This is a list ofaviation-related events from 1931:

• Bert Hinkler flies ade Havilland Puss Moth fromCanada toNew York City, then non-stop 2,400 km (1,500 mi) toJamaica, then on toBritish Guiana andBrazil. He then flies across theSouth Atlantic Ocean toWest Africa in extremely bad weather, becoming the first person to fly across the South Atlantic solo and only the second person afterCharles Lindbergh in 1927 to fly solo across the Atlantic. He completes his journey by flying from West Africa toLondon.^[1] For the flight, he receives theSegrave Trophy, theJohnston Memorial Prize, and theBritannia Trophy for the most meritorious flying performance of the year.
• ManufacturerAirspeed Ltd founded inYork, England.
• Alexander Seversky founds theSeversky Aircraft Corporation.^[2]
• Watanabe Iron Works, the ancestor of theKyūshū Airplane Company Ltd., begins to manufacture aircraft.^[3]
• FirstBendix trophy race.
• TheImperial Japanese Navy decides to abolish itsairship units and phase airships out of the fleet over the next few years.^[4]
• InNew York City, theEmpire State Building is completed, topped with a 200-foot (61-meter)mooring mast forairships. Plans to disembark airship passengers prove impractical, and the mast is never used except for a single three-minute contact by theUnited States NavyblimpJ-4.^[5]
• U.S. ArmySecond LieutenantWilliam A. Cooke sets world gliding records for endurance and distance, flying an estimated 600statute miles (966 km) in 21 hours 34 minutes 15 seconds atWheeler Field,Territory of Hawaii.^[6]
• Summer 1931 –Transcontinental and Western Air moves its headquarters fromNew York City toKansas City,Missouri.^[7]

• In theSoviet Union, construction of Leningrad's Shosseynaya Airport (the futurePulkovo Airport) begins.
• January 6 – Italian GeneralItalo Balbo leads the first formation flight across theSouth Atlantic. TwelveSavoia-Marchetti S.55s fly fromPortuguese Guinea toBrazil.
• January 7 –Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stoptrans-Tasman flight (fromAustralia toNew Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing hisAvro Sports Avian on New Zealand'swest coast.
• January 8 – Piarco Airport, the futurePiarco International Airport, opens inPort-of-Spain,Trinidad.
• January 9 – ThePratt-MacArthur agreement defines theUnited States Navy's naval air force as an element of the fleet that moves with the fleet and helps it carry out its missions. The agreement settles a lengthy controversy between theUnited States Army and the Navy over the role of naval aviation in overall national defense, as well as internal Navy debates over the role of naval air power.^[8]
• January 28 – German explorerGunther Plüschow and his engineer Ernst Dreblow are killed when theirHeinkel HD 24 seaplane crashes near the Brazo Rico (part ofArgentino Lake) inPatagonia.^[9]

• Flying fromOran inFrench Algeria, the French aviators Antoine Paillard and Louis Mailloux fly a 15-kilometer (9.3-mile) circuit for over 50 hours in theBernard 80 GR in an attempt to set a new unrefueled nonstop closed-circuit world distance record. They cover 8,168 kilometers (5,075 miles) before higher-than-expected fuel consumption forces them to land only 20 kilometers (12 miles) short of the record.
• February 1 – Polish pilotStanisław Skarżyński begins a 25,050-kilometer (15,570-mile) tour aroundAfrica in aPZL Ł.2. He will complete it on May 5.
• February 12 – TheDetroit News places an order for aPitcairn PCA-2autogiro with thePitcairn Aircraft Company. It is the first commercial order for an autogiro in theUnited States.^[10]
• February 14 – TheUnited States Congress authorizes a new award, theAir Mail Medal of Honor, which thePresident of the United States is to award to pilots who perform distinguished service in connection withU.S. Air Mail service.^[11] It will first be awarded in December1933.^[12]
• February 21 – After aPan American-Grace Airways (Panagra)Ford Trimotor lands atRodríguez Ballón Airport atArequipa,Peru, armed revolutionary soldiers surround it. They demand that it fly them to another destination, but the Trimotor's pilot refuses. The standoff continues for 10 days until, on 2 March, the soldiers suddenly announce that their side won the revolution and let the pilot go in exchange for him giving one of them a ride toLima.^[13]
• February 26 –Imperial Airways begins scheduled services betweenEngland andAfrica usingArmstrong Whitworth Argosys.
• February 6-March 1 – Flying theBlériot 110 over a closed circuit inFrench Algeria, the French aviator Maurice Rossi sets an unrefueled distance record of 8,822 kilometers (5,482 miles). The plane remains in the air for over 75 hours 23 minutes.^[14]

• The French aviator Marcel Goulette flies aFarman F.304trimotor fromParis,France, toTananarive,Madagascar, and back.
• March 9 – Flying aFarman F.302, French aviators Jean Réginensi and Marcel Lalouette set new distance and duration records over a closed circuit with a 2,000-kilogram (4,409-pound) payload, flying 2,678 kilometers (1,664 miles) in 17 hours.
• March 21
  • Australia suffers its first airline disaster when theAustralian National AirwaysAvro 618 TenSouthern Clouddisappears in bad weather over theSnowy Mountains inNew South Wales, Australia, with the loss of all eight people on board. The aircraft's wreckage will not be discovered until October 26, 1958.
  • Zygmunt Puławski, one ofPoland's leading aircraft designers, dies during the sixth flight of thePZL.12flying boat prototype – which he designed and built – when the PZL.12 stalls after take-off due to a strong wind and crashes inWarsaw, Poland.
• March 26 –Ad Astra Aero andBalair merge to formSwissair.
• March 30–April 2 – Flying theBenard 80 GR, French aviators Jean Marmoz and Antoine Paillard set a new closed-circuit unrefueled flight distance record, covering 8,960 kilometers (5,570 miles) in a time of 52 hours 44 minutes. A loss of coolant finally brings the flight to an end, although during the last part of the flight the two men pumpchampagne,eau de Vittel, andcoffee into the radiator to keep the engine cool.
• March 31 – ATranscontinental & Western Air Fokker F-10 crashes nearBazaar,Kansas, killing all eight on board, includingAmerican football coachKnute Rockne. The crash prompts the first grounding of an aircraft type, ordered by theUnited States Department of Commerce.

• April 8 – Flying aPitcairn PCA-2 overWillow Grove,Pennsylvania,Amelia Earhart sets anautogiro altitude record, reaching 18,415 feet (5,613 meters).^[15][16]
• April 10 –C. W. A. Scott breaks the record for the fastest solo flight from England to Australia, making the flight between April 1 and April 10 in a time of 9 days 4 hours 11 minutes.
• April 14 –Honduras founds its National Aviation School. It is the forerunner of theHonduran Air Force.
• April 21 –Pitcairn-Cierva Autogiro Company pilot Jim Ray lands a Pitcairn PCA-2 autogiro on theWhite House lawn inWashington, D.C., for a ceremony in whichU.S. PresidentHerbert Hoover presents theCollier Trophy to autogiro manufacturerHarold Pitcairn. After the ceremony, Ray takes off again in the PCA-2.^[16]

• May 5 – Polish pilotStanisław Skarżyński completes a 25,050-kilometer (15,570-mile) tour aroundAfrica in aPZL Ł.2. He began the tour on February 1.
• May 14 – Ade Havilland Gypsy Moth piloted byprofessional hunterDenys Finch Hatton and carrying hisKĩkũyũ servant Kamau takes off from the airfield atVoi,Kenya, circles the field twice,stalls, and crashes, killing both men.
• May 27 – Launching fromAugsburg,Germany, Swiss professorAuguste Piccard and his assistant Paul Kipfer ascend to an altitude of 15,781 meters (51,775 feet) in a balloon, establishing a new world altitude record for human flight and gathering substantial data on theupper atmosphere andcosmic rays before landing on a glacier inAustria.
• May 28
  • Walter E. Lees andFrederick Brossy set a new endurance record for a non-refueled flight, landing aBellanca J2 Diesel aircraft atJacksonville Beach,Florida, after remaining in the air continuously for 84 hours 32 minutes.^[17] The record will stand untilJuly 1986.^[18]
  • Flying thePitcairn PCA-2autogiroMissing Link, John M. Miller completes the first flight across theUnited States in arotary-wing aircraft.

• June 5 –C. W. A. Scott breaks the record for the fastest solo flight from Australia to England, flying the 10,660 miles (17,160 km) from Wyndham, Australia to Lympne, England from May 26 to June 5, in 10 days 23 hours piloting aDH.60 Moth (Gipsy II).
• June 11 – The 40-passengerHandley Page H.P.42 four-engine biplane enters service with British airlineImperial Airways when G-AAGXHannibal operates aCroydon Airport toParis–Le Bourget flight, setting new standards of passenger service and comfort.
• June 23–July 1 –Wiley Post andHarold Gatty fly around the world in aLockheed Vega, theWinnie Mae, covering 15,474 miles (24,903 km) in 8 days 15 hours 51 minutes – a new record.

• July 15 – TheUnited States Army Corps'sAir Corps Tactical School completes its relocation fromLangley Field,Virginia, toMaxwell Field,Alabama.
• July 20 – TheBoston and Maine Railroad andMaine Central Railroad found Boston-Maine Airways, the futureNortheast Airlines. It flies fromBoston,Massachusetts, toBangor,Maine, viaPortland, Maine, as aPan American Airways contract carrier.
• July 22–September 1 – SirAlan Cobham and crew make a 19,800 km (12,300 mi) return flight between England and theBelgian Congo in aShort Valletta.
• July 27 – TheAir Line Pilots Association, International is founded at a meeting inChicago,Illinois.^[19]
• July 28–31 –Russell Norton Boardman andJohn Louis Polando fly theBellancaSpecial J-300 high-wing monoplaneCape Cod, registrationNR761W, powered by a 300 hp (220 kW)Wright J-6 Whirlwind engine, nonstop fromFloyd Bennett Field inNew York City, toIstanbul,Turkey, in 49 hours 20 minutes, establishing a distance record of 5,011.8 miles (8,065.7 km). It is the first known non-stop flight to surpass either 5,000 miles or 8,000 kilometers.^[20][21]

• August 6 –Transcontinental and Western Air inaugurates the first air cargo service in theUnited States with a shipment of livestock fromSt. Louis,Missouri, toNewark,New Jersey.^[7]
• August 9 – After an engine separates from theAmerican AirwaysFord 5-AT-B TrimotorNC9662 shortly after takeoff fromCincinnati Municipal Airport inCincinnati,Ohio, for a flight toAtlanta,Georgia, its pilot tries to return to the airport for anemergency landing. He misses the runway and then tries to land on the bank of theLittle Miami River, but the aircraft strikes soft sand and noses over, killing all six people on board.^[22]
• August 29 – The GermandirigibleGraf Zeppelin pioneers the air route betweenGermany andBrazil.

• TheLatécoère 380flying boat sets six worldseaplane records, including three speed-with-load-over-distance records and a closed-circuit distance-with-load record of 2,208 kilometers (1,372 miles).
• TheRoyal Air Force's firstinstrument flying course begins. Held atRAF Wittering, it employs sixAvro 504Ns fitted with blind-flying hoods,turn indicators, and reduceddihedral to decrease inherent stability.^[23]
• September 7 –Herbert Clayton Wells loses his life during an air contests inOttumwa.^[24]
• September 7 –Lowell Bayles wins the 1931Thompson Trophy in theGee Bee Model Z racer at theNational Air Races inCleveland,Ohio, with a speed of 236.24 mph (380.19 km/h).
• September 13 – TheUnited Kingdom wins theSchneider Trophy outright by winning its third consecutive Schneider Trophy race.Royal Air ForceFlight LieutenantJohn Boothman of theRAF High-Speed Flight completes the course atCalshot Spit inSupermarine S.6BserialS1595 at 547.297 km/h (340.075 mph). With the trophy retired, the Schneider Trophy races, begun in 1913, come to an end.
• September 23 – APitcairn XOP-1autogyro conducts landing and take-off trials aboard theUnited States Navyaircraft carrierUSS Langley (CV-1). It is the U.S. Navy's first experiment with a shipbornerotary-wing aircraft.^[25]
• September 29
  • Following the Schneider Trophy success, Royal Air Force Flight LieutenantGeorge Stainforth in Supermarine S.6B serialS1596 breaks the 400 mphair speed record barrier at 407.5 mph (655.8 km/h).^[26]
  • American inventorEd Link receives a patent for his "Combination Training Device for Student Aviators and Entertainment Apparatus." Better known as theLink Trainer, it allows pilots to train safely on the ground for "blind" instrument flying.^[27]

• October 1 –KLM begins a regular service betweenAmsterdam andBatavia byFokker F.XII. At 13,744 km (8,540 mi) this is the longest regular air route in the world at the time.
• October 3 –Brazil reestablishesBrazilian Navy control over naval aviation, creating a naval aviation corps which takes over the control of naval aircraft from thegeneral staff.^[28]
• October 3–5 –Clyde Pangborn andHugh Herndon make the first non-stop flight across thePacific Ocean, fromSamushiro Beach,Japan, toWenatchee, Washington, in 41 hours inMiss Veedol, a Bellanca J-300 Long Distance Special.^[29]
• October 17 – The first hook-on test of the U.S. Navy'sparasite fighter program takes places, as theCurtiss XF9C-1 prototype successfully docks with thedirigibleUSS Los Angeles (ZR-3).^[30]
• October 27 – TheDetroit Aircraft Corporation files for bankruptcy. Eventually, theLockheed portion of the company is bought out of receivership.
• October 27–28 – As a test of the secondFairey Long-Range Monoplane in preparation for a later attempt at setting a new non-stop distance flight record it,Royal Air ForceSquadron LeaderOswald R. Gayford andFlight Lieutenant D. L. G. Bett fly fromRAF Cranwell inEngland toRAF Abu Sueir inEgypt, covering 2,857 miles (4,598 kilometers) nonstop in 31 hours.^[31]

• The first productionR-6 rolls off the assembly line at the N22 factory in Moscow.
• Hillman's Airways is founded. It will begin charter services inDecember 1931 and scheduled services inApril 1932.
• November 2 –United States Marine Corps squadronsVS-15M andVS-14M embark onUSS Lexington (CV-2) andUSS Saratoga (CV-3), the first time Marine Corps squadrons are assigned toaircraft carriers.
• November 20 – TheGovernment of the Philippines creates an office under its Department of Commerce and Communications to handle aviation matters in thePhilippines, particularly the enforcement of rules and regulations governing commercial aviation and private flying.

• December 5 –Lowell Bayles, winner of the 1931Thompson Trophy, dies when theGee Bee Model Z racer he is piloting crashes during a speed run atWayne County Airport inDetroit,Michigan.
• Hillman's Airways begins flight operations with a charter flight. It will begin scheduled services inApril 1932.
• December 29 – As the French aviators Louis Mailloux and Jean Marmoz take off in theBernard 81 GRAntoine Paillard to attempt to set a new unrefueled non-stop closed-circuit flight distance record, the airplane's propeller hits the ground and its undercarriage collapses. The two men escape the accident with only a few bruises, and the aircraft eventually is repaired.

• Aeronca C-1 Cadet
• ANF Les Mureaux 110A.2, prototype ofANF Les Mureaux 113R.2^[32]
• ANF Les Mureaux 112GR^[32]
• Arado Ar 65
• Arrow Active
• Avro 627 Mailplane
• Beriev MBR-2
• Curtiss-Wright CW-14 Osprey
• Fairchild 22
• Farman F.250
• Focke-Wulf A 38
• Latécoère 300
• Latécoère 440
• Nakajima Army Type 91 fighter
• Pitcairn PAA-1
• Pitcairn PCA-2
• Westland-Hill Pterodactyl Mk. IV
• Mid-1931 –Grigorovich I-Z
• Autumn 1931 –Stinson Model R

• Couzinet 21
• Farman F.280
• PZL.12 flying boat prototype - designed and built by leading Polish aircraft designerZygmunt Puławski, the PZL.12 stalls and crashes in Warsaw during its sixth flight a month later on 21 March just after take-off due to a strong wind, killing Zygmunt
• Westland PV-3
• ca. late February –Potez 40
• February 2 –Latécoère 350

• Curtiss XF9C-1, prototype of theCurtiss F9C Sparrowhawk^[33]
• Latécoère 490
• March 3
  • Fairey Gordon
  • Northrop Beta
• March 9 –Blériot 125F-ALZD
• March 25 –Hawker Fury
• March 28 –Mitsubishi 2MR8

• Amiot 140^[34]

• Berliner-Joyce XOJ-1, prototype of theBerliner-Joyce OJ
• May 1 –Grigorovich TB-5
• May 22 –Berliner-Joyce XFJ-2^[35]

• Curtiss XA-8, prototype of theCurtiss A-8 Shrike^[36]
• Curtiss YP-20 Hawk^[37]
• Curtiss XP-22 Hawk, prototype of theP-6E Hawk^[37]
• Focke-Wulf Fw 47

• Macchi M.C.72
• July 24 –Dornier Do 10

• Bernard 81 GRAntoine Paillard
• August 7 –RWD-5

• Cierva C.24
• Heinkel He 59
• Lockheed-Detroit XP-900, prototype of theLockheed-Detroit YP-24^[38]
• September 29 –Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.11

• Avro 643 Cadet
• October 2 –Junkers Ju 49
• October 3 –Latécoère 290
• October 26 –De Havilland Tiger Moth DH.82 prototypeG-ABRC
• October 31 –Westland Wallace

• November 25 –Couzinet 33Biarritz
• November 27 –Fairey Seal
• November 27 –Fokker D.XVII

• December 29 – Grumman XFF-1, prototype of theGrumman FF^[39][40]
• December 29 –Hawker Audax

• Aeronca C-3
• Curtiss-Wright CW-14 Osprey
• Dornier Do Y with theRoyal Yugoslav Air Force
• Fairchild 100
• Levasseur R3b withFrench Naval Aviation aboard theaircraft carrierBéarn
• Nakajima Ki-6 withJapan Air Transport
• Polikarpov I-5 with theSoviet Air Force

• May 1 – Ford RR-4, a version of theFord Trimotor, with theUnited States Marine Corps (transferred from theUnited States Navy).^[41]

• October 27 –USS Akron (ZRS-4) with theUnited States Navy

• November 19 –Sikorsky S-40 withPan American

• Nakajima E4N

• Airco DH.9A by the BritishRoyal Air Force
• Avro 566 Avenger
• Avro 562 Avis
• Bristol F.2 Fighter by the British Royal Air Force
• Westland Witch

• 1931 in aviation
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