1946 in aviation

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Years in aviation:	1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
Centuries:	19th Century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
Years:	1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1946:

Contents 1 Events 1.1 January 1.2 February 1.3 June 1.4 July 1.5 September 1.6 October 1.7 November 2 First flights 3 Entered service

[edit] Events

[edit] January

• January 1 - a British South American Airways Avro Lancastrian becomes the first commercial flight to depart Heathrow Airport
• January 10 - a Sikorsky R5 sets an unofficial helicopter altitude record of 6,400 m (21,000 ft) at Stratford, Connecticut.
• January 26 - Col William Councill sets a new US transcontinental speed record of 4 hours 13 minutes in a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star

[edit] February

• February 6 - TWA makes its first international flight, from New York to Paris
• March 8 - the Bell 47 receives the first type certificate awarded to a commercial helicopter.
• February 11 - U.S. and British negotiators reach the Bermuda Agreement, the first bilateral agreement regulating air transport. The two countries agree to fix transatlantic air fares through the International Air Transport Association.

[edit] June

• June 15 - the Navy's new Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels, gives its first public performance at Craig Field in Jacksonville, Florida.
• June 21 - a USAF P-80 Shooting Star carries the first airmail flown by jet.

[edit] July

• July 1 - a B-29 Superfortress drops an atomic bomb on Bikini Atoll in a nuclear test.
• July 21 - a McDonnell FH Phantom makes the first landing by a jet aboard a US aircraft carrier, USS Franklin D. Roosevelt

[edit] September

• September 27 - Geoffrey de Havilland Jr is killed when the de Havilland DH.108 breaks up in mid-air
• September 29 - a Lockheed P2V Neptune sets a new distance record of 11,235 miles (18,082 km)

[edit] October

• October 3 – A Berlin-bound 4 engine Douglas C-54 named 'Flagship New England' crashed into a mountainside outside of Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador. The flight, operated by American Overseas Airlines was mostly carrying wives and children of US Army personnel serving in post-war Germany. All 39 people on board died. At the time, it was the worst accident of its kind among US civilian airlines.

[edit] November

• November 23 - An Avro Lancastrian powered with Rolls-Royce Nene turbojets is credited with the first international passenger jet flight from London to Paris. The flight time was just 41 minutes.

[edit] First flights

January

• January 19 - Bell X-1 (unpowered)

April

• April 24 - Mikoyan-Gurevich I-300, the Soviet Union's first jet
• April 24 - Yakovlev Yak-15 (three hours after the I-300)

May

• May 17 - Douglas XB-43, first US jet bomber

June

• June 7 - Short Sturgeon prototype RK787
• June 25 - Northrop XB-35 flying wing bomber

July

• July 7 - Hughes XF-11
• July 27 - Supermarine Attacker prototype TS409

August

• August 8 - Convair XB-36

September

• September 11 - Lavochkin La-150
• September 11 - North American XFJ-1, prototype of the FJ Fury, the first jet aircraft to enter service with the US Navy

November

• November 11 - SNCASO SO-6000 Triton, France's first jet
• November 13 - Sukhoi Su-9
• November 16 - Saab 90 Scandia prototype SE-BCA

December

• December 12 - Westland Wyvern

[edit] Entered service

September

• September 30 - Short S.26 with BOAC Golden Hind (G-AFCI)