January 9 – The Pratt-MacArthur agreement defines the United States Navy's naval air force as an element of the fleet that moves with the fleet and helps it carry out its missions. The agreement settles a lengthy controversy between the United States Army and the Navy over the role of naval aviation in overall national defense, as well as internal Navy debates over the role of naval air power.[8]
February
Flying from Oran in French Algeria, the French aviators Antoine Paillard and Louis Mailloux fly a 15-kilometer (9.3-mile) circuit for over 50 hours in the Bernard 80 GR in an attempt to set a new unrefueled nonstop closed-circuit world distance record. They cover 8,168 kilometers (5,075 miles) before higher-than-expected fuel consumption forces them to land only 20 kilometers (12 miles) short of the record.
February 1 – Polish pilot Stanisław Skarżyński begins a 25,050-kilometer (15,570-mile) tour around Africa in a PZL Ł.2. He will complete it on May 5.
February 21 – After a Pan American-Grace Airways (Panagra) Ford Trimotor lands at Rodríguez Ballón Airport at Arequipa, Peru, armed revolutionary soldiers surround it. They demand that it fly them to another destination, but the Trimotor's pilot refuses. The standoff continues for 10 days until, on 2 March, the soldiers suddenly announce that their side won the revolution and let the pilot go in exchange for him giving one of them a ride to Lima.[12]
February 6-March 1 – Flying the Blériot 110 over a closed circuit in French Algeria, the French aviator Maurice Rossi sets an unrefueled distance record of 8,822 kilometers (5,482 miles). The plane remains in the air for over 75 hours 23 minutes.[13]
March 9 – Flying a Farman F.302, French aviators Jean Réginensi and Marcel Lalouette set new distance and duration records over a closed circuit with a 2,000-kilogram (4,409-pound) payload, flying 2,678 kilometers (1,664 miles) in 17 hours.
Zygmunt Puławski, one of Poland's leading aircraft designers, dies during the sixth flight of the PZL.12flying boat prototype – which he designed and built – when the PZL.12 stalls after take-off due to a strong wind and crashes in Warsaw, Poland.
March 30–April 2 – Flying the Benard 80 GR, French aviators Jean Marmoz and Antoine Paillard set a new closed-circuit unrefueled flight distance record, covering 8,960 kilometers (5,570 miles) in a time of 52 hours 44 minutes. A loss of coolant finally brings the flight to an end, although during the last part of the flight the two men pump champagne, eau de Vittel, and coffee into the radiator to keep the engine cool.
April 10 – C. W. A. Scott breaks the record for the fastest solo flight from England to Australia, making the flight between April 1 and April 10 in a time of 9 days 4 hours 11 minutes.
April 14 – Honduras founds its National Aviation School. It is the forerunner of the Honduran Air Force.
May 27 – Launching from Augsburg, Germany, Swiss professor Auguste Piccard and his assistant Paul Kipfer ascend to an altitude of 15,781 meters (51,775 feet) in a balloon, establishing a new world altitude record for human flight and gathering substantial data on the upper atmosphere and cosmic rays before landing on a glacier in Austria.
June 5 – C. W. A. Scott breaks the record for the fastest solo flight from Australia to England, flying the 10,660 miles (17,160 km) from Wyndham, Australia to Lympne, England from May 26 to June 5, in 10 days 23 hours piloting a DH.60 Moth (Gipsy II).
June 23–July 1 – Wiley Post and Harold Gatty fly around the world in a Lockheed Vega, the Winnie Mae, covering 15,474 miles (24,903 km) in 8 days 15 hours 51 minutes – a new record.
The Latécoère 380flying boat sets six world seaplane records, including three speed-with-load-over-distance records and a closed-circuit distance-with-load record of 2,208 kilometers (1,372 miles).
Following the Schneider Trophy success, Royal Air Force Flight Lieutenant George Stainforth in Supermarine S.6B serial S1596 breaks the 400 mph air speed record barrier at 407.5 mph (655.8 km/h).[25]
American inventor Ed Link receives a patent for his "Combination Training Device for Student Aviators and Entertainment Apparatus." Better known as the Link Trainer, it allows pilots to train safely on the ground for "blind" instrument flying.[26]
October
October 1 – KLM begins a regular service between Amsterdam and Batavia by Fokker F.XII. At 13,744 km (8,540 mi) this is the longest regular air route in the world at the time.
October 3 – Brazil reestablishes Brazilian Navy control over naval aviation, creating a naval aviation corps which takes over the control of naval aircraft from the general staff.[27]
November 20 – The Government of the Philippines creates an office under its Department of Commerce and Communications to handle aviation matters in the Philippines, particularly the enforcement of rules and regulations governing commercial aviation and private flying.
Hillman's Airways begins flight operations with a charter flight. It will begin scheduled services in April 1932.
December 29 – As the French aviators Louis Mailloux and Jean Marmoz take off in the Bernard 81 GRAntoine Paillard to attempt to set a new unrefueled non-stop closed-circuit flight distance record, the airplane's propeller hits the ground and its undercarriage collapses. The two men escape the accident with only a few bruises, and the aircraft eventually is repaired.
PZL.12 flying boat prototype - designed and built by leading Polish aircraft designer Zygmunt Puławski, the PZL.12 stalls and crashes in Warsaw during its sixth flight a month later on 21 March just after take-off due to a strong wind, killing Zygmunt
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN0-517-56588-9, p. 382.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 22.
^Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, ISBN1-55750-432-6, p. 16.
^Polmar, Norman, "Ships That Were Lighter Than Air," Naval History, June 2011, p. 19.
^Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN0-87021-210-9, p. 124.
^Price, Alfred (1977). Spitfire: a Documentary History. London: Macdonald and Jane’s. p. 12. ISBN0-354-01077-8.
^Bauman, Richard, "Link to the Future," Aviation History, May 2014, p. 50.
^Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810–1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN0-87021-295-8, p. 195.
^Heikell, Edward and Robert, One Chance for Glory, Amazon book,ISBN1468006088, May 2012, P.61
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN0-517-56588-9, p. 145.
^O'Connor, Derek, "Going Long," Aviation History, March 2016, pp. 54–55.
^ abDonald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 50.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN0-517-56588-9, p. 146.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 48.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 60.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 287.
^ abAngelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN0-517-56588-9, p. 144.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN0-517-56588-9, p. 262.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, pp. 218, 219.
^Polmar, Norman, "Historic Aircraft: Biplane Fighters in Action," Naval History, June 2011, p. 16.
^Polar, Norman, "'There's a Ford in Your Future'," Naval History, December 2015, p. 15.
