1934—Contiuned
November 18: Navy issued contract to Northrop for the XBT-1, a two-seat scout and 1,000-pound bomb dive bomber, initial prototype of sequence that led to the SBD Dauntless series of dive bombers introduced to the fleet in 1938 and used throughout World War II.
December 23: Endowment given IAS by Sylvanus Albert Reed for annual award to be given "for notable contribution to the aeronautical sciences resulting from experimental or theoretical investigations, the beneficial influence of which on the development of practical aeronautics is apparent." (See Appendix D.)
During December: German Ordance group launch two A-2 rockets successfully to a height of 1.4 miles, on the Island of Borkum in the North Sea, before the C-in-0 of the Army.
: British War Office considered de-velopment of high-velocity rockets, and the Research Department at Woolwich Arsenal was requested to submit a program in April 1935. This led to antiaircraft rocket development, and some 2,500 test firings were made in Jamaica, 1938-39.
During 1934: Douglas began development of the twin-engined commercial transport, the famed DC-3.
: H. G. Armstrong began studies on decompression sickness and showed that gas bubbles may form in the body from a drop of pressure below one atmosphere, at Aero Medical Laboratory.
1935
January 5: First assignment of a flight surgeon to Naval Aircraft Factory, Lt. Comdr. J. R. Poppen (USN), was directed to observe pilots, conduct physical examinations, and work on hygienic and physiological aspects of research and development projects.
January 22: Federal Aviation Commission, appointed by the President as provided in the Air Mail Act of June 12, 1934, submitted its report and set forth broad policy on all phases of aviation and the relation of Government thereto. It recommended strengthening of commercial and civil aviation, expansion of airport facilities, and establishment of more realistic procurement practices from industry. It recommended continued study of air organization toward more effective utilization and closer interagency relationships, to include expansion of experimental and development work and its close coordination with the NACA.
February 12: Navy dirigible Macon crashed at sea off the California coast.
March 1: GHQ Air Force established by the Army Air Corps.
March 9: Hermann Goering announced the existence of the German Air Force to Ward Price, correspondent of the Daily Mail (London), an event of considerable importance in international power politics for it implied unilateral breaking of the Treaty of Versailles prohibiting Germany possession of an air force.
March 28: Robert Goddard launched the first rocket equipped with gyroscopic controls, which attained a height of 4,800 feet, a horizontal distance of 13,000 feet, and a speed of 550 mph, near Roswell, N. Mex.
April 2: British Government disclosed that Adolf Hitler of Germany had declared that the German Air Force had reached parity with the Royal Air Force at a recent conference with British representatives in Germany. While untrue, Hitler's statement had a profound impact upon British aeronautical and defense efforts.
April 16-23: Pan American Airways' Clipper flew from California to Honolulu and returned in preliminary survey flight for transpacific air route to the Orient.
May 18: World's largest airplane, the Russian Maxim Gorky, crashed near Moscow, killing all aboard.
May 31: Goddard rocket attained altitude of 7,500 feet in New Mexico.
July 2: Historic report on radio direction finding (radar) was presented to the British Air Defense Research Committee.
: First Interdepartmental Committee appointed by President Roosevelt to study international air transportation problems.
July 26: Russian balloon USSR successfully reached 52,000 feet, crew including Warigo, Christofil, and Prelucki.
July 28: Boeing Model 299, the XB-17 four-engine bomber prototype, made first flight.
Summer 1935: First static tests of Heinkel He-112 with rocket engines performed in Germany.
August 28: Automatic radio-navigation equipment—a Sperry automatic pilot mechanically linked to a standard radiocompass—tested by the Equipment Laboratory at Wright Field.
October 30: First B-17 prototype crashed on takeoff during flight testing at Wright Field.
November 6: Prototype Hawker Hurricane first flown, the later models of which destroyed more German aircraft in the Battle of Britain than all other British defenses, air and ground, combined.
November 11: A 72,395-foot world altitude record for manned balloons made by Capts. A. W. Stevens and Orvil A. Anderson, in the helium inflated Explorer II, over Rapid City, S. Dak., in cooperation with National Geographic Society, a record which stood for 20 years.
November 22-29: Transpacific airmail flight by Pan American Airways Martin China Clipper, from San Francisco to Honolulu, Midway, Wake, Guam, and Manila, E. C. Musick as pilot.
During December: Douglas DC-3, one of the most successful airliners in history, first flew. By 1938, it carried the bulk of American air traffic. When production of the DC-3 and its derivatives ended in 1945, some 13,000 had been built.
During 1935: Russian liquid-propellant meteorological rocket, designed by M. K. Tikhonravov, successfully flown.
: H. G. Armstrong published Air Corps Technical Report on physiologic requirements of sealed high-altitude aircraft compartments (including effects of sudden decompressions), findings which were incorporated in the XC-35 sub-stratosphere plane, the first successful pressure-cabin aircraft.
: Konstantin E. Ziolkovsky, Russian mathematician and pioneer space scientist, died at 78 years of age. The U.S.S.R. later acclaimed him as the "father of space travel."
1936
January 20: Acting in response to a request from BuAer, the Navy Bureau of Engineering endorsed support for the National Bureau of Standards for the development of radio meteorographs. Later renamed radiosondes, these instruments were sent aloft on free balloons to measure pressure, temperature, and humidity of the upper atmosphere, and transmitted these data to ground stations for use in weather forecasting and flight planning.
February 23: F. W. Kessler, W. Ley, and N. Carver launched two mail-carrying "rocket airplanes" at Greenwood Lake, N.Y., which traveled about 1,000 feet.
During February: Germans tested A-3 rocket with 3,300-pound thrust which served as basis for military weapon specifications.
March 5: Spitfire prototype with armament and Merlin engine first flown, pro
