World Aviation in 1933

30 March
Boeing Model 247, the first airliner with retractable undercarriage, enters service with United Air Lines.

1 April
The Indian Air Force, Bharatiya Vayu Sena, is formed.

4 April
United States Navy (USN) dirigible (steerable airship) USS Akron crashes into sea off New Jersey with 73 killed.

21 April
The first flight of new United States Navy (USN) dirigible (steerable airship) USS Macon.

27 May
Japan withdraws from the League of Nations.

6 June
The Dornier Do8t Wal makes a flight across the South Atlantic. One refuelling stop is required, using a refuelling ship.

1 July
Unable to immediately purchase Boeing Model 247s, Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA) had requested that the Douglas Aircraft Company develop a competitor. The Douglas DC1 makes its first flight on this date.

1-15 July
24 Italian Savoia-Marchetti S55X flying boats, under the command of General Italo Balbo, make the first transatlantic formation flight. The flight between Italy and Chicago in Illinois is to take part in the Century of Progress Exposition.

15-22 July
Wiley Post, flying a Lockheed Vega, makes the first round the world solo flight. His flight begins and ends at Floyd Bennett Field in New York, with a route via Berlin, Moscow, Irkutsk and Alaska - a total distance of 5,099 kilometres (15,596 miles).

5-7 August
French Air Force pilots Lieutenant Maurice Rossi and Paul Codes establish a new world distance record of 9,104 metres (5,657 miles) from New York in the United States to Rayak in Syria, using a Blériot Zapata aircraft.

17 August
The Soviet Union tests its first semi-liquid fuelled rocket, the GIRD-IX, .

28 September
G. Lemoine flies a Potez 50 to a new world record altitude of 13,661 metres (44,820 feet) at Villacoublay in France.

14 October
Germany withdraws from the League of Nations ending world attempts for disarmament.

20-21 November
Lieutenant Commander T.G.W. Settle and Major C.L. Fordney, two United States Marine Corps (USMC) officers, establish a new balloon altitude record at Akron in Ohio. They ascend to 18,665 metres (61,237 feet).

1 December
The first daily air service in India is established by Indian National Airways between Calcutta and Dacca.

31 December
The Polikarpov I-16 makes its first flight. It is the first monoplane fighter with an enclosed cockpit and retractable undercarriage.