This is a list ofaviation-related events from 1929:

• During the year, the greatest number of fatalcivil aircraft crashes inUnited States history take place.
• Cubana de Aviación begins service.
• Pan American World Airways begins service.
• The CanadianSiskinsaerobatic team is formed.
• The first officialairmail delivery bybush pilot to theDistrict of Mackenzie inCanada's westernArctic takes place.
• Anairway beacon is built inSt. Paul,Minnesota. It still^[when?] exists inIndian Mounds Park.
• Aircraft Development Corporation changes its name to theDetroit Aircraft Corporation.
• Consolidated Aircraft Corporation absorbs theThomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation.^[1]
• In response to the creation of theCurtiss-Wright Corporation, theUnited Aircraft and Transport Corporation is formed as a holding company controlling the stock of theBoeing Airplane Company, theChance Vought Corporation, theHamilton Aero Manufacturing Company, and thePratt & Whitney Aircraft Company, soon joined by theSikorsky Aviation Corporation, theStearman Aircraft Company, theStandard Steel Propeller Company, and severalairlines managed by the newUnited Air Lines, Inc. management company.
• TheGlenn L. Martin Company sells its factory inCleveland,Ohio, and moves to a new one atMiddle River,Maryland.
• TheImperial Japanese Navy begins to gather information on aerial techniques, training, and aircraft necessary fordive bombing.^[2]
• TheRoyal Swedish Navy assigns a ship to aviation service for the first time.^[3]
• Saunders-Roe Limited, also known as Saro, is formed.
• United States ArmySergeantRalph W. Bottriell makes his 500th and finalparachute jump, the most by anyone in the world at the time. He then stops parachuting and becomes a ground instructor.^[4]

• TheCierva C.8Wautogyro makes the first autogyro flight in the United States, atWillow Grove, Pennsylvania.
• January 1 – TheGovernment of Poland createsLOT Polish Airlines as a state-owned, self-governing corporation.
• January 1–7 –Carl Spaatz and four otherUnited States Army Air Corps fliers set an endurance record of 151 hours aloft in the modifiedAtlantic-FokkerC-2AQuestion Mark.
• January 15 – TheFairchild FC-2W2Stars and Stripes makes the first flight fromLittle America, a baseRichard E. Byrd and his team had recently set up on theRoss Ice Shelf offAntarctica to support his planned attempt at the first flight over theSouth Pole.^[5]
• January 25 – While circling at an altitude of 2,000 feet (610 m) over Little America off Antarctica, the Fairchild FC-2W2Stars and Stripes sets a record for the longest distance for a two-waytelegraphic connection between air and ground, maintaining continuous contact withSan Francisco,California, andNew York City.^[5]
• January 27
  • The Fairchild FC-2W2Stars and Stripes makes it first significant flight over Antarctica. Richard Byrd discovers 14 mountains and an island during the five-hour flight.^[5]
  • Aircraft from theUnited States Navyaircraft carrierUSS Saratoga (CV-3) carry out a successful simulated dawn raid on thePanama Canal in a training exercise. Despite facing a defending force including the aircraft carrierUSS Lexington (CV-2) and shore-based U.S. Navy andUnited States Army aircraft, the strike force is judged to have "destroyed" thecanal locks and airfields in thePanama Canal Zone.AdmiralWilliam V. Pratt describes the exercise as "the most brilliantly conceived and most effectively executed naval operation in our [i.e., U.S. Navy] history."^[6]
• January 30 – Inter-Island Airways, the futureHawaiian Airlines, is founded.

• Harold Pitcairn purchases the U.S. rights to all ofJuan de la Cierva′sautogiro inventions and patents then in existence and establishes thePitcairn-Cierva Autogiro Company.^[7]
• February 4 –Henry Berliner andTemple Nach Joyce found theBerliner-Joyce Aircraft Corporation.^[8]
• February 4–5 (overnight) – With Oscar Grubb aboard asflight engineer,Frank Hawks sets atranscontinental airspeed record for a flight across thecontinental United States while ferrying theLockheed Air Express (registration NR7955) from theLockheed factory inBurbank, California, to anair show inNew York City, making the flight in 18 hours 21 minutes. The use of aNACA cowling increases the aircraft's maximum speed from 157 to 177 miles per hour (253 to 285 km/h).^[9][10][11]
• February 19 — Flying theFairchild FC-2W2Stars and Stripes overAntarctica,Richard E. Byrd discovers an area he namesMarie Byrd Land and claims it for theUnited States. Since 15 January, whenStars and Stripes began flights fromLittle America, Byrd's base on theRoss Ice Shelf, Byrd has usedStars and Stripes to explore and chart about 40,000 square miles (100,000 km²) of territory which he describes as "never before seen by human eye."^[5]

• March 2 – Seeking a safe route across theAndes betweenBuenos Aires, Argentina, andSantiago, Chile, to avoid the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) detour aircraft routinely made to avoid the mountains, aLatécoère 25 piloted byJean Mermoz and carrying his mechanic, Alexandre Collenot, and CountHenry de La Vaulx as passengers is caught in adowndraft and forced to land on a 300-meter-wide (986-foot-wide)plateau at an altitude of 4,000 meters (13,000 feet). The three men spend four days repairing and lightening the plane and clearing a path to the edge of the plateau, after which they roll it off the edge, Mermoz dives to gain airspeed, and they arrive safely in Santiago. The event is widely celebrated.
• March 13 – The Spanish government airlineCLASSA is formally established as a company, formed by the merger ofIberia and several other Spanish airlines.
• March 17 – TheColonial Western AirwaysFord 4-AT-B TrimotorNC7683 suffers a double engine failure during its initial climb after takeoff fromNewark Airport inNewark,New Jersey. It fails to gain height and crashes into a railroad freight car loaded with sand, killing 14 of the 15 people on board the aircraft. At the time, this is the deadliest airplane accident in American history.^[12][13]
• March 19 – The newly completedFord 5-AT-B TrimotorNC9674, which had made its first flight only five days earlier, crashes when its wing strikes the ground on landing while it returns toFord Airport inDearborn,Michigan, during aFord Motor Company flight prior to delivery to its customer. All four people on board die.^[14]
• March 21 –Bernt Balchen pilots theFairchild FC-2W2Stars and Stripes fromLittle America,Richard E. Byrd's base on theRoss Ice Shelf, overAntarctica to rescue Byrd and two other members of his expedition. Byrd and the other two men previously had rescued Balchen and two scientists after their plane — theFokker Super UniversalThe Virginia (NC4453) — was destroyed in a storm, then remained behind when Balchen and the two scientists flew back to Little America aboardStars and Stripes. Byrd and the other two men then had been stranded by new storms until the weather improved and allowed Balchen to return to pick them up.^[5]
• March 30 –Imperial Airways commences the first scheduled air service between theUnited Kingdom andBritish India.

• April 2–6 – Flying abiplane in support of rebel forces during theEscobar Rebellion in Mexico, Irish pilotPatrick Murphy makes a number of bombing raids againstNaco in the Mexican state ofSonora in which hemistakenly drops bombs across the border in the United States on three occasions, damaging several buildings and destroying a car in neighboringNaco, Arizona. It is the first time in history that U.S. territory has come under aerial bombing attack by a foreign aircraft.
• April 21 – AUnited States Army Air CorpsBoeing PW-9D fighter,28-037, performing stunts overSan Diego, California, attempts to pass in front of theMaddux Air LinesFord 5-AT-B TrimotorNC9636, which is on a scheduled passenger flight from San Diego toPhoenix,Arizona. The PW-9D strikes the Trimotor's cockpit, and both aircraft crash, killing the PW-9D pilot and all five people aboard the airliner.^[15]
• April 24–26 –Royal Air ForceSquadron LeaderArthur G. Jones-Williams andFlight Lieutenant Norman H. Jenkins make the first non-stop flight from theUnited Kingdom toBritish India, using aFairey Long-Range Monoplane. The flight, fromRAF Cranwell toKarachi, covers 4,130 miles (6,650 kilometers) nonstop in 50 hours 48 minutes, falling 336 miles (541 kilometers) short of the world nonstop flight distance record.^[16]

• May 16 – At thefirst Academy Awards ceremony, the first award in history for Outstanding Picture (later renamed "Best Picture") goes to an aviation-themed film, the 1927silent filmWings about two fighter pilots inWorld War I.^[17]
• May 20 – ThePeruvian Army's aviation branch and thePeruvian Navy's Naval Aviation Corps are combined to form the Peruvian Aviation Corps, forerunner of thePeruvian Air Force.
• May 25 – The Spanish government airlineCLASSA officially assumes all the rights, obligations, fleets, and staff ofIberia and the other airlines that merged to form it.
• May 26 – Flying aJunkers W 34 be/b3e (registration D-1119), Friedrich W. Neuenhofen sets a new world altitude record, reaching 12,739 meters (41,795 feet).
• May 30 –Logan Field is opened atBaltimore, Maryland.^[8]

• Thirty-fiveRegia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force)seaplanes – 32Savoia-Marchetti S.55s, twoSavoia-Marchetti S.59s, and oneCANT 22 – led byGeneralItalo Balbo and famed Italian aviatorFrancesco de Pinedo make a 3,300-mile (5,314-km) mass-formation flight circuiting theEastern Mediterranean, with stops atTaranto, Italy;Athens, Greece;Istanbul, Turkey;Varna, Bulgaria;Odessa in theSoviet Union; andConstanta, Romania. The flight is intended to improve the operational skills ofRegia Aeronautica aircrews and ground crewmen, showcase the Italian aviation industry to potential foreign buyers of Italian-made aircraft, and enhance the prestige ofBenito Mussolini'sItalian Fascist government.^[18]
• Frank Hawks sets atranscontinental airspeed record for a flight across thecontinental United States, flying theLockheed Air ExpressTexaco Five (registration NR7955) across the country in 17 hours 38 minutes.^[10]
• June 13 – TheUnited States Coast Guard establishes an "air traffic flight-following" capability along the coast of the continental United States employing a network of Coast Guard radio stations.^[19]
• June 17
  • Delta Air Lines begins passenger service (as Delta Air Service) with a first flight from Dallas, Texas, to Jackson, Mississippi, with stops at Shreveport and Monroe, Louisiana.^[20]
  • TheImperial AirwaysHandley Page W.10City of Ottawa (G-EBMT)suffers an engine failure andditches in theEnglish Channel offDungeness, England. Seven of the 13 people aboard die; the Belgianfishing trawlerGaby rescues the six survivors, all of whom are injured.
• June 21 – ASpanish Air Force crew led by pilotMajorRamón Franco – brother of future Spanish dictatorFrancisco Franco – takes off fromLos Alcázares, Spain, in theDornier Do J Wal ("Whale")flying boatNumancia to attempt a westward flight around the world, intending to begin with an overnight flight to their first stop at theAzores. They overshoot the Azores, run out of fuel, and forced to land in theNorth Atlantic Ocean on June 22, where they drift until picked up by theRoyal Navyaircraft carrierHMS Eagle on June 29. Their round-the-world attempt is scrubbed.^[21]
• June 29 – TheCurtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company and theWright Aeronautical Corporation merge to form theCurtiss-Wright Corporation. The new corporation constructs light aircraft at the Curtiss plant inBuffalo, New York; heavy aircraft andflying boats at itsKeystone Aircraft Corporation subsidiary inBristol, Pennsylvania; civil aircraft at itsCurtiss-Robertson subsidiary inSt. Louis, Missouri; and Curtiss and Wright aircraft engines at the Wright factory inPaterson, New Jersey.^[22]

• In an article entitled "Is Flying Safe?" in the July 1929 issue ofScientific American, Irish aviatorMary, Lady Heath, writes that the most important factors in making airline travel safe are well-trained pilots and strict construction standards for aircraft.^[23]
• July 3
  • Lieutenant A. W. Gordon hooks aVought UO-1 onto theUnited States NavyairshipUSS Los Angeles (ZR-3) in successfulparasite fighter experiments.
  • The airlineAeropostal Alas de Venezuela (LAV) is founded in Venezuela. It begins operations with a fleet of threeLatécoère 28s.
• July 4 – The Japanese aviatorMasashi Goto crashes and is killed in Utah'sUinta Mountains in the beginning stages of an attempted flight around the world by crossing the continents of North America, Europe, and Asia.
• July 7 –Transcontinental Air Transport commences a regular service transporting passengers all the way across the United States in 48 hours, using a combination of trains and aircraft for different legs of the journey.
• July 13
  • The French aviatorsDieudonné Costes andMaurice Bellonte take off fromVillacoublay, France, in an attempt to fly across theNorth Atlantic Ocean toNew York City. Bad weather will force them to turn back after 17 hours.
  • The Polish aviatorLudwik Idzikowski crashes in theAzores and dies while attempting a westboundtransatlantic flight.
• July 17 –Delta Air Lines starts commercial airline operations.
• July 22 –Deutsche Luft Hansa uses acatapult to launch aHeinkel He 12mail plane from the passenger linerBremen, 400 km (250 mi); 216nautical miles out from New York City, speeding the mail on its way before the ship reaches port.

• To address an outbreak ofArab raids againstJewish villages inPalestine, the Britishaircraft carrierHMSCourageous arrives offJaffa and disembarks all of her aircraft to operate from a desert landing strip atGaza. They operate over Palestine for four weeks before reembarking aboardCourageous in September.^[24]
• August 2–10 – TheEnglishaviator andornithologistMary Russell, Duchess of Bedford, her personal pilotC. D. Barnard, and mechanic Robert Little make a record-breaking flight in theFokker F.VIISpider (G-EBTS) of 10,000 miles (16,000 km) fromLympne Airport inLympne, England, toKarachi, then in theBritish Indian Empire, and back toCroydon Airport inSouth London, England, in eight days.
• August 4–16 – The first International Tourist Aircraft ContestChallenge 1929 takes place inParis, with a 5,942 km (3,692 mi) race over Europe. The German crew ofFritz Morzik wins in theBFW M.23 plane.
• August 8–29 – Germanrigid airshipLZ 127Graf Zeppelin makes acircumnavigation of theNorthern Hemisphere eastabout out ofLakehurst, New Jersey, including the first nonstop flight of any kind across thePacific Ocean (Tokyo–Los Angeles).
• August 18 – TheImperial Ethiopian Air Force receives its first aircraft, aPotez 25-A2.
• August 19 – TheZMC-2 flies for the first time. Constructed atNaval Air Station Grosse Ile,Michigan, by The Aircraft Development Corporation of Detroit (later renamed theDetroit Aircraft Corporation), it will be the only successfully operated metal-skinnedairship ever built, completing 752 flights and logging 2,265 hours of flight time in nearly 12 years ofUnited States Navy service atNaval Air Station Lakehurst,New Jersey before it is retired and scrapped in 1941.^[25][26][27]
• August 29 – WhileMary, Lady Heath, practices for theNational Air Races inCleveland, Ohio, the aircraft she is piloting clips a chimney and crashes through a factory roof. She spends weeks in acoma, but recovers from her injuries.^[23]

• September 3 – TheTranscontinental Air TransportFord 5-AT-B TrimotorCity of San Francisco (registration NC9649) strikesMount Taylor nearGrants, New Mexico, during athunderstorm while on a scheduled passenger flight fromAlbuquerque Airport in New Mexico toLos Angeles, killing all eight people on board.^[28]
• September 6
  • TheImperial Airwaysde Havilland DH.66 HerculesG-EBMZstalls when itflares too early while attempting a night landing atJask Airport inJask,Persia. It crashes and bursts into flames when its wing fuel tanks rupture and emergencyflares in its wingtips ignite the fuel. Both crew members and one of the three passengers die. The deceased pilot, A. E. Woodbridge, had shot down and wounded the Germanfighter aceManfred von Richthofen duringWorld War I.^[29]
  • The 1929Schneider Trophy race is flown atCalshot Spit in the United Kingdom.Royal Air ForceFlying Officer Henry Waghorn wins in aSupermarine S.6 at an average speed of 528.9 km/h (328.6 mph).
  • Flying theWright XF3W-1 Apache equipped with floats,United States NavyLieutenantApollo Soucek sets a world altitude record forseaplanes, climbing to 38,500 feet (11,700 meters).^[30]
• September 11 –Guatemala establishes theDirección General de Aeronáutica Civil ("General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics") as its nationalcivil aviation authority.
• September 12 – TheItalian Fascist leaderItalo Balbo becomes Italy'sMinister of the Air Force.
• September 24 –United States Army Air CorpsLieutenantJimmy Doolittle makes a completely blind take-off, flight, and landing.
• September 27–29 –Dieudonné Costes andMaurice Bellonte set a new world distance record, flying 7,905 km (4,912 mi) fromLe Bourget in Paris, toQiqihar, China, in aBreguet 19.
• September 30 –Fritz von Opel pilots the rocket-poweredRAK.1 aircraft on a 75-second, 1.6-kilometer (0.99 mi) flight nearFrankfurt-am-Main, Germany.

• October 6 – Inter-Island Airways – the futureHawaiian Airlines – begins operations.
• October 7 – TheKingdom of Yugoslavia′sflag carrier,Aeroput, makes its first international flight, flown by aPotez 29/2 fromBelgrade, Yugoslavia, toVienna, Austria, viaZagreb, Yugoslavia, with five passengers on board.
• October 14 – TheBritishairshipR101 makes its first flight. It takes off fromCardington,Bedfordshire, and flies overLondon.
• October 17 – Denver Municipal Airport – the futureStapleton International Airport – opens inDenver, Colorado. It will serve as Denver's primary airport until it closes inFebruary 1995.
• October 20 – The airfield atNaval Air Station Glenview, located inGlenview, Illinois, is dedicated, and itshangar deemed the largest in the world.
• October 26 – During a scheduled passenger flight fromNaples International Airport inNaples,Italy, toGenoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport outsideGenoa, Italy, theImperial AirwaysShort S.8/1 Calcuttaflying boatCity of Rome (registration G-AADN) makes a forced landing in high winds and poor weather in theLigurian Sea offLa Spezia, Italy. It sinks during efforts to tow it to shore, killing all seven people on board.^[31]

• November 6 – After taking off fromCroydon Airport inLondon with nine people aboard for a scheduled passenger flight toAmsterdam, theDeutsche Luft HansaJunkers G 24biOberschlesien (registration D-903) crashes after striking trees on a hill inMarden Park,Surrey, while attempting to return to Croydon in thick fog. Three of the four crew members and four of the five passengers die.^[32]
• November 9 – American aviation pioneerCarl Ben Eielson and his mechanic Earl Borland die in the crash of their plane inSiberia while attempting to evacuate furs and personnel from theNanuk, acargo ship trapped in the ice at North Cape (nowMys Shmidta).^{[33][34][35][36]}
• November 25 – The Spanish government airlineCLASSA officially begins operation of all lines previously operated by the airlines that merged to form it, includingIberia.
• November 26 – After taking off fromHal Far,Malta, aFleet Air Arm of the Royal Air ForceFairey Flycatcher lands aboard the British aircraft carrierHMS Courageous, achieving the first night carrier landing by a fleet fighter.^[37]
• November 28 –Richard E. Byrd and crew take off from their base atLittle America on theRoss Ice Shelf inAntarctica in aFord Trimotor and make the first flight over theSouth Pole, dumping several bags of food and supplies overboard to gain enough altitude to climb over theQueen Maud Mountains. They return to Little America after a round-trip flight of 1,600 miles (2,575 kilometers) that lasts 17 hours 26 minutes. Byrd becomes the first person to fly over both theNorth Pole and South Pole.^[38]

• December 16
  • The BritishairshipR100 makes its first flight, fromHowden toCardington, England.
  • Tydeo Larre Borges is the firstSouth American pilot to cross theSouth Atlantic Ocean.^[39]
• December 17 –Royal Air ForceCaptain Arthur G. Jones-Williams andLieutenant Norman H. Jenkins set out fromRAF Cranwell in England in theFairey Long-Range Monoplane to set a new nonstop flight distance record by flying toSouth Africa. The flight ends in tragedy later in the day when their plane crashes intoMount Sainte Marie du Zit in theAtlas Mountains inFrench Tunisia at an altitude of 2,300 feet (700 meters) after 13 hours 40 minutes in the air, killing both of them.^[40]
• December 20 –Will Kirk Kaynor, a member of theUnited States House of Representatives representing the2nd Congressional District ofMassachusetts, dies in the crash of aUnited States Army Air Corps plane atBolling Field inWashington, D.C. It was his first time in an airplane.^[36]

• Aeronca C-2
• Avia BH-11 (Czechoslovak air arm designation Avia B.11)^[41]
• Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker
• Bellanca TES
• Cessna DC-6
• Cierva C.12
• Cierva C.19
• Curtiss Thrush
• Fairchild FB-3
• Farman F.200
• Hall XFH^[42]
• Heinkel HD 56, prototype of theAichi E3A
• Levasseur PL.14
• Macchi M.67
• Piaggio P.9
• Pitcairn PA-7
• Potez 36
• Southern Martlet
• Early 1929
  • Thomas-Morse XP-13 Viper^[43]
  • Westland Interceptor
• Spring 1929 –Levasseur PL.10

• Gloster Gauntlet
• January 27 –Saunders A.10

• February 1 –Lublin R-X
• February 13 –Junkers A50
• February 22 –Westland IV, prototype of the Westland Wessextrimotor airliner

• April 3 –Cunningham-Hall PT-6
• April 11 –Boeing P-12^[44]

• Pietenpol Air Camper homebuilt aircraft prototype, withFord Model A engine^[45]
• Polikarpov DI-2
• May 3 –Gee Bee Model A
• May 17 – Martin XT5M-1, prototype of theMartin BM

• June 11 –Vickers Type 143
• June 21 –Vought XF2U-1^[46]

• Bernard 20^[47]
• Fokker D.XVI
• RWD-2
• July 4 –Saro A17 Cutty Sark
• July 7 –Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.10
• July 29 –Dornier Do X

• PZL P.1
• August 19 –Detroit ZMC-2^[25]

• Avro 621 Tutor
• September 9 –De Havilland Puss Moth
• September 11 –Tupolev R-6
• September 15 –Junkers K 47
• September 17 –Adcox Student Prince

• Berliner-Joyce XP-16, prototype of theBerliner-Joyce P-16 (later PB-1)^[48]
• October 2 –Acme Sportsman
• October 14 – AirshipR101

• November 6 –Junkers G.38
• November 26 –Vickers Type 177

• Dewoitine D.26
• Hall XPH-1, prototype of theHall PH^[49]
• Nakajima A2N
• December 16 –R100
• December 28 –Mitsubishi B2M

• Butler Blackhawk
• Curtiss P-6 Hawk with the27th Pursuit Squadron,United States Army Air Corps
• Nakajima A1N with theImperial Japanese Navy
• Polikarpov I-3 with 4th and 7th Fighter Squadrons,Soviet Air Force
• Polikarpov U-2, later redesignatedPolikarpov Po-2 (NATO reporting name "Mule")
• Tupolev TB-1 with theVVS

• February 27 –Boeing P-12 with the United States Army Air Corps^[44]

• Bristol Bulldog withNo. 3 Squadron,Royal Air Force

• Boeing F4B with theUnited States Navy^[44]

• Handley Page Hinaidi with theRoyal Air Force^[50]

• Avro 555 Bison by theRoyal Air Force
• Fairey Fawn by theRoyal Auxiliary Air Force and Special Reserve squadrons
• Latécoère 15 byLignes Aériennes Latécoère
• Saunders A.3 Valkyrie
• Saunders A.4 Medina

• 1929 in aviation
• Aviation by year

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