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January 5 - Pan Am commences trans-atlantic freight
services.
January 22 - The de Havilland Comet
1 became the first turbojet-powered civil airliner to be
awarded a certificate of airworthiness.
February
February 10 - Maj George A. Davis Jr
is awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously, after
attacking a group of 12 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s that
were about to bounce other US aircraft. He shot down two before
being shot down himself.
May
May 1 - the IATA agrees on new "Tourist Class" fares,
which are first offered by Pan American on its "Rainbow service"
between New York
City and London
May 2 - BOAC introduces the de Havilland DH.106
Comet 1 on its London--Johannesburg route,
the first regular service flown by a jet airliner. G-ALYP
makes the first flight.
May 12 - Sqn Ldr P. G. Fisher makes the first non-stop,
un-refuelled flight from England to Australia in an English Electric Canberra
bomber in a record 23 hours 5 minutes.
July 15-31 - a pair of
USAFSikorsky H-19s make
the first transatlantic crossing by helicopter
July 29 - a USAF RB-45 Tornado makes the first non-stop
crossing of the Pacific by jet
August
August 9 - Lt Peter Carmichael of No. 802 Squadron FAA aboard
HMS Ocean claims the Fleet Air Arm's
first MiG-15 kill, from a piston-engined Hawker Sea Fury.
August 28 - a F6F
Hellcat is loaded with explosives and flown as a
remote-controlled drone against a railway bridge
at Hungnam
October 26 - a BOAC Comet is badly damaged in an accident
during take-off from Rome-Ciampino airport
December
December 20 - A USAFC-124
Globemaster II, 50-100, c/n 43238, crashed on take-off
from Larson AFB in Moses
Lake, WA, USA, killing 87 servicemen, the highest
confirmed death toll of any accident in aviation history at that
time.
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