World Aviation in 1919 - Part 1

Part 2

2 January
Major General C.T. Menoher is appointed the United States Director of Air Service

8 January
The German Air Ministry restores civil flying.

A military airmail service is started in Switzerland by the Militär-Flugwesen, flying Haefeli DH3s between Zurich and Berne. Passenger services follow later.

18 January
A peace conference assembles in Paris.

5 February
German airline Deutsche Luft-Reederei begins the first sustained daily passenger airline service, flying modified ex-military AEG and DFW biplanes between Berlin and Weimar in Germany.

8 February
The first airline passengers to be carried from Paris to London are flown by a Farman F60 Goliath from Toussus-le-Noble to Kenley.

March
Italian Caproni aeroplanes are used to inaugurate a regular international air service between Padova and Vienna.

1 March
German airline Deutsche Luft-Reederei extends its air network to Hamburg.

3 March
William Boeing and Edward Hubbard use the Boeing Model CL4S to carry out the first United States international air mail service, between Seattle in America and Victoria in Canada.

10 March
The Australian Government announces a prize of £10,000 for the first flight from Great Britain to Australia by Australians, which must be completed within 720 consecutive hours by the end of the year.

Brigadier General William 'Billy' Mitchell becomes the United States Director of Military Aeronautics.

22 March
The first regular international passenger service is opened between Paris and Brussels by Lignes Aériennes Farman. The weekly service uses Farman F60 Goliath biplanes and the flying time is 2 hours 50 minutes. The fare is 365 francs.

24 March
Airplane designer Igor Sikorsky, who fled to France after the Russian Revolution, sails for the United States. The French Government did not take up the offer of his services.

April
The Japanese Army Aviation Department is formed.

6 April
Customs examination of airline passengers begins at Brussels.

13 April
Lieutenant Roget arrives in Rome after a 9 hour 40 minute flight from Paris.

18 April
Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes (CMA) inaugurates a mail and cargo service between Paris and Lille. The service is daily using ex-military Breguet 14's. Brussels and London are added to the growing network in August.

19 April
The first recorded free fall parachute jump takes place at McCook field in Dayton, Ohio. Leslie Leroy Irvin jumps from an aeroplane before deploying his parachute.

May
Two Italian ex-military SCA M-class semi-rigid airships are used to inaugurate a passenger and mail service between Rome and Naples.

17 May
The United States War Department orders the use of the national star insignia on all United States military aircraft.

22 May
French born hotelier Raymond Orteig offers a prize of $25,000 for the first non-stop flight, in either direction, between Paris and New York.

8-31 May
Three United States Navy (USN) flying boats set out from Rockaway in New York, in an attempt to make the first air crossing of the Atlantic, under the leadership of Commander John H. Towers.

Two aircraft fail in their attempt and alight near the Azores. The third, commanded by Lieutenant Commander A.C. Read, completes the first transatlantic crossing by air, landing at Plymouth in Devon on the 31 May. The Journey is completed in stages, with stops in Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, the Azores, Portugal and Spain, in a total flying time of 57 hours 16 minutes.

15 May
The United States Post office inaugurates the first section of a transcontinental airmail service between Chicago and Cleveland.

June
The German airline Lloyd Luftverkehr Sablatnig is founded as a domestic operator.

1 June
A permanent forest fire patrol, equipped with Curtiss Jenny aircraft is established at Rockwell Field, near San Diego.

14 June
The French Nieuport-Delage 29 Biplane fighter attains an altitude of more than 9,100 metres (29,850 feet) and is ordered into production. Eventually 25 squadrons fly the type, while a large number of aircraft serve in Belgium, Italy and Japan.

12 June
Baroness Raymonde de Laroche breaks the women's altitude record by flying to a height of 16,896 feet.

Part 2