1938 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1938:

Events

 * The Imperial Japanese Navy's air arm conducts a six-month bombing campaign against Hankow and other centers of Chinese resistance in central China.
 * The Spanish Republicans attempt to develop an aircraft manufacturing industry. They build 169 copies of the Soviet Polikarpov I-15 fighter during 1938, but never use any of them in combat in the Spanish Civil War.

January

 * Early January – Nationalist aircraft conduct a heavy bombing campaign against Barcelona, Spain.
 * January 6 – Spanish Republican Minister of Defense Indalecio Prieto y Tuero proposes to the Nationalists that both sides in the Spanish Civil War ban air attacks on cities and towns in rear areas. The Nationalists reply that they will continue to bomb Barcelona unless its industries are evacuated.
 * January 17 – Spanish Nationalist Fiat CR.32 fighters clash with Republican Polikarpov fighters over the front lines at Teruel, Spain, during the Battle of Teruel.
 * January 26 – Spanish Republican Air Force aircraft bomb Seville and Valladolid.
 * January 28 – A 90-second air raid on Barcelona by nine Majorca-based Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers kills 150 people and injures 500.

February

 * February 15–27 – Six United States Army Air Corps B-17 Flying Fortresses make a goodwill tour of Latin America, traveling 12,000 mi from the United States to Lima, Peru; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santiago, Chile; and back to the United States.

March

 * March 7 – Nationalist forces begin an offensive in Aragon, supported by German aircraft of the Condor Legion. The Condor Legion by this time has two Messerschmitt Bf 109 groups of four squadrons, two Heinkel He 51 groups of two squadrons, four bomber groups of three squadrons equipped with Heinkel He 111s and Junkers Ju 52s, and a reconnaissance group of three squadrons equipped with Heinkels and Dornier Do 17s.
 * March 7–17 – The Aragon Offensive sees retreating Republican forces bombarded by German Heinkel He 111s and Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79s escorted by Messerschmitt Bf 109s and Fiat CR.32s, with German Dornier Do 17 reconnaissance planes assisting in the location of targets.
 * March 12 – Junkers Ju 52s carry German troops to Vienna during the German Anschluss against Austria.
 * March 16–18 – Italian aircraft based on Majorca carry out a heavy, round-the-clock bombing of Barcelona, conducting seventeen air raids at three-hour intervals. Making no attempt to strike military targets specifically, they hit all parts of the city, killing about 1,300 people and injuring about 2,000.
 * March 22 – The Nationalist Aragon Offensive resumes. Bombing and strafing German, Italian, and Spanish Nationalist aircraft play a large role in terrorizing and routing Republican ground forces for the remainder of the offensive.
 * Late March – The British Chiefs of Staff Committee warns that in any confrontation with Germany over Czechoslovakia, the Luftwaffe would dominate the sky and that it might devote its entire force to attacking the United Kingdom as the best way of winning the war.

April

 * April 19 – The Aragon Offensive ends, with Spanish Nationalists having routed Republican forces and cut Republican-controlled Spain in two. Nationalist air superiority has proven decisive in their victory, and both the Germans supporting the Nationalists and the Soviets supporting the Republicans have learned a great deal about fighter support to infantry.
 * April 20 – British Air Commodore Arthur Travers Harris makes a purchasing trip to the United States to select aircraft to expand the Royal Air Force. The Lockheed Hudson and North American Harvard are chosen.
 * April 29 – In the largest air battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War to date, 18 Mitsubishi G3M (Allied reporting name "Nell") bombers and approximately 30 Mitsubishi A5M (Allied reporting name "Claude") fighters encounter 60 to 80 Soviet-built Nationalist Chinese fighters over Hankow. The Japanese claim the destruction of 51 Chinese fighters and admit losing two fighters and two bombers, while the Chinese admit the loss of 12 aircraft and claim to have shot down anywhere from 21 Japanese aircraft to as many as 45.

May

 * For the second time in six months, a Mitsubishi A5M (Allied reporting name "Claude") fighter loses a third of its right wing in when it is rammed by a Nationalist Chinese fighter but flies 200 mi to its base without further incident. This time, the collision occurs over Hankow.
 * A terror bombing raid by Imperial Japanese Navy Mitsubishi G3M bombers on Canton, China, kills 600 and injures 900.
 * May 12 - Three B-17 Flying Fortresses use dead reckoning navigation to intercept the ocean liner SS Rex more than 600 miles at sea.
 * May 12 - The United States Navy commissions its sixth aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (CV-6).
 * May 17 - The United States Congress passes the Naval Expansion Act, leading to the construction of the Essex-class aircraft carriers.

June

 * A prototype Heinkel He 118 makes the first airborne tests of a turbojet engine.
 * June 2 – Nationalist aircraft bomb Granollers, Spain, a town without military significance, killing about 100 people. Most of the dead are women and children.
 * June 9 – The Nicaraguan Air Force is formed as the Fuerza Aérea de la Guarda Nacional
 * June 15 – Nationalist aircraft sink the Republican gunboat Laya at Valencia, Spain.
 * mid-June – Nationalist aircraft have attacked 22 British-registered merchant ships in Spanish harbors or nearby waters since mid-April. Eleven of them have been sunk or badly damaged, and 21 British merchant mariners and several Non-Intervention Committee observers have died in the attacks.

July

 * In an Imperial Japanese Navy raid on a Nationalist Chinese airfield at Nanchang, three Japanese aircraft land on the field and their pilots disembark to shoot up Chinese personnel, barracks, and hangars and set Chinese aircraft on fire on foot before taking off and departing unscathed. The Japanese will use this attack technique on several future occasions.
 * July 5 – 400 aircraft support a Spanish Nationalist offensive in Valencia.
 * July 15 – A German Arado Ar 79 training and touring aircraft sets an international solo speed record over a 1,000-km (621.4-statute mile) course for an aircraft of its class, averaging 229.04 km/hr (142.32 mph).
 * July 25 – The Battle of the Ebro begins in Spain with a Republican offensive. Although Nationalist bombers attack bridges over the Ebro, Nationalist fighters are still deployed in Valencia and Spanish Republican fighter pilots trained in the Soviet Union gain local air superiority flying improved versions of the Polikarpov I-15 and I-16.
 * July 29
 * Former Soviet Air Force commander-in-chief Yakov Alksnis is executed, a victim of the Great Purge.
 * An Arado Ar 79 sets an international solo speed record over a 2,000-km (1,242-mile) course for an aircraft of its class, averaging 227.029 km/hr (141.07 mph).
 * July 29-August 11 – During the Lake Khasan Incident along the border between the Soviet Union and Manchukuo, 70 fighters and 180 bombers of the Soviet Air Force conduct heavy strikes against Imperial Japanese Army positions.

August

 * By the beginning of August, Nationalist fighters appear in sufficient numbers to establish Nationalist air superiority over the battlefield in the Battle of the Ebro. Inadequate Republican antiaircraft artillery, poor management of Republican fighters, the death of many Republican pilots, and the withdrawal of many of the best Soviet pilots from Spain all allow Nationalist aircraft to operate largely unchallenged. Up to 200 Nationalist aircraft circle over the battlefield as Nationalist forces begin a counteroffensive, shooting down many Republican fighters and dropping an average of 10,000 pounds (4,536 kg) of bombs per day into September. Small targets prove difficult for Nationalist aircraft to hit, with over 500 bombs needed to destroy a single Republican pontoon bridge in one instance.
 * Mid-August – Général d'armée Joseph Vuillemin, the Chief of Staff of the French Air Force witnesses a display of the Luftwaffe's capabilities during a visit to Germany, He returns to Paris and warns that the Luftwaffe could defeat the French Air Force in at most two weeks.
 * August 24 – Kweilin Incident: A China National Aviation Corporation DC-2 (the Kweilin) is strafed by Japanese aircraft in China after it makes an emergency landing in a bid to escape them, the first civilian airliner in history to be attacked by hostile aircraft. The 18 passengers and the crew are Chinese; the pilot is American.

September

 * September 7 – A mass flight of 17 U.S. Navy aircraft makes a 2,570-statute mile (4,138 km) nonstop flight from San Diego, California, to Hawaii in 17 hours 21 minutes.
 * September 10 – Germany prohibits all foreign air traffic in its airspace except along specific air corridors.
 * September 15 – The United States Army Air Corps officially activates Hickam Field in the Territory of Hawaii.
 * September 21 – Major General Oscar Westover, Chief of the U.S. Army Air Corps, is killed at Burbank, California, in the crash of a Northrop A-17AS he is piloting.
 * September 30 – A senior French general tells the British military attaché in Paris that in the event of a war with Germany "French cities would be laid in ruins ... They had no means of defense," and adds that France was paying the price for having neglected the French Air Force for years.

October

 * No. 800 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, becomes the first operational Royal Navy squadron equipped with monoplanes when it takes delivery of Blackburn Skuas.
 * October 9 – Nationalist aircraft sink the Republican submarine C-6 at Barcelona, Spain.
 * October 22 – Lieutenant Colonel Mario Pezzi of Italy sets a world altitude record of 17,083 meters (56,047 feet) in a Caproni Ca.161bis. This record still stands for piston-engined aircraft.
 * October 25 – The Australian National Airways Douglas DC-2 Kyeema (VH-UYC) crashes on Mount Dandenong, also known as Mount Corhanwarrabul, in the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria, Australia, killing all 18 people on board. Among the dead is the Australian politician Charles Hawker.
 * October 25 – General Maurice Gamelin, France's Chief of Staff of National Defense, puts before Prime Minister of France Édouard Daladier an assessment stating that Germany has 5,000 aircraft and France only 500, that the British Royal Air Force and French Air Force combined cannot match the German Luftwaffe, and that France cannot hope for even minimal security against German air attack before 1940 unless it embarks on a large, new aircraft procurement program.
 * October 28 – Lieutenant Colonel Ramón Franco, commander of Spanish Nationalist air forces in the Balearic Islands, dies when his seaplane crashes off Pollença, Majorca, during an attempt to bomb Republican-held Valencia.
 * October 30 – Another Nationalist counteroffensive begins in the Battle of the Ebro, preceded by a three-hour bombardment of Republican positions by artillery and over 100 Nationalist aircraft.

November

 * November 4 – The Jersey Airways de Havilland DH.86 airliner St. Catherine's Bay (tail number G-ACZN) crashes in Saint Brélade parish on Jersey in the Channel Islands just after takeoff from Jersey Airport, killing all 14 people on board and one person on the ground. Among the dead are the daughter, son-in-law, and baby granddaughter of surveyor and aerial archaeology pioneer G. A. Beazeley. It is the deadliest aviation accident involving a fixed-wing aircraft on British territory at the time.
 * November 5–7 – A pair of Vickers Wellesleys makes a non-stop flight from Egypt to Darwin, Australia, setting a new world distance record of 7,158 mi.
 * November 16 – HMS Ark Royal enters service with the Royal Navy as the world's first aircraft carrier with deck armor.
 * November 18 – The Battle of the Ebro ends with Spanish Nationalists retaking all territory captured by the Republicans. The Spanish Republican Air Force has lost between 150 and 170 aircraft since the battle began on July 25, and the Nationalists also have lost many planes.
 * November 26 – France lays the keel of its second aircraft carrier, Joffre, intended as the first non-experimental French carrier. Joffre's construction will be abandoned in June 1940, and she will never be launched.
 * November 28–30 – A Luft Hansa Focke Wulf Fw 200 makes the airline's first flight to Japan, flying non-stop from Berlin to Tokyo via Basra, Iraq; Karachi in British India; and Hanoi, French Indochina. The 14,228 km flight breaks the world distance record and takes 46 hours 18 minutes.

December

 * National Aviation, the Spanish Nationalist air force, has 500 aircraft, enough to ensure it air superiority in the Spanish Civil War.
 * December 5 – At a meeting of the French Permanent Committee on National Defense, Chief of Staff for National Defense General Maurice Gamelin advocates that France immediately order 1,000 military planes from the United States. The committee approves his proposal.
 * December 8 – Deutsche Werke launches Germany's first aircraft carrier, Graf Zeppelin, at Kiel. She will never be completed.
 * December 29–31 – A German Arado Ar 79 training and touring aircraft sets an international long-distance record for an aircraft of its class, flying 6,303 km (3,917 statute miles) from Benghazi, Libya, to Gaya, India, nonstop at an average speed of 160 km/hr (99 mph).
 * December 30 – The Italian Piaggio P.23R sets two new world records for payload and speed over distance, carrying a payload of 5,000 kg (11,023 lbs) over a distance of 1,000 km (621 miles) and over a distance of 2,000 km (1,242 miles) at an average speed for each distance of 404 km/hr (251 mph).

First flights

 * Arado Ar 79
 * Arado Ar 96
 * Late 1938 – Aichi E13A (Allied reporting name "Jake")

January

 * Aichi D3A (Allied reporting name "Val")
 * January 5 - Miles Mentor L4932
 * January 22 - Heinkel He 100
 * January 24 - Armstrong Whitworth Ensign

February

 * February 2 - Junkers Ju 88 V4

March

 * March 1 – Vought XOS2U-1, prototype of the OS2U Kingfisher
 * March 12 – PZL.44 Wicher

April

 * April 6 – Bell XP-39, prototype of the Bell P-39 Airacobra, the first United States Army Air Corps fighter with tricycle landing gear
 * April 20 – Tachikawa Ki-36 (Allied reporting name "Ida")

May

 * May 21 - Dornier Do 26

June

 * Teradako-ken TK-3
 * June 7 - Douglas DC-4E
 * June 14 -- Hawker Hotspur K8309

August

 * Dornier Do 217
 * PZL.46 Sum
 * August 3 – Martin-Baker MB 2

September

 * September 29 - Supermarine Sea Otter

October

 * October 2 – Dewoitine D.520
 * October 11 – Westland Whirlwind prototype L6844
 * October 11 – Curtiss CW-21
 * October 14 – Curtiss Model 75P, later redesignated XP-40, prototype of the Curtiss P-40
 * October 14 – Saro A.33 K4773
 * October 15 – Bristol Beaufort prototype L4441
 * October 26 – Douglas Model 7B, prototype of the A-20 Havoc, Douglas DB-7, and Douglas Boston

December

 * December 4 – Miles M.18
 * December 6 – K-2, first U.S. Navy K-class blimp
 * December 10 – Lockheed Hudson
 * December 12 – Fairey Albacore prototype L7074
 * December 22
 * De Havilland Flamingo
 * Seversky AP-4, predecessor of the Republic P-43 Lancer
 * December 23 – Blackburn Roc prototype L3057
 * December 28 – Blackburn Botha
 * December 31 – Boeing 307

Entered service

 * Arado Ar 79
 * Grumman F3F with the United States Navy
 * Mitsubishi Ki-30 (Allied reporting name "Ann") with Imperial Japanese Army Air Force
 * Spring 1938 – Seversky P-35 with the United States Army Air Corps 1st Pursuit Group

January

 * Kawanishi H6K (Allied reporting name "Mavis") with the Imperial Japanese Navy

April

 * Northrop BT with United States Navy Bombing Squadron 5 (VB-5) aboard USS Yorktown (CV-5)

June

 * Westland Lysander with No. 16 Squadron RAF

July

 * Armstrong Whitworth Ensign with Imperial Airways
 * Supermarine Spitfire with No. 19 Squadron RAF

August

 * Mitsubishi Ki-21 (Allied reporting name "Sally") with Imperial Japanese Army Air Force's 60th Group

September

 * Handley Page Hampden with No. 49 Squadron RAF

October

 * Vickers Wellington with No. 9 Squadron RAF
 * Armstrong Whitworth Ensign with Imperial Airways

November

 * Arado Ar 196

April

 * Avro Sea Tutor by the Royal Air Force Seaplane Training School