1919 in aviation

Events

Raymond Orteig offers the Orteig Prize for the first non-stop transatlantic flight between New York and Paris.

January
January 8 - Civil aviation resumes in Germany

January 10 - Airco DH.4s of No.2 (Communications) Squadron, RAF are converted for transporting passengers and mail between London and Paris, in support of the Versailles Peace Conference

January 16 - Maj A.S.C. MacLaren and Cpt Robert Halley arrive in Delhi, completing the first England-India flight, in a Handley Page V/1500

January 19 - Jules Védrines claims a FF25,000 prize by landing an aircraft (a Caudron G-3) on the roof of a department store in Paris. Védrines is injured and his aircraft is damaged beyond repair in the hard landing in a space only 28 m x 12 m (92 ft x 40 ft).

February
February 5 - Beginning of regular flights between Berlin and Weimar by the Deutsche Luft-Reederei with AEG and DFW biplanes.

February 8 - Henry Farman carries 11 paying passengers in his plane from Paris to London on first commercial flight between the two cities.

March
March 1 - German airline Deutsche Luft-Reederei (DLR) begins scheduled flights to Hamburg.
An airmail service begins Folkestone and Cologne

March 10 - Australia's Prime Minister announces a £ 10,000 reward to the first aviator who will fly from Great-Britain to Australia in less than 30 days.

March 3 - The first US international airmail is carried between Vancouver, British Columbia and Seattle by William Boeing in a Boeing CL-4S.

March 22 - First regular international commercial route opens between Paris and Brussels, flown by an F.60 Goliath from Farman airlines.

March 24 - Igor Sikorsky flees Europe for the United States.

April
April 18 - CMA (Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes) commences a mail and freight service between Paris and Lille, using ex-military Breguet 14s.

April 23 - The North Sea Aerial Navigation Company begins a passenger run between Leeds and Hounslow in ex-military Blackburn Kangaroos

May
A Fairey IIIC seaplane is used for a regular newspaper run, carrying the Evening Times to towns along the Kent coast.

May 8 - A US Navy flying boat, NC-4, piloted by Coast Guard pilot Elmer F. Stone begins an Atlantic crossing, flying by short stages from Long Island, New York to Lisbon, Portugal. It arrives 19 days later on May 28.

May 15 - A transcontinental air route between Chicago and Cleveland is inaugurated by US Mail.
May 18 - Harry Hawker and Lt Cdr Kenneth Mackenzie-Grieve attempt a non-stop Atlantic crossing but are forced to ditch their aircraft only 2,253 km (1,400 miles) after leaving Newfoundland. London's Daily Mail newspaper awards them a prize of £5,000 for their attempt anyway.

June
June 1 - A permanent flight of aircraft is stationed in San Diego to serve as a forest fire patrol. The machines are war-surplus Curtiss JN-4s.

June 12 - Raymonde de Laroche breaks the women's altitude record, flying to a height of 5,150 m (16,896 ft).

June 14 - Cpt John Alcock and Lt Arthur Whitten Brown set out on the first successful non-stop Atlantic crossing, flying a Vickers Vimy from Newfoundland to Ireland in 16 hours. They win £10,000 from the Daily Mail and are both knighted.

June 23 - Six Zeppelins (LZ 46, LZ 79, LZ 91, LZ103, LZ 110, and LZ 111) are destroyed at Nordholz by their own crews in order to prevent them from falling into Allied hands.

July
July 1 - London's first airport is opened, at Hounslow Heath. The facilities include a permanent Customs hall.

July 2 - The Airship R34 achieves the first airship crossing of the Atlantic and the first East-West Atlantic flight, leaving East Fortune, Scotland, to arrive in New York on July 6. The journey becomes a successful two-way crossing when the airship arrives in back in the UK on July 13.

July 14 - A Fiat BR makes the first direct flight from Rome to Paris.
To protest against the fact that pilots have to parade on foot at the victory parade on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, French pilot Charles Godefroy flies his Nieuport fighter under the arches of the famous Arc de Triomphe.

July 21 - Anthony Fokker founds the Dutch Aircraft Factory at Schiphol.

August
August 7 - Cpt Ernest Hoy makes the first aircraft crossing of the Rocky Mountains, from Vancouver to Calgary.

August 25 - the first daily international flights begin, with the Aircraft Transport and Travel company flying a de Havilland DH.16 between London and le Bourget.

September
September 19 - CMA (Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes) commences a regular service between Paris and London, using ex-military Breguet 14s.

September 24 - the Schneider Trophy race is flown at Bournemouth, UK. An Italian Savoia S.13 is the only finisher, but is disqualifed for missing a turning buoy. When judges ask pilot Guido Janello to complete another lap, he runs out of fuel.

September 30 - the British Aerial Transport Company begins domestic flights between London and Birmingham in a Koolhoven FK.26.
Commander Biard, flying the Supermarine route between Southampton and Le Havre, knocks his passenger out during the flight. The man, a Belgian banker named Lowenstein, wanted to open his umbrella to protect himself from the wind and rain.

October
October 4 - A new altitude world record of 31,569 ft is set by American pilot Rudolp Schroeder, flying a Le Père-Lusac 11.

October 7 - KLM is formed.

October 8 - The US Army Air Service begins a trans-continental air race. By the time Lt Belvin Maynard wins it on October 31, seven airmen have died in the attempt.

October 11 - Handley Page Transport begins offering the first in-flight meals, on its London-Brussels service. The meals, consisting of a sandwich, fruits and chocolate, are sold at 3 shillings each.

October 13 - Convention relating to the Regulation of Aerial Navigation signed in Paris.

October 20 - The French pilot Bernard de Romanet, flying a Nieuport-Delage 29v, sets a new world speed record of 166.92 mph.

November
November 1 - West Indies Airways begins exploitation of a route between Key West in Florida and La Havana, in Cuba.

November 12 - Keith and Ross Macpherson Smith set out to fly a Vickers Vimy, G-EAOU, from England to Australia, the first flight between these two places. They arrive in Darwin on

December 18.

November 14 - The American Railway Express Company hires a Handley Page V/1500 to carry 454 kg (1,000 lb) of parcels from New York to Chicago, but the attempt fails due to mechanical problems.

November 15 - Alameda officials make an announcement stating that suspected criminals will be subjected to perilous flight to make them confess their crimes.

November 16 - Cpt Henry Wrigley and Sgt Arthur Murphy make the first aerial crossing of Australia, flying a Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2e from Melbourne to Darwin, Northern Territory, taking 47 hours.

December
December 5 - Avianca is founded as the Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transporte Aéreo in Barranquilla.

December 18 - Sir John Alcock is killed in a crash at Rouen.

First flights

Savoia S.16 flying boat
Armstrong Whitworth Siskin

January
De Havilland Oxford

February
February 21 - Thomas-Morse MB-3, first US-built fighter

April
British Aerial Transport Company F.K.26 Commercial - first purpose-built airliner

May
May 10 - Avro Baby

June
June 25 - Junkers F.13

July
Westland Limousine

November
November 10 - Blériot-SPAD S.27

December
December 2 - Handley-Page W8

December 27 - Boeing Model 6, Boeing's first commercial design