The United States Air Force has 20,800 aircraft, about half of them combat aircraft, down from 68,400 aircraft at the end of World War II in 1945. U.S. Air Force personnel strength stands at 387,000.[1]
The United States' inventory of atomic bombs reaches 50 weapons during the year. Each requires two days to assemble for use, and by mid-1948 the United States has only two bomb assembly teams.[2]
January 7 – Both engines of a Coastal Air LinesDouglas C-47A Skytrain (registration NC60331) shut down during a flight from Raleigh-Durham AirportinNorth Carolina to Miami, Florida. While the crew attempts to glide the aircraft to an emergency landing in a marsh, the aircraft stalls, crashes north-northeast of Savannah, Georgia, and breaks in two, killing 18 of the 27 people on board.[6]
January 11 – After a Dominicana de Aviación Douglas C-47 Skytrain (registration HI-6) carrying the B.B.C. Santiago baseball team home on a domestic flight in the Dominican Republic from BarahonatoSantiago de los Caballeros encounters bad weather, its crew makes a navigational error while attempting to divert to Ciudad Trujillo. The aircraft crashes into a mountain near Yamasá, killing all 32 people on board.[6]
Closed from 1941 to 1945 because of the German invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II and reopened in 1945 only to cargo and mail flights, Leningrad′s Shosseynaya Airport (the future Pulkovo Airport) finally reopens to scheduled passenger service.
February 16 – A U.S. Joint Intelligence Committee study forecasts that by 1957 the Soviet Union will have the atomic bomb and a long-range strategic air force and will be able to inflict substantial damage on the United States with the use of atomic, chemical, and biological weapons.[9]
February 18 – The Spanish airline Aviaco is formed as an air freight company operating six Bristol 170s.
The U.S. Joint Intelligence Committee forecasts that the Soviet Union will test its first atomic bomb sometime between 1950 and 1953 and by 1953 will have from 20 to 50 atomic bombs, depending on when it tests its first one.[10]
During a long-range test flight that covers 3,528 miles (5,678 km) in 9½ hours over a round-robin course over California and Arizona at a true airspeed of 388 mph (624 km/h), the U.S. Air Force's first Northrop YB-49 jet-powered flying wing bomber prototype sets an endurance record for sustained flight above 40,000 feet (12,000 meters), remaining above that altitude for 6½ hours.[16]
April 28 – The U.S. Navy launches two P2V-3C Neptune aircraft – a version of the P2V configured for carrier launch carrying a nuclear weapon – from the aircraft carrierUSS Coral Sea (CVB-43) off the coast of Virginia. The first carrier launches of any type of P2V, they establish the U.S. Navy's first, interim carrier-based nuclear strike capability pending the acquisition of aircraft designed from the outset to be capable of carrying a nuclear weapon from a carrier.[17]
May 22 – Royal Egyptian Air Force (REAF) Supermarine Spitfire Mark IXs conduct three attacks against the Royal Air Force's (RAF's) Ramat David Airbase near Haifa in the newly declared State of Israel. Their first attack destroys two British Spitfires on the ground and damages eight others, and in their second attack they shoot down a Douglas Dakota while it is landing, killing four men on board. Their third attack is ineffective and loses one Spitfire to ground fire and four others to Spitfires of the RAF's No. 208 Squadron flying combat air patrol over the base. The REAF later claims that its pilots mistook the airbase for the Israeli Air Force base at Megiddo Airport, although the Israelis did not yet operate Spitfires.[19]
May 29 – Former United States Marine Corps pilot Lou Lenart, flying one of the four Avia S-199s that make up the Israeli Air Force's only fighter squadron, leads an air attack against an Egyptian Army ground column threatening Tel Aviv, forcing it to turn back short of the city. He is hailed as "The Man Who Saved Tel Aviv."[20]
June 5 – The U.S. Air Force's second Northrop YB-49 jet-powered flying wing bomber prototype crashes during a performance test flight on the test range in California's Antelope Valley, killing all five men on board. The airframe has 57 hours of flight time on it at the time of the crash.[16]
The Douglas DC-6Mainliner Utah (NC37506), operating as United Airlines Flight 624, crashes near Aristes, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board. American theatrical producer, director, songwriter, and composer Earl Carroll and American singer, dancer, and actress Beryl Wallace are among the dead.[26]
June 30 – Anti-Communists hijack a TABSOJunkers Ju 52 over Bulgaria during a domestic flight from VarnatoSofia. The pilot is killed during a struggle with them, and they force the airliner to fly to Istanbul, Turkey.[27]
The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff request that the United States establish an inventory of 150 atomic bombs for use against 100 urban targets in the event of war with the Soviet Union.[10]
July 16 – The PBY Catalinaflying boatMiss Macao (VR-HDT), operated by a Cathay Pacific subsidiary, flying from Macau to Hong Kong with 23 passengers and three crew on board, is hijacked midway over China's Pearl River Delta by a group of four hijackers attempting to rob the passengers. The hijackers attack the pilot, who loses control of the aircraft during the ensuing struggle in the cockpit. The subsequent crash kills all on board except one passenger, later identified as the lead hijacker. It is the first known airliner hijacking outside the Eastern Bloc.[29]
August 28 – The U.S. Navy Martin JRM-2 Marsflying boatCaroline Mars arrives in Chicago, Illinois, after a record-breaking nonstop flight of 4,748 miles (7,641 km) from Honolulu, Hawaii, in 24 hours 12 minutes with 42 people and a payload of 42,000 pounds (19,000 kg) on board.[23]
Eugene Joseff, who as Joseff of Hollywood and Joseff: Jeweler of the Stars supplied 90 percent of the jewelry used in Hollywood films and who also was founder and president of Joseff Precision Metal Products, a maker of aircraft and missile parts, dies when the plane he is piloting crashes in fog two miles (3.2 km) north of Newhall, California, five minutes after takeoff from Newhall Airport. The three men with him aboard the plane as passengers also die.[35][36]
September 28–29 (overnight) – An Israeli Douglas C-54 Skymastermilitary transport aircraft converted for civilian use to carry President of IsraelChaim Weizmann from Geneva, Switzerland, to Israel makes the flight with extra fuel tanks installed to allow a nonstop trip and painted with the logo of the "El Al/Israel National Aviation Company." The flight begins the history of Israel's national airline, El Al, which will be incorporated in November.
October 1 – Transcontinental and Western Air inaugurates luxury all-sleeper service between New York City and Paris. The Paris-bound service is marketed as "Paris Sky Chief," the New York-bound service as "New York Sky Chief."[37]
October 10 – For the second time, a modified de Havilland Mosquito launches an expendable, unmanned, rocket-powered 30-percent-scale model of the cancelled British Miles M.52 supersonic research aircraft at high altitude. The first launch, in October 1947, had failed, but this time the model reaches Mach 1.38 in stable, level flight. Work on the project is discontinued after the flight.
November 30 – The U.S. Joint Intelligence Committee reports that as of August 1, 1948, the Soviet Air Force has 500,000 men and 15,000 aircraft and could deploy an additional 5,000 combat aircraft by six months after the beginning of a war. It forecasts that the Soviet Union will have a growing number of atomic bombs after 1950 with 20 to 50 available by 1956 or 1957, and that by 1957 the Soviet Air Force will be capable of attacking the continental United States and Canada.[4]
As a public relations move, the U.S. Air Force issues a communique claiming that an "early warning radar net to the north" had detected "one unidentified sleigh, powered by eight reindeer, at 14,000 feet [4,300 meters], heading 180 degrees." The "report" is passed along to the public by the Associated Press. It is the first time that the U.S. armed forces have issued a statement about tracking Santa Claus's sleigh on Christmas Eve; doing so will become an annual holiday tradition beginning in 1955.[45]
^"Accident description (19481020-0)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved November 18, 2014. Reliable contemporary British reports, e.g. The Times newspaper (October 1948) and the Court of Investigation report (November 1949), cite the accident as occurring early on October 21.
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de Narbonne, Roland (June 2008). "Juin 1948, dans l'aéronautique française: Enfin des matériels nouveaux". Le Fana de l'Aviation (in French). No. 463. pp. 76–79.
de Narbonne, Roland (July 2008). "Juillet 1948, dans l'aéronautique française: Trop vite, trop tôt, le NC 211 "Cormoran"". Le Fana de l'Aviation (in French). No. 464. pp. 76–79.
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de Narbonne, Roland (November 2008). "Novembre 1948, dans l'aéronautique française: SO 6020 "Espadon", SE 1010, deux avions prometteurs aux des tins brisés...". Le Fana de l'Aviation (in French). No. 468. pp. 76–79.
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