This is a list of aviation-related events from 1933:
Events The United States Coast Guard requests authorization to construct its first cutters with a capability of carrying aircraft.A Chronological History of Coast Guard Aviation: The Early Years, 1915-1938. Tokyo conducts its first blackout exercise.Kerr, E. Bartlett, Flames Over Tokyo: The U.S. Army Air Forcess Incendiary Campaign Against Japan 1944-1945, New York: Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1991, , p. 105. The Berliner-Joyce Aircraft Corporation is absorbed into North American Aviation.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 58. The Royal Air Force declares the Avro 504 obsolete after 20 years of service.Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, , p. 77.
January The United States Army Air Corps receives the responsibility to conduct long-range reconnaissance flights and operations "to the limit of the radius of action of the airplanes" off the coasts of the United States and its overseas territories. This requirement prompts the Army Air Corps to initiate the acquisition process for a bomber with the ability "to reinforce Hawaii, Panama, and Alaska without the use of intermediate servicing facilities." January 1 – A requirement that pilots flying interstate routes in the United States demonstrate their ability to use airway navigation aids and fly specified maneuvers guided entirely by instruments before they can receive a scheduled air transport pilot rating from the United States Department of Commerce's Aeronautics Branch goes into effect. January 2 – After modifications, HMS Courageous reenters service with the Royal Navy as the worlds first aircraft carrier equipped with hydraulically controlled arresting gear.Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, , p. 215. January 2–3 – During the Battle of Shanhai Pass, a squadron of Imperial Japanese Army bombers provides close air support to Japanese Kwantung Army ground forces in action against China's National Revolutionary Army at the Shanhai Pass at the fortified eastern end of the Great Wall of China.Du, Jiaxin, "Last Battle on the Great Wall," Military History, January 2017, pp. 32, 35, 36. January 7 – Bert Hinkler dies in the crash of his de Havilland Puss Moth on the north slope of the Pratomagno in Italy's Apennine Mountains on the first leg of his attempt to break the time record for a flight from the United Kingdom to Australia. His body is not found until 27 April.Australian Dictionary of Biography: Bert Hinkler January 16 – With aircraft manufacturer René Couzinet on board, Jean Mermoz and crew make a non-stop flight across the South Atlantic Ocean from Saint-Louis, Senegal, to Natal, Brazil, in 17 hours 27 minutes in the Couzinet 70 Arc-en-ciel III.
February February 2 – Spartan Air Lines is formed to make use of the Spartan Cruiser airliner. The airline will begin flight operations on April 12. February 6–8 – Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Oswald Gayford and Flight Lieutenant Gilbert Nicholetts make the first non-stop flight from England to South Africa in a Fairey Long-range Monoplane. The flight is a new distance record and takes 57 hours 25 minutes. February 6–9 – Jim Mollison flies a de Havilland Puss Moth from England to Brazil, via Senegal, across the South Atlantic Ocean, making him the first person to fly solo across both the North and South Atlantic. February 8 – The Boeing 247, often considered the first modern ariliner, makes its first flight. February 15 – Eastern Air Transport (the future Eastern Air Lines) acquires Ludington Airline. February 25 – , the United States Navy's first ship designed from the outset as an aircraft carrier, is launched.
March March 16 – The Boeing 247, often considered the first modern airliner, receives its type certificate from the United States Department of Commerce's Aeronautics Branch (the predecessor of the Federal Aviation Administration). March 28 – Imperial Airways Armstrong Whitworth Argosy airliner City of Liverpool catches fire in the air over Belgium and crashes, killing the crew of three and all 12 passengers, the deadliest accident in the history of British civil aviation at the time.Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, , p. 63. The fire may have been started deliberately.Milde, Michael, International Air Law and ICAO Eleven International Publishing, 2008, pp. 228-9. March 31 – Ford 4-AT-B Trimotor NC7686, carrying members of the Winnipeg Toilers basketball team from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, on a charter flight, crashes near Neodesha, Kansas, probably while attempting a forced landing in a field. The crash kills both crew members and five of the 11 passengers.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
April Australian National Airways (ANA), the first airline of that name, goes into voluntary liquidation, and its remaining assets are sold off. April 1 – The Indian Air Force is formed. April 3 Two British aircraft, the Westland PV-3 and Westland PV-6 piloted by Squadron Leader the Marquess of Clydesdale and Flight Lieutenant David MacIntyre, make the first flight over Mount Everest, sponsored by Lucy, Lady Houston. The Royal Air Force reinstates the squadron of nine to 12 planes as the basic organizational unit for its aircraft assigned to Royal Navy aircraft carriers, retaining the six-plane flight as the basic organizational unit only for aircraft assigned to operate from battleship and cruiser catapults.Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, , p. 17. April 4 – The U.S. Navy dirigible crashes during a storm off the coast of New Jersey, killing 73 of its 76 crewmen. It is the worst aviation accident in history at the time, and no greater loss of life will occur in a single air crash until 1950. April 10 – Francesco Agello sets a new airspeed record of in the Italian Macchi M.C.72 seaplane. April 11 – Departing England on April 11 in the Avro Mark VIA Avian Southern Cross, William N. "Bill" Lancaster begins an attempt to set a speed record for a flight to South Africa. He crashes in the Sahara Desert on April 12 and dies on April 20 while awaiting rescue. His mummified body and wrecked aircraft will not be discovered until February 1962.Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, , p. 78. April 12 Spartan Air Lines begins flight operations, offering service from Heston Aerodrome outside London to Cowes on the Isle of Wight using three Spartan Cruiser airliners. William Besler makes the first successful flight in a fixed-wing aircraft powered by a steam engine. The aircraft, a Travel Air 2000 biplane, is powered by an oil-fired, reversible 90°-angle V-twin angle-compound engine he and his brother George designed. The seven-minute trial flight is certified by the National Aeronautical Association.Geoghegan, George, "The Dream of Steam," Aviation History, January 2017, p. 40. April 17 – At Oakland Municipal Airport in Oakland, California, George and William Besler unveil their aviation steam engine to the public for the first time, with William flying the steam-powered Travel Air 2000 in a public demonstration that consists of three flights totaling a combined 15 minutes in the air, banking over San Francisco Bay before returning to the airport. The engine is virtually silent, allowing William to call down to the crowd while passing over it at an altitude of . He reaches and demonstrates the engine's braking power by reversing the propeller on landing and coming to a stop in only . Despite the engine's success and speculation by aviation reporters that steam engines could economically power the airplanes of the future, the Beslers make no further public flights and do not develop the engine further.Geoghegan, George, "The Dream of Steam," Aviation History, January 2017, pp. 38, 40-41. April 19 Five Japanese American pilots fly commercial aircraft from Los Angeles Municipal Airport out over the Pacific Ocean off California as a salute to the ships of an Imperial Japanese Navy training squadron as the ships approach Los Angeles Harbor for a port visit. In the Hawaiian Islands, the U.S. Navy conducts the first mass seaplane flight from Oahu to French Frigate Shoals, a flight. The aircraft return via the Gardner Pinnacles, completing the round trip in 8 hours 10 minutes.Aviation Hawaii: 1930-1939 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii April 20 – George D. Besler and William J. Besler's prototype steam biplane, based on a Travel Air 2000, makes the first of several demonstration flights at Oakland airport in the San Francisco Bay Area. April 29 – The Nazi government in Germany forms the Reichsluftfahrtministerium ("Reich Aviation Ministry"). April 30 – The first air service internal to Scotland, Renfrew–Campbeltown, begins, operated by Midland & Scottish Air Ferries Ltd. Winifred Drinkwater, "the world's first female commercial pilot", is hired to fly the route.
May Turkish Airlines is formed under the name "State Airlines". Erhard Milch, State Secretary of the German Reich Air Ministry, receives a major study of the future of a new German air force written by Dr. Robert Knauss. Knauss projects that the main threat to the reestablishment of Germany as a great power will be a preventive attack by France and Poland before Germany can fully rearm, and he recommends the creation of a force of 400 four-engined bombers which could deter such an attack with an ability to attack enemy population and industrial centers and destroy enemy morale.Murray, Williamson, Strategy for Defeat: The Luftwaffe 1933-1945, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press, 1983, no ISBN, pp. 6-7. May 7–8 – Stanislaw Skarzynski flies the South Atlantic from Senegal to Brazil in a small single-seater tourist airplane RWD-5bis, in 20 hours 30 minutes, over a distance of . The RWD-5bis was the smallest plane to have ever flown the Atlantic - empty weight below , loaded 1100 kg. It is a part of 17,885 km Warsaw - Rio de Janeiro flight from April 27 to June 24. May 13 – The founder of the British Aircraft Company, Charles H. Lowe-Wylde, is killed while flying a B.A.C. Planette at Maidstone Airport near West Malling, Kent, England.Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the Worlds Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978, , p. 90. May 22 – In its inaugural Boeing Air Transport flight from San Francisco, California, to New York City, a Boeing 247 airliner crosses the continental United States in the record time of hours.Bryan, C.D.B., The National Air and Space Museum, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1979, , p. 109. May 24 – French intercontinental aviation pioneer Ludovic Arrachart dies when his Caudron C.362 suffers engine failure during preliminary trails for the 1933 Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe race. May 29 – Flying a Potez 53, George Detré wins the 1933 Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe race, covering the two-stage closed-circuit course in 6 hours 11 minutes 45 seconds at an average speed of .1000aircraftphotos.com NICO BRAAS PHOTO No. 6820. Potez 53 ("10" c/n 5402) May 31 – The first regular civil air service from Northern Ireland to Renfrew Airport in Glasgow, Scotland, begins.
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