World
Aviation in 1932
Walter
H. Beech and his wife Olive Ann establish the Beech Aircraft
Company. When William dies in 1950 she goes on to head the
company.
2 February
The International Disarmament Conference begins in Geneva but
fails to ensure world peace.
14 February
A diesel-powered Lockheed Vega flown by R. Nichols at Floyd
Bennet Field in New York sets a world altitude record for a
diesel powered aircraft of 6,074 metres (19,928 feet).
23-26 March
A World Distance Record, in a closed circuit, is established
by Frenchmen Lucien Bossoutrot and Maurice Rossi flying a
Blériot 110 a distance of 10,601 kilometres (6,587 miles) at
Oran in Algeria.
9 May
The first blind solo-flight, controlled entirely on
instruments, is made at Dayton in Ohio by Captain A.F.
Hegenberger, flying a Consolidated NY2 trainer.
19-24 May
A Dornier DoX flying boat flies back from New York to its
base at Friedrichshafen in Germany.
20-21 May
Amelia
Earhart, flying a Lockheed Vega, becomes the first woman to
make solo flight across the North Atlantic. The flight is
from Harbor Grace in Newfoundland to Londonderry in Northern
Ireland.
21 July
A Dornier Wal, piloted by von Gronau, begins the first round
the world flying boat flight and is completed in 111 days.
25 July
The Soviet Union signs non-aggression pacts with Estonia,
Finland, Latvia and Poland.
18 August
Auguste Piccard and Max Cosyns ascend from Düberndorf in
Switzerland, to set a new balloon height record of
16,201metres (53,153 feet).
25 August
Amelia Earhart, flying Lockheed Vega, becomes first woman to
achieve a non-stop transcontinental flight across the United
States, from Los Angeles in California to Newark in New
Jersey.
3 September
Major J.H. Doolittle wins the American National Air Race in
Cleveland, flying a Granville Gee Bee racer at a new world
record speed of 476kph (296mph).
7 September
United States Navy Lieutenant T. Settle and W. Bushnell
establish a new world distance record for balloons while
taking part in the International Balloon Race at Basle in
Switzerland. They land at Vilna in Poland, 1,550 kilometres
away (963 miles).
25 September
A new altitude record is set for autogyros when Captain Lewis
A. Yancey, flying a Pitcairn PCA2, climbs to 6,553 metres
(21,500 feet).
19 November
A national monument in the United States is dedicated to
Orville and Wilbur Wright at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina.
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