be able to deploy 2,000 bombers against

sea lines of communication Sea lines of communication (abbreviated as SLOC) is a term describing the primary maritime routes between ports, used for trade, logistics and naval forces. It is generally used in reference to naval operations to ensure that SLOCs are open, or in ...

in the

. * August 30 –

Bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inte ...

's chief

test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testin ...

, Jack Woolams, dies in a plane crash while flying the P-39 "Cobra I" over Lake Ontario preparing for an

air race Air racing is a type of motorsport that involves airplanes or other types of aircraft that compete over a fixed course, with the winner either returning the shortest time, the one to complete it with the most points, or to come closest to a prev ...

the following day.

September

* Frank N. Piaseckis P.V. Engineering Forum is renamed

Piasecki Helicopter Corporation Piasecki Helicopter Corporation was a designer and manufacturer of helicopters located in Philadelphia and nearby Morton, Pennsylvania, in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Its founder, Frank Piasecki, was ousted from the company in 1956 and starte ...

. *

, which returns millions of American military personnel to the United States after World War II, concludes. Sixty-three U.S. aircraft carriers have taken part as temporary personnel transports. * September 1 – Using

aircraft,

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines ...

initiates service between

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, and Anchorage, Alaska, as the first leg of its proposed

- Japan

North Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

route. * September 7 – A

Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies of World War II, Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turb ...

flown by Group Captain E. M. Donaldson establishes a new world absolute air speed record of 615.65 mph (990.79 km/h) off the coast of

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

. The same day, a U.S. Army Air Forces

Republic P-84 Thunderjet The Republic F-84 Thunderjet was an American turbojet fighter-bomber aircraft. Originating as a 1944 United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) proposal for a "day fighter", the F-84 first flew in 1946. Although it entered service in 1947, the Thun ...

narrowly misses the world record, setting a

speed record of 611 mph (983 km/hr).Angelucci, Enzo, ''The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present'', New York: Orion Books, 1987, , p. 399. * September 9 –

begins flight operations with a domestic flight in Australia from Laverton,

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, to Sydney. The flight carries a number of VIPs and only one paying passenger. * September 16 **The

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

airline

Alitalia Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. The ai ...

is formed. **Seaboard & Western Airlines is founded, operating a fleet of Douglas DC-4 aircraft. It will change its name to

Seaboard World Airlines Seaboard World Airlines was an international all-cargo airline based in the United States. Its headquarters were on the grounds of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. History Seaboard World Airlines was founded on September ...

in April 1961. * September 17 – A

Sabena The ''Societé anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne'' (French; ), better known by the acronym Sabena or SABENA, was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its base at Brussels National Airport. After its ba ...

Douglas C-47 Skytrain (registration OO-AUR) crashes on takeoff from

Haren Airport Haren Airport or Evere Airfield is a former military airfield and civil airport in Brussels, Belgium. Located in Brussels' city section of Haren and adjacent municipality of Evere, it was established by the German Empire in 1914 and lasted until ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, killing one crew member. The other two crew members and four passengers on board survive. * September 18 – A

(registration OO-CBG) crashes 35 km (22 miles) short of the runway while on final approach to Gander Airport in the Dominion of Newfoundland, killing 27 of the 44 people on board. A

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

team from

Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City is a United States Coast Guard Air Station co-located at Elizabeth City Regional Airport in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, along the Pasquotank River near the opening of the Albemarle Sound. The base has ...

Elizabeth City Elizabeth City is a city in Pasquotank County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 18,629. Elizabeth City is the county seat and largest city of Pasquotank County. It is the cultural, economic and educ ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

, led by Commander Frank A. Erickson disassembles two helicopters, ships them to Newfoundland in fixed-wing aircraft, reassembles them, and uses them to rescue the 17 survivors.uscg.mil United States Coast Guard Historian′s Office: Captain Frank A. Erickson, USCG (1907-1978)
/ref> * September 19 – The

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

airline ''Transportes Aéreos Portugueses'', the future

TAP Portugal TAP Air Portugal is the currently state-owned flag carrier airline of Portugal, headquartered at Lisbon Airport which also serves as its hub. TAP – Transportes Aéreos Portugueses – has been a member of the Star Alliance since 2005 and opera ...

, begins flight operations. * September 24 – Cathay Pacific Airways is founded in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

by American

Roy Farrell Roy Clinton Farrell (June 19, 1912 – January 3, 1996) was the American co-founder of Cathay Pacific Airways along with the Australian Sydney de Kantzow. Early years Farrell was born in Vernon, Texas. He went to China during World War II, and ev ...

and Australian

Sydney de Kantzow Sydney Hugh ("Syd") de Kantzow (9 November 1914 – 21 November 1957) was the Australian co-founder of Cathay Pacific Airways with American Roy Farrell. De Kantzow, the son of Charles Adolphus de Kantzow, was born to a family of Polish/Swedi ...

. * September 27 – Geoffrey de Havilland Jr. is killed when the

de Havilland DH 108 The de Havilland DH 108 "Swallow" was a British experimental aircraft designed by John Carver Meadows Frost in October 1945. The DH 108 featured a tailless, swept wing with a single vertical stabilizer, similar to the layout of the wartime ...

breaks up in mid-air over the

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...

. * September 29 – The

Lockheed P2V Neptune The Lockheed P-2 Neptune (designated P2V by the United States Navy prior to September 1962) is a maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. It was developed for the US Navy by Lockheed to replace the Lockheed PV-1 Ventura and P ...

''Truculent Turtle'', piloted by Commander Thomas D. Davies and aided by four

JATO JATO (acronym for jet-assisted take-off) is a type of assisted take-off for helping overloaded aircraft into the air by providing additional thrust in the form of small rockets. The term ''JATO'' is used interchangeably with the (more specifi ...

rockets, departs

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, Australia, bound nonstop for

Naval Air Station Anacostia Anacostia is a historic neighborhood in Southeast Washington, D.C. Its downtown is located at the intersection of Good Hope Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. It is located east of the Anacostia River, after which the neighborhood is na ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

On take-off, it weighs 85,575 lbs (38,817 kg), the heaviest twin-engine aircraft ever to take off up to this time. Although bad weather forces the plane to land short of Washington in Columbus, Ohio, after 55 hours 17 minutes continuously in the air, the flight nonetheless sets a new nonstop, unrefueled world distance record of 11,235.6 nautical miles (20,807 km) which stands for 16 years until broken by a U.S. Air Force

B-52H Stratofortress The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air ...

in 1962.

October

* Under pressure from

, the

Government of Mexico The Federal government of Mexico (alternately known as the Government of the Republic or ' or ') is the national government of the United Mexican States, the central government established by its constitution to share sovereignty over the republ ...

suspends the operating permit for the airline Aerovias Braniff, which has operated onoy since March 1945. With the U.S.

Civil Aeronautics Board The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was an agency of the federal government of the United States, formed in 1938 and abolished in 1985, that regulated aviation services including scheduled passenger airline serviceStringer, David H."Non-Skeds: T ...

denying

Braniff Airways Braniff Airways, Inc., operated as Braniff International Airways from 1948 until 1965, and then Braniff International from 1965 until air operations ceased, was an airline in the United States that once flew air carrier operations from 1928 un ...

' request to merge with Aerovias Braniff, the brief history of Aerovias Braniff comes to an end. *October 3 – Carrying mostly wives and children of

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

personnel serving in

, the American Overseas Airlines

''Flagship New England'' crashes into a mountainside shortly after taking off from Stephenville in the Dominion of Newfoundland bound for

Shannon Airport Shannon Airport ( ga, Aerfort na Sionainne) is an international airport located in County Clare in the Republic of Ireland. It is adjacent to the Shannon Estuary and lies halfway between Ennis and Limerick. The airport is the third busiest ai ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, killing all 39 people on board. It is the worst U.S. civil airline accident in history at the time. *October 15 –

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

commits suicide by poisoning himself in his jail cell at

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

, Germany, the day before his scheduled

hanging Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging ...

for war crimes. A

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the c ...

with 22 victories and one of the leaders of the German

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

movement and government, he had served as Supreme Commander of the German ''

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

'' from 1935 to 1945. *October 23 –

Orient Airways Orient Airways Ltd. ( ur, ) was an airline established in 1946 with its base in Calcutta, Bengal, British India. The airline shifted operations to the newly independent state of Pakistan in 1947, and was rechristened as Pakistan International A ...

, the first and only Muslim-owned airline in the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

, is founded. It will begin operations in June 1947.

November

*November 6 – An American intelligence report predicts that by 1956 the Soviet Union will have a strategic air force and as many as 150 atomic bombs, while the United States will have 350 to 400 atomic bombs. It assesses that the Soviet Union would withhold its atomic weapons during a war in order to deter an American nuclear attack on Soviet targets. *November 10 – A U.S. Army Air Forces

C-53 Skytrooper The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...

crashes on Switzerland's

Gauli Glacier The Gauli Glacier (german: Gauligletscher, link=no) is a long glacier (2005) in the Bernese Alps in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. In 1973, it had an area of . The glacier is famous for the 1946 C-53 Skytrooper crash on the Gauli Glacier and ...

, posing a challenge for an assemblage of rescuers from the

and the

and Swiss aviators in spotting the downed plane. They rescue all twelve people (four crew members and eight passengers), partly through the Swiss use of a pair of

Fieseler Fi 156 The Fieseler Fi 156 ''Storch'' (, "stork") was a German liaison aircraft built by Fieseler before and during World War II. Production continued in other countries into the 1950s for the private market. It was notable for its excellent short fie ...

Storch

ski A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partia ...

-equipped short-takeoff-or-landing (STOL)-capable aircraft. *November 23 – An

Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650 cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was late ...

piston engines and two

Rolls-Royce Nene The Rolls-Royce RB.41 Nene is a 1940s British centrifugal compressor turbojet engine. The Nene was a complete redesign, rather than a scaled-up Rolls-Royce Derwent"Rolls-Royce Aero Engines" Bill Gunston, Patrick Stephens Limited 1989, , p.111 w ...

s turns off its Merlins and, operating using only the Nenes, becomes the first commercial aircraft to fly solely on jet power,Donald, David, ed., ''The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft'', New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, , p. 84. making the trip from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

in just 41 minutes. *November 27 – Monarch Airlines begins scheduled air service with a flight from Durango,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, using a Douglas DC-3.

December

* The

s first jet fighter, the

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-9, USAF/DoD designation: Type 1, NATO reporting name: Fargo) was the first turbojet fighter developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich in the years immediately after World War II. ...

( NATO reporting name "Fargo"), becomes operational. * December 20 – The U.S. Joint Warfare Planning Committee reports that air forces in

consist of 112 British

fighters and 198 obsolete operational aircraft of the ill-trained

Italian Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = (Ordinance March of the Air Force) by Alberto Di Miniello , mascot = , anniversaries = 28 March ...

, which has low morale, and that in an invasion of Italy by the Soviet Union and its allies these forces would face 642

Yugoslav Air Force The Air Force and Air Defence ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Ратно ваздухопловство и противваздушна одбрана, Ratno vazduhoplovstvo i protivvazdušna odbrana ; abbr. sh-Cyrl-Latn, label=none, separator=/, РВ и ПВ� ...

combat aircraft. * December 24 –

Western Air Lines Western Airlines was a major airline based in California, operating in the Western United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada, as well as to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami and to Mexico City, London and ...

Flight 44, a Douglas DC-3A (registration NC45395) crashes into the east slope of Cayupaipe Mountain in the

Laguna Mountains The Laguna Mountains are a mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges System in eastern San Diego County, southern California. The mountains run in a northwest/southeast alignment for approximately . The mountains have long been inhabited by the i ...

while descending to a landing at

Lindbergh Field San Diego International Airport , formerly known as Lindbergh Field, is an international airport northwest of Downtown San Diego, California, United States. It is owned and operated by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.. US Federa ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, towards the end of a flight from Holtville Airport, in Holtville, California, killing all 12 people on board. * December 25 – Three passenger planes, all flying in from Chongqing, China, crash due to fog in separate incidents in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, China, killing at least 62 of the combined 68 passengers and 9 crew members aboard. Two of the planes belong to

China National Aviation Corporation The China National Aviation Corporation () was a Chinese airline which was nationalized after the Chinese Communist Party took control in 1949, and merged into the People's Aviation Company of China () in 1952. It was a major airline under the ...

and one to Central Air Transport. * December 30 – A

PBM Mariner The Martin PBM Mariner was an American patrol bomber flying boat of World War II and the early Cold War era. It was designed to complement the Consolidated PBY Catalina and PB2Y Coronado in service. A total of 1,366 PBMs were built, with the fi ...

supporting Operation Highjump crashes at

Thurston Island Thurston Island is an ice-covered, glacially dissected island, long, wide and in area, lying a short way off the northwest end of Ellsworth Land, Antarctica. It is the third-largest island of Antarctica, after Alexander Island and Berkner Isl ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

, during a

blizzard A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling ...

, killing three of the nine people on board. The six survivors are rescued 13 days later by aircraft from the U.S. Navy seaplane tender . * December 31 **The

airline ''Transportes Aéreos Portugueses'' (TAP) – the future

– begins its 12-stop ''Linha Aérea Imperial'' ("Imperial Air Line") service to Portuguese colonies, including stops at

Luanda Luanda () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major Angola#Economy, industrial, Angola#Culture, cultural and Angola#Demographics, urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atl ...

Portuguese Angola Portuguese Angola refers to Angola during the historic period when it was a territory under Portuguese rule in southwestern Africa. In the same context, it was known until 1951 as Portuguese West Africa (officially the State of West Africa). I ...

, and

Lourenço Marques Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088 ...

Portuguese East Africa Portuguese Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique) or Portuguese East Africa (''África Oriental Portuguesa'') were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese colony. Portuguese Mozambique originally ...

. **The U.S. Navys inventory of combat aircraft stands at 1,461, a 64 percent decline from the force it had available at the end of World War II on 15 August 1945. It has 10,000 naval aviators.

First flights

OKB-1 EF 131 The OKB-1/Junkers EF 131 was a jet bomber produced in Germany and the USSR from 1944. Development The EF-131 was developed based on fragments of project documentation for the Ju 287 after the Red Army captured the Junkers factory in Dessau. ...

(or Junkers EF 131)

January

* January 19 – Bell X-1 (unpowered)Donald, David, ed., ''The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft'', New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, , p. 115.

February

* February 4 –

Republic XF-12 Rainbow The Republic XF-12 Rainbow was an American four-engine, all-metal prototype reconnaissance aircraft designed by the Republic Aviation Company in the late 1940s. Like most large aircraft of the era, it used radial engines, specifically the Pratt ...

* February 28 – Republic XP-84 ''45-54975'', prototype of the

F-84 Thunderjet The Republic F-84 Thunderjet was an American turbojet fighter-bomber aircraft. Originating as a 1944 United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) proposal for a "day fighter", the F-84 first flew in 1946. Although it entered service in 1947, the Thun ...

March

* March 10 – Avro Tudor 2 ''G-AGSU'' * March 31 –

Percival Prentice The Percival Prentice was a basic trainer of the Royal Air Force in the early postwar period. It is a low-wing monoplane with a fixed tailwheel undercarriage. Front seating was in a side-by-side configuration with a rear seat provided. Desi ...

Bridgman 1951, p. 70c.

April

* April 17 – Avro Tudor 7 * April 24 ** Mikoyan-Gurevich I-300, the

's first jet **

Yakovlev Yak-15 The Yakovlev Yak-15 (russian: Яковлев Як-15; NATO reporting name: Feather, USAF/ DOD designation Type 2) was a first-generation Soviet turbojet fighter developed by the Yakovlev design bureau (OKB) immediately after World War II. The ...

(three hours after the I-300)

May

* May 7 –

Handley Page Hastings The Handley Page HP.67 Hastings is a retired British troop-carrier and freight transport aircraft designed and manufactured by aviation company Handley Page for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Upon its introduction to service during September 1948, ...

* May 10 –

SECAN Courlis The SECAN SUC-10 Courlis (en: Curlew) was a French high-wing touring monoplane designed and built by Société d'Etudes et de Construction Aéronavales (SECAN), a branch of the automobile company Société des Usines Chaussons. The aircraft had ...

* May 17 – Douglas XB-43, first U.S. jet bomber ''44-61508'' * May 19 – Miles M.60 MarathonBridgman 1951, p. 63c. * May 21 –

Junkers EF 126 The Junkers EF 126 was an experimental fighter proposed by the German of 1944–1945, for a cheap and simple fighter powered by a pulsejet engine. No examples were built during the war, but the Soviet Union completed both unpowered and powered ...

(unpowered) * May 22 – de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk

June

* June 6 – Aérocenter NC.3020 Belphégor * June 7 –

Short Sturgeon The Short Sturgeon was a planned British carrier-borne reconnaissance bomber whose development began during Second World War with the S.6/43 requirement for a high-performance torpedo bomber, which was later refined into the S.11/43 requireme ...

prototype ''RK787'' * June 14 – Fairchild F-11 Husky * June 25 – Northrop XB-35 ''42-13603'', prototype of the

Northrop YB-35 The Northrop YB-35, Northrop designation N-9 or NS-9, were experimental heavy bomber aircraft developed by the Northrop Corporation for the United States Army Air Forces during and shortly after World War II. The airplane used the radical and p ...

flying-wing bomber

July

* July 7 –

Hughes XF-11 The Hughes XF-11 (redesignated XR-11 in 1948) was a prototype military reconnaissance aircraft designed and flown by Howard Hughes and built by Hughes Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Although 100 F-11s were ordered in ...

* July 8 – Convair Model 110 * July 10 –

Douglas DC-6 The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with t ...

* July 27 –

Supermarine Attacker The Supermarine Attacker is a British single-seat naval jet fighter designed and produced by aircraft manufacturer Supermarine for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA). The type has the distinction of being the first jet fighter to enter oper ...

prototype ''TS409''

August

* August 8 – Convair XB-36 ''42-13570'', prototype of the

Convair B-36 Peacemaker The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" is a strategic bomber that was built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced Reciprocating engine, piston-engined aircraft ever built. It ...

* August 16 – Northrop XP-89, prototype of the

F-89 Scorpion The Northrop F-89 Scorpion was an American all-weather, twin-engined interceptor aircraft built during the 1950s, the first jet-powered aircraft designed for that role from the outset to enter service. Though its straight wings limited its per ...

September

* September 11 **

Lavochkin La-150 The Lavochkin La-150 (also known as the ''Izdeliye'' 150 – Aircraft or Article 150,All Lavochkin's jet aircraft were referred to in-house, and at government level, as "''Izdeliye'' 150", etc. USAF/ DOD designation Type 3), was designed by the ...

**North American XFJ-1, prototype of the FJ-1 Fury, the first jet aircraft to enter service with the

* September 20 - Martin XP4M-1, prototype of the

Martin P4M Mercator The Martin P4M Mercator was a maritime reconnaissance aircraft built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. The Mercator was an unsuccessful contender for a United States Navy requirement for a long-range maritime patrol bomber, with the Lockheed P2V ...

October

* October 2 – Vought XF6U-1, prototype of the F6U Pirate * October 7 –

Fairchild XNQ The Fairchild XNQ (T-31; Model M-92) is an American trainer designed as a standard primary trainer for the United States Navy during the 1940s. Design and development Designed by Fairchild Aircraft as a replacement for current primary trainer ...

November

* Ryan XF2R-1 Dark Shark * November 9 – Lockheed R6O Constitution, later R6V Constitution * November 11 ** Avions Fairey Belfair ''OO-TIA'' ** SNCASO SO-6000 Triton,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

's first jet * November 13 –

Sukhoi Su-9 The Sukhoi Su-9 (NATO reporting name: Fishpot) was a single-engine, all-weather, missile-armed interceptor aircraft developed by the Soviet Union. Development The Su-9 emerged from aerodynamic studies by TsAGI, the Soviet aerodynamic center, ...

* November 16 –

Saab 90 Scandia The Saab 90 Scandia was a civil passenger aeroplane, manufactured by the Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (SAAB), in Linköping, Sweden. In 1944, as it was becoming clear that hostilities in Europe (the Second World War) would soon be at an end, SA ...

prototype ''SE-BCA'' * November 27 – North American XFJ-1, prototype of the

FJ Fury North American FJ Fury (also ''North American F-1 Fury'') may refer to several members of a group of fighter and fighter-bomber aircraft, built by North American Aviation for the US Navy, and related in varying degrees to the F-86 Sabre this firm ...

, by George Welch

December

* December 2 –

Beechcraft T-34 Mentor The Beechcraft T-34 Mentor is an American propeller-driven, single-engined, military trainer aircraft derived from the Beechcraft Model 35 Bonanza. The earlier versions of the T-34, dating from around the late 1940s to the 1950s, were piston ...

* December 9 – Bell X-1 (first powered flight) * December 12 *–

Westland Wyvern The Westland Wyvern was a British single-seat carrier-based multi-role strike aircraft built by Westland Aircraft that served in the 1950s, seeing active service in the 1956 Suez Crisis. Production Wyverns were powered by a turboprop engine dri ...

''TS371'' * December 21 –

Northrop N-23 Pioneer Northrop may refer to: Businesses * Northrop Corporation, an American aircraft manufacturer formed in 1939 * Northrop Grumman, an American aircraft manufacturer formed in 1994 as a merger of the above company with Grumman * Northrop Loom, an Americ ...

Entered service

Aeronca 11 Chief The Aeronca Chief is a single-engine, light aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear and two seats in side-by-side configuration, which entered production in the United States in 1945. Designed for flight training and personal use, the ...

* Fairchild F-11 Husky

September

* September 1 -

Vickers Viking The Vickers Viking was a British single-engine amphibious aircraft designed for military use shortly after World War I. Later versions of the aircraft were known as the Vickers Vulture and Vickers Vanellus. Design and development Resear ...

with

(''G-AHOP'') * September 30 - Short S.26 with BOAC ''Golden Hind (G-AFCI)''

November

* November 24 -

with

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

and

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

Retirements

Vought OS2U Kingfisher The Vought OS2U Kingfisher is an American catapult-launched observation floatplane. It was a compact mid-wing monoplane, with a large central float and small stabilizing floats. Performance was modest because of its low-powered engine. The OS2U ...

by the

.Johnson, E. R., "Workhorse of the Fleet," ''Aviation History'', November 2011, p. 49.

References

* Bridgman, Leonard. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1951–52''. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd, 1951. * {{Aviation timelines navbox Aviation by year