1948 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1948:

Events

January

• January 17 – BOAC begins to replace flying boat routes with the Lockheed Constellation

March

• the Israeli Air Force is formed, with the new state of Israel
• March 10 – VF-5 becomes the first US Navy carrier squadron to be equipped with jets.
• March 19 – BOAC extends its Hong Kong service to Japan
• March 23 – Grp Cpt John Cunningham sets a new world altitude record of 59,446 ft (18,119 m) in a de Havilland Vampire.
• March 28 – B-29 Superfortresses undergo aerial refueling tests, demonstrating the viability of this technique to extend the range of strategic bombers.

April

• two specially modified Gloster Meteors begin carrier trials aboard HMS Implacable.
• April 3 – Alitalia recommences services to the UK
• April 25 – a North American YP-86 becomes the first jet-powered aircraft to exceed Mach 1.

May

• May 15 – Tel Aviv is attacked by the Egyptian Air Force. The Israeli Air Force retaliates by striking Arab troops near Samakh.

June

• June 1 – BEA commences the first helicopter airmail service in the UK
• June 8 – Air India commences a regular Bombay-London service by Lockheed Constellation.
• June 26 – the Berlin Airlift begins, with USAF, Royal Air Force, and British civil transport aircraft carrying supplies into West Berlin
• June 28 – Sdn Ldr Basil Arkel sets a new helicopter speed record of 124 mph (200 km/h) in a Fairey Gyrodyne.

July

• July 6 – the US Navy's first two carrier-based AEW squadrons are formed, VAW-1 and VAW-2.
• July 14 – Vampire F3s of No. 54 Squadron RAF became the first jet aircraft to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. The six aircraft, commanded by Wg Cdr D S Wilson-MacDonald, DSO, DFC, go via Stornoway, Iceland and Labrador to Montreal on the first leg of a goodwill tour of Canada and the US where they gave several formation aerobatic displays.
• July 14 – Silver City Airways makes the first car-carrying flight between England and France.

September

• September 5 – a US Navy Martin JRM Mars sets a new cargo record of 62,262 lb (28,242 kg)
• September 6 – a de Havilland DH.108 breaks the sound barrier, the first British aircraft to do so.

First flights

February

• February 22 – LWD Junak

March

• March 5 – XF-87 Blackhawk
• March 9 – Gloster E.1/44

May

• May 7 – Tupolev Tu-78

July

• July 3 – Douglas XAJ-1
• July 8 – Ilyushin Il-28
• July 16 – Vickers Viscount

August

• Lavochkin La-174D, prototype of the La-15
• August 16 – Northrop XF-89
• August 23 – XF-85 Goblin

September

• September 1 – Saab J-29R, Sweden's first jet
• September 18 – Convair XF-92
• September 29 – F7U Cutlass

December

• December 16 – X-4 Bantam
• December 29 – Supermarine Type 510

Entered service

March

• March 10 – FJ Fury with VF-1 aboard USS Boxer

May

• May 5 – FH Phantom with VF-17 aboard USS Saipan

June

• June 1 – Convair 240 with American Airlines

November

• B-45 Tornado with the 47th Bombardment Wing

Births

• August 8 – Svetlana Savitskaya, cosmonaut