1931 in aviation

Events

Manufacturer Airspeed Ltd founded in York, England.

First Bendix trophy race

January
January 6 - Gen Italo Balbo leads the first formation flight across the South Atlantic. Twelve Savoia-Marchetti S.55s fly from Portuguese Guinea to Brazil.

January 7 - Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing his Avro Sports Avian on New Zealand's west coast.

February
February 26 - Imperial Airways begins scheduled services between England and Africa using Armstrong Whitworth Argosys

March
March 26 - Swissair is formed by the merger of Ad Astra Aero and Balair.

March 31 - the crash of a TWA Flight 599 a Fokker F.10 at Bazaar, Kansas prompts the first grounding of an aircraft type. The grounding was ordered by the US Department of Commerce.

May
May 27, Swiss professor Auguste Piccard and his assistant Kipfer take a stratosphere-balloon to 15,781 m, starting in Augsburg and landing on a glacier in Austria.

June
June 11 - The 40 passenger Handley Page HP-42 four-engine biplane enters service with British airline Imperial Airways, setting new standards of passenger service and comfort.

June 23-July 1, Wiley Post and Harold Gatty fly around the world in a Lockheed Vega, the Winnie Mae, covering 15,474 miles in 8 days 15 hours 51 minutes - a new record.

July
July 22-September 1 - Sir Alan Cobham and crew make a 19,800 km (12,300 mile) return flight between England and the Belgian Congo in a Short Valletta.

August
August 29, the Graf Zeppelin pioneers the air route between Germany and Brazil.

September
September 13 - the United Kingdom wins the Schneider Trophy outright. Flt Lt John Boothman of the RAF High Speed Flight completes the course at Calshot Spit in a Supermarine S.6B at 547.297 km/h (340.1 mph).

October
October 1 - KLM begins a regular service between Amsterdam and Batavia by Fokker F.XII. At 13,744 km (8,540 miles) this is the longest regular air route in the world at the time.

October 3-5 - Hugh Herndon and Clyde Pangborn make the first non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean, from Samushiro Beach, Japan, to Wenatchee, Washington in 41 hours in a Bellanca Skyrocket.

October 27 - The Detroit Aircraft Corporation files for bankruptcy. Eventually, the Lockheed portion of the company is bought out of receivership.

November
The first production R-6 rolled off the assembly line at the N22 factory in Moscow.

November 2 - US Marine Corps squadrons VS-15M and VS-14M embark on USS Lexington and USS Saratoga, the first time Marine Corps squadrons are assigned to aircraft carriers.

First flights

March
March 3 - Fairey Gordon
March 9 - Blériot 125 F-ALZD
March 25 - Hawker Fury

August
August 7 - RWD-5

September
Heinkel He 59

October
October 26 - De Havilland Tiger Moth DH.82 prototype G-ABRC
October 31 - Westland Wallace

November
November 27 - Fairey Seal

December
December 29 - Hawker Audax

Entered service

October
October 27 - USS Akron with the United States Navy

November
November 19 - Sikorsky S-40 with Pan American