1939 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1939:

Events

January

February

February 9 - Alex Henshaw sets a new speed record for the round trip between England and Cape Town in 4 days 10 minutes in a Percival Mew

March

March 30 - Hans Dieterle sets a new airspeed record in a Heinkel He 100 of 746 km/h (464 mph).

April

April 28 - Vladimir Kokkinaki and Mikhail Godienko attempt a non-stop flight from the Soviet Union to New York but are forced down on Miscou Island in bad weather the next day.

June

July 20

July 6, Olga Klepikowa sets a world record by flying a glider 746 km (466 miles) from Moscow to Otradnoje.
July 20 - first flight powered by liquid-fuelled rocket made by Erich Warsitz in the Heinkel He 176

August

August 11 - Pan American World Airways begins scheduled flights from New York, New York to Southampton, England.
August 26 - the Messerschmitt Me 209 sets a new world speed record of 755 km/h (469 mph).
August 27 - first flight made entirely on turbojet power made by Erich Warsitz in the Heinkel He 178

September

September 1 - Germany invades Poland. The Luftwaffe plays a key tactical bombing role in neutralising Polish defences.
September 3 - Britain and France declare war on Germany. World War II breaks out.
September 3 - Paratroops are used for the first time, with German units dropped into Silesia, behind Polish lines.
September 3 - Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys are used to drop propaganda leaflets into German cities.
September 4 - first British bombs of the war dropped on German targets, with a Bristol Blenheim attacking the German fleet.

October

October 8 - First RAF victory of World War II when a Lockheed Hudson shoots down a Dornier Do 18 over Jutland.
October 16 - the Luftwaffe attacks its first British targets - Royal Navy warships in the Firth of Forth.

November

the Luftwaffe begins dropping sea mines around the British coastline.
November 24 - BOAC is formed by the merger of Imperial Airways and the original British Airways.
November 30 - Soviet air raids on Helsinki and Viipuri mark the outbreak of the Winter War.

December

December 18 - the Royal Air Force abandons daylight raids on Germany after a raid by Vickers Wellingtons takes heavy losses.
December 26 - the first RAAF squadrons to join the war arrive in Britain