1946 in aviation
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This is a list of aviation-related events from 1946:
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[edit] Events
[edit] January
- January 1 - a British South American Airways Avro Lancastrian becomes the first commercial flight to depart from London Heathrow Airport
- January 10 - a Sikorsky R5 sets an unofficial helicopter altitude record of 6,400 m (21,000 ft) at Stratford, Connecticut.
- January 26 - Col William Councill sets a new US transcontinental speed record of 4 hours 13 minutes in a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star
[edit] February
- February 6 - TWA makes its first international flight from New York City to Paris, France
- February 11 - After lengthy negotiations, US and British government representatives reach the Bermuda Agreement, the first bilateral agreement regulating international commercial air transport. Agreement was also reached for IATA, the International Air Transport Association to coordinate and fix international air fares.
[edit] March
- March 8 - the Bell 47 receives the first type certificate awarded to a commercial helicopter.
- March 21 - The Strategic Air Command of the United States Army Air Force is formed.
[edit] May
- May 31 - London Heathrow Airport is officially opened.
[edit] June
- June 15 - the US Navy's newly-formed Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels, gives its first public performance at Jacksonville-Craig Field, Florida.
- June 21 - a USAF P-80 Shooting Star carries the first air mail flown by jet.
[edit] July
- July 1 - a B-29 Superfortress drops an atomic bomb on Bikini Atoll in the central Pacific in a nuclear test.
- July 21 - a McDonnell XFD-1 Phantom executes the first intentional and controlled landing by a purely jet-powered aircraft aboard a US aircraft carrier, USS Franklin D. Roosevelt.[1]
[edit] August
- August 1 - British European Airways established as state-owned corporation.
[edit] September
- September 1 - Northwest Airlines initiates service between Seattle and Anchorage, Alaska with DC-4 aircraft as the first sector of its proposed USA--Japan North Pacific route
- September 7 - a Royal Air Force Gloster Meteor established a new world absolute air speed record of 615.65 mph (990.79 km/h) flown by Group Captain E.M. Donaldson off the coast of West Sussex, England.
- September 16 - Italian airline Alitalia was formed.
- September 19 - Portuguese airline Transportes Aéreos Portugueses (TAP) is formed.
- September 27 - Geoffrey de Havilland Jr is killed when the de Havilland DH.108 breaks up in mid-air
- September 29 - a United States Navy Lockheed P2V Neptune sets a new distance record of 11,235 miles (18,082 km)
[edit] October
- October 3 – The Berlin-bound 4-engine Douglas DC-4 'Flagship New England' of AOA crashed into a mountainside just outside of Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The aircraft was carrying mostly wives and children of US Army personnel serving in post-war Germany. All 39 people on board died. At the time, it was the worst accident of its kind among US civilian airlines.
[edit] November
- November 23 - An Avro Lancastrian powered with Rolls-Royce Nene turbojets is credited with the first international passenger jet flight from London to Paris. The flight time was just 41 minutes.
[edit] First flights
January
- January 19 - Bell X-1 (unpowered)
February
- February 28 - Republic XP-84 Thunderjet 45-54975
April
- April 24 - Mikoyan-Gurevich I-300, the Soviet Union's first jet
- April 24 - Yakovlev Yak-15 (three hours after the I-300)
May
- May 17 - Douglas XB-43, first US jet bomber 44-61508
- May 22 - de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk
June
- June 6 - Aérocenter NC.3020 Belphégor
- June 7 - Short Sturgeon prototype RK787
- June 25 - Northrop XB-35 flying wing bomber 42-13603
July
- July 7 - Hughes XF-11
- July 27 - Supermarine Attacker prototype TS409
August
- August 8 - Convair XB-36 42-13570
September
- September 11 - Lavochkin La-150
- September 11 - North American XFJ-1, prototype of the FJ Fury, the first jet aircraft to enter service with the US Navy
November
- November 11 - SNCASO SO-6000 Triton, France's first jet
- November 11 - Avions Fairey Belfair OO-TIA
- November 13 - Sukhoi Su-9
- November 16 - Saab 90 Scandia prototype SE-BCA
December
- December 2 - T-34 Mentor
- December 12 - Westland Wyvern TS371
[edit] Entered service
September
- September 1 - Vickers Viking with British European Airways (G-AHOP)
- September 30 - Short S.26 with BOAC Golden Hind (G-AFCI)
[edit] References
- ^ The unconventional composite propeller-jet Ryan FR Fireball was technically the first aircraft with a jet engine to land on an American carrier, but it was designed to primarily utilize its piston engine during takeoff and landing. The March 1946 issue of Naval Aviation News on page 6 shows that an FR-1 made an emergency jet-powered landing on an aircraft carrier on November 6, 1945 when its radial engine failed in the landing path, becoming the first aircraft to make a jet powered landing on an American aircraft carrier, albeit unintentionally and with damage to the plane.
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