This is a list of aviation-related events from 1939:
Events Kawasaki Heavy Industries transfers its aircraft engine production business to its subsidiary, the Kawasaki Aircraft Engineering Company.Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, , p. 21. The Showa Aeroplane Company Ltd. begins to produce aircraft for the Imperial Japanese Navy at Showa, Japan.Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, , p. 27.
January President Franklin D. Roosevelt asks the United States Congress to strengthen the air power of the United States, which he describes as "utterly inadequate." During flight testing, the prototype of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force′s (IJAAF) Nakajima Ki-43 (Allied reporting name "Oscar") fighter displays poor takeoff and landing characteristics and proves to be far less maneuverable and only slightly faster than the fighter it is intended to replace, the Nakajima Ki-27 (Allied reporting name "Nate"). The IJAAF considers ending further development of the Ki-43, but its co-designer, Hideo Itokawa, convinces the IJAAF to allow him to redesign the aircraft.[Guttman, John, "Nakajima′s Fragile Falcon," Aviation History, May 2017, p. 31.] January 5 – Pioneering U.S. aviator Amelia Earhart is officially declared dead, eighteen months after her disappearance over the Pacific. January 7 – A Swissair Douglas DC-2-115B (registration HB-ITA) with 17 people on board strikes a hill near Senlis, France, while on approach to Paris-Le Bourget Airport and crashes, killing five of its occupants and seriously injuring four others.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description January 12 – The Royal Air Forces Auxiliary Air Force is formed. January 13 Northwest Airlines Flight 1, a Lockheed 14H Super Electra, crashes into a ravine shortly after takeoff from Miles City Municipal Airport in Miles City, Montana, killing all four people on board. The Syndicato Condor Junkers Ju 52/3mge Marimba (registration PP-CAY) crashes into a mountain in the Serra do Sambé northeast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and catches fire, killing all 10 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description January 21 – The Imperial Airways Short Empire flying boat Cavalier, tail number G-ADUU, flying from Port Washington, New York, to Bermuda with 13 people on board, ditches and sinks in the Atlantic Ocean southeast of New York City after icing causes its engines to fail. Three people on board die, but the commercial tanker Esso Baytown rescues the 10 survivors after they spend 10 hours in the water. January 26 – In the Spanish Civil War, Barcelona surrenders to Nationalist forces. In the days leading up to the surrender, Nationalist aircraft have raided the city continually, especially targeting ships in port to prevent them from saving Republican refugees from capture.Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, , p. 871-872. January 29 – Karl Bode breaks the world altitude record for helicopters, flying a Focke-Wulf Fw 61 helicopter to an altitude of . It is the last official record set by a German helicopter produced prior to 1945.
February February 4 – The Boeing XB-15 prototype, assigned to the United States Army Air Corps 2nd Bombardment Group at Langley Field, Virginia, takes offNational Museum of the U.S. Air Force Photo: Boeing XB-15 under the command of Major Caleb V. Haynes to carry of American Red Cross emergency supplies to Santiago, Chile, in the wake of the 1939 Chillán earthquake. It arrives at Santiago only 30 hours later, making only two stops along the way, at France Field in the Panama Canal Zone, and at Lima, Peru. Haynes will receive the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Order of the Merit of Chile for the flight, and the XB-15's entire crew will receive the 1939 MacKay Trophy for it. February 9 – Alex Henshaw sets a new speed record of 4 days 10 minutes for the round trip between England and Cape Town in a Percival Mew Gull. February 11 – The Lockheed XP-38 falls 17 minutes short of the record for a flight across the United States, flying from March Field, California, to Mitchel Field, New York, in 7 hours 43 minutes. It loses power and crashes during its final approach at Mitchell Field, but its pilot is unhurt and the flight is considered an impressive demonstration of range and speed for a fighter.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, , p. 263. February 12 – Spanish Nationalist forces have 600 aircraft, compared to only 40 available on the Republican side.Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, , p. 890. February 16 – The Spanish Republican Air Force reports that it has only 25 Polikarpov I-15 and I-16 fighters, two squadrons of Tupolev SB-2 bombers, and three squadrons of Polikarpov R-5 bombers.Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, , p. 892. February 24 – A German Ministry of Aviation Junkers Ju 52/3mge (registration D-ALUS) taking German Condor Legion pilots who had fought in the Spanish Civil War home to Germany crashes into a mountain in Roubion, France, during a snowstorm, killing all 10 people on board. Its wreckage is not found until March 4.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
March To improve coordination of aviation affairs within the United States Army, the United States Department of War places both General Headquarters Air Force (responsible for U.S. Army air combat operations) and the United States Army Air Corps (responsible for aviation logistics and training) under the command of the Chief of the Air Corps, Major General Henry H. Arnold.Maurer, p. 8. General der Flieger Albert Kesselring, commander of the Luftwaffes Luftflotte 1, states that he doubts that even highly technically competent bomber crews can hit targets with any accuracy at night or in bad weather.Murray, Williamson, Strategy for Defeat: The Luftwaffe 1933–1945, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press, 1983, no ISBN, p. 16. March 7 – All American Aviation (the future All American Airways, Allegheny Airlines, USAir, and US Airways) begins operations, providing passenger and mail service. March 18 – During a test flight of a Boeing 307 Stratoliner (registration NX19901) at an altitude of , a KLM test pilot attempts a pre-approved test of the aircraft's flying characteristics at low speed with both engines on one side shut down. The Stratoliner stalls, goes into a spin, loses its wings and tail section, and crashes near Alder, Washington, killing all 10 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description March 25 – Ongoing ceasefire negotiations between Nationalist and Republican officials which include a Nationalist demand that all Spanish Republican Air Force aircraft fly to Nationalist airfields to surrender on this day are broken off when Republican aircraft do not surrender. A major motivation for the Nationalist demand is to prevent Republican leaders from fleeing Spain by air; six Republican aircraft carry officials and refugees from central Spain to France on this day.Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, , pp. 910–911. March 26 – Republican leader Segismundo Casado López telegraphs Nationalist leader Francisco Franco, announcing that the Spanish Republican Air Force will surrender to Nationalist forces the following day. Franco replies that Nationalist armies would advance on Republican territory anyway.Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, , p. 912. March 30 – Hans Dieterle sets a new world air speed record in a Heinkel He 100 of .Boyne, Walter J., "Lost Luftwaffe Airplanes," Aviation History, November 2015, p. 35.
April The Seversky Aircraft Corporation changes its name to Republic Aviation.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, , p. 382. April 1 Nationalist leader Francisco Franco announces that the Spanish Civil War has ended in a complete Nationalist victory. During the 32½-month war, the Nationalists have used about 1,300 aircraft and the Republicans about 1,500; about 10,000 people have died in air attacks. Early Republican numerical air superiority had been challenged almost immediately by the technical superiority of Italian Fiat CR.32 fighters and Savoia-Marchetti SM.81, and German Junkers Ju 52 bomber-transports; Soviet Polikarpov I-15 and I-16 fighters had given the Republicans air superiority in the winter of 1936–1937, but the Nationalists had achieved lasting air superiority after German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters and Heinkel He 111 bombers and Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers had arrived in 1937. Germany has sent about 600 aircraft to Spain, Italy about 660, the Soviet Union 1,000, and other countries (principally France) about 350. The German, Italian, and Soviet air forces have learned a great deal about the employment of modern aircraft in warfare through their involvement, and the Luftwaffes Condor Legion in particular has used the conflict to test new aircraft and revolutionary new air warfare concepts.The Main Events of the Spanish Civil WarThomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, , pp. 927, 937, 940, 941, 977, 978, 980–981. The Spanish Republican government airline LAPE ceases operations. The Franco government expropriates LAPE's aircraft and transfers them to the airline Iberia. On the ninth anniversary of its founding, the Fieseler aircraft manufacturing company changes its name from Fieseler Flugzeugbau Kassel to the Gerhard Fieseler Werke GmbH. April 3 – The leading ace of the Spanish Civil War, the Nationalist pilot Joaquín García Morato y Castaño, dies when his Fiat CR.32 fighter crashes while he is performing low-level aerobatics for newsreel cameras. He had scored 40 victories during the war. April 26 – German Luftwaffe Flugkapitän Fritz Wendel sets a new world air speed record, reaching in the Messerschmitt Me 209 V1 racing aircraft. The German government will report that the record was set by an "Me 109R", a false designation used as part of a 1939 propaganda campaign to confuse other countries into thinking that the Me 209 is an advanced variant of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter.Jackson, Robert, Messerschmitt Bf 109 A-D Series, New York: Osprey Publishing, Inc., 2015, , unpaginated. April 28 – Vladimir Kokkinaki and Mikhail Godienko attempt a non-stop flight from the Soviet Union to New York but are forced down on Miscou Island in bad weather the next day.
May The Imperial Japanese Navys air arm conducts the first Japanese bombing raid on Chongqing, China, an incendiary raid which causes huge fires and inflicts enormous casualties. Raids will increase in size and intensity over the next two years.Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909–1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, , p. 117-118. The Hitachi Aircraft Company Ltd. is formed, with plants at Ōmori, Tachikawa, and Haneda, Japan.Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, , p. 19. May 2 – An Air France Dewoitine D.338 (registration F-ARIC) encounters sudden icing conditions during a flight from Dakar, Senegal, to Casablanca, French Morocco, and crashes near Argana, French Morocco, killing all nine people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description May 9 – Irish aviator Mary, Lady Heath, dies of injuries suffered in a fall aboard a double-decker tram in London.