This is a list of aviation-related events from 1938:
Events Imperial Airways inaugurates scheduled service from London to Montreal. Pan American World Airways is banned from British airports out of fears that more advanced U.S. aircraft will drive Imperial out of the transatlantic market. The National Trophy, the Harmon Trophy presented to the outstanding aviator for the year in each of the 21 member countries of the International League of Aviators, is awarded for the last time, although the annual award of the Harmon Trophy to the worlds outstanding aviator, aviatrix (female aviator), and aeronaut (balloon or dirigible aviator or aviatrix) continues. The Imperial Japanese Navys air arm conducts a six-month bombing campaign against Hankou and other centers of Chinese resistance in central China.Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909–1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, , p. 114. The Civil Aeronautics Authority is established in the United States and takes over operation of the air traffic control system.A Chronological History of Coast Guard Aviation: The Early Years, 1915–1938. The Spanish Republicans attempt to develop an aircraft manufacturing industry. They build 169 copies of the Soviet Polikarpov I-15 fighter during 1938, but never use any of them in combat in the Spanish Civil War.Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, , p. 864. Late 1938 – Under Japanese supervision, the Manshū Aircraft Company is formed in Harbin, Manchukuo.Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, , p. 21.
January Early January – Nationalist aircraft conduct a heavy bombing campaign against Barcelona, Spain.Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, , p. 720. January 6 – Spanish Republican Minister of Defense Indalecio Prieto y Tuero proposes to the Nationalists that both sides in the Spanish Civil War ban air attacks on cities and towns in rear areas. The Nationalists reply that they will continue to bomb Barcelona unless its industries are evacuated.Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, , p. 794. January 10 – Northwest Airlines Flight 2, a Lockheed 14H Super Electra, crashes in the Bridger Mountains northeast of Bozeman, Montana, killing all 10 people on board. Among the dead is aviation pioneer Nick Mamer, who had been piloting the aircraft. It is the first fatal accident involving Northwest Airlines or a Lockheed Super Electra. January 11 – During history's second scheduled air mail and cargo flight from the United States to New Zealand, the Pan American Airways Sikorsky S-42B flying boat Samoan Clipper — which had set out on the flight from Honolulu on — explodes in mid-air over the Pacific Ocean shortly after takeoff from Pago Pago, American Samoa, where it had made a stop. No passengers are aboard the plane, but its entire crew of seven is killed, including Pan Americans chief pilot, Ed Musick, who had been piloting the aircraft. The loss of the Samoan Clipper leaves Pan American without an aircraft for the New Zealand service, which it discontinues.Geoghegan, John J., "Vanished!", Aviation History, November 2013, p. 34. January 17 – Spanish Nationalist Fiat CR.32 fighters clash with Republican Polikarpov fighters over the front lines at Teruel, Spain, during the Battle of Teruel.Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, , p. 792. January 20 – A Flight Refuelling Ltd Armstrong Whitworth AW.23 refuels an Imperial Airways Short Empire over Southampton Water. January 26 – Spanish Republican Air Force aircraft bomb Seville and Valladolid. January 28 – A 90-second air raid on Barcelona by nine Mallorca-based Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers kills 150 people and injures 500.Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, , pp. 794–795.
February Luftwaffe test pilot Hanna Reitsch flies a Focke-Wulf Fw 61 helicopter indoors at the Deutschlandhalle sports arena in Berlin, Germany, demonstrating the sensitivity of its controls and the ease of flying it. February 2 – Two United States Navy PBY-2 Catalina flying boats flying in formation in darkness collide in mid-air and crash into the Pacific Ocean off California's San Clemente Island, killing one PBY's entire crew of seven and three of the six men aboard the other PBY.Aviation Safety Network: Accident DescriptionAviation Safety Network: Accident Description February 6 – The Short Mayo Composite aircraft achieves its first separation in flight.Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the Worlds Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978, , p. 223. February 9 – On takeoff in fog from Marignane-Berre Seaplane Base at Marseille, France, the Air France Lioré et Olivier LeO H-242/1 flying boat Ville de Bone (registration F-ANPB) strikes the breakwater and crashes near Étang de Berre, killing seven of the 14 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description February 10 – With the assistance of a very strong tailwind, Royal Air Force Squadron Leader (later Wing Commander) John W. Gillan (DFC & bar, AFC) flies a Hawker Hurricane Mark 1 of No. 111 Squadron from Turnhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland, to Northolt, West London, England, in 48 minutes at an average indicated air speed of . February 13 – Flying in bad weather, an Ala Littoria CANT Z.506 floatplane (registration I-ORIA) crashes into the Mediterranean Sea off Sardinia, killing all 14 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description February 15–27 – Six United States Army Air Corps B-17 Flying Fortresses make a goodwill tour of Latin America, traveling from the United States to Lima, Peru; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santiago, Chile; and back to the United States
March March 1 – A Transcontinental & Western Air Douglas DC-2 flying from San Francisco, California, to Winslow, Arizona, crashes in Yosemite National Park in Madera County, California, during bad weather, killing all nine people on board. Despite an extensive search, the aircraft's wreckage is not found until June 12. March 7 The Air France Potez 62 La Tapageuse (registration F-ANQR) crashes at Datia, India, shortly after takeoff from Dum Dum Airport in Calcutta, killing all seven people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description Spanish Nationalist forces begin an offensive in Aragon, supported by German aircraft of the Condor Legion. The Condor Legion by this time has two Messerschmitt Bf 109 groups of four squadrons, two Heinkel He 51 groups of two squadrons, four bomber groups of three squadrons equipped with Heinkel He 111s and Junkers Ju 52s, and a reconnaissance group of three squadrons equipped with Heinkels and Dornier Do 17s.Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, , p. 798. March 7–17 – The Aragon Offensive sees retreating Republican forces bombarded by German Heinkel He 111s and Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79s escorted by Messerschmitt Bf 109s and Fiat CR.32s, with German Dornier Do 17 reconnaissance planes assisting in the location of targets.Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, , p. 800. March 12 – Junkers Ju 52s carry German troops to Vienna during the German Anschluss against Austria.Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, , p. 804. March 16 – Belfast Harbour Airport in Northern Ireland is opened, with the inaugural commercial flight to Glasgow. March 16–18 – Italian aircraft based on Mallorca carry out a heavy, round-the-clock bombing of Barcelona, conducting seventeen air raids at three-hour intervals. Making no attempt to strike military targets specifically, they hit all parts of the city, killing about 1,300 people and injuring about 2,000.Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, , pp. 804–805. March 22 – The Nationalist Aragon Offensive resumes. Bombing and strafing German, Italian, and Spanish Nationalist aircraft play a large role in terrorizing and routing Republican ground forces for the remainder of the offensive.Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, , pp. 800–802. March 23 – An Air France Dewoitine D.338 (registration F-AQBB) crashes into Pic des Cinq-Croix in the French Pyrenees during a flight from Oran, French Algeria, to Toulouse, France, at an altitude of , killing all eight people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description Late March – The British Chiefs of Staff Committee warns that in any confrontation with Germany over Czechoslovakia, the Luftwaffe would dominate the sky and that it might devote its entire force to attacking the United Kingdom as the best way of winning the war.Murray, Williamson, Strategy for Defeat: The Luftwaffe 1933–1945, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press, 1983, no ISBN, p. 18.
April April 19 – The Aragon Offensive ends, with Spanish Nationalists having routed Republican forces and cut Republican-controlled Spain in two. Nationalist air superiority has proven decisive in their victory, and both the Germans supporting the Nationalists and the Soviets supporting the Republicans have learned a great deal about fighter support to infantry.Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, , p. 802. April 20 – British Air Commodore Arthur Travers Harris makes a purchasing trip to the United States to select aircraft to expand the Royal Air Force. The Lockheed Hudson and North American Harvard are chosen. April 25 – After a Pan American Airways Sikorsky S-43B flying boat (registration NC16932) loses power in its left engine at an altitude of while on approach for a landing at Kingston, Jamaica, and its crew switches its fuel selector, the aircraft loses speed, stalls, crashes into the Caribbean Sea, and sinks. All 18 people on board survive.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description April 29 – In the largest air battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War to date, 18 Mitsubishi G3M bombers and approximately 30 Mitsubishi A5M fighters encounter 60 to 80 Soviet-built Nationalist Chinese fighters over Hankou. The Japanese claim the destruction of 51 Chinese fighters and admit losing two fighters and two bombers, while the Chinese admit the loss of 12 aircraft and claim to have shot down anywhere from 21 Japanese aircraft to as many as 45.Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909–1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, , p. 114–115. April 30 – Ala Littoria Flight 422, a Savoia-Marchetti S.73 (registration I-MEDA) flying from Tirana, Albania, to Rome, Italy, crashes into a mountainside near Maranola, Formia, Italy, killing all 19 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
May For the second time in six months, a Mitsubishi A5M fighter loses a third of its right wing in when it is rammed by a Nationalist Chinese fighter but flies to its base without further incident. This time, the collision occurs over Hankou.Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909–1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, , p. 111. A terror bombing raid by Imperial Japanese Navy Mitsubishi G3M bombers on Canton, China, kills 600 and injures 900.Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909–1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, , p. 116. May 12 Three United States Army Air Corps B-17 Flying Fortresses use dead reckoning navigation to intercept the ocean liner more than at sea. The United States Navy commissions its sixth aircraft carrier, . May 13–15 – A Japanese Gasuden Koken aircraft flying a three-cornered closed-circuit course over Japan breaks the nonstop unrefueled world distance record, flying .