This is a list of aviation-related events from 1926:
Events Award of the Harmon Trophy begins. A set of three trophies is awarded annually to the worlds outstanding aviator, aviatrix (female aviator), and aeronaut (balloon or dirigible aviator) for the year, and a fourth trophy (the National Trophy) is awarded to the outstanding aviator for the year in each of the 21 member countries of the International League of Aviators. Fiat acquires the Società Anonima Aeronautica Ansaldo aircraft manufacturing subsidiary from the Gio. Ansaldo & C. shipbuilding company and combines it with its own Società Italiana Aviazione subsidiary to form a new Società Anonima Aeronautica d'Italia subsidiary for the design and production of aircraft.Chant, Chris, The Worlds Great Bombers, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000, , p. 48. The first known reforestation of land by aircraft is carried by airplanes operating from Wheeler Field on Oahu in the Territory of Hawaii.Aviation Hawaii: 1920-1929 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii Harold Frederick Pitcairn founds the Pitcairn Aircraft Company. It later will become the Autogiro Company of America. Summer 1926 – A Lieutenant Jira of Czechoslovakia flies Avia B.9.11 L-BONG from Prague to Paris and back at an average speed of , a notable achievement at the time for an aircraft of the B.9s class.Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, , p. 72.
January January 6 – Deutsche Luft Hansa is formed by the merger of Deutscher Aero Lloyd and Junkers Luftverkehr. January 22 – A Spanish four-man crew led by Spanish Air Force Major Ramón Franco – the brother of future Spanish dictator Francisco Franco – and including Captain Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz takes off from the Rio Tinto at Palos de Moguer, Spain, to begin a seven-stop flight to Buenos Aires in the Dornier Do J Wal ("Whale") flying boat Plus Ultra ("Farther Still"). After flying low past the Christopher Columbus Monument in Huelva, Spain, they make an uneventful 806-mile (1,298-km) flight to their first stop at Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.O'Connor, Derek, "The Other Franco," Aviation History, January 2018, pp. 56, 57. January 26 – Ramón Franco and his crew complete the second leg of their Spain-to-Buenos Aires flight, flying from Las Palmas in the Canary Islands to Porto Praia in the Cape Verde Islands in 9 hours 50 minutes.O'Connor, Derek, "The Other Franco," Aviation History, January 2018, p. 57. January 30 – Ramón Franco and his crew complete the third and longest leg of their Spain-to-Buenos Aires flight, flying from Barrera de Inferno in the Cape Verde Islands to Fernando de Noronha in 12 hours at an altitude of . It is the second-longest nonstop flight in history – exceeded only by a 1,890-mile North Atlantic Ocean crossing in a Vickers Vimy on 14-15 June 1919 by John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown – and they become the first aviators to cross the South Atlantic Ocean using only one aircraft. Rough weather forces them to spend the night on their flying boat Plus Ultra before they can dock at Fernando de Noronha. January 31 – Forced to throw their gear and luggage overboard to remain airborne after an in-flight engine failure, Ramón Franco and his crew complete the fourth leg of their Spain-to-Buenos Aires flight, flying from Fernando de Noronha to Recife, Brazil, where they receive a hero's welcome.O'Connor, Derek, "The Other Franco," Aviation History, January 2018, pp. 57-58.
February February 1 – Controversial United States Army airpower advocate Billy Mitchell resigns from the United States Army Air Service with the permanent rank of colonel.Colonel Phillip S. Meilinger, USAF. Maxwell AFB. American Airpower Biography: Billy Mitchell February 4 – Spanish Air Force Major Ramón Franco, copilot/navigator Captain Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz, and their crew complete the fifth leg of their Spain–to–Buenos Aires flight in the Dornier Do J Wal ("Whale") flying boat Plus Ultra ("Farther Still"), flying from Recife, Brazil to Rio de Janeiro in 12 hours 16 minutes. Franco is at the controls for the entire flight. So many boats meet them that they have difficulty landing in Guanabara Bay without colliding with one.O'Connor, Derek, "The Other Franco," Aviation History, January 2018, p. 58. February 9 – Ramón Franco and his crew complete the sixth leg of their Spain-to-Buenos Aires flight, flying from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Montevideo, Uruguay, in 12 hours 5 minutes. February 10 – Ramón Franco and his crew complete their Spain-to-Buenos Aires flight, flying the journey's seventh leg, a flight from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Buenos Aires where they receive another welcome by exuberant crowds. Over 20 days, they have completed the 6,300-mile (10,145-km) trip from Spain in just under 51 hours of flying time, a considerable achievement for the time. Franco's plans to fly back to Spain in Plus Ultra via Chile, Mexico, Cuba, and the Azores will be cancelled when the Government of Spain opts to present the plane to the Government of Argentina as a gift. Plus Ultras crew instead will return to Spain aboard the Argentine Navy protected cruiser Buenos Aires as Spanish national heroes. February 12 – Straying off course while flying a Curtiss Carrier Pigeon for the United States Post Office on the overnight airmail delivery route from Chicago to New York City, pioneering American pilot Art Smith dies when he crashes into a grove of trees near Montpelier, Ohio. He is the second U.S. overnight mail service pilot to die on duty.
March March 1 – Four Royal Air Force Fairey IIIDs begin a long-distance flight, taking them from Cairo to Cape Town and then on to Lee-on-Solent, England, where they will arrive on June 2.Taylor 1988, p.102–103. March 4 – In Hawaii, two United States Army Air Service Loening OA-1 amphibians take off from Luke Field on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor on Oahu, fly to Kauai and land in a new harbor there, then return to Oahu, refuel, and fly on to Hilo on the island of Hawaii, making the final Oahu-to-Hilo leg of the flight in a record 2 hours 4 minutes. The Army Air Service intends the flight to demonstrate both the adaptability of amphibian aircraft and the practicality of interisland flight in Hawaii. In flying from Kauai to Hilo, the flight is hailed in Hawaii as the first to link all of Hawaii's major islands by air. March 16 – Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fuelled rocket near Auburn, Massachusetts. March 24 – The Cierva Autogiro Company is founded in the United Kingdom.
April April 1 – The Italian airline Società Italiana Servizi Aerei begins operations linking Trieste, Venice, Pavia, and Turin with CANT 10 flying boats. April 6 – Varney Speed Lines begins operations in the U.S. It will later become Continental Airlines. April 7 – The Italian airline Società Anonima Navigazione Aerea (SANA) begins fight operations, offering flying boat service on the Genoa–Rome–Naples–Palermo route. April 10 – Three United States Army Air Service aircraft take photographs of an eruption of Mauna Loa volcano on the island of Hawaii, providing valuable scientific information. One of them, a de Havilland DH.4, makes four flights directly over the crater and — although it experiences severe buffeting and its crew becomes uncomfortably hot — and completes four flights of two hours' duration each. April 17 – Western Air Express (the future Western Airlines) begins operations with a contract mail flight from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Los Angeles, using a Douglas M-2. The airline will begin passenger services a month later. April 30 – Bessie Coleman, the first licensed African-American female pilot, is killed along with mechanic William Wills, who was piloting the plane, after they crash as a result of a wrench that Wills accidentally left loose getting stuck in the control gears.
May May 1 – Deutsche Luft Hansa begins the first night passenger airline service, with domestic flights in Germany between Berlin and Königsberg employing Junkers G 24 aircraft.German Aviation History Homepage: Junkers G 24 May 4 – The Stinson Aircraft Corporation is incorporated. May 6 – Flying a Blackburn Dart, Flight Lieutenant Gerald Boyce makes the first night deck landing in history, landing aboard the British aircraft carrier off the south coast of England.Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, , p. 215. May 9 – Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett make the first flight over the North Pole in a Fokker VIIa-3m. May 11–14 - Roald Amundsen makes the first airship flight over the North Pole. The Norge leaves Spitzbergen and arrives in Teller, Alaska, three days later. May 20 – The Air Commerce Act becomes law in the United States. It creates an Aeronautics Branch (the predecessor of the Federal Aviation Administration) within the United States Department of Commerce, vesting that entity with regulatory powers to ensure civil air safety, including testing and licensing pilots, issuing certificates to guarantee the airworthiness of aircraft, making and enforcing safety rules, certifying aircraft, establishing airways, operating and maintaining aids to air navigation, and investigating accidents and incidents in aviation. It also directs that airways in the United States be charted for the first time, and assigns the responsibility to chart them to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.noaa.gov NOAA History: NOAA Legacy Timeline 1900-1969 May 23 – Western Air Express (the future Western Airlines) becomes one of the first U.S. airlines to offer regular passenger service, beginning flights from Los Angeles, California, to Salt Lake City, Utah, via Las Vegas, Nevada. May 24 – The U.S. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) holds its first annual manufacturers' conference, which takes place at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory at Langley Field, Virginia, as a modest, one-day event with 46 attendees. By 1936, it will grow into a two-day event with more than 300 attendees each day.
June June 20 – The United States Coast Guard opens the first permanent Coast Guard Air Stations.A Chronological History of Coast Guard Aviation: The Early Years, 1915-1938.Coast Guard Aviation History. June 26 – Flying a Potez 28, Ludovic Arrachart and his brother Paul depart Paris. By the time a broken fuel pipe forces them to land at RAF Shaibah near Basra, Iraq, 26 hours 30 minutes later, they will have set a new world aviation nonstop distance record of . June 30 – Alan Cobham sets out on a round trip from England to Australia in a de Havilland DH.50. He will arrive back in London on October 1 and receive a knighthood for his accomplishment.
July July 2 The United States Army Air Service becomes the United States Army Air Corps. In accordance with the redesignation of its parent service, the Air Service Tactical School at Langley Field in Virginia is renamed the Air Corps Tactical School. An airplane drops tree seeds over a burned area of Hawaii in the first recorded instance of reforestation by airplane. July 3 – The United States Congress authorizes the President of the United States to detail U.S. Army Air Corps officers to the United States Department of Commerce for periods of not greater than one year to help promote civil aviation in the United States. July 16 – The Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company inaugurates the first daily passenger air service between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., using three-engine Fokker monoplanes seating 10 passengers to make three flights in each direction each day. The service lasts five months. July 24 – Two Deutsche Luft Hansa Junkers G.24s leave Berlin to make a round-trip to Beijing. They will return on September 26.