This is a list of aviation-related events from 1952:
Events The Royal Navy conducts the worlds first trials of an angled flight deck, aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Triumph. It had been invented by Royal Navy Captain (later Rear Admiral) Dennis R. F. Campbell.Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917–1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, , p. 216. The Royal Navy conducts the worlds first trials of a mirror landing aid, aboard the aircraft carrier . It had been invented by Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander (later Rear Admiral) H. C. Nicholas "Nick" Goodhart.
January United Nations forces in Korea begin Operation Moonlight Sonata, which uses the illumination effect of the moon on snow to allow night-flying aircraft to find enemy trains operating at night and isolate them by bombing the tracks in front of and behind them, with carrier-based naval aircraft destroying the isolated trains the following morning. Several trains are destroyed in this way by the spring of 1952.Knott, Robert C., Attack From the Sky: Naval Air Operations in the Korean War, Washington, D.C.: Department of the Navy Naval Historical Center, 2004, , pp. 52–54. The Royal Navys Fleet Air Arm makes use of a helicopter in a major rescue effort for the first time when a Westland Dragonfly attempts to rescue two men from the sinking cargo ship SS Flying Enterprise. Although the attempt is unsuccessful, the Dragonfly proves capable of flying in conditions previously thought to preclude helicopter operations.Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917–1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, , p. 184. The United States Navy begins Operation Package, an effort to use carrier air power to interdict enemy road and rail traffic in northeastern Korea, in conjunction with Operation Derail, a shore bombardment campaign against coastal roads and railroads by surface warships. The two operations will end in February and be only partially successful.Knott, Robert C., Attack From the Sky: Naval Air Operations in the Korean War, Washington, D.C.: Department of the Navy Naval Historical Center, 2004, , p. 52. The Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (SACEUR) has 200 atomic bombs allocated for his use in the defense of Europe in the event of a Soviet offensive against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).Ross, Steven T., American War Plans 1945–1950: Strategies For Defeating the Soviet Union, Portland, Oregon: Frank Cass, 1996, , p. 147. January 1 – Mail subsidies to National Airlines end, and the United States Post Office Department places the airline on a mail service rate that makes it self-sustaining throughout its system. January 5 – Pan American World Airways commences transatlantic freight services. January 10 – An Aer Lingus Douglas Dakota 3 (registration EI-AFL) on a Northolt Aerodrome–Dublin flight crashes in Wales due to vertical draft in the mountains of Snowdonia, killing all 23 people on board. It is the airline's first fatal crash in its fifteen-year history.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description January 19 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 324 – a Douglas C-54E Skymaster on a charter flight from Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Territory of Alaska, to McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, Washington – diverts to Sandspit Airport in Sandspit, British Columbia, after feathering its No. 1 propeller due to a broken oil cooler. The C-54 touches down at Sandspit but then attempts a go-around. It stalls during the attempted climb-out and ditches in water beyond the end of the runway. All or nearly all of the 43 people aboard the plane evacuate without serious injury, but 36 of them die of drowning or exposure in the near-freezing air and water temperatures they encounter outside the plane.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description January 22 The de Havilland Comet 1 becomes the first turbojet-powered civil airliner to be awarded a certificate of airworthiness. American Airlines Flight 6780, a Convair CV-240, crashes into a house in Elizabeth, New Jersey, while on final approach to Newark Airport, killing all 23 people on the plane and seven people on the ground. It is the first fatal accident involving a Convair CV-240. Among the dead are Robert P. Patterson, a jurist and former Undersecretary of War under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and former Secretary of War under President Harry S Truman; former war correspondent John F. Chester; and U.S. Civil Aeronautics Administration officials George T. Williams and John D. Rice, both engaged in the development of airport radar systems and navigational aids at the time.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
February Operation Strangle, a day-and-night air interdiction campaign against enemy roads, bridges, and tunnels across the width of the Korean Peninsula between 38 degrees 15 minutes North and 39 degrees 15 minutes North, by the United States Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps which had begun in June 1951, ends without success. The similar Operation Saturate begins, but also ultimately will be unsuccessful.Knott, Robert C., Attack From the Sky: Naval Air Operations in the Korean War, Washington, D.C.: Department of the Navy Naval Historical Center, 2004, , p. 44. February 1 – The first civilian passenger terminal opens at Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Previously, civilian passengers had used the Brazilian Air Force facilities at adjoining Galeão Air Force Base. February 4 – A Sabena Douglas C-47A Skytrain suffers a propeller failure in flight over the Belgian Congo. Debris from the propeller failure cuts some of the aircraft's control cables, causing the crew to lose control. The plane crashes near Kikwit, killing all 16 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description February 10 – Major George A. Davis Jr. is awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously, after attacking a group of 12 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s that were about to bounce other U.S. aircraft. He shot down two before being shot down himself. He had been a World War II flying ace and was Korean War ace of aces. February 11 – Just after National Airlines Flight 101, a Douglas DC-6 (registration N90891), takes off from Newark International Airport in New Jersey, its No. 3 propeller reverses. Misunderstanding the problem, the crew feathers the No. 4 propeller and attempts to return to the airport, but the aircraft crashes in Elizabeth, New Jersey, narrowly missing an orphanage and killing 29 of the 63 people on board and four people on the ground.Aviation Safety Network: Accident DescriptionJean-Rae Turner, Richard T. Koles "Elizabeth: First Capital of New Jersey" pp. 128-129 Arcadia Publishing (2003) It is the third in a string of airliner accidents at Newark International since December 1951 and prompts the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to close the airport until November 15. February 17 – Flying over Sicily, a Hunting Air Transport Vickers Model 614 Viking 1 (registration G-AHPI) strays off course and crashes into Monte la Cinta, killing all 31 people on board. It is the second-deadliest aviation accident in Italy's history at the time.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description February 18 – The Brazilian airline Paraense Transportes Aéreos is founded. It will begin flight operations in March. February 19 – During a night insertion mission over South Korea, a North Korean double agent detonates a grenade aboard a U.S. Air Force Curtiss C-46D Commando (registration 44–78038). The C-46D crashes, killing all 10 people on board. February 26 – Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that the United Kingdom has developed its own atomic bomb."Today in History," The Washington Post Express, February 26, 2014, Page 27.
March March 3 – An Air France SNCASE SE.161/P7 Languedoc (registration F-BCUM) turns onto its back and crashes during its initial climbout from Nice-le Var Airport in Nice, France, killing all 38 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description March 22 Temporarily blinded when enemy antiaircraft fire hits his -based AD Skyraider during a bombing raid against rail and truck lines in North Korea, U.S. Navy Ensign Kenneth Schechter rejects the suggestion of fellow Valley Forge Skyraider pilot and best friend Lieutenant, junior grade, Howard Thayer that he bail out over the ocean, where Navy forces can rescue him from the water. Instead, Thayer, flying only feet away from Schechters aircraft, coaches Schechter to a safe, blind landing at a United States Army dirt airstrip in Korea. Schechter loses his right eye but recovers the sight in his left eye; he receives the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1995 for his 1952 flight. Thayer dies in a crash in 1961, but receives a posthumous Distinguished Flying Cross in 2009 for assisting Schechter.Chawkins, Steve, "Kenneth Schechter, Navy pilot who made blind landing during Korean War, dies at 83," The Los Angeles Times via The Washington Post, December 25, 2013."Gone West: Korean War-Era Pilot Kenneth Schechter," aero-news.net, December 25, 2013. The KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Douglas DC-6 Koningin Juliana (registration PH-TPJ) crashes into a forest on approach to Frankfurt International Airport in Frankfurt-am-Main, West Germany, killing 45 of the 47 people on board. At the time, it is the deadliest aviation accident in the history of Germany.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description March 23 – Four hijackers commandeer a CSA Czech Airlines Douglas C-47 Skytrain making a domestic flight in Czechoslovakia from Prague to Brno and force it to land at Frankfurt-am-Main, West Germany.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description March 24 – A Société Africaine des Transports Tropicaux (SATT) Lockheed 18-07-01 Lodestar crashes just after takeoff from Gao Airport in Gao, Mali, killing 17 of the 21 people on board. It is the deadliest aviation accident in the history of Mali at the time.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description March 26 – An Aeroflot airliner landing at Tula Airport in Tula in the Soviet Union slides off the runway and collides with a Soviet Air Force transport aircraft carrying 34 military academy students that is preparing for takeoff, killing a total of 70 people. It is the second-deadliest aviation accident in the history of the Soviet Union or Russia at the time.Aviation Safety Network: Accident DescriptionAviation Safety Network: Accident Description March 29 – A TACA de Venezuela Douglas DC-3 (registration YV-C-AZU) crashes into Cerro Grande, a mountain east of San Felipe, Venezuela, killing all 12 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description March 30 A Philippine Air Lines Douglas C-47A Skytrain (registration PI-C270) crashes on takeoff from Loakan Airport in Baguio in the Philippines, killing 10 of the 29 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description The Brazilian airline Paraense Transportes Aéreos makes its first flight, using a Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina.
April The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff decide that if the Korean War broadens to include war with the Soviet Union in East Asia, the United States will conduct an atomic and conventional air offensive in the region but will fall back into a defensive posture there if the war spreads to Europe.Ross, Steven T., American War Plans 1945–1950: Strategies For Defeating the Soviet Union, Portland, Oregon: Frank Cass, 1996, , p. 142. April 9 – The Martin 2-0-2 Mokusei-go (registration N93043), leased from Northwest Orient Airlines and operating as Japan Air Lines Flight 301, crashes into Mount Mihara on Izu Ōshima in Japan at an altitude of , killing all 37 people on board. It is the second-deadliest aviation accident in Japanese history at the time.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description