This is a list of aviation-related events from 1924:
Events
January
- January 29 – Pateras Pesara flies an experimental helicopter in Paris. The machine flies 800 metres (2,640 ft) in just over 10 minutes.
February
March
April
- During the month, the International Commission for Aviation passes a resolution stating that "women shall be excluded from any employment in the operating crew of an aircraft engaged in public transport." A concern of the era is that women would have difficulty controlling an aircraft while menstruating.
- April 1
- Imperial Airways is formed, with the backing of the British government.
- Flights of Royal Air Force aircraft operating from Royal Navy ships are given the collective title "Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force." This will later be shortened to "Fleet Air Arm."
- The Government of Canada approves the title "Royal" for the Canadian Air Force, establishing the new Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). In addition to its military duties, the RCAF takes over the responsibility for the control and regulation of all civil aviation in Canada.
- April 6 – Four United States Army Air Service Douglas World Cruisers depart Seattle, Washington, beginning a six-month westbound journey which will culminate in the first aerial circumnavigation of the world.
- April 7 – Portuguese Commander Brito Pais and Captain Sarmento de Beires depart Lisbon eastbound in the Breguet 16.Bn2 Patria, beginning an attempt to fly around the world. They will crash Patria in India, but will continue in the de Havilland DH.9A Patria II before being forced to end their attempt in June in China, a short walk from its border with Hong Kong.
- April 24 – French Captain Georges Pelletier d'Oisy and Adjutant Lucien Besin depart Paris eastbound in a Breguet 19.A.2, beginning an attempt to fly around the world. They will be forced to end their attempt in May in Shanghai.
- April 26 – Imperial Airways makes its first scheduled flight, from Croydon Aerodrome to Paris, using a de Havilland DH.34.
- Apr 30 – Regular Belfast–Liverpool airmail flights are inaugurated by Alan Cobham, using de Havilland DH.50 craft.
May
June
- Flying the Nieuport-Delage NiD 42S, the French pilot Joseph Sadi-Lecointe wins the Coupe Beaumont race as the only finisher, then continues flying to establish a new world speed-over-distance record over a distance of 500 km (310.69 miles), averaging 306.696 km/h (190.572 mph).
- Ludovic Arrachart wins the Michelin Cup long-distance flying competition.
- June 16 – The Royal Air Forceâ²s Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment moves from Isle of Grain, Kent, to the former Seaplane Experimental Station at Felixstowe, Suffolk.
- June 23 – Lieutenant Russell Maughan makes the first one-day crossing of the United States, completing the flight from Long Island, New York, to San Francisco, California, in a Curtiss PW-8 in 21 hours 48 minutes.
- June 23âÂÂ24 (overnight) – United States Navy Lieutenants Frank Wead and John D. Price make a flight in a Curtiss SC that sets five world records for seaplanes in its class. The flight sets a record for distance, covering , and duration, remaining airborne for 13 hours, 23 minutes, 15 seconds. It also sets records for speed over a distance of , averaging ; speed over a distance of , averaging and speed over a distance of , averaging .
- June 24
- In Shenzhen, close to the China-Hong Kong border, Portuguese Commander Brito Pais and Captain Sarmento de Beires give up on their eastbound attempt to circumnavigate the world in the de Havilland DH.9A Patria II after covering 11,000 miles (17,713 km) from Lisbon.
- The Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) has 1,181 aircraft, of which 748 are combat-ready.
- June 25 – Westbound from Rangoon to Akyab, the United States Army Air Service flight of Douglas World Cruisers attempting the first aerial circumnavigation of the world unknowingly flies over the Vickers Vulture II amphibian of the Royal Air Force team of MacLaren, Plenderleith, and Andrews, which is sheltering in a coastal bay in Burma while eastbound from Akyab to Rangoon during its own attempt at a circumnavigation.
July
- July 1 – Regular night airmail services commence in the United States, linking Chicago, Illinois, with Cheyenne, Wyoming.
- July 10 – Japanese aircraft sink a ship for the first time, when Imperial Japanese Navy bombers use level bombing from an average height of 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) over the course of four hours to sink the retired coast defense battleship Iwami off Yokosuka.
- July 11âÂÂ12 (overnight) – United States Navy Lieutenants Frank Wead and John D. Price make a flight in a Curtiss SC that sets two world records for seaplanes in its class. The flight sets a record for distance, covering , and duration, remaining airborne for 14 hours, 53 minutes, 44 seconds.
- July 17 – French Captain Georges Pelletier d'Oisy completes a flight from Paris to Tokyo, using a Breguet 14 borrowed from the Republic of China government after the May crash of his Breguet 19.A.2 at Shanghai. The journey from Paris takes 120 hours in the air over 84 days.
August
- The Bolivian Air Force is formed, as the Cuerpo de Aviación ("Aviation Corps").
- The Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) participates in the first large-scale Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) maneuvers since 1910. The air force aircraft are tasked to conduct surveillance in coastal waters, reconnoiter enemy bases, and strike enemy ships that come within range. The air force is hampered by poor communications with the navy, the grounding of its airships â necessary for reconnaissance at ranges of more than 100 miles (161 km) â due to weather, and difficulty in distinguishing between ship types and between friendly and enemy ships. In a final fiasco, the "Red" fleet "torpedoes" the "Blue" fleet's flagship, the battleship Andrea Doria, as the "Blue" fleet enters port at Augusta, Sicily, at the end of the maneuvers after the "Blue" fleet's air escort breaks formation to overfly the fleet in a celebratory pass.
- August 4 – The attempt of the Royal Air Force team of MacLaren, Plenderleith, and Andrews to circumnavigate the world eastbound ends when they are forced down in the Bering Sea by fog and their Vickers Vulture amphibian is irreparably damaged. They taxi to safety at Bering Island in the Commander Islands. They had covered 13,100 miles (21,095 km) in 130 days.
- August 8 – The U.S. Navy dirigible docks with the airship tender while the Patoka is underway off Newport, Rhode Island, showing that airships could operate from support ships far out to sea.
- August 24 – The U.S. Navy light cruiser rescues the crew of an Italian flying boat that is forced down in the Arctic Ocean by bad weather.
- August 31 – Six United States Army Air Service aviators flying Douglas World Cruisers arrive in Labrador, completing the transatlantic leg of their first aerial circumnavigation of the world.
September
- September 3 – A United States Army Air Service pilot sets a speed record for a flight from Boston, Massachusetts, to New York City, completing the trip in 58 minutes.
- September 11 – Canada's first regular airmail service begins, with Laurentide Air Services linking Haileybury, Ontario, with Rouyn, Quebec.
- September 27-October 4 – The Daily Mail sponsors the Two-Seater Dual-Control Light Aeroplane Competition at Lympne Aerodrome in Lympne, England, the second of the three light airplane trials held there. Maurice Piercey wins in the Beardmore Wee Bee.
- September 28 – Greeted by 50,000 people and a congratulatory telegram from President Calvin Coolidge, two of the original four United States Army Air Service Douglas World Cruisers that had set out from Seattle, Washington, on April 6 arrive in Seattle, completing the first aerial circumnavigation of the world. Their westbound journey had covered 27,534 miles (44,338 km) in 371 hours in the air, taking 175 days. They have made 57 hops during the trip, averaging 483 miles (778 km) per hop, and visited 25 U.S. states and 21 foreign countries.
October
- October 1 – The fourth annual Air League Challenge Cup race takes place over a 100-mile (161-kilometer) triangular course beginning and ending at Lympne Airport in Lympne, Kent, England. Three flights, each consisting of three Sopwith Snipes flown by Royal Air Force pilots, participate; one flight represents No. 25 Squadron at RAF Hawkinge, another No. 32 Squadron at RAF Kenley, and the third No. 56 Squadron at RAF Biggin Hill. Each flight flies the race in formation. No. 25 Squadron's flight finishes third with a time of 59 minutes 7.4 seconds, but is declared the winner when the other two flights are disqualified for cutting the western turning point and therefore failing to fly the entire course. The race is not held again until 1927.
- October 9 – In the United Kingdom, the Royal Auxiliary Air Force is established.
- October 10 – United States Navy Lieutenants Andrew Crinkley and Rossmore Lyon make a flight in a Curtiss SC covering in 20 hours minutes, 28 minutes. Although the flight would have set new world records for distance and duration for a seaplane in the Curtiss SC's class, the flight was not officially timed and was therefore not recognized as setting any world records.
- October 12âÂÂ15 – The Luftschiffbau Zeppelin-built dirigible LZ 126 is flown from Friederichshafen, Germany, nonstop to the Lakehurst, New Jersey, in the United States under guidance of Hugo Eckener for delivery to the U.S. Navy as a World War I war reparation. It is the longest nonstop airship flight in history at the time, covering 5,060 miles (8,148 km) in 81 hours and passing over the Azores, the Dominion of Newfoundland, and New York City along the way.
- October 18 – Italian World War I ace and aviation pioneer Giovanni Ancillotto dies in an automobile accident in Caravaggio, Lombardy, Italy.
November
December
- December 12
- Flying the Dewoitine D.8, French pilot Marcel Doret sets a new world speed record for an aircraft with a load of over a closed-circuit course, averaging .
- The Cierva C.6 autogyro makes the first cross-country flight by a rotary-wing aircraft, piloted by Captain JoaquÃÂn Loriga the 10.5 km (7 statute miles) from Cuatro Vientos airfield to Getafe, Spain, in eight minutes.
- December 13 – In an early parasite fighter experiment, Lieutenant Clyde Flinter unsuccessfully attempts to dock his Sperry Messenger with the United States Army airship TC-3.
- December 14 – A Martin MO-1 is launched using an explosive-driven catapult fitted to a gun turret on the United States Navy battleship , requiring less distance than ever for the take-off.
- December 23 âÂÂFlying the Dewoitine D.8, Marcel Doret sets three new world speed records for an aircraft with a load of over a closed-circuit course, averaging over , over , and over .
- December 24 – Imperial Airways de Havilland DH.34 G-EBBX crashes at Purley, Surrey, in the United Kingdom, shortly after takeoff from Croydon Airport, killing all eight people on board. It is Imperial Airways first fatal accident, and as a result of a public inquiry into the disaster Croydon Airport is expanded to absorb almost all of Beddington Aerodrome.
First flights
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
- October 4 – Curtiss XPW-8A, predecessor of the XPW-8B, prototype in turn of the Curtiss P-1 Hawk
November
Entered service
March
May
July
References
- Isaacs, Keith. "The Fairey IIID In Australia". Air Enthusiast, Number 24, AprilâÂÂJune 1984. Bromley, Kent, UK:Pilot Press. ISSN 0143-5450. pp. 40âÂÂ49.