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On This Day: 1931

Aviation events for 1931

January 7: Australian aviator Guy Menzies made the first solo nonstop flight from Australia to New Zealand in 11 hours and 45 minutes. His flight ended in a crash landing, however, from which he survived.
 
February 24: John Lankester Parker makes the first flight of the prototype Short S.17 Kent flying boat, from the river Medway in Kent, England.
 
February 26: Imperial Airways begins scheduled services from England to Africa using Armstrong Whitworth Argosys.
 
March 26: Swissair is formed after a merger between Balair and Ad Astra Aero, and would last for just over 73 years.
 
March 27: TWA Flight 599, a Fokker F-10 (NC-999) crashes in Chase County, Kansas, killing all 8 aboard. The wood laminate construction of the aircraft became weak over time until a wing spar failed and separated from the aircraft. This brought upon the very first every grounding of an aircraft type.
 
April 8: Amelia Earhart climbs to a record altitude of 18,415 feet in a Pitcairn autogyro at Willow Grove, near Philadelphia.
 
April 29: The Boeing B-9 bomber flies for the first time and marks the next step in airframe development in the evolution of the Boeing 247, the first modern-type airliner.
 
May 27: A full-scale wind tunnel goes into operation at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Laboratory at Langley Field, Virginia.
 
June 11: The Handley Page HP-42 four-engine biplane enters service with the British airline Imperial Airways and sets new standards of passenger service and comfort. It carries 40 passengers.
 
July 1: The first mail delivered by rocket in the United States is claimed by three Struthers, Ohio high school students led by philatelist, John Kiktavi. He sends mail from Struthers to Poland, Ohio.
 
July 27: The Air Line Pilots Association of the USA is formed.
 
August 7: Jim Mollison lands after flying from Australia to England in 10 days, knocking two days off the existing record.
 
August 14: Piloted by M. M. Gromov, the Tupolev ANT-14 large passenger aircraft makes its first flight. The largest land-plane of its day, it could carry 36 passengers.
 
August 29: Graf Zeppelin completes the first flight between Germany and Brazil.
 
October 13: Canadian pilot Godfrey Dean performs the 1st loop in an autogyro, at Willow Field, near Philadelphia.
 
November 2: The USS Akron, a purpose-built aircraft-carrying airship, is commissioned.
 
 
 

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