The German Luftwaffe begins experiments with helle Nachtjagd (abbreviated Henaja) techniques, the operation of night fighters with the aid of searchlights.[2]
January 10 – The civil transport version of the Heinkel He 111 bomber is revealed in public for the first time at Berlin′sTempelhof airport. Named Dresden, the He 111 V4 carries registration D-AHAO.
January 20 – Italian troops take the Ethiopian town of Negele Boran without firing a shot. Its inhabitants have all fled after Italian aircraft drop 40 tons (36,288 kg) of bombs on the town during the Battle of Genale Doria.[7]
January 22 – Italian aircraft play a decisive role in the First Battle of Tembien, dropping mustard gas to defeat a promising offensive by Ethiopian forces.
Flying an Aeronca C-3, Helen Richey sets an international women's speed record for light planes, averaging 73 mph (117 km/h) during a 51-minute flight covering 100 km (62 mi).[9]
February 2 – Karl Lange makes a daring landing on the ice of Chesapeake Bay in the Goodyear BlimpEnterprise as part of a United States Army Air Corps operation to bring supplies by air to the residents of Virginia′sTangier Island, who face starvation after a severe winter storm. Ships have been unable to reach the island because of ice in the bay.[10]
February 9 – After a one-hour, 54-mile (87-km) flight from Langley Field, Virginia, a U.S. Army Air Corps 49th Bomb SquadronKeystone B-6A bomber drops 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of supplies in 50-pound (23 kg) parcels to the residents of Tangier Island, flying at an altitude of not more than 10 feet (3.0 meters).[11]
February 10 – During the morning, two U.S. Army Air Corps 49th Bomb Squadron B-6A bombers make flights to drop supplies at very low altitudes at Tangier Island, and a third B-6A drops supplies at nearby Smith Island, Maryland. Two B-6As drop additional supplies at Tangier Island during the afternoon. Based on the success of the supply flights of February 9 and 10, the 49th Bomb Squadron will fly an additional 13 flights to drop supplies to the islands using Martin B-10B bombers.[11]
February 15 – Italian aircraft based at nearby Mek'ele, Ethiopia, maintain at least 12 aircraft over the battlefield all day during the Battle of Amba Aradam against Ethiopian troops. It is a forerunner of the World War II "cab rank" technique of keeping airborne aircraft continually on call over a battlefield to bomb enemy positions when needed.[12][13]
February 16–19 – On February 16, MarshalPietro Badoglio orders Italian ground forces not to pursue Ethiopian forces after they begin to retreat from Amba Aradam and assigns the task of exploitation of Italy's victory to the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica), a novel task for an air force. Italian aircraft drop 40 tons (36,288 kg) of bombs on retreating Ethiopian forces over the last four days of the battle with devastating effect, and on February 19 a strafing aircraft mortally wounds the Ethiopian military leader Ras Mulugeta Yeggazu, who dies eight days later.[14]
February 27 – During the Second Battle of Tembien, Italian aircraft drop 200 tons (181 tonnes/metric tons) of high-explosive bombs on forming-up areas for Ethiopian troops and kill many Ethiopians fleeing the battlefield as they ford the Takkaze River.[15]
The German Luftwaffe staff holds a war game which finds that German air rearmament thus far has been inadequate and that the Luftwaffe is inferior to the French Air Force.[19]
April 4 – Italian aircraft drop mustard gas and 73 tons (66.2 tonnes/metric tons) of high-explosive bombs on a force of 20,000 Ethiopian troops retreating across the plain of Lake Ashangi, killing thousands.[20]
May 4–7 – Amy Johnson sets a new England-South Africa speed record of 3 days 6 hours 26 minutes in a Percival Gull Six.
May 5 – The Second Italo-Abyssinian War ends in an Italian conquest of Ethiopia as Italian forces enter Addis Ababa.[22] Facing no opposition, the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) has played a decisive role in Italy's victory in the eight-month war, but has engaged in a brutal campaign – in which Benito Mussolini's sons Vittorio and Bruno and son-in-law Count Ciano voluntarily participate – of indiscriminate terror bombing and widespread use of mustard gas.[23]
June 3 – GeneralleutnantWalther Wever, the first chief-of-staff of the restored German Luftwaffe and the main proponent for the new force to have the aircraft to perform strategic bombing, dies along with his flight engineer when the Heinkel He 70 he is piloting crashes on takeoff at Dresden, Germany from its gust locks remaining in place. Ironically, the very same day, the German RLM proposes the Bomber A specification and aircraft design competition, which leads directly to the beginnings of the He 177 Greif German heavy bomber project over a year later.
June 24 – Jean Piccard flies an unmanned transparent cellophane balloon designed by his students at the University of Minnesota for flights in the stratosphere at altitudes of 10 to 14 miles (16 to 23 km). The balloon is 25 feet (7.6 meters) tall and is made of sixteen 33-foot-long (10-meter-long) tapered gores held together by a revolutionary new product: one-inch (2.54-cm) 3MScotch transparent tape. On its first flight, the balloon floats at an altitude of 50,000 feet (15,000 meters) and in 10 hours travels over 600 miles (970 km) to a point near Huntsville, Arkansas.[27][28]
June 26 – Piloted by Ewald Rohlfs, the world's first practical, fully controllable helicopter, the German Focke-Wulf Fw 61, makes its first free flight.
June 26–27 (overnight) – An aerial expedition in two Caproni Ca.133 bombers and an IMAM Ro.1 reconnaissance aircraft by Italian Royal Air ForceAir MarshalVincenzo Magliocco, Deputy Viceroy of Ethiopia, from Addis Ababa to contact Oromo leaders in southwestern Ethiopia about possible cooperation with Italy against Ethiopian guerrilla forces ends in disaster on its first night when Ethiopian guerrillas attack the Italians in their makeshift camp around their aircraft at the airfieldatNekemte. The guerillas burn all three aircraft and kill 12 of the 13 Italians, including Magliocco.[29] The Italians later convert one of the wrecked Ca.133s into a war memorial.
June 27 – The Luftwaffe's chief of procurement Ernst Udet – the second-ranking German aceofWorld War I and a famous stunt pilot – takes the prototype of the Heinkel He 118dive bomber up for a test flight, but mismanages propeller pitch settings during a dive, causing the plane to crash. Udet parachutes to safety, but the He 118 is destroyed.[30]
July 20 – One of the four leaders of the Nationalist uprising in Spain, GeneralJosé Sanjurjo y Sacanell, dies in the crash on takeoff at Estoril, Portugal,[33] of a light plane piloted by Juan Antonio Ansaldo while attempting to fly to Spain. He had insisted on overloading the plane with baggage so as to have the proper clothes to wear and on flying with Ansaldo instead of in a larger plane in order to make the flight with a "daring aviator." Ansaldo survives.
July 29 – Germany and Italy become the first countries to provide aircraft for service in the Spanish Civil War, when 10 German Junkers Ju 52 transports land in Spanish Morocco for service with the Nationalist faction and nine Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 bombers arrive in Spain for Nationalist service; three other SM.81s crash during the flight to Spain.[34]
July 29–August 5 – Ten, later increased to twenty, German Junkers Ju 52s ferry 1,500 Spanish Nationalist troops from Spanish MoroccotoSpain in the world's first major military airlift.[35]
Germany begins sending four transport flights to Spain per week to support the Spanish Nationalist faction, It will continue to do so for over two years.[32]
August 1 – Ten more German Junkers Ju 52 transports and six Heinkel He 51 fighters arrive at Cadiz for service with the Spanish Nationalist faction.[38]
August 6 – German Junkers Ju 52 transports begin a schedule of airlifting 500 Nationalist troops a day from Spanish Morocco to Spain. Nationalist leader Francisco Franco himself makes the flight on August 6.[41]
August 9 – Six aircraft support a Republican seizure of Ibiza.[42]
August 10 – A Nationalist ground column under ColonelJuan Yagüe y Blanco captures Mérida, Spain, after advancing 200 miles (320 km) in less than a week. Nine German Junkers Ju 52s and eight Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.81s have given the column local air superiority, while a civilian aeroclub from Seville has provided aerial reconnaissance and in one instance forced Republican militiamen to abandon their positions by dropping melons on them.[43]
August 16 – Seaplanes from Barcelona support a Republican landing on Majorca. In reaction, three Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 bombers, three Italian Fiat CR.32 fighters, and various Spanish Nationalist aircraft are sent to be based on the island. The presence of the CR.32s precludes any further Republican air attacks on Majorca.[44]
August 23 – Nationalist aircraft bomb the airport at Getafe, Spain.[45]
August 27–29 – German Junkers Ju 52s supporting the Nationalists bomb Madrid. They damage the Ministry of War on August 29. It is the first terror bombing of a large city since World War I.[45]
September 2 – Flying the Lady Peace, a Vultee V-1A filled with 41,000 ping pong balls to help it remain afloat if it is forced down at sea, Dick Merrill and Harry Richman begin the first transatlantic round trip by air, taking off from Floyd Bennett FieldinNew York City on what becomes known as the "Ping Pong Flight." They arrive at Llandeilo, Wales, 18 hours 36 minutes later, setting a new record for the fastest transatlantic crossing. The following day, they fly on to London's Croydon Airport. They will fly the return leg on September 14.[46]
September 3 – Nationalist aircraft on Majorca support a counteroffensive against Republican invaders, demoralizing them and sparking a precipitous Republican retreat from the island, which will become an important Nationalist base for the remainder of the Spanish Civil War.[47]
September 6 – Italian aircraft arriving in Majorca establish a Nationalist bombing capability against Republican Spain.[33]
September 11 – Tupolev TB-3-4AM-34FRN with A. B. Yumashev of the Soviet Union at the controls sets a payload-to-altitude record of 5,000 kg (11,000 lb) to 8,116 meters (26,627 feet).
September 14 – Dick Merrill and Harry Richman fly the return leg of the "Ping Pong Flight" begun on September 2, taking off from Southport, England, in the Vultee V-1A Lady Peace, filled with 41,000 ping pong balls to keep it afloat if it is forced down in the ocean. After Richman panics during a storm and dumps 500 gallons of fuel, leaving then unable to reach New York City, Merrill safely makes a forced landing later in the day in a soft bog at Musgrave Harbour in the Dominion of Newfoundland. After minor repairs and refueling, they fly on to New York City on September 21, completing the first transatlantic round trip by air in history.[46]
September 16 – A Tupolev TB-3-4AM-34FRN with A. B. Yumashev at the controls sets a payload-to-altitude record of 10,000 kg (22,000 lb) to 6,605 meters (21,670 feet).
September 20 – A Tupolev TB-3-4AM-34FRN with A. B. Yumashev at the controls set a payload-to-altitude record of 12,000 kg (26,000 lb) to 2,700 meters (8,900 feet).
September 30 – The German airlift of Spanish Nationalist troops from Spanish Morocco to Spain ends after 677 flights carrying 12,000 men in August and September. The airlift will be one of the most decisive factors in the eventual Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War.[35]
October 1 – C. W. A. Scott and Giles Guthrie win the Schlesinger Race from England to Johannesburg, South Africa, flying Vega Gull G-AEKE landing at Rand Airport on 1 October 1936. The aircraft left Portsmouth 52 hours 56 minutes 48 seconds earlier. Out of the original 14 entries to the race Scott and Guthrie are the only ones to finish, winning the 10,000 pounds prize money.
October 12 – Nationalist aircraft sink the Republican submarineB-5 off the coast of Spain near Málaga.[33]
October 28 – Tupolev TB-3-4AM-34FRN with A. B. Yumashev of the Soviet Union at the controls sets a payload-to-altitude record of 5,000 kg (11,000 lb) to 8,980 meters (29,460 feet).
October 29 – Soviet aircraft appear in combat for the first time in the Spanish Civil War as Alcantarilla-based Tupolev SB-2 bombers with Soviet pilots and Spanish bombardiers and gunners bomb Seville in support of Republican forces. On the same day, Nationalist forces begin a heavy bombing campaign against Madrid.[54]
November 3 – New Soviet Polikarpov I-15 and I-16 fighters fly their first missions of the Spanish Civil War, supporting Republican forces. Their superior performance will allow the Republican side to gain air superiority over Nationalist forces.[55]
November 4 – Soviet fighters see combat for the first time in the Spanish Civil War, when Polikarpov I-15s led by Pavel Rychagov disperse a squadron of Fiat CR.32 fighters escorting Junkers Ju 52 bombers over Madrid, shooting two CR.32s and two Ju 52s, and forcing a third Ju 52 and a Heinkel two-seater aircraft to crash-land without loss to themselves. Over the next two days, the Soviet pilots claim 12 more aerial victories in exchange for the loss of two I-15s.[33][56][57]
November 19 – The Uruguayan airline PLUNA begins flight operations.
November 19–22 – Curious to see the reaction of a civilian population to an attempt to systematically destroy its city by bombing, officers of the German Condor Legion supporting Francisco Franco's desire to bomb Madrid into surrendering oversee a bombing campaign by German Junker Ju 52s and Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.81s that kills 150 people in the city. It is the heaviest bombing ever carried out against a city up to that time.[60]
November 28 – Thus far in the Spanish Civil War, Italy has sent about 24 Fiat CR.32 fighters, 19 Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 bombers, and some IMAM Ro.37 reconnaissance aircraft to support the Nationalists.[61]
December 6 – Nationalist aircraft bomb Barcelona, Spain.[33]
December 7 – The Latécoère 300flying boatCroix du Sud ("Southern Cross") disappears at sea after its pilot, Jean Mermoz, reports engine trouble. The Latécoère 300 entire crew is lost without trace.
December 8 – Spanish Republican pilots flying Soviet-made fighters shoot down a plane carrying International Red Cross envoy Georges Henny over northern Spain while Henny is carrying a report on the Paracuellos massacre of Nationalists by Republicans that he intends to present to the League of Nations. The crash badly injures Henny, preventing his report to the League, and fatally injures the French Paris Soir correspondent Louis Delaprée.
December 12 – Seven Royal Air ForceHandley Page Heyford bombers of No. 102 Squadron flying from RAF AldergroveinNorthern IrelandtoRAF FinningleyinYorkshire encounter fog and icing conditions over England as they approach Finningley. One crew bails out when their Heyford becomes uncontrollable, two other Heyfords also crash, and three of the aircraft make forced landings; only one bomber reaches its destination. Three airmen die, one is seriously injured, and two are slightly injured in the disaster.
December 15 – A Western Air ExpressBoeing 247[62] crashes just below Hardy Ridge on Lone Peak near Salt Lake City, Utah, with the major parts of the aircraft hurled over the ridge and falling over a thousand feet (300 meters) into a basin below. All seven people on board die.[63]
December 31 – The Five-Power Treaty (often referred to as the Washington Naval Treaty) of 1922 expires, lifting all international restrictions on the make-up of the French, Italian, Japanese, British Royal, and United States navies, including the size of their aircraft carrier fleets and the characteristics of their individual aircraft carriers.[65]
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