1947 in aviation

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

[edit] Events

January 26, A KLM Douglas Dakota crashed after takeoff from Copenhagen, killing all 22 onboard, including Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden.

May 28 - BSAA trials non-stop flights from London to Bermuda using aerial refueling over the Azores

June 17 - Pan Am begins a New York to San Francisco service flying west-to-east around almost the entire globe.
June 19 - Col Albert Boyd sets a new official world airspeed record of 623.62 mph (1,003 km/h) in a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. (This is still marginally slower than unofficial German speed records in rocket-powered aircraft during World War II).

July 15 - Northwest Airlines flies the first commercial passenger flight from the U.S. to Japan, using The Manila, a Douglas DC-4 aircraft, by way of Anchorage. From Tokyo, the flight continued to Seoul, Shanghai, and Manila.

August 3 - a parade in Tushino, USSR, presenting newest Soviet jets, among others: Yak-19, La-150, La-156, La-160, Su-9, Su-11.
August 10 - BEA began the world's first regular cargo-only airline service.
August 20 - a new world airspeed record of 640 mph (1,031 km/h) is set in the Douglas Skystreak.
August 25 - the Douglas Skystreak is flown to another airspeed record of 650 mph (1,047 km/h).

September 18 - the United States Air Force becomes its own fully independent military command.

October 1 - Los Angeles Airways begins the first scheduled carriage of airmail by helicopter
October 1 - George Welch allegedly breaks the sound barrier during a dive in his XP-86 Sabre.
October 14 - Chuck Yeager took the rocket-powered Bell X-1 past the speed of sound, the first controlled, supersonic, level flight.
October 24 - United Airlines Flight 608 DC-6 (NC37510) en route to Chicago from Los Angeles caught fire and then crashed while attempting an emergency landing at the Bryce Canyon, Utah airport.