1949 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1949:

Events

January

February

February 26-March 2 – B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II of the 43rd Bombardment Group, completed the first non-stop around-the-world flight from and to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona. The 23,452 mile (37,742 km) journey takes 94 hours 1 minute.

April

April 4 – NATO is formed
April 20-21 – a Short Sunderland flies medical personnel and supplies to HMS Amethyst, shelled by Chinese Communist forces on the Yangtze River.

May

the United States Marine Corps practices deploying by helicopter for the first time, in Exercise Packard III.
May 4 – The Canadian Blue Devils aerobatic team is formed.
May 11 – No. 28 Squadron RAF flies from Malaya to Hong Kong to help reinforce the island against Communist forces on mainland China.
May 19 – a JRM Mars sets a new record of 308 for the largest number of people to be carried on a single aircraft.
May 21 – a Sikorsky S-52 sets a new helicopter altitude record of 21,200 ft (6,468 m).

July

July 25 – Second Lieutenant Bob Kipp of the Canadian Blue Devils aerobatic team is killed in a training accident.

August

August 23 – BOAC commences its first services to the Far East to be flown entirely by landplanes.

September

September 30 – the Berlin Airlift officially ends, with 2,325 tons (2,362 tonnes) of food and supplies having been flown into the city. The final flight is made a week later.

November

November 18 – a Douglas C-74 Loadmaster carries 103 passengers and crew over the North Atlantic, the largest number to have made the crossing in a single flight.