1949 in aviation

Events

Aerolíneas Argentinas established.

Royal Jordanian Air Force forms as the Arab League Air Force

Republic of Korea Air Force forms

Lebanese Air Force forms

January
January 7 - No. 208 Squadron RAF loses four Supermarine Spitfires and a Hawker Tempest to Israeli Air Force fighters

February
February 26-March 2 - B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II of the 43rd Bombardment Group, completed the first non-stop around-the-world flight from and to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona. The 23,452 mile (37,742 km) journey takes 94 hours 1 minute.

April
April 4 - NATO is formed

April 20-21 - a Short Sunderland flies medical personnel and supplies to HMS Amethyst, shelled by Chinese Communist forces on the Yangtze River.

May
the United States Marine Corps practices deploying by helicopter for the first time, in Exercise Packard III.

May 4 - The Canadian Blue Devils aerobatic team is formed.

May 11 - No. 28 Squadron RAF flies from Malaya to Hong Kong to help reinforce the island against Communist forces on mainland China.

May 19 - a JRM Mars sets a new record of 308 for the largest number of people to be carried on a single aircraft.

May 21 - a Sikorsky S-52 sets a new helicopter altitude record of 21,200 ft (6,468 m).

July
July 25 - Second Lieutenant Bob Kipp of the Canadian Blue Devils aerobatic team is killed in a training accident.

August
August 9 - US Navy Lt. J. L. Fruin loses control of his F2H-1 Banshee and ejects, becoming the first American pilot to use an ejector seat during an actual in-flight emergency.

August 23 - BOAC commences its first services to the Far East to be flown entirely by landplanes.

September
September 9 – Canadian Pacific Airlines DC-3 exploded in mid-flight en route from Quebec City to Baie-Comeau as the result of an on board bomb, killing all 23 on board. See Albert Guay affair.
September 30 - the Berlin Airlift officially ends, with 2,325 tons (2,362 tonnes) of food and supplies having been flown into the city. The final flight is made a week later.

October
October 27 – Air France Lockheed Constellation crashed in the Azores – 48 died including French boxing star Marcel Cerdan and the young concert violinist, Ginette Neveu.

November
November 1 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 537, a Douglas C-54B-10-DO, en route from Boston, Massachusetts to Washington, D.C. collided with a P-38 fighter on its final approach to National Airport. Both planes crashed, killing all 55 people on board the Douglas. The P-38 pilot, Eric Rios Bridaux, survived. Bridaux was a Bolivian Air Force pilot. Among the dead were Congressman George J. Bates and former Congressman Michael J. Kennedy.

November 18 - A Douglas C-74 Loadmaster carries 103 passengers and crew over the North Atlantic, the largest number to have made the crossing in a single flight.

November 29 - American Airlines Flight 157, a Douglas DC-6 en route from New York City to Mexico City, veers off the runway and strikes buildings after an engine failure on final approach to Dallas Love Field. 26 passengers and 2 crew members are killed.

December
December 8 - Muroc Army Airfield was renamed Edwards Air Force Base in honor of test pilot Glen Edwards

First flights

January
January 23 - Dassault Ouragan

March
March 9 - Avro Shackleton prototype VW126

April
April 14 - Aero Ae 50
April 14 - Helio Courier
April 21 - Leduc 0.10

May
May 9 - XF-91 Thunderceptor
May 13 - English Electric Canberra prototype VN799

June
June 4 - Lockheed XF-90
June 20 - Blackburn Beverley

July
July 17 - Vickers Varsity
July 27 - De Havilland Comet - the world's first jet-propelled airliner at Hatfield, Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom

September
September 2 - De Havilland Venom
September 4 - Avro 707 VX784
September 4 - Bristol Brabazon
September 19 - Fairey Gannet prototype VR546
September 24 - North American XT-28

November
November 7 - Sikorsky S-55
November 27 - C-124 Globemaster II

Entered service

April
April 1 - Boeing Stratocruiser with Pan Am

May
F9F Panther with United States Navy VF-51