1937 in aviation

yearbox
in?=in aviation
cp=19th Century
c=20th century
cf=21st century
yp1=1934
yp2=1935
yp3=1936
year=1937
ya1=1938
ya2=1939
ya3=1940
dp3=1900s
dp2=1910s
dp1=1920s
d=1930s
dn1=1940s
dn2=1950s
dn3=1960s

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1937:

Events

March

* March 5 - Imperial Airways opens a new flying boat base at Hythe, Hampshire.

April

* April 9 - The "Kamikaze" arrives at Croydon Airport in London - it is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.
* April 12 - Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft at the British Thomson-Houston factory in Rugby, England.
* April 26 - Luftwaffe bombers of Legion Condor attack Guernica
* April 30 - Nationalist Spanish battleship "España" sunk by air attack by Republican forces.

May

* May 6 - German zeppelin "Hindenburg" caught fire and was destroyed whilst attempting to dock with its mooring mast at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, New Jersey.

June

* June 18-20, Valery Chkalov, G.F.Baidukov, A.V.Belyakov flew from Moscow to Vancouver, Washington, USA via the North Pole

July

* July 3, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappear on a flight from Lae, New Guinea to Howland Island, and are never seen again.
* July 3-6 - Pan Am and Imperial Airways flying boats conduct joint survey flights over the Atlantic in preparation for the commencement of regular services.
* July 12-14 - Mikhail Gromov, A. B. Yumashev, and S. A. Danilin establish a new distance record of 10,148 km (6,303 miles) from Moscow to San Jacinto, California, USA via the North Pole.

August

* August 15 - Lufthansa begins seaplane services between the Azores and New York with the assistance of seaplane tenders stationed along the route.

November

*November 16 - A Sabena Junkers Ju 52 en route from Cologne, Germany to London via Brussels crashed near Ostend with 11 on board. All aboard were killed, including the Grand Duke and eight-months pregnant Grand Duchess of Hesse and their two small sons.

First flights

January

* January 13 - Fairey Fulmar

February

* February 9 - Blackburn Skua

March

* Miles Magister
* March 10 - Hawker Henley

April

* April 10 - Junkers Ju 88 V2 "D-AREN"

May

* May 7 - Lockheed XC-35
* May 20 - de Havilland Albatross
* Arado Ar 196

June

* June 18 - de Havilland Don
* June 19 - Airspeed Oxford
* June 22 - de Havilland Moth Minor

July

* July 27 - Short Mayo Flying-boat / seaplane composite
* July 27 - Focke-Wulf Fw 200 prototype "D-AERE"
* July 29 - Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra

August

* August 11 - Boulton Paul Defiant prototype "K 8310"

eptember

* September 1 - Bell YFM-1 Airacuda
* September 13 - Junkers Ju 88 V3 "D-ASAZ"

October

* October 16 - Short S.25 "K 4774", prototype of the Short Sunderland

December

* Brewster B-139, prototype of the Brewster Buffalo
* December 24 - Macchi C.200

Entered service

February

* Gloster Gladiator with No. 3 and No. 72 Squadron RAF

March

* March 9 - Armstrong Whitworth Whitley with No. 10 Squadron RAF
* Bristol Blenheim with No. 114 Squadron RAF

April

* Vickers Wellesley
* Junkers Ju 87 with I/StG 162
* April 16 - Supermarine Stranraer

May

* May 20 - Fairey Battle with No. 63 Squadron RAF

October

* Miles Magister
* TBD Devastator with VT-3 aboard USS "Saratoga"

November

* Airspeed Oxford

December

* SB2U Vindicator with VB-3 aboard USS "Saratoga"