World
Aviation in 1938
27-29 March
Deutche Luft Hansa's Dornier Do18F D-ANHR is catapulted from
a seaplane carrier at Star Point in Devon and is flown by
Captain H.W. von Engle to Caravellas in Brazil. This non-stop
flight of 8,392 kilometres (5,125 miles) establishes a new
world distance record for flying boats and takes 43 hours 5
minutes.
15 May
H.L. Ickes, United States Secretary of State for the
Interior, confirms his refusal to supply helium gas to
Germany.
June
Pabst von Ohain's Heinkel HeS 3B turbojet is test flown
beneath a Heinkel He118.
25 June
Deutche Luft Hansa introduces the Focke Wulf Fw200 on its
Berlin to London route.
27-28 June
Russian airmen, Kokkinski and Briandinsky, fly from Moscow to
Vladivostock in 24 hours, covering a total distance of 4,375
miles.
11 July
Germany's Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG becomes Messerschmitt
AG. All existing aircraft designs retain the Bf prefix, for
example, Messerschmitt Bf109, but all new projects are
prefixed Me.
14 July
Howard Hughes, the American aviator, and four companions
arrive in New York after a round the world flight of 15,432
miles. They complete the journey in 3 days 19 hours 17
minutes.
August
Soviet Air Group in Spain begins its withdrawal and its
equipment is handed over to the Republican forces.
10-11 August
Focke
Wulf Fw200 D-ACON Brandenburg makes a non-stop flight from
Berlin to New York.
10 September
A German decree prohibits all foreign aircraft flying over
Germany from leaving designated air corridors.
14 September
The first flight of Zeppelin LZ130 'Graf Zeppelin'.
22 October
Italian Lieutenant Colonel M. Pezzi, flying a Caproni 161-bis
at Montecelio, establishes a new world altitude record of
17,083 metres (56,046 feet). No piston engined aircraft has
ever bettered this record.
28-30 November
Flug Captain Henke and Flug Captain Moreau fly Focke Wulf
Fw200 D-ACON 'Brandenburg' from Berlin to Tokyo. With three
refuelling stops the journey is completed in 46 hours 15
minutes.
8
December
The 'Graf Zeppelin', the first and only German aircraft
carrier, is launched. However, the ship will never be
completed and is scuttled in 1945.
31
December
The first flight of an
airliner with a pressurised passenger cabin is made by the
Boeing 307 Stratoliner. The aircraft is a forerunner of the
military bomber aircraft that would become the B17 Flying
Fortress.
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