1924 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1924:

Events

January

• January 29 – Pateras Pesara flies an experimental helicopter in Paris. The machine flew 800 metres (2,640 ft) in just over 10 minutes.

February

• February 20 – Three French Army officers make the first two-way aerial crossing of the Sahara Desert in a Breguet 14.

March

• Huff Darland Dusters is established as the world's first crop dusting company in Georgia (United States). It will eventually grow into Delta Air Service, then Delta Airlines.
• March 25 – Royal Air Force officers McLaren, Plenderleith, and Andrews set off in an attempted round-the-world flight in a Vickers Vulture II. Their attempt will ultimately fail in Siberia in early August.

April

• April 1 – Imperial Airways is formed, with the backing of the British government.
• April 1 – Britain's Fleet Air Arm is established
• April 1 – The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.

May

• May 19 – the first aerial circumnavigation of Australia is carried out, by an RAAF crew in a Fairey IIID.

June

• June 23 – Lt Russell Maughan makes the first one-day crossing of the United States, completing the flight from Long Island to San Francisco in a Curtiss PW-8 in 21 hours, 48 minutes.

July

• July 1 – Regular night airmail services commence in the United States, linking Chicago with Cheyenne.
• July 17 – Pelletier d'Oisy completes a flight from Paris to Tokyo. The journey takes 120 hours in the air.

August

• The Bolivian Air Force is formed, as the Cuerpo de Aviación.
• August 8 – US Navy airship USS Shenandoah docks with the USS Patoka while the latter is underway, showing that airships could operate from support ships far out to sea.
• August 24 – the USS Richmond rescues the crew of an Italian flying boat that is forced down in the Arctic Ocean by bad weather.

September

• September 11 – Canada's first regular airmail service begins, with Laurentide Air Services linking Haileybury with Rouyn.
• September 28 – two of four Douglas World Cruisers of the U.S. Army Air Service arrive in Seattle, completing the first aerial circumnavigation of the world. They had left the city on April 6, taking 175 days for the journey.

October

• October 12-15 – transportation of the Zeppelin-Airship "LZ 126" (ZR III "Los Angeles") to USA under guidance of H. Eckener.

November

• November 11 – Lt Dixie Kiefer makes the first night catapult launch from a ship, the USS California.
• November 24 – a KLM Fokker F.VII makes the first flight from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies, taking 127 hours 16 minutes.

December

• December 13 – in an early parasite fighter experiment, Lt Clyde Flinter unsuccessfully attempts to dock his Sperry Messenger with the US Army airship TC-3.
• December 14 – a Martin MO-1 is launched using an explosive-driven catapult fitted to a turret on USS Mississippi, requiring less distance than ever for the take-off.

First flights

March

• Fairey Fawn

May

• May 4 – Sikorsky S-29-A
• May 26 – Tupolev ANT-2

June

• June 23 – Focke-Wulf A-16

August

• Savoia Marchetti S.55
• Hawker Cygnet
• August 21 – Fokker F.VII

September

• Aero A-24

Entered service