1935 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1935:

Events Employing aerial refueling, a sustained flight record of 653 hours 34 minutes (27 days, 5 hours, 34 minutes) is set by brothers Al and Fred Key of Meridian, Mississippi. It remains unbroken. Consolidated Aircraft Corporation moves from Buffalo, New York, to San Diego, California.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 95. Imperial Japanese Navy dive bombers practice against a full-size mock-up of the United States Navy aircraft carrier Saratoga (CV-3) at the Kashima bombing range.Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, , p. 41. Pan American World Airways builds a seaplane base for its transpacific China Clipper flying boats on Sand Island at Midway Atoll.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume IV: Coral Sea, Midway, and Submarine Actions, May 1942-August 1942, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 72. The Soviet Union has the largest bomber force in the world.Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, , p. 47. The Kalinin K-7 programme ends with the construction of only one K-7, which had been lost in 1933. The end of the programme brings the cancellation of the construction of two additional K-7s. The United States Army places a rotary-wing aircraft in service for the first time when it purchases a Kellet KD-1 autogiro for evaluation. The autogiro is designated the YG-1 in U.S. Army service. Approximately 20 cities in the United States have established radio control of airport traffic. The first — Cleveland Municipal Airport (the future Cleveland Hopkins International Airport) in Cleveland, Ohio — had done so in 1930.

January

Helen Richey begins flying as a first officer for Pennsylvania Central Airlines. Operating a Ford Tri-Motor between Washington, D.C., and Detroit, Michigan, via Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Cleveland, Ohio, she is the first female pilot for a regularly scheduled commercial airline.Lynch, Adam, "Hometown Heroine," Aviation History, March 2012, p. 56. January 1 – In accordance with the Air Mail Act of 1934, it becomes illegal in the United States for an airline with an air mail contract to own any other aviation enterprise, or for any other aviation enterprise to own an air line with an airmail contract, with the exception that both airlines and other aviation enterprises still may own airfields. The most significant practical effect of the legislation is that aircraft manufacturers no longer may own airlines and vice versa. January 3 – As a part of the Romanian air tours over Africa, Irina Burnaia starts her journey from Bucharest, Romania, to Lake Victoria in Africa piloting an IAR-22. January 11–12 – Amelia Earhart makes the first solo flight from Hawaii to North America, flying from Honolulu to Oakland, California, in 18 hours 15 minutes.Aviation Hawaii: 1930-1939 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii It is also the first solo flight across any portion of the Pacific Ocean. January 15 – United States Army Air Corps Major James Doolittle establishes a record for a transport flight across the United States, from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, in 11 hours 59 minutes. January 26 – During a mail flight, the Hillman's Airways de Havilland Dragon Rapide G-ACPO crashes in bad weather at Derbyhaven on the Isle of Man. January 29 – With parachutist Edith Clark aboard as a passenger, pilot Madeleine Charnaux climbs to , setting an altitude record for light aircraft. January 31 – During a scheduled passenger flight from Moscow in the Soviet Union to Berlin, Germany, the Deruluft Junkers Ju 52/3mge D-AREN crashes into a hill in fog and rain, killing all 11 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description

February February 3 – The German aircraft designer Hugo Junkers dies February 12 – The U.S. Navy rigid airship crashes and sinks in the Pacific Ocean off Point Sur, California. Two of her crewmen die. February 21 – Sisters Jane and Elizabeth Du Bois, daughters of the American consul at Naples, Italy, Coert du Bois, force open the door of a Hillman Airways de Havilland Dragon Rapide airliner in flight and jump to their deaths. Both women had been engaged to be married to pilots killed in the crash of a Royal Air Force flying boat off Sicily on February 15.Sydney Morning Herald, February 26, 1935, p. 11. February 22 It becomes illegal for airplanes to fly over the White House in Washington, D.C.McCabe, Scott, "Crime History", Washington Examiner, February 22, 2012, p. 8."Today in History", The Washington Post Express, February 22, 2012, p. 26. President Franklin D. Roosevelts complaint that aircraft disturb his sleep prompts the new law. Leland Andrews breaks Doolittle's January record, completing a transcontinental transport flight across the United States in 11 hours 34 minutes. Wiley Post takes off from Burbank, California, to begin his first attempt to make the "First Air Mail Stratosphere Flight" over U.S. Air Mail Route #2 (AM-2) from Los Angeles, California, to New York City and set a speed record for a flight across the continental United States. Mechanical problems force him to land his Lockheed 5C Vega Winnie Mae at Muroc Dry Lakein the Mojave Desert after a flight of only . An inspection reveals that a mechanic had sabotaged the flight by placing emery dust in the air inlet of the plane's supercharger at the request of a disgruntled pilot, causing the engine to ingest a U.S. quart (0.8 imp qt; 0.95 liter) of the dust. February 26 In Germany, Adolf Hitler orders Hermann Göring to secretly establish the Luftwaffe, violating the provision of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 that Germany never again possess armed aircraft.The Military History of the Luftwaffe Robert Watson-Watt and Arnold Wilkins first demonstrate the reflection of radio waves from an aircraft, near Daventry in England; on June 17, the first radio detection of an aircraft by ground-based radar is made at Orford Ness.

March March 1 – The United States Department of War establishes General Headquarters Air Force within the United States Army. March 9 – The Nazi Government in Germany publicly announces the formation of the Luftwaffe in defiance of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. Hermann Göring is made its commander-in-chief, a position he holds almost until the end of World War II in 1945.Murray, Williamson, Strategy for Defeat: The Luftwaffe 1933-1945, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press, 1983, no ISBN, p. 5. March 15 – Wiley Post's second attempt to make the "First Air Mail Stratosphere Flight" over U.S. Air Mail Route #2 (AM-2) from Los Angeles, California, to New York City and set a speed record for a flight across the continental United States fails when mechanical problems force him to turn around east of Cleveland, Ohio, and land his Lockheed 5C Vega Winnie Mae at Cleveland. Nonetheless, he achieves a nonstop flight from Burbank, California, reaching Cleveland in a record time of 7 hours 19 minutes. Winnie Mae averages for the flight — higher than the plane's normal top speed — and reaches at times, indicating that Post had operated in the jet stream during the flight. Although falling short of its goal of reaching New York, the flight demonstrates the practicality of both Post's pressure suit and Winnie Mae'''s oxygen system for high-altitude flight, and that aircraft operating at such high altitudes on westbound flights can achieve impressive boosts in speed thanks to the jet stream. (This sources places the flight on March 5 rather than March 15) March 28 – Robert Goddard launches the world's first successful liquid-fuelled rocket.

April April 1 – Swissair begins services between Zürich and London. April 4 – United Airways Ltd is formed to operate services between England and the Isle of Man. April 13 - Qantas and Imperial Airways provide regular connecting flights between Brisbane, Australia, and London. April 14 – Wiley Post's third attempt to make the "First Air Mail Stratosphere Flight" over U.S. Air Mail Route #2 (AM-2) from Los Angeles, California, to New York City and set a speed record for a flight across the continental United States fails when his Lockheed 5C Vega Winnie Mae suffers mechanical problems that force him to land at Lafayette, Indiana, after a flight from Burbank, California, that takes about eight hours. (This sources places the flight on March 5 rather than March 15) April 16–17 – The Pan American Airways Sikorsky S-42 Pioneer Clipper makes the first airline survey flight from California to Hawaii, departing from Alameda, California, and arriving at Pearl Harbor. The flight, which takes 17 hours 44 minutes, is the beginning of the development of an orderly commercial air transportation system in the Pacific Ocean.

May May 6 TWA Flight 6, a scheduled passenger flight from Albuquerque Municipal Airport in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Kansas City, Missouri, aboard the Transcontinental & Western Air Douglas DC-2-112 NC13785, crashes near Atlanta, Missouri, killing five of the eight people on board. United States Senator Bronson M. Cutting of New Mexico is among the dead. Controversy over conflicting findings by the Bureau of Air Commerce and by a U.S. Senate committee regarding the cause of the crash will lead to the establishment in the United States of an independent air safety board under the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description Frank Hawks arrives at Los Angeles, California, completing a 39-hour 52-minute flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to demonstrate the long-range capabilities of the Northrop Gamma 2E attack aircraft to the Argentine Navy, making eight rest and refueling stops along the way. Taking off from Buenos Aires on May 3 with Northrop chief test pilot Gage H. Irving in the plane's gunner's seat, Hawks has broken ten intercity speed records during the 8,090-mile (13,020-km) trip, including on the 3,430-mile (5,523-km) leg from Cristóbal, Panama, to Los Angeles, which he covers in a record-breaking 17 hours 50 minutes.aircargo.com "Time Flies at 70" May 18 – A Polikarpov I-5 fighter collides with the Tupolev ANT-20 Maxim Gorky while trying to conduct a loop around Maxim Gorky during a demonstration flight over Moscow. Maxim Gorky crashes near Tushino. Fifty-six people die, making it the worst heavier-than-air crash and second-worst air crash in history at the time, exceeded only by the death toll of 73 in the April 1933 crash of the U.S. Navy dirigible . May 31 – Hickam Field is dedicated in the Territory of Hawaii.

June June 15 – Wiley Post attempts his fourth and final attempt to make the "First Air Mail Stratosphere Flight" over U.S. Air Mail Route #2 (AM-2) from Los Angeles, California, to New York City and set a speed record for a flight across the continental United States. He takes off from Burbank, California, in the Lockheed 5C Vega Winnie Mae and passes over the Rocky Mountains at , but as he crosses Kansas in the stratosphere Winnie Mae's engine fails, forcing him to make a deadstick landing at Wichita, Kansas, after a nonstop flight of . The incident leads Post to retire the record-setting Winnie Mae due to age and declining reliability. (This sources places the flight on March 5 rather than March 15)