This is a list of aviation-related events from 1924:
Events Violating the Treaty of Versailles, Germany establishes a secret training base for German pilots at Lipetsk in the Soviet Union. More than 450 German personnel will train there over the next ten years.Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, , p. 44. Following a military revolt, Brazil abolishes Brazilian Army and Brazilian Navy control of aviation and places all military aviation units under the direct control of the general staff.Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, , p. 195.Wikipedia Tenente revolts article. The Tachikawa Aircraft Company Ltd. is founded at Tachikawa, Japan.Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, , p. 27.
January January 29 – Pateras Pesara flies an experimental helicopter in Paris. The machine flies 800 metres (2,640 ft) in just over 10 minutes.
February February 20 – Three French Army officers make the first two-way aerial crossing of the Sahara Desert in a Breguet 14. February 21 – Piloting a de Havilland DH-4, Farthest North Aviation Company pilot Carl Ben Eielson makes the first official air mail flight in the Territory of Alaska, a trip carrying of mail from Fairbanks to McGrath that takes him under three hours. Transportation of mail on the route by dog sled takes at least 18 — and as many as 30 — days.
March The admirals′ committee of the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) considers an objection to the construction of aircraft carriers based on the observation that launching 40 planes from a carrier at present takes three hours, decides that the use of several carriers would solve the problem, and recommends that Italy construct at least two carriers.Gooch, John, Mussolini and His Generals: The Armed Forces and Fascist Foreign Policy, 1922-1940, Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University Press, 2007, , p. 50. The Cierva C.6 makes a 10.5-kilometer (7-mile) flight in Spain from Cuatro Vientos airfield to Getafe airfield. The eight-minute flight is considered a major step forward in the development of autogiros and, by extension, of rotary-wing aircraft in general. March 1 – The Royal Air Force renames its Marine and Armament Experimental Establishment as the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment. March 25 – Squadron Leader Archibald Stuart Charles Stuart-MacLaren, Flying Officer William Noble Plenderleith, Sergeant W. H. Andrews of the Royal Air Force set off from Calshot in a Vickers Vulture II in an eastbound attempt to circumnavigate the world. Their attempt ultimately will fail on August 4 in the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea.OConnor, Derek, "All in the Game," Aviation History, September 2010, pp. 54-59. March 27 – United States Army Air Service Second Lieutenant Oscar Monthan — a noted aeronautical engineer — dies along with four other men when their Martin NBS-1 bomber crashes after it fails to clear a baseball field backstop on take-off from Luke Field, Ford Island, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii.Mueller, Robert, "Air Force Bases Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1989, , page 267.
April The International Commission for Aviation passes a resolution stating that "women shall be excluded from any employment in the operating crew of an aircraft engaged in public transport." A concern of the era is that women would have difficulty controlling an aircraft while menstruating.O'Brien, Lora, "Lady Heath," Aviation History, March 2016, p. 15. French Navy aviation pioneer Paul Teste flies from Paris to Saint-Raphaël in an FBA 17 amphibious aircraft to survey a potential route for large military seaplanes traveling from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and to assess the suitability of the Garonne and Aude river basins as landing and staging areas for seaplanes. In 20 hours of flight, he flies and performs 13 ground landings and 21 water landings — including stops at Bordeaux and Toulouse — without incident. April 1 Imperial Airways is formed, with the backing of the British government. Flights of Royal Air Force aircraft operating from Royal Navy ships are given the collective title "Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force." This will later be shortened to "Fleet Air Arm."Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, , p. 12. The Government of Canada approves the title "Royal" for the Canadian Air Force, establishing the new Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). In addition to its military duties, the RCAF takes over the responsibility for the control and regulation of all civil aviation in Canada. April 6 – Four United States Army Air Service Douglas World Cruisers depart Seattle, Washington, beginning a six-month westbound journey which will culminate in the first aerial circumnavigation of the world. April 7 – Portuguese Commander Brito Pais and Captain Sarmento de Beires depart Lisbon eastbound in the Breguet 16.Bn2 Patria, beginning an attempt to fly around the world. They will crash Patria in India, but will continue in the de Havilland DH.9A Patria II before being forced to end their attempt in June in China, a short walk from its border with Hong Kong.OConnor, Derek, "All in the Game," Aviation History, September 2010, pp. 56-57. April 24 – French Captain Georges Pelletier d'Oisy and Adjutant Lucien Besin depart Paris eastbound in a Breguet 19.A.2, beginning an attempt to fly around the world. They will be forced to end their attempt in May in Shanghai.OConnor, Derek, "All in the Game," Aviation History, September 2010, p. 56. April 26 – Imperial Airways makes its first scheduled flight, from Croydon Aerodrome to Paris, using a de Havilland DH.34. Apr 30 – Regular Belfast–Liverpool airmail flights are inaugurated by Alan Cobham, using de Havilland DH.50 craft.
May Russian World War I flying ace Mikhail Safonov dies in a flying accident while testing a flying boat for the Republic of China Navy over the Ming River in China. May 2 – English first-class cricketer Eric Martin dies in an airplane collision at Duxford Aerodrome in Duxford, Cambridgeshire, England.Eric Martin at CricketArchiveDaily Mirror, 3 May 1924 May 17 – During its first aerial circumnavigation of the world, the westbound United States Army Air Service flight of Douglas World Cruisers arrive in northern Japan, completing the first crossing of the Pacific Ocean by airplane.OConnor, Derek, "All in the Game," Aviation History, September 2010, p. 56 May 19 – The first aerial circumnavigation of Australia is carried out, by a Royal Australian Air Force crew in a Fairey IIID.Isaacs 1984, pp.40–49. May 20 – French Captain Georges Pelletier d'Oisy and Adjutant Lucien Besin crash their Breguet 19.A.2 on a golf course in Shanghai, ending their attempt to fly around the world eastbound. They had covered 10,580 miles (17,037 km) in 26 days since leaving Paris.OConnor, Derek, "All in the Game," Aviation History, September 2010, pp. 56-57, 58-59. May 27 – French pilot Adrienne Bolland sets a world record for consecutive loop-the-loops by a woman, completing 212 loops in 73 minutes. She breaks her own record of 98, which she had set on 18 October 1923.
June Flying the Nieuport-Delage NiD 42S, the French pilot Joseph Sadi-Lecointe wins the Coupe Beaumont race as the only finisher, then continues flying to establish a new world speed-over-distance record over a distance of 500 km (310.69 miles), averaging 306.696 km/h (190.572 mph).Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Nobles Books, 1997, , p. 688. Ludovic Arrachart wins the Michelin Cup long-distance flying competition. June 5 – Rowan Daly, a British flying ace credited with three aerial victories during World War I and four more during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, dies in the mid-air collision of two Airco DH.9As over the airfield at Spittlegate, England. His observer and the two-man crew of the other plane also die. June 6 – Walter Kypke, a German flying ace credited with nine aerial victories during World War I, dies in an airplane crash at Magdeburg, Germany. June 16 – The Royal Air Force′s Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment moves from Isle of Grain, Kent, to the former Seaplane Experimental Station at Felixstowe, Suffolk. June 23 – Lieutenant Russell Maughan makes the first one-day crossing of the United States, completing the flight from Long Island, New York, to San Francisco, California, in a Curtiss PW-8 in 21 hours 48 minutes. June 23–24 (overnight) – United States Navy Lieutenants Frank Wead and John D. Price make a flight in a Curtiss SC that sets five world records for seaplanes in its class. The flight sets a record for distance, covering , and duration, remaining airborne for 13 hours, 23 minutes, 15 seconds. It also sets records for speed over a distance of , averaging ; speed over a distance of , averaging and speed over a distance of , averaging . p. 13 June 24 In Shenzhen, close to the China-Hong Kong border, Portuguese Commander Brito Pais and Captain Sarmento de Beires give up on their eastbound attempt to circumnavigate the world in the de Havilland DH.9A Patria II after covering 11,000 miles (17,713 km) from Lisbon.OConnor, Derek, "All in the Game," Aviation History, September 2010, pp. 57. The Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) has 1,181 aircraft, of which 748 are combat-ready.Gooch, John, Mussolini and His Generals: The Armed Forces and Fascist Foreign Policy, 1922-1940, Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University Press, 2007, , p. 56. June 25 – Westbound from Rangoon to Akyab, the United States Army Air Service flight of Douglas World Cruisers attempting the first aerial circumnavigation of the world unknowingly flies over the Vickers Vulture II amphibian of the Royal Air Force team of MacLaren, Plenderleith, and Andrews, which is sheltering in a coastal bay in Burma while eastbound from Akyab to Rangoon during its own attempt at a circumnavigation.OConnor, Derek, "All in the Game," Aviation History, September 2010, p. 57.
July July 1 – Regular night airmail services commence in the United States, linking Chicago, Illinois, with Cheyenne, Wyoming. July 10 – Japanese aircraft sink a ship for the first time, when Imperial Japanese Navy bombers use level bombing from an average height of 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) over the course of four hours to sink the retired coast defense battleship Iwami off Yokosuka.Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, , p. 34. July 11–12 (overnight) – United States Navy Lieutenants Frank Wead and John D. Price make a flight in a Curtiss SC that sets two world records for seaplanes in its class. The flight sets a record for distance, covering , and duration, remaining airborne for 14 hours, 53 minutes, 44 seconds. July 15 – French physician, parapsychology researcher, and director of the Institute Metapsychique International Gustav Geley dies in an airplane accident."Gustav Geley". Biographical Dictionary of Parapsychology. July 17 – French Captain Georges Pelletier d'Oisy completes a flight from Paris to Tokyo, using a Breguet 14 borrowed from the Republic of China government after the May crash of his Breguet 19.A.2 at Shanghai. The journey from Paris takes 120 hours in the air over 84 days.OConnor, Derek, "All in the Game," Aviation History, September 2010, pp. 58-59.
August The Bolivian Air Force is formed, as the Cuerpo de Aviación ("Aviation Corps").