World Aviation in 1919 - Part 2

Part 1

23 June
Seven German Navy Zeppelins are scuttled by their crews at Nordholz to prevent them being handed over to the Allies as part of the Versailles Peace Treaty.

25 June
The world's first purpose-built all metal commercial aircraft flies as the German Junkers F13. 322 are eventually built.

28 June
The Versailles Peace Treaty is signed. Under the treaty, Germany is forbidden from having an air force or producing military aircraft.

July
Compagnie des Transports Aéronautiques du Sud-Ouest is formed as a charter operator flying to points around the Bay of Biscay.

14 July
An Italian Fiat BR light bomber makes the first non-stop flight between Rome and Paris.

18 July
Self-styled Baroness Raymonde de Laroche, the first French women to get her flying license, is killed in a flying accident in northern France.

21 July
Anthony Fokker founds the Dutch aircraft company of the same name at Schiphol near Amsterdam.

7-8 August
Captain Earnest Hoy, flying a Curtiss JN4 Jenny, makes the first aeroplane flight across the Canadian Rocky Mountains, from Vancouver to Calgary, in 12 hours 34 minutes.

24 August
Delag airship Bodensee makes the first of its regular flights from Friedrichshafen to Berlin.

28 August
The International Air Traffic Association (IATA) is established at the Hague.

1 September
French aircraft manufacturers Forges et Ateliers de Construction Latécoère begin a regular airline service to Casablanca. The airline becomes known as Lignes Aériennes Latécoère.

19 September
Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes (CMA) begins its Paris to London passenger service with Breguet 14s.

29 September
The Polskie Wojska Lotnicze (Polish Air Force) is formed.

1 October
The Australian Aircraft and Engineering Company is established to manufacture and sell Avro aircraft under license.

7 October
KLM, or Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij voor Nederland an Kolojien (Royal Dutch Airlines) is formed.

8-31 October
The first Army Air Service Transcontinental Reliability and Endurance Test is held in the USA. Seven airmen die in what amounted to an air race between New York, San Francisco and back. The test is won on 18 October by Lieutenant Belvin W. Maynard.

13 October
The League of Nations sets up the Paris Convention to regulate international flying and system of aircraft registration based on a 5-letter call sign is established.

17 October
The Omando de Aviación Naval Argentina is formed.

1 November
The United States airline West Indies Airways begins services between Key West, Florida and Havana. It later merges with Aeromarine Airways to form Aeromarine West Indies Airways.

11 November
An airline service between Berlin and Königsberg (Now Kaliningrad) is started by Albatros Werke.

12 November - 10 December
Australian brothers Captain Ross and Lieutenant Keith Smith set off from Hounslow, near London, in a Vickers Vimy bomber in an attempt to be the first men to fly from England to Australia. They successfully land in Darwin on 10 December, having flown a distance of 18,170 kilometres (11,290 miles).

16 November - 12 December
Captain H.N. Wrigley and Lieutenant A.W. Murphy become the first men to fly across Australia when they fly a Royal Aircraft Factory BE2e from Melbourne to join Ross and Keith Smith. They land at Darwin on 12 December after a flying time of 46 hours.

24 November
Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe, the great French promoter and sponsor of early aviation efforts, dies aged 73 in Ecquivilly.

1 December
Delag's airship service between Friedrichshafen and Berlin is suspended on the orders of the Allied Control Commission after more than 100 flights, carrying 2,400 passengers.

5 December
A Colombian airline, Aerovias Nacoinales de Colombia SA (Avianca) is formed. By 1982 it will have achieved the longest continuous record of scheduled services.

Also this year...
The following air services are formed in this year:

• Canadian Naval Air Service
• Uruguayan Aéronautica Militar
• Royal Siamese Aeronautical Service is formed from the Royal Siamese Flying Corps
• Chinese Army Air Arm becomes the Chinese Aviation Service
• Swiss Militär-Flugwesen
• Chilean Naval Aviation service
• An air unit of the Guatamalan army
• Peruvian Army Aviation Service
• Romanian Divisia l-a Aeriana

Argentinean Marquis de Pescara begins constructing helicopters with cyclic pitch Control.

Deutschösterrichische Fliegertruppe (German-Austrian Flying Troop) is disbanded by the Allied Control Commission.

Part 1