1934 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1934:

Events

Sir Alan Cobham's Flight Refuelling Ltd. develops the looped-hose aerial refueling system, a weighted cable let out of a tanker aircraft and grabbed by a grapnel fired from the receiving aircraft. It is the first practical aerial refueling system, and will not be replaced until the probe-and-drogue system is perfected in 1945.
At Yokosuka, Japan, the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy hold the first of three annual interservice competitions in air combat techniques.

January

January 10-11 - A flight of six US Navy Consolidated P2Y flying boats set a new distance record for formation flying, 2,400 miles (3,862 km) between San Francisco and Pearl Harbor, also setting a new speed record for this crossing of 24 hours 35 minutes.
January 30 - Soviet pilots Fedossenko, Wassenko and Usyskin take the stratosphere-balloon Ossoaviachim I to 22,000 m (72,160 ft). Thick ice covered the cabin, and it tore loose from the balloon during the descent, crashing to the ground and killing the crew.

February

February 3 - Lufthansa begins the first regular airmail service across the Atlantic Ocean, between Berlin and Rio de Janeiro.
February 7 - The first airmail flight between Australia and New Zealand is made by Charles Ulm in an Avro Ten, taking 14 hours 10 minutes.
February 19 - The United States Army Air Corps begins flying US airmail after the government cancels all existing airmail contracts due to alleged improprieties by the previous administration during the negotiations of those contracts.

March

March 7 - Juan de la Cierva lands an autogyro on the Spanish Navy aviation ship Dédalo. It is the first time an autogyro lands on a Spanish ship.
March 9 -All air operations of the United States Customs Service are transferred to the United States Coast Guard.

April

Six Soviet and two American airmen rescue the crew of the Soviet commercial icebreaker Chelyuskin from the ice of the Chukchi Sea, where the ship had sunk on February 13.
April 11 - Renato Donati sets a new altitude record of 14,433 m (47,352 ft) in a Caproni Ca 113.

May

May 8-23 - Jean Batten sets a new women's speed record between England and Australia. She flies a de Havilland DH.60 and makes the trip in 14 days 22 hours.
May 29 - Highland Airways commences the first regular airmail service within the United Kingdom, between Inverness and Kirkwall

June

June 4 - the US Navy commissions its first purpose-built aircraft carrier, USS Ranger (CV-4).
June 26 - Initial flight of the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the first practical helicopter.
June 29-30 - Brothers Benjamin and Joseph Adamowicz, amateur pilots, fly across the Atlantic Ocean.

July

July 15 - Varney Speed Lines (later to be Continental Airlines) makes its first passenger-carrying flight.
July 19 - F9C Sparrowhawk parasite fighters from the United States Navy airship USS Macon (ZRS-5) successfully launch from the airship, scout out the heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA-30) and return to Macon.
July 19-August 20 - United States Army Air Corps General Henry Arnold leads ten Martin B-10 bombers on an 8,000-mile (12,875 km) proving flight.

August

August 8-9 - James Ayling and Leonard Reid make the first non-stop flight from Canada to England, in a de Havilland DH84, taking 30 hours 50 minutes for the flight.
August 28 - September 16 - The fourth and last International Tourist Aircraft Contest Challenge International de Tourisme 1934 takes place in Warsaw, Poland. The Polish crew of Jerzy Bajan on the RWD-9 plane wins.

September

September 7-16 - As part of Challenge International de Tourisme 1934, a 9,537 km (5,922-mile) race takes place over Europe and North Africa, concluding with a maximum speed trial over a 297-km (184-mile) triangular course on September 16.
September 22 - Sir Alan Cobham sets out in an Airspeed Courier in a failed attempt to fly non-stop from England to India.

October

October 20-November 3 - Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first eastward crossing of the Pacific Ocean, from Brisbane, Australia to San Francisco, California, in the Lady Southern Cross.
October 20-November 5 - The MacRobertson Air Race is flown from England to Melbourne, Australia to celebrate the centenary of the state of Victoria. The £10,000 prize money is won by C. W. A. Scott and Tom Campbell Black flying de Havilland DH88 Comet Grosvenor House from Mildenhall, Suffolk to Melbourne, Australia in a time of 71 hours.
October 23 - Francesco Agello passes his 1933 world speed with a new airspeed record of 709 km/h (440 mph). Again he flies the Italian Macchi M.C.72 seaplane.

November

The United States Congress passes an amendement to the Air Commerce Act of 1926 requiring U.S. airlines to use multi-engine aircraft on routes over terrain not readily permitting emergency landings.

December

December 3 - Charles Ulm disappears while flying over the Pacific Ocean somewhere between Oakland, California and Hawaii.
December 8 - Imperial Airways extends its airmail service to Australia.
December 20 -United States Coast Guard Lieutenant Richard L. Burke sets a world seaplane speed record of 308.750 km/h (191.734 mph) over a 3-kilometer (1.8-statute mile) test course flying a Grumman JF-2 Duck.
December 28 - During the Chaco War, a Macchi M.18 flying boat of the Paraguayan Navy's aviation arm carries out the first night bombing raid in South America, attacking Bolivian positions at Vitriones and Mbutum.

First flights

January

January 14 - De Havilland DH.86

February

Supermarine Type 224
Gotha Go 145

March

March 30 - Sikorsky S-42

April

Mitsubishi G3M (as Ka-9 prototype)
April 17 - De Havilland Dragon Rapide
April 17 - Fairey Swordfish prototype K 4190

May

May 9 - De Havilland Hornet Moth
May 11 - Douglas DC-2

June

June 26 - Airspeed Envoy

July

July 27 - Supermarine Stranraer

August

PZL.23 Karas
August 14 - Dewoitine D.510

September

September 7 - Hawker Hardy
September 8 - De Havilland DH.88
September 12 - Gloster Gladiator
September 12 - Hawker Hind

October

Caudron Simoun C620
October 7 - First prototype Tupolev ANT-40RT which becomes Tupolev SB

November

November 23 - Bloch MB.210

Entered service

May

May 18 - Douglas DC-2 with Transcontinental and Western Air

exact date unclear - PZL P.11a in the Polish Air Force and PZL P.11b in the Romanian Air Force

1934 in Aviation Pictures

More aircraft.

Source: WikiPedia