1949 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1949:

Events

Aerolx­neas Argentinas is established.
Royal Jordanian Air Force is formed as the Arab League Air Force.
Republic of Korea Air Force is formed.
Lebanese Air Force is formed.
The American Section of the International League of Aviators awards the National Trophy, a Harmon Trophy awarded from 1926 to 1938 to the outstanding aviator of the year in each of the 21 member countries of the now-defunct League and since 1945 by the American Section, for the last time. The trophies it presented from 1945 to 1949 stirred much controversy, with the awards going largely unrecognized.

January

January 7 - No. 208 Squadron RAF loses four Supermarine Spitfires and a Hawker Tempest to Israeli Air Force fighters.

February

February 26-March 2 - B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II of the 43rd Bombardment Group, completes the first non-stop around-the-world flight, from and to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona. The 23,452 mile (37,742 km) journey takes 94 hours 1 minute.

April

April 4 - NATO is formed.
April 20-21 - Short Sunderland flies medical personnel and supplies to HMS Amethyst, shelled by Chinese Communist forces on the Yangtze River.

May

United States Marine Corps practices deploying by helicopter for the first time, in Exercise Packard III.
May 4 - Canadian Blue Devils aerobatic team is formed.
May 11 - No. 28 Squadron RAF flies from Malaya to Hong Kong to help reinforce the island against Communist forces on mainland China.
May 19 - A JRM Mars sets a new record of 308 for the largest number of people to be carried on a single aircraft.
May 21 - A Sikorsky S-52 sets a new helicopter altitude record of 21,200 ft (6,468 m).

July

July 25 - Second Lieutenant Bob Kipp of the Canadian Blue Devils aerobatic team is killed in a training accident.

August

August 7 - Using the probe-and-drogue aerial refueling system, a Royal Air Force Gloster Meteor Mk 3 remains aloft continuously for 12 hours 3 minutes, with pilot comfort appearing to be the only factor limiting an ability to stay aloft even longer.
August 9 - US Navy Lt. J. L. Fruin loses control of his F2H-1 Banshee and ejects, becoming the first American pilot to use an ejector seat during an actual in-flight emergency.
August 23 - BOAC commences its first services to the Far East to be flown entirely by landplanes.

September

September 9 - Canadian Pacific Airlines DC-3 explodes in mid-flight en route from Quebec City to Baie-Comeau as the result of an on board bomb, killing all 23 on board. See Albert Guay affair.
September 30 - Berlin Airlift officially ends, with 2,325 tons (2,362 tonnes) of food and supplies having been flown into the city. The final flight is made a week later.

October

October 27 - Air France Lockheed Constellation crashes in the Azores. 48 die including French boxing star Marcel Cerdan and the young concert violinist, Ginette Neveu.

November

November 1 - Eastern Air Lines Flight 537, a Douglas C-54B-10-DO, en route from Boston, Massachusetts to Washington, D.C. collides with a P-38 fighter on its final approach to National Airport. Both planes crash, killing all 55 people on board the Douglas. The P-38 pilot, Eric Rios Bridaux (a Bolivian Air Force pilot), survives. Among the dead are Congressman George J. Bates and former Congressman Michael J. Kennedy.
November 18 - A Douglas C-74 Loadmaster carries 103 passengers and crew over the North Atlantic, the largest number to have made the crossing in a single flight.
November 29 - American Airlines Flight 157, a Douglas DC-6 en route from New York City to Mexico City, veers off the runway and strikes buildings after an engine failure on final approach to Dallas Love Field. 26 passengers and 2 crew members are killed.

December

December 8 - Muroc Army Airfield is renamed Edwards Air Force Base in honor of test pilot Glen Edwards.

First flights

January

January 23 - Dassault Ouragan

March

March 9 - Avro Shackleton prototype VW126

April

April 14 - Aero Ae 50
April 14 - Helio Courier
April 21 - Leduc 0.10

May

May 9 - XF-91 Thunderceptor
May 13 - English Electric Canberra prototype VN799

June

June 4 - Lockheed XF-90
June 20 - Blackburn Beverley

July

July 17 - Vickers Varsity
July 27 - De Havilland Comet - the world's first jet-propelled airliner at Hatfield, Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom

September

September 2 - De Havilland Venom
September 4 - Avro 707 VX784
September 4 - Bristol Brabazon
September 19 - Fairey Gannet prototype VR546
September 24 - North American XT-28

November

November 7 - Sikorsky S-55
November 27 - C-124 Globemaster II

Entered service

April

April 1 - Boeing Stratocruiser with Pan Am

May

F9F Panther with United States Navy VF-51

1949 in Aviation Pictures

More aircraft.

Source: WikiPedia