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On This Day: 1936

Aviation events for 1936

January 14: An American Airlines Douglas DC-2 operating as American Airways Flight 1 crashed near Goodwin, Arkansas, killing all 17 people on board.
 
February 9: Tommy Rose lands at Wingfield Aerodrome in Cape Town, South Africa, after a record flight from England of 3 days 17 hours 38 minutes.
 
February 13: London-based Imperial Airways launches airmail service to West Africa.
 
March 4: The last great passenger-carrying airship, a veritable behemoth in its day, takes to the air for the first time. The German dirigible LZ 129, the Hindenburg, is powered by four 1,320-hp Daimler-Benz DB 602 diesel engines. The Hindenburg makes its first Atlantic crossing in the record time of 64 hours 53 minutes on May 6.
 
March 5: The Supermarine Spitfire makes its maiden flight. The single-seat fighter would play a major role in World War II, with over 20,300 being built over the following 10 years.
 
March 14: Imperial Airways opens a weekly service to Hong Kong.
 
March 17: Smoking in an airplane’s toilet is as serious an offense as smoking at school. An Imperial Airways passenger, caught red-handed while lighting up against airline regulations in a Handley Page HP.42 en route from Paris to London, is fined £10 in Craydon court, England.
 
March 26: 200" telescope lens shipped, Corning Glass Works, New York-Cal Tech.
 
March 28: National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) commences operational use of the newly constructed 8-ft.-high speed tunnel (8-Foot HST) at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Langley, Virginia. Built as a companion to the full scale tunnel capable of simulated speeds of up to 118 mph, the new facility can test models and components to 577 mph (Mach 0.75).
 
April 11: Air Canada is founded. Read more...
 
May 4: Amy Johnson sets a speed record of 3 days, 6 hours and 26 minutes on a flight from England to South Africa in a Percival Gull Six (G-ADZO).
 
May 7: Amy Mollison lands at Wingfield Aerodrome, Cape Town, South Africa, to set a new record of 3 days, 6 hours, 26 minutes for a flight from England.
 
May 9: The German airship Hindenburg lands at Lakehurst, New Jersey after its first scheduled transatlantic flight.
 
June 3: The British Air Ministry awards a contract to Hawker for 600 Hurricane Mk. 1 fighters, the first of a new breed of high-speed, eight-gun interceptors for the RAF. This is the biggest peacetime order placed in Britain to date.
 
June 26: The first flight of the first practical helicopter with two side-by-side rotors is made in Germany. Designed by Henrich Focke, the Focke-Achgelis FW-61 makes many flights, the longest being one hour and 20 minutes.
 
July 3: The first C-class Empire flying boat built by Shorts as the S.23 design, makes a brief 14-min. first flight piloted by John Lankester Parker.
 
September 4: Louise Thaden becomes the 1st woman to win the prestigious coast-to-coast Bendix trophy race.
 
 
 

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