1947 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1947:

Years in aviation: 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950
Centuries: 19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades: 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
Years: 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950

Events

  • The United States' inventory of atomic bombs reaches a total of 13 weapons during the year.[1]

January

  • January 7 Pioneering aviator Helen Richey is found dead at the age of 37 in her New York City apartment, apparently having committed suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills.[2]
  • January 8
    • A U.S. Joint Intelligence Committee report predicts that by 1956 the Soviet Union will have atomic bombs and strategic bombers capable of delivering them to the continental United States.[3]
    • A U.K. Cabinet sub-committee approves High Explosive Research, a civil project to develop an independent British atomic bomb.
  • January 11 The BOAC Douglas C-47A G-AGJX crashes into a hill at Stowting in southeast England, killing eight of the 16 people on board and injuring all eight survivors. Among the injured is Member of Parliament Tom Horabin.
  • January 14
    • The United States replaces the national insignia for its military aircraft adopted in September 1943 with a new marking consisting of a white star centered in a blue circle flanked by white rectangles bisected by a horizontal red stripe, with the entire insignia outlined in blue , which is still in use in the 21st century.[4]
    • The U.S. Joint Intelligence Staff estimates that in the event of a war the Soviet Union could mobilize 15,000 combat aircraft.[3]
  • January 16 The Burmese Air Force is founded.
  • January 17 The U.S. Joint Intelligence Committee notes that the Soviet Union maintains a peacetime deployment of 5,000 combat aircraft in Europe.[3]
  • January 25 A Spencer Airways Douglas Dakota crashes on takeoff into a parked and empty Czech Airlines Douglas C-47 Skytrain at Croydon Airport near London, England, killing 12 of the 23 people aboard the Spencer Airlines plane.
  • January 26 A KLM Douglas DC-3 Dakota crashes after take-off from Copenhagen, Denmark, killing all 22 on board, including Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten of Sweden, and American operatic soprano and musical theater and film actress Grace Moore.[5]
  • January 30 Transcontinental and Western Air inaugurates history's first regularly scheduled all-cargo air service to operate over the North Atlantic Ocean.[6]

February

  • February 25 The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff recommend that the United States use atomic bombs early in any war with the Soviet Union and call for an increase in the American inventory of atomic weapons.[3]
  • February 28 In a single flight, U.S. Army Air Forces Captain Robert E. Thacker (pilot) and Lieutenant John M. Ard (co-pilot) in the North American P-82B Twin Mustang fighter Betty Jo make both the longest nonstop flight without aerial refueling by a fighter aircraft, about 4,968 statute miles (7,994 km) from Hickam Field in the Territory of Hawaii to La Guardia Field in New York City, and the fastest flight between Hawaii and New York City up to that time, 14 hours 31 minutes 50 seconds at an average speed of 342 mph (550 km/hr). It remains both the longest non-stop flight by a piston-engined fighter[7] and the fastest Hawaii-to-New York City flight by a piston-engined aircraft[8] in history.

March

  • March 3 In Naval Strategic Planning Study 3, the Strategic Plans Division of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations asserts that U.S. Navy aircraft carriers will be able to operate successfully against the coast of the Soviet Union in the face of substantial land-based Soviet air power, stating that the carriers are "the only weapon in the possession of the U.S. which can deliver early and effective attacks against Russian air power and selective shore objectives in the initial stages of a Russo-American conflict." The findings anger U.S. Air Force planners, who view strategic attacks against the Soviet Union as a strictly Air Force mission.[9]
  • March 5 The 26th country ratifies the Convention on International Civil Aviation, permitting a permanent organization to replace the Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization (PICAO).[10]
  • March 14 Saudi Arabian Airlines begins regular domestic services.
  • March 16 Saudi Arabian Airlines begins regular international services.
  • March 21 Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela (LAV) inaugurates its first service to the United States with a route between Caracas and Idlewild Airport in New York City, using Lockheed Constellations it had purchased earlier in the year.
  • March 24 Reeve Aleutian Airways is founded.

April

May

June

  • June 4 Orient Airways, the first and only Muslim-owned airline in the British Raj, begins flight operations.
  • June 17 Pan American World Airways inaugurates what are considered the world's first scheduled commercial round-the-world flights, although the service actually operates between New York City and San Francisco without crossing the continental United States. Flight One, operated by a Douglas DC-4, departs San Francisco and stops at Honolulu, Hawaii; Midway Atoll; Wake Island; Guam; Manila, the Philippines; Bangkok; and Calcutta, where it meets Flight Two, a Lockheed Constellation that had flown from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. In Calcutta, the two aircraft swap flight designations; the DC-4 then turns back and continues as Flight Two to San Francisco, while the Constellation turns back and continues as Flight One, stopping at Karachi; Istanbul; London; Shannon, Ireland; and Gander, Newfoundland before arriving at LaGuardia Airport.
  • June 19
  • June 22 At the Wilson-King Sky Show in St. George, Utah, a light plane involved in the air show experiences brake failure on landing and crashes into cars parked at the edge of the airfield, killing a teenaged girl. The pilot and the dead girl's mother and infant sister are injured.[22]
  • June 24 Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting: American businessman and aviator Kenneth Arnold is piloting a CallAir A-2 at about 9,200 feet (2,804 m) near Mineral, Washington (near Mount Rainier) when he sights what he reports to be a group of disc-like unidentified flying objects flying in a chain which he clocks at a minimum of 1,200 mph (1,932 km/hr). He refers to them as looking like saucers, leading the press to coin the term "flying saucer," which soon enters everyday speech.
  • June 30 The Evaluation Board for Operation Crossroads submits its final report on the July 1946 atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll. It finds that an atomic attack could go beyond stopping a country's military effort and in addition wreck its economic and social structure for lengthy periods, and could even depopulate large portions of the earth's surface, threaten the existence of civilization, and cause the extinction of mankind. It recommends that the United States develop a large inventory of atomic weapons and the means to deliver them promptly and be prepared to strike first, with legal authority to launch a massive atomic strike to preempt a foreign strike if there are indications that an adversary is preparing one.[3]

July

August

September

October

November

December

  • The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff note that the U.S. Air Force has 33 strategic bombers capable of dropping atomic bombs, and that this will rise to 120 bombers in November 1948. They also note that the number of atomic bomb assembly teams will rise to three by June 1948 and seven by July 1949; each bomb requires two days to assemble. They call for the production of 400 atomic bombs by January 1, 1953.[46]
  • December 1 The United States Marine Corps commissions its first helicopter squadron, Marine Experimental Helicopter Squadron 1 (HMX-1). It is based at Marine Corps Air Station Quantico, Virginia.
  • December 27 An Air India Douglas C-48C-DO crashes into Korangi Creek shortly after takeoff from Karachi, Pakistan, killing all 23 people on board. It is the first fatal airline accident in Pakistan's history as an independent country.

First flights

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Entered service

March

April

July

August

October

November

Retired

March

See also

References

  1. Ross, Steven T., American War Plans 1945–1950: Strategies For Defeating the Soviet Union, Portland, Oregon: Frank Cass, 1996, ISBN 0-7146-4192-8, p. 12.
  2. Lynch, Adam, "Hometown Heroine," Aviation History, March 2012, p. 58.
  3. Ross, Steven T., American War Plans 1945-1950: Strategies For Defeating the Soviet Union, Portland, Oregon: Frank Cass, 1996, ISBN 0-7146-4192-8, p. 54.
  4. Angelucci, Enzo, with Peter Bowers, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1985, ISBN 978-0-517-56588-9, pp. 21.
  5. planecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1940s
  6. TWA History Timeline Archived 2015-04-10 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 340.
  8. The AMA History Program Presents: Biography of COL. ROBERT E. THACKER, RET.
  9. Isenberg, Michael T., Shield of the Republic: The United States Navy in an Era of Cold War and Violent Peace, Volume I: 1945-1962, New York: St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-09911-8, p. 131.
  10. icao.int International Civil Aviation Organization History Archived 2012-12-31 at the Wayback Machine
  11. Aviation Hawaii: 1940–1949 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii
  12. Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917–1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, ISBN 0-87021-026-2, p. 182.
  13. Ross, Steven T., American War Plans 1945–1950: Strategies For Defeating the Soviet Union, Portland, Oregon: Frank Cass, 1996, ISBN 0-7146-4192-8, pp. 36–37, 40.
  14. Bedwell, Don, "Beating the Odds," Aviation History, March 2016, p. 46.
  15. Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
  16. "Three Killed in Plane Crash". The Eugene Register-Guard. United Press. May 19, 1947. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
  17. Aviation safety Network: Accident Description
  18. Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
  19. New York Daily News Runway 18 Air Safety, May–June 1947, Chapter 197
  20. Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
  21. Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 274.
  22. "Plane Hits Cars, Kills Girl". The Deseret News. June 23, 1947. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
  23. Accident description for 45-519 at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 2013-11-7.
  24. Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
  25. Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
  26. Isenberg, Michael T., Shield of the Republic: The United States Navy in an Era of Cold War and Violent Peace, Volume I: 1945-1962, New York: St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-09911-8, p. 111.
  27. Sejarah Indonesia: An Online Timeline of Indonesian History: The War for Independence 1945 to 1950
  28. Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description.
  29. Marolda, Edward J., "Asian Warm-Up to the Cold War", Naval History, October 2011, pp. 29–30.
  30. Ross, Steven T., American War Plans 1945-1950: Strategies For Defeating the Soviet Union, Portland, Oregon: Frank Cass, 1996, ISBN 0-7146-4192-8, pp. 41–42.
  31. "Survival at High Altitudes: Wheel-Well Passengers" (PDF). FAA. October 1996. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  32. Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
  33. Wooldridge, E.T., Captain (ret.), USN, "Snapshots From the First Century of Naval Aviation," Proceedings, September 2011, p. 54.
  34. Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
  35. Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 84.
  36. Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
  37. Ross, Steven T., American War Plans 1945–1950: Strategies For Defeating the Soviet Union, Portland, Oregon: Frank Cass, 1996, ISBN 0-7146-4192-8, p. 44.
  38. Isenberg, Michael T., Shield of the Republic: The United States Navy in an Era of Cold War and Violent Peace, Volume I: 1945–1962, New York: St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-09911-8, p. 657.
  39. Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. p. 11. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979.
  40. Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description
  41. Ross, Steven T., American War Plans 1945–1950: Strategies For Defeating the Soviet Union, Portland, Oregon: Frank Cass, 1996, ISBN 0-7146-4192-8, p. 18.
  42. Ross, Steven T., American War Plans 1945–1950: Strategies For Defeating the Soviet Union, Portland, Oregon: Frank Cass, 1996, ISBN 0-7146-4192-8, p. 46.
  43. Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 115.
  44. Aviation Safety Network: Accident Description.
  45. Fonton, Mickaël, "Les morts mystérieuses : 4. Leclerc, l’énigme du 13e passage," valeursactuelles.com, 8 May 2010.
  46. Ross, Steven T., American War Plans 1945–1950: Strategies For Defeating the Soviet Union, Portland, Oregon: Frank Cass, 1996, 0-7146-4192-8, p. 106.
  47. Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 121.
  48. Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 298.
  49. Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, London: Putnam, 1976, ISBN 978-0-370-10054-8, p. 467.
  50. Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 272.
  51. Dorr, Robert F., "Mystery Ship Answer," Aviation History, January 2015, p. 10.
  52. Bridgman 1951, p. 8c.
  53. Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 52.
  54. Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 978-0-517-56588-9, p. 342.
  55. Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, London: Putnam, 1976, ISBN 978-0-370-10054-8, p. 229.
  56. Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, London: Putnam, 1976, ISBN 978-0-370-10054-8, p. 231.
  57. Polmar, Norman, "Historic Aircraft: The God of the Sea's Namesake", Naval History, October 2011, p. 16.
  58. Dorr, Robert F., "Mystery Ship Answer," Aviation History, July 2012, p. 12.
  59. Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 413.
  • Bridgman, Leonard. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1951–52. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd, 1951.
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