1949 in aviation

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

Events

• Aerolíneas 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
  de Havilland Sea Hornets of No. 801 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, embark aboard the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Implacable, becoming the first British twin-engined single-seat aircraft to operate from an aircraft carrier.^[1]
• Bahrain-based Gulf Aviation, the forerunner of Gulf Air, is founded. It will begin flight operations in July 1950.
• 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.
• The crew of a Maszovlet Lisiunov Li-2P (registration HA-LIE) illegally flies the airliner out of Hungary and lands at Munich in Allied-occupied Germany.^[2]
• Early 1949 – The Royal Navy experiments with landing
  rubberized deck surfaces installed for the experiments.^[3]
• Mid-1949 – The
  groups.^[4]

• The United States' force of
  atomic bomb assembly teams has risen from two in mid-1948 to seven. Each atomic bomb requires two days to be assembled for use.^[5]
• January 2 – Taking off from
  de-icing, a Seattle Air Charter Douglas C-47A-50-DL Skytrain (registration NC79025) drags its left wing along the ground just after becoming airborne, lands outside the runway, crashes into a hangar, and bursts into flames, killing 14 of the 30 people on board.^[6]
• January 4 – Twenty-two hijackers commandeer a Maszovlet Douglas C-47 Skytrain with 25 people aboard during a domestic flight over Hungary from Pécs to Budapest and force it to fly them to Munich in the American occupation zone in Allied-occupied Germany.^[7]
• January 7 – On the last day of the
  Royal Egyptian Air Force Supermarine Spitfires strafe an Israeli motorized column near Rafah, setting three trucks on fire before departing. When four Royal Air Force (RAF) Spitfires of No. 208 Squadron arrive on the scene to investigate, the column mistakes them for additional Egyptian aircraft and shoots one down. Two Israeli Air Force Spitfires then arrive, mistake the three surviving RAF Spitfires for Egyptian aircraft, and shoot all three of them down. Seven British Hawker Tempests of No. 213 Squadron, eight Tempests of No. 6 Squadron and four more Spitfires of No. 208 Squadron sent to search for the four missing No. 208 Squadron fighters encounter four Israeli Spitfires over Rafah, and in the ensuring dogfight the Israelis shoot down one No. 213 Squadron Tempest.^[8]
• January 9 – Chuck Yeager makes the only conventional take-off from a runway ever attempted in a Bell X-1, then climbs to 23,000 feet (7,000 m) in 90 seconds.
• January 16 – During a one-hour domestic flight in India from Jammu to Srinagar, a Dalmia Jain Airways Douglas C-47B-5-DK Skytrain (registration VT-CDZ) disappears near Banihal Pass with the loss of all 13 people on board.^[9]
• January 17 – The
  Star Ariel (G-AGRE) disappears without trace on a flight from Bermuda to Kingston, Jamaica
  , with the loss of all 20 people on board.
• January 30 – Six hijackers take over a China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) airliner during a domestic flight over China from Shanghai to Qingdao (Tsingtao) and force it to fly them to Tainan on Taiwan.^[10]

February

• El Al purchases its first airliners, two Douglas DC-4s that it buys from American Airlines. Previously, El Al had used only leased airliners.
• February 1 – In the United Kingdom, the Women's Auxiliary Air Force is renamed the Women's Royal Air Force.^[11]
• February 3 – A
  Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C.^[12] The flight also sets a new record for the number of passengers (exclusive of crew members) carried on such a flight.^[13]
• February 8
  • A
    Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen, Denmark, with the loss of all 27 people on board. Its wreckage is found a month later on the sea bottom in Swedish waters in the Kattegat off Barsebäck, Sweden, at a depth of 23 meters (75 feet). At the time, it is both the deadliest aviation accident in Swedish history and the deadliest accident involving any model of the Vickers Viking.^[14]
  • The
    Moses Lake Air Force Base, Washington, to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, in 3 hours 46 minutes at an average speed of 607 mph.^[15]
• February 9 – The U.S. Air Force's
  Muroc Air Force Base, California, to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, in 4 hours 25 minutes at an average speed of 511 mph.^[15]
• February 10 – A
  Huánuco Airport in Huánuco, Peru, killing all 16 people on board. It is the deadliest aviation accident in Peruvian history at the time.^[16]
• February 19 – A British European Airways Douglas Dakota and a Royal Air Force Avro Anson T21 collide in clear weather over Exhall, England. Both aircraft crash, killing all 10 people on the Dakota and the entire four-man crew of the Anson.
• February 24
  • After the crew of a
    Cathay Pacific Airways Douglas C-47A-90-DL Skytrain (registration VR-HDG) aborts a landing at Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong and begins a go-around in poor visibility, the aircraft crashes into a hillside at North Point near Braemar Reservoir, killing all 23 people on board. It is the second-deadliest aviation accident in Hong Kong's history at the time.^[17]
  • The left main undercarriage of a TAM Perú Douglas DC-3 collapses during its takeoff roll at Alejandro Velasco Astete Airport in Cusco, Peru, with 26 people aboard. The No. 1 propeller detaches and cuts through the fuselage, badly injuring the captain, and the airliner catches fire after sliding to a halt. The crash and fire kill 22 of the 26 people on board, including the captain, who later dies of his injuries. It is the deadliest aviation accident in Peruvian history at the time, exceeding the death toll in the Faucett Perú crash two weeks earlier.^[18]
• February 25
  • The United States Air Force Boeing B-50 Superfortress Global Queen takes off from Carswell Air Force Base near Fort Worth, Texas, and flies eastward to attempt to become the first airplane to make a non-stop flight around the world, but its attempt fails when an engine fire forces it to land at Lajes Field in the Azores.^[19]
  • The
    Douglas Skyrocket makes its first rocket-powered flight.^[20]
  • The U.S. Navy
    San Diego, California. It then breaks the record on the return flight the same day, carrying 218 men and a crew of four from San Diego to Alameda.^[12]
• February 26 – Replacing Global Queen, the B-50A Superfortress Lucky Lady II of the U.S. Air Force's
  43rd Bombardment Group takes off from Carswell Air Force Base and flies eastward to begin an attempt to become the first airplane to circle the world nonstop.^[19]

• March 2 – The
  KB-29M Superfortress tankers four times, and had made the flight in 94 hours 1 minute at an average ground speed of 249 mph (401 km/h; 216 kn), traveling 23,452 miles (37,742 kilometers).^[19]
• March 4 – The U.S. Navy
  San Diego to Alameda California.^[12]
• March 7 – Aden Airways is founded as a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). It will begin flight operations in October.
• March 9 –
  Democratic Republic of Vietnam
  .
• March 10 – Its
  Coolangatta Airport in Bilinga, Queensland, Australia, and crashes into a swamp, killing all 21 people on board.^[21]
• March 18 – A
  Paraparaumu Airport in Paraparaumu, New Zealand, killing all 15 people on board. At the time, it is the deadliest aviation accident in New Zealand's history.^[22]
• March 31 – The best single month of the
  metric tons) of cargo to West Berlin since March 1.^[12]

• The Fleet Air Arm re-forms No. 702 Squadron at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose to spearhead the introduction of jet aircraft into Royal Navy service.^[23]
• April 1 – Tunisair begins flight operations.
• April 4 – The
  North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  (NATO) is formed.
• April 20 –
  continental United States
  .
• April 20–21 – A Royal Air Force
  Yangtze River
  .
• April 26 – The first
  commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy.^[24]
• April 29
  • Flying over 100 kilometers (62 miles) off course during a domestic flight in the Soviet Union from Yakutsk to Kirensk, an Aeroflot Lisunov Li-2 (registration CCCP-L4464) crashes into a mountain 117 kilometers (73 miles) east of Kirensk at an altitude of 1,300 meters (4,300 feet), killing 14 of the 24 people on board.^[25]
  • A
    Transporturi Aeriene Româno-Sovietice (TARS) Douglas DC-3 during a domestic flight over Romania from Timișoara to Bucharest and forces it to fly to Thessaloniki, Greece.^[26]

• The United States Marine Corps practices deploying by helicopter for the first time, in Exercise Packard III.
• The Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, General Hoyt Vandenberg, calls for an American atomic bomb inventory large enough to allow the United States to strike 220 targets.^[27]
• The
  EgyptAir
  , becoming the company's sole stockholder. The airline's name changes to Misrair.
• May 4
  • An
    Torino A.C. – also known as Il Grande Torino – football
    (soccer) team, journalists accompanying the team, and the plane's crew.
  • The Canadian
    aerobatic
    team is formed.
• May 6
  • During a
    Portland, Dorset, England, killing all seven people on board.^[28]
  • San Diego to Oakland via Burbank, using a leased Douglas DC-3, beginning once-a-week service on the route.^[29]
• May 7 – A time bomb planted by two ex-convicts explodes aboard a
  Daet. The airliner crashes into the Philippine Sea, killing all 13 people on board.^[30]
• May 11 – The
  Communist
  forces on mainland China.
• May 12 – A committee to study the effectiveness of American atomic attacks on the Soviet Union appointed by the U.S.
  Lieutenant General Hubert R. Harmon reports that if the U.S. Air Force's Strategic Air Command successfully struck 70 Soviet cities with a combined population of 34.7 million people with atomic bombs, the attack would kill 2.7 million people, injure 4 million, and greatly disrupt the lives of the other 28 million residents. However, it also finds that the attacks would not disrupt a Soviet ground and air offensive in Europe, and that Soviet industry damaged by the attacks would recover quickly, while the Soviet population's will to fight would be reinforced by anger over the attacks.^[31]
• May 13
  • The first flight of the first British jet bomber occurs, as the English Electric EE.A1 – prototype of the English Electric Canberra and Martin B-57 Canberra – flies for the first time.^[32]
  • A Bell 47 sets an altitude record for helicopters, reaching 18,550 feet (5,650 meters).^[33]
• May 14 – The Soviet Union cancels the Ilyushin Il-20 program.
• Mid-May – A committee of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff recommends that the American atomic weapon stockpile be expanded to triple the total number of weapons planned previously.^[31]
• May 19 – The
  San Diego
  , California.
• May 21 – A Sikorsky S-52 sets a new helicopter altitude record of 21,200 ft (6,500 m).

June

• June 6
  • During a domestic flight in Greece from
    Technical and Aeronautical Exploitations (TAE) Douglas C-47A-1-DK Skytrain loses its right wing in severe turbulence after entering a cumulonimbus cloud. It crashes near Malakasa, killing all 22 people on board.^[34]
  • After flying into heavy overcast just after takeoff from Florianópolis Air Force Base in Florianópolis, Brazil, a Brazilian Air Force Douglas C-47B-50-DK Skytrain crashes into Cambirela Peak in the foothills of the Serra da Boa Vista, killing all 28 people on board. It is the deadliest aviation accident in Brazilian history at the time.^[35]
• June 7 – After its Number Two engine fails one minute after takeoff from
  Isla Grande Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, an overloaded Strato-Freight Curtiss C-46D-5-CU Commando ditches in the Atlantic Ocean 200 yards (180 meters) off Punta Salinas. The aircraft remains afloat for six minutes, but 53 of the 81 people on board either die in the crash or drown. It is the deadliest aviation accident in Puerto Rican history, and at the time it is the second-deadliest involving any variant of the C-46.^[36]
• June 23 – The KLM Lockheed L-749-79-33 Constellation Roermond (registration PH-TER) loses its tail at an altitude of about 4,500 meters (14,800 feet) during a flight from Cairo, Egypt, to Amsterdam in the Netherlands and crashes into the Adriatic Sea just off Bari, Italy, killing all 33 people on board. At the time, it both the deadliest aviation accident in Italian history and the deadliest accident involving the Lockheed L-749.^[37]
• June 24 – The
  Douglas Skyrocket exceeds Mach 1 for the first time.^[38]
• June 30 – The United States Air Force signs an agreement with the Douglas Aircraft Company for Douglas to construct two Model 499D supersonic research aircraft under the service designation X-3.^[39]

July

• July 2 – The MacRobertson Miller Aviation Douglas DC-3 airliner Fitzroy, registration VH-MME, crashes on takeoff during a driving rain from Perth, Australia, killing all 18 people on board.
• July 9 – A
  French Morocco, killing all 18 people on board. At the time, it is the deadliest aviation accident in the history of Morocco.^[40]
• July 12
  • On approach to
    Bombay, India, in low clouds and poor visibility, a KLM Lockheed L-749-79-33 Constellation (registration PH-TDF) crashes into a 205-meter (673-foot) hill, killing all 45 people on board. At the time, it is the deadliest aviation accident in Indian history.^[41]
  • On approach to
    Chatsworth, California, at an altitude of 1,890 feet (580 meters), about 430 feet (130 meters) below the crest of Santa Susana Pass. The crash kills 35 of the 48 people on board.^[42]
• July 22 – A French Naval Aviation (Aéronavale) Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina amphibious flying boat conducting a nighttime exercise to search for the French Navy submarine Astrée crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off Agadir, French Morocco, and bursts into flames, killing all 17 people on board. It is the second-deadliest aviation accident in Morocco's history at the time.^[43]
• July 25 –
  aerobatic
  team is killed in a training accident.
• July 30 – A
  Queens, New York, to Wilmington Airport in Wilmington, Delaware. Both aircraft crash, killing the Hellcat pilot and all 15 people aboard the DC-3.^[44]
• July 31 – El Al makes its first international flight, a flight from Tel Aviv to Paris with a refueling stop in Rome.

August

• August 6 – A
  Shell Company of Ecuador crashes at Ecuador's Salasaca Hill. killing all 34 people on board.^[45]
• 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.^[46]
• August 9
  • F2H-1 Banshee and ejects, becoming the first American pilot to use an ejector seat
    during an actual in-flight emergency.
  • A
    Salalah Airport in Salalah, Muscat and Oman, killing all 12 people on board.^[47]
• August 10 – The Avro Canada C102 Jetliner makes its first flight. becoming the first jet airliner designed and built in the Western Hemisphere and the second jet airliner worldwide to fly.^[48]
• August 13 – During a domestic flight in Colombia from Bogotá to Ibagué, a SAETA Douglas C-47 Skytrain (registration HK-1200) crashes in the Andes near Bojacá, killing all 32 people on board.^[49]
• August 15
  • A
    Democratic Republic of Vietnam
    .
  • A
    life rafts.^[50]
• August 19 – The British European Airways Douglas DC-3 G-AHCY crashes into a hill at Oldham, Lancashire, England, killing 24 of the 32 people on board.
• August 21 – Flying in poor weather, a
  Canadian Vickers PBV-1A Canso A amphibious flying boat strikes trees on upsloping terrain near Bigstone Lake in Manitoba, Canada, and crashes, killing all 21 people on board.^[51]
• August 23 –
  BOAC commences its first services to East Asia
  to be flown entirely by landplanes.
• August 24 – The flag carrier of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, JAT Jugoslovenski Aerotransport, inaugurates international service between Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and Zürich, Switzerland. Previously, Yugoslavia's isolation from both the Western world and the Eastern Bloc had forced the airline to survive on just six routes, all domestic.

September

• Pan American Airways acquires an ownership stake in and management contract with Middle East Airlines
  .
• September 9 – In order to kill his wife Rita,
  Cap Tourmente near Sault-au-Cochon, Quebec, Canada, en route from Quebec City to Baie-Comeau, Quebec, killing Rita Guay and all of the other 22 people on board. Albert Guay, Ruest, and Pitre all will be hanged
  for the crime, the worst mass murder in Canadian history at the time.
• September 15 – Central Airlines commences scheduled revenue flights.
• September 16 – Five Polish hijackers, four with loaded guns and one with a toy pistol, force a LOT Polish Airlines Lisunov Li-2 making a domestic flight over Poland from Gdańsk to Łódź to fly to Nyköping-F11 Air Force Base in Nyköping, Sweden.^[52]
• September 17 – The Shuttleworth Collection's Blackburn Type D monoplane of 1912 makes its first flight after restoration, the oldest airworthy British aircraft.^[53]
• September 26 – During a domestic flight in
  Popocatepetl, killing all 24 people on board.^[54]
• September 27 – Returning from a humanitarian mission to aid victims of a recent major earthquake in Ecuador, a Flota Aérea Mercante Argentina (FAMA) Douglas C-54A-1-DO Skymaster (registration LV-ABI) catches fire in flight and crashes near Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing five of the 27 people on board.^[55]
• September 30 – The
  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

• Aerocar I.^[56]
• October 1
  • Aden Airways, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), begins flight operations, using a fleet of six Douglas DC-3 airliners transferred from BOAC.
  • A
    Cessna T-50 runs out of fuel and crashes on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles. Four of the men on board survive, but the fifth, American singer Buddy Clark, dies when he is thrown from the plane.^[57]
• October 10 – During a domestic flight in Mexico from Mexico City to Piedras Negras, an Aerovías Coahuila Douglas DC-3-277B (registration XA-HOU) crashes into Sierra de Ovallos near Saltillo, killing all eight people on board.^[58]
• October 26 –
  Dirección General de Aviación Civil ("General Directorate of Civil Aviation"), its national civil aviation authority
  .
• October 28 –
  violinist Ginette Neveu are among the dead. At the time, it is the deadliest aviation accident in the history of Portugal.^[59]

• The
  New Tachikawa Aircraft Company
  is formed in Japan.
• November 1 –
  Boston, Massachusetts to Washington, D.C. collides with a Lockheed P-38 Lightning 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 U.S. Congressman George J. Bates, former U.S. Congressman Michael J. Kennedy, and American cartoonist Helen E. Hokinson.^[57]
• November 2 – The
  People's Republic of China establishes the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China – forerunner of the Civil Aviation Administration of China – as its national civil aviation authority. Initially, the People's Liberation Army Air Force
  manages it.
• November 16 – Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force General Hoyt Vandenberg notes that in a few years the Soviet Union will have 50 to 60 atomic bombs and be able to devastate the United States. He recommends improvements in American air defense capabilities.^[60]
• November 18 – A
  North Atlantic Ocean, the largest number to have made the crossing
  in a single flight.
• November 20 – The
  Jewish children aboard on their way to Israel
  , only one, a 12-year-old boy, survives.
• November 26 – During a domestic flight in Colombia from Bucaramanga to Cúcuta, a Limitada Nacional de Servicio Aéreo (LANSA) Douglas C-47 Skytrain (registration HK-305) crashes in mountainous terrain at an altitude of approximately 2,000 feet (610 meters) near Páramo Bogueche, killing all 12 people on board.^[61]
• November 27 – An
  Việt Minh.^[62]
• November 28 – On approach to
  Lyon-Bron Airport in Lyon, France, an Air France Douglas C-54A-15-DC Skymaster (registration F-BELO) strikes a tree and crashes, sliding to a halt in an open field and catching fire. Five of the 38 people on board die.^[63]
• November 29 – American Airlines Flight 157, a Douglas DC-6, strikes buildings at Dallas Love Field after the flight crew loses directional control on landing; 28 of the 46 people on board die and 16 of the 18 survivors are injured.

December

• The
  Westland Dragonfly.^[64]
• Monarch Airlines buys a controlling interest in Challenger Airlines.
• December 1 – Flying in bad weather on a domestic flight in Brazil from São Paulo to Jacarezinho, a Real Transportes Aéreos Douglas C-47-DL Skytrain (registration PP-YPM) crashes into a mountain near Ribeirão Claro, killing 20 of the 22 people on board.^[65]
• December 7 – During a flight in California from Oakland to Sacramento, a California Arrow Airlines Douglas C-47A-1-DL Skytrain (registration NC60256) makes an unplanned descent from 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) and crashes into a hill east of Vallejo at an altitude of 782 feet (238 meters), killing all nine people on board.^[66]
• December 8 – Muroc Army Airfield is renamed Edwards Air Force Base in honor of test pilot Glen Edwards.
• December 9
  • A Civil Air Transport Curtiss C-46D-20-CU Commando (registration XT-820) crashes near Lanzhou, China, killing all 38 people on board.^[67]
  • Four
    Beograd in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.^[68]
• December 10 – A Civil Air Transport Curtiss C-46D-20-CU Commando (registration XT-820) crashes at
  Haikou Airport, killing 17 of the 40 people on board.^[69]
• December 12
  • After its crew makes a navigational error and begins a descent toward
    Douglas C-53 Skytrooper (registration AP-ADI) crashes into Karo Jabal Mountain near Jungshahi, Pakistan, at an altitude of about 1,185 feet (361 meters), killing 22 of the 26 people on board.^[70]
  • Arlington, Virginia, and crashes into the Potomac River, killing six of the 23 people on board.^[71]
• December 16
  • Sixteen hijackers commandeer a LOT Polish Airlines airliner making a domestic flight over Poland from Łódź to Gdańsk with 18 people aboard and force it to fly to Bornholm Airport on Bornholm in Denmark.^[72]
  • During a domestic flight in Mexico from Mexico City to Mérida, a Mexicana Douglas DC-3A (registration XA-DUK) crashes into the mountain Cerro del Borrego near Orizaba, killing all 17 people on board.^[73]
• December 18 – A
  Paris – Le Bourget Airport. The crash kills all eight people on board.^[74]
• December 30 – Local villagers gather around a Bharat Airways Douglas C-54A-DO Skymaster (registration VT-CYK) after it makes a forced landing at Comilla, East Pakistan. All three people on board survive, but seven villagers are killed when the aircraft catches fire and its fuel tanks explode.^[75]
• December 31 – The U.S. Air Force's Strategic Air Command has 837 aircraft, of which 521 are capable of delivering atomic bombs.^[76]

First flights

• Beriev Be-6 (NATO reporting name "Madge")^[77]
• Piper PA-20 Pacer
• Late 1949 –
  Aerocar Aerocar^[78]

• January 6 – Nord Noroit^[79]
• January 8 – Morane-Saulnier MS-700 Pétrel^[80]
• January 28 – SNCAC NC.271^[81]

February

• February 1 – CAB Minicab^[82]
• February 15 –
  Breguet 761^[83]
• February 24 – Eklund TE-1^[84]
• February 28 – Dassault Ouragan^[85]

March

• March 1 – Bréguet 892S Mercure^[86]
• March 7 – Sud-Ouest SO 1100 Ariel I^[87]
• March 9 – Avro Shackleton prototype^[88] VW126
• March 28 – SNCAC NC.860^[87]

April

• April 1 – SNCASO SO.8000 Narval^[89]
• April 2 – SNCASE Armagnac^[90]
• April 3 – Boisavia Mercurey^[91]
• April 10 – Armstrong Whitworth Apollo^[92]
• April 14 – Aero Ae 50
• April 14 – Helio Courier (by its "Helioplane No.1" demonstrator in Canton, Massachusetts)
• April 16 – Lockheed YF-94, prototype of the F-94 Starfire^[93]
• April 21 – Leduc 0.10 – powered flight^[94]

May

• May 9 – Republic XF-91 Thunderceptor^[95]
• May 13 – English Electric EE.A1 VN799, prototype of the English Electric Canberra, the first British jet bomber^[32]
• May 21 –
  Bréguet G.111^[96]

• June 4 – Lockheed XF-90
• June 4 – Fouga CM.8^[97]

July

• July 13 – Found FBA-1^[98]
• July 17 – Vickers Varsity
• July 27 – De Havilland Comet,^[99] the world's first jet-propelled airliner, at Hatfield, Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom
• July 29 – SNCAC NC 1080^[100]

August

• August 1 – Northrop N-32 Raider, prototype of the
  Northrop C-125 Raider^[101]
• August 10 – Avro Canada C102 Jetliner^[102]
• August 11 – Morane-Saulnier Alcyon^[103]

September

• September 1 – Avro Ashton^[104]
• September 2 – De Havilland Venom^[105]
• September 4
  • Avro 707^[104]
  • Bristol Brabazon^[106]
• September 10 – Nord Noratlas^[107]
• September 19 – Fairey Gannet^[108]
• September 20 – Blackburn B-54^[109]
• September 22 – Convair XAT-29, prototype of the
  Convair T-29^[110]
• September 24 – North American XT-28, prototype of the
  T-28 Trojan

• October 14 – Fairchild C-123 Provider^[111]
• October 28 – Millet Lagarde ML-10^[112]

November

• November 7 –
  Sikorsky S-55
• November 10 –
  H-21 Workhorse^[113]
• November 27 –
  C-124 Globemaster II

• December 14 – Cessna 305, prototype of the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog
• December 16 – Rey R.1^[114]
• December 16 – Nord 2200^[115]
• December 22 – North American F-95A, prototype of the F-86D Sabre, also known as the "Sabre Dog", "Dog Sabre", and "Dogship"^[116]

Entered service

February

• February 2 – Lockheed R6O Constitution (later
  R6V Constitution) with United States Navy Transport Squadron 44 (VR-44)

• Vought F6U Pirate with the United States Navy^[117]

April

• April 1 –
  Pan American World Airways

May

• F9F Panther with United States Navy Fighter Squadron 51 (VF-51)

• Avro Athena with Royal Air Force Central Flying School^[118]

December

• Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar
• December 29 – Lockheed F-94 Starfire with the United States Air Force

Retirements

• Saro A.37 Shrimp

References