1938 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1938:

Events

• Imperial Airways inaugurates scheduled service from London to Montreal. Pan American World Airways is banned from British airports out of fears that more advanced U.S. aircraft will drive Imperial out of the transatlantic market.

January

• January 20 – A Flight Refuelling Ltd Armstrong Whitworth AW.23 refuels an Imperial Airways Short Empire over Southampton Water

February

• February 15-27 – Six USAAC B-17 Flying Fortresses make a goodwill tour of Latin America, traveling 12,000 miles (19,312 km) to Lima, Buenos Aires, Santiago and back.

April

• April 20 – British Air Commodore Arthur Travers Harris makes a purchasing trip to the United States to select aircraft to expand the Royal Air Force. The Lockheed Hudson and North American Harvard are chosen.

May

• May 12 – the US Navy commissions its sixth aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise.
• May 17 – the US Congress passes the Naval Expansion Act, leading to the construction of the Essex class aircraft carriers

June

• A prototype Heinkel He 118 makes the first airborne tests of a turbojet engine
• June 9 – the Nicaraguan Air Force is formed as the Fuerza Aérea de la Guarda Nacional.

July

• July 14 – Howard Hughes flies a Lockheed 14N around the world in 3 days 19 hours, to and from Floyd Bennett Field New York, more than halving the time that Wiley Post took to make the trip.

August

• August 10-11 – a Lufthansa Focke-Wulf Fw 200 makes a non-stop flight from Berlin to New York, via Hamburg, Glasgow, Newfoundland, and Halifax, taking 24 hours 36 minutes for the trip.

September

• September 10 – Germany prohibits all foreign air traffic in its airspace except along specific air corridors.

November

• November 5-7 – Non-stop flight by a pair of Vickers Wellesleys from Egypt to Darwin, Australia. This sets a new world distance record of 7,158 miles (11,520 km).
• November 28-30 – a Lufthansa Fw 200 makes the airline's first flight to Japan, flying non-stop from Berlin to Tokyo via Basra, Karachi, and Hanoi. The 14,228 km (8,841 mile) flight breaks the distance record and takes 46 hours 18 minutes.

First flights

January

• Aichi D3A
• January 5 – Miles Mentor
• January 22 – Heinkel He 100
• January 24 – Armstrong Whitworth Ensign

August

• Dornier Do 217

September

• September 29 – Supermarine Sea Otter

October

• October 2 – Dewoitine D.520
• October 11 – Westland Whirlwind prototype L 6844
• October 14 – Curtiss XP-40
• October 15 – Bristol Beaufort prototype L 4441

December

• December 4 – Miles M.18
• December 10 – Lockheed Hudson
• December 12 – Fairey Albacore prototype L 7074
• December 22 – De Havilland Flamingo
• December 23 – Blackburn Roc prototype L 3057
• December 28 – Blackburn Botha
• December 31 – Boeing 307

Entered service

April

• Northrop BT with VB-5 aboard USS Yorktown

June

• Westland Lysander with No. 16 Squadron RAF

July

• Supermarine Spitfire with No. 19 Squadron RAF

September

• Handley Page Hampden with No. 49 Squadron RAF

October

• Vickers Wellington with No. 9 Squadron RAF
• Armstrong Whitworth Ensign with Imperial Airways