This is a list of aviation-related events from 1954:
Events The United States Navy adopts the probe-and-drogue aerial refuelling system.Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the Worlds Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day, London: Anness Publishing Ltd., 2006, , p. 47.
January January 6 – A Royal Air Force Vickers Valetta T3 carrying a rugby team crashes at Albury, Hertfordshire, England, in bad weather, killing 16 of the 17 people on board. January 10 A de Havilland Comet 1, operating BOAC Flight 781, crashes into the Mediterranean Sea near Elba following fatigue failure, killing all 35 people aboard. Australian broadcast journalist Chester Wilmot is among the dead. It is the deadliest aviation accident in Italian history at the time.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Descriptionplanecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1950s A chartered Grumman G-73 Mallard flying boat (registration N4949N) crashes due to atmospheric icing into woods along the north shore of Wallace Lake, southeast of Shreveport, Louisiana, while on approach to Shreveport Regional Airport, killing al 12 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description Thomas Elmer Braniff, co-founder of Braniff Airways, is among the dead. January 11 – An Avianca Douglas C-47A-80-DL Skytrain (registration HK-160) crashes into a mountain near Manizales, Colombia, killing all 21 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description January 12 – A CSA Czech Airlines Douglas C-47A-1-DK Skytrain (registration OK-WDS) fails to gain altitude after takeoff from Praha-Ruzyne International Airport in Prague, Czechoslovakia, strikes a chimney and power lines, and crashes, killing all 13 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description January 14 – The pilot of a Philippine Air Lines Douglas DC-6 (registration PI-C294) loses control of the aircraft at an altitude of while approaching Rome towards the end of a flight from Beirut. The airliner crashes in Italy east of Roma-Ciampino Airport, killing all 16 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
February February 1 – A United States Air Force Curtiss C-46D-15-CU Commando (registration 44–78027) suffers an in-flight fire while flying over Japan. Its pilot attempts to ditch the aircraft in the Tsugaru Strait between Honshu and Hokkaido, but loses control of the plane. It crashes into the sea, killing all 35 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description February 5 – A U.S. Air Force Douglas C-47D Skytrain (registration 45-895) crashes into a snow-covered hillside about north of Curry in the Territory of Alaska, during a flight from Ladd Air Force Base in Fairbanks to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, killing 10 of the 16 people on board. Bush pilots rescue the six survivors.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description February 9 – A steam catapult is tested aboard a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier for the first time, when a 15-short-ton (13.6-metric ton) metal mass is catapulted down the deck of the attack aircraft carrier while she is anchored in Puget Sound.Isenberg, Michael T., Shield of the Republic: The United States Navy in an Era of Cold War and Violent Peace, Volume I: 1945-1962, New York: St. Martin's Press, , p. 176. February 12 – A Royal Air Force Avro Shackleton MR.2 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea southwest of Gozo, Malta, while exercising with a submarine, killing all 10 people on board the aircraft.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description February 18 – A Junkers Ju 52 (registration 1015/4S-5) of the Aeronavale (the French naval air service) crashes into the side of a mountain near Zaghouan, French Tunisia, during a night flight, killing all 15 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description February 23 – Flying a Douglas XF4D-1, Robert Rahm climbs to in 56 seconds.globalsecurity.org F4D (F-6A) Skyray
March No. 845 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, begins service as the Royal Navys first operational antisubmarine helicopter squadron.Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 26. March 3 – A Royal Air Force Short Sunderland MR.5 flying boat porpoises, dives, and crashes during takeoff at RAF Pembroke Dock in Pembroke Dock, Wales, in the United Kingdom, killing seven of the 11 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description March 4 – Flying from Rome Ciampino Air Base outside Rome, Italy, to Frankfurt–Hahn Airport outside Kirchberg, West Germany, in snow and low overcast, a United States Air Force Douglas C-47A Skytrain's crew fails to correct for wind drift. The C-47A drifts off course, and crashes into a mountain near Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée, France, at an elevation of , killing all 20 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description March 13 – Arriving from Djakarta, Indonesia, a British Overseas Airways Corporation Lockheed L-749A Constellation (registration G-ALAM) lands short of the runway at Kallang Airport in Singapore and strikes a seawall with its landing gear, puncturing a fuel tank. It becomes airborne briefly before touching down on the runway, where its landing gear collapses, its right wing breaks off, and it rolls to the right, coming to rest inverted. The crash kills 33 of the 40 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description March 16 – Kuwait National Airways, the future Kuwait Airways, begins flight operations with a fleet of two Douglas Dakotas. March 19 – A U.S. Air Force Fairchild C-119F-FA Flying Boxcar (registration 51–7993) attempting to fly under visual flight rules in instrument conditions during a flight from Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., to Mitchel Air Force Base in Nassau County, New York, crashes near Lothian, Maryland, killing all 18 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description March 25 – An Aeronaves de Mexico Douglas C-53-DO Skytrooper (registration XA-GUN) waiting for permission to land at Del Norte Airport outside Monterrey, Mexico, after a scheduled flight from Mazatlán Airport in Mazatlán, Mexico, crashes into Friar's Peak, killing all 18 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description March 28 – After a successful mail-drop mission at Bear Island, Norway, a Royal Norwegian Air Force Boeing Canada Catalina IVB attempts a low pass over the island at an altitude of . Its right wing hits the ground during a right turn and it crashes, killing eight of the nine people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description March 30 – A U.S. Air Force Fairchild C-119F Flying Boxcar suffers engine failure on takeoff from Pope Air Force Base in Fayetteville, North Carolina. It strikes a United States Army building housing a mess hall at neighboring Fort Bragg and crash-lands on a parade ground, killing five of the nine people on board and two soldiers in the mess hall and injuring five other people on the ground.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
April As French fortunes wane in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in northwestern Vietnam, the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Arthur W. Radford, places U.S. Navy aircraft carriers on a 12-hour alert to intervene.Isenberg, Michael T., Shield of the Republic: The United States Navy in an Era of Cold War and Violent Peace, Volume I: 1945-1962, New York: St. Martin's Press, , p. 607. Aer Lingus introduces the Vickers Viscount 700, its first turboprop airliner, into its fleet. April 1 – The last operational flight by a Royal Air Force Spitfire takes place. It is a photographic reconnaissance sortie against bandits in Malaya. April 3 – A Devlet Hava Yolları Douglas C-47A-80-DL Skytrain crashes 15 minutes after takeoff from Adana Airport in Adana, Turkey, for a flight to Istanbul-Yesilköy Airport in Istanbul, killing all 25 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description April 8 A de Havilland Comet 1, operating South African Airways Flight 201 from Rome to Cairo and Johannesburg, disintegrates in mid-air over the Mediterranean Sea near Naples following fatigue failure, killing all 14 passengers and seven crew. A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada, killing 36 people aboard the two aircraft and one person on the ground. April 13 A Société Indochinoise de Ravitaillement Lockheed C-60A-5-LO Lodestar (registration F-OALK) crashes on takeoff at Xiengkhouang, Laos, killing 16 of the 23 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description A Chilean Air Force Douglas C-47-DL Skytrain with nine passengers, five crew members, and a cargo of of meat on board crashes near Batuco, Chile, during a domestic flight from Santiago to Los Cóndores Air Base in Iquique, killing all 14 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description April 20 – A United States Air Force Kaiser-Frazier C-119F Flying Boxcar on instrument approach to Burbank Airport in Los Angeles County, California, after a flight from Williams Air Force Base in Mesa, Arizona, crashes into a fog-shrouded ridge on Mission Point, killing all seven people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description April 23 – After its crew decides to divert to La Rioja, Argentina, during a flight from El Plumerillo Airport in Mendoza to Pajas Blancas Airport in Córdoba due to severe turbulence in the Córdoba area, an Aerolineas Argentinas Douglas C-47A-5-DK Skytrain (registration LV-ACX) flies too low and crashes in mountainous terrain near Sierra del Vilgo, killing all 25 people on board. The wreckage is discovered on April 26. April 29 – Convair becomes a division of General Dynamics.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 97.
May May 1 – The Myasishchev M-4, the first Soviet bomber purportedly designed to reach the United States and return to the Soviet Union, is displayed to the public for the first time.Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the Worlds Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day, London: Anness Publishing Ltd., 2006, , p. 283. In reality, however, it lacks the range to reach the United States and return. May 6 – A United States Navy Martin PBM-5 Mariner flying boat crashes into a ridge in mountainous terrain near Caricitas, Mexico, killing all 10 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description May 26 – A hydraulic catapult explodes aboard the U.S. Navy attack aircraft carrier while she is steaming in Narragansett Bay off Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island, killing 104 menIsenberg, Michael T., Shield of the Republic: The United States Navy in an Era of Cold War and Violent Peace, Volume I: 1945-1962, New York: St. Martin's Press, , p. 240. and injuring 201. May 28 – United States Air Force Major Arthur W. Murray flies the Bell X-1A to a world-record altitude of . May 31 – A Transportes Aéreos Nacionales Douglas C-47A-80-DL Skytrain (registration PP-ANO) strays off course during a flight in Brazil from Governador Valadares Airport in Governador Valadares to Belo Horizonte-Pampulha Airport in Belo Horizonte and crashes into Mount Cipó in the Serra do Cipó Mountains, killing all 19 people on board.Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
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