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Walter
H. Beech and his wife Olive Ann establish the Beech Aircraft Company.
When William dies in 1950 she goes on to head the company.
2 February
The International Disarmament Conference begins in Geneva but fails to
ensure world peace.
14 February
A diesel-powered Lockheed Vega flown by R. Nichols at Floyd Bennet Field
in New York sets a world altitude record for a diesel powered aircraft
of 6,074 metres (19,928 feet).
23-26 March
A World Distance Record, in a closed circuit, is established by Frenchmen
Lucien Bossoutrot and Maurice Rossi flying a Blériot 110 a distance
of 10,601 kilometres (6,587 miles) at Oran in Algeria.
9 May
The first blind solo-flight, controlled entirely on instruments, is made
at Dayton in Ohio by Captain A.F. Hegenberger, flying a Consolidated NY2
trainer.
19-24 May
A Dornier DoX flying boat flies back from New York to its base at Friedrichshafen
in Germany.
20-21 May
Amelia
Earhart, flying a Lockheed Vega, becomes the first woman to make solo
flight across the North Atlantic. The flight is from Harbor Grace in Newfoundland
to Londonderry in Northern Ireland.
21 July
A Dornier Wal, piloted by von Gronau, begins the first round the world
flying boat flight and is completed in 111 days.
25 July
The Soviet Union signs non-aggression pacts with Estonia, Finland, Latvia
and Poland.
18 August
Auguste Piccard and Max Cosyns ascend from Düberndorf in Switzerland,
to set a new balloon height record of 16,201metres (53,153 feet).
25 August
Amelia Earhart, flying Lockheed Vega, becomes first woman to achieve a
non-stop transcontinental flight across the United States, from Los Angeles
in California to Newark in New Jersey.
3 September
Major J.H. Doolittle wins the American National Air Race in Cleveland,
flying a Granville Gee Bee racer at a new world record speed of 476kph
(296mph).
7 September
United States Navy Lieutenant T. Settle and W. Bushnell establish a new world distance
record for balloons while taking part in the International Balloon Race
at Basle in Switzerland. They land at Vilna in Poland, 1,550 kilometres
away (963 miles).
25 September
A new altitude record is set for autogyros when Captain Lewis A. Yancey,
flying a Pitcairn PCA2, climbs to 6,553 metres (21,500 feet).
19 November
A national monument in the United States is dedicated to Orville and Wilbur
Wright at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina.
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