1953 in aviation

Events

• The first year in which the world's airlines carried more than 50 million people.
• Argentina initiates a study of the feasibility of converting either a cargo ship or a heavy cruiser into an aircraft carrier in an Argentine shipyard. Ultimately, no conversion takes place.
• During the Korean War, Communist aircraft attack the U.S. Navy rocket-equipped medium landing ship USS LSM-409 off Korea, but do not damage her.
• Kuwait National Airways, the future Kuwait Airways, is founded. It will begin flight operations in March 1954.
• The Experimental Aircraft Association and annual EAA Convention and Fly-In were founded.
• Thanks to a decreasing interest in seaplanes and flying boats, flying operations cease at the Royal Air Force′s Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment, as does the organization's connection with the RAF. The MAEE will survive until March 1956, evaluating prototype marine craft and air-sea rescue apparati and associated equipment.

  January

• January 1 - The United States Army formally deletes glider operations from its capabilities.
• January 5 - The British European Airways Vickers VC.1 Type 610 Viking 1B Lord St. Vincent crashes on approach to Nutts Corner in Northern Ireland, killing 27 of the 35 people on board.
• January 6 - The West German airline Luftag is founded. It will acquire the name and logo of the defunct airline Deutsche Luft Hansa in August 1954, rename itself Lufthansa, and begin flight operations in April 1955.
• January 7
• *A chartered Associated Air Transport Curtiss C-46F-1-CU Commando carrying military personnel from Seattle, Washington, to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, with a stop at Cheyenne, Wyoming, experiences atmospheric icing, snow, and turbulence, loses altitude involuntarily, strikes pine trees at an altitude of, and crashes west of Fish Haven, Idaho, prior to arriving at Cheyenne, killing all 40 people on board. A Civil Air Patrol pilot discovers the aircraft's wreckage on January 12.
• *Flying Tiger Line Flight 841 - a Douglas C-54B-10-DO Skymaster on a ferry flight from San Francisco, California, to pick up military personnel in Seattle, Washington - strikes a high tree on a mountain ridge at an altitude of while on approach to Boeing Field in Seattle and crashes into a canyon below, killing all seven people on board.
• January 12 - While climbing away after takeoff from RAF Fayid in Egypt, a Royal Air Force Handley Page Hastings C.1 loses its tail at an altitude of and crashes west-southwest of RAF Shallufa, killing all nine people on board.
• January 15 - Two Royal Air Force planes, an Avro Lancaster maritime patrol aircraft of No. 38 Squadron and a Vickers Valetta transport aircraft, collide over the Strait of Sicily in heavy rain and poor visibility and crash. The accident kills all 19 people aboard the Valetta and the Lancasters entire crew of seven.
• January 16 - A United States Air Force Douglas C-54D-5-DC Skymaster crashes in rocky terrain while on final approach to Ernest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland, killing 13 of the 14 people on board.
• January 26
• * A Linee Aeree Italiane Douglas C-47-DL Skytrain suffers the failure of its left wing due to overstressing and crashes in mountainous terrain near Sinnai, Sardinia, Italy, killing all 19 people on board.
• * The first meeting of the Experimental Aircraft Association takes place at Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Curtiss-Wright Field.
• January 31 - United States Air Force Captain Ben L. Fithian and Lieutenant Sam R. Lyons score the first aerial victory in a Lockheed F-94 Starfire, shooting down a Lavochkin La-9 over Korea. It is the first of four kills by F-94s during the Korean War.

  February

• Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm No. 705 Squadron Westland Dragonfly helicopters and other services rescue 600 people over a period of two weeks during severe flooding in the Netherlands. No. 705 Squadron loses one helicopter during the operations.
• No. 194 Squadron is commissioned as the Royal Air Force's first helicopter squadron.
• February 2 - A Skyways Limited Avro York with 39 people on board disappears over the North Atlantic Ocean during a flight from Lajes Field in the Azores to Gander, Newfoundland. No trace of the airliner or its occupants ever is found.
• February 7 - A Union Aéromaritime de Transport Douglas C-54A-5-DC Skymaster crashes into a small wood on approach to Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport in Bordeaux, France, killing nine of the 21 people on board.
• February 9 - An Egyptian Air Force Curtiss C-46D Commando carrying 35 people crashes in the desert east of Cairo, Egypt, killing 30 of the people on board and injuring three of the five survivors.
• February 10 - A United States Air Force Fairchild C-119C-18-FA Flying Boxcar crashes in a snowstorm on approach to Bitburg Air Base in West Germany, killing all five people on board.
• February 14 - National Airlines Flight 470, a Douglas DC-6, crashes in the Gulf of Mexico off Mobile Point, Alabama, after flying into a strong storm, killing all 46 people on board. Some wreckage and bodies are found the following day, but most of the wreckage will not be found until May 20.
• February 28 - The Soviet Union transfers 10 Tupolev Tu-4 heavy bombers to the People's Republic of China.

  March

• March 3 - The first fatal crash involving a passenger jetliner takes place when the pilot of the Canadian Pacific Air Lines De Havilland DH.106 Comet 1A Empress of Hawaii lifts its nose too high during its takeoff run at Karachi Airport in Karachi, Pakistan, for a ferry/positioning flight. The aircraft fails to become airborne and crashes into a dry riverbed, killing all 11 people on board.
• March 10 - Czechoslovak Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s shoot down a United States Air Force F-84 Thunderjet in Czechoslovak airspace.
• March 12 - Soviet fighters shoot down a Royal Air Force Avro Lincoln over East Germany.
• March 14 - After its pilot descends in poor visibility to ascertain his position during a flight from Delhi, India, to Dacca, East Pakistan, an Orient Airways Convair CV-240-7 crashes into a mountain south of Kalahasahar, India, killing all 16 people on board.
• March 17 - An Aigle Azur Douglas C-47A Skytrain crashes on approach to Da Nang Airport in Da Nang, French Indochina, and catches fire, killing all eight people on board.
• March 18
• *An East German Junkers Ju 52/3m operated by the Kasernierte Volkspolizei crashes during its initial climb from Cottbus-Drewitz Airport in Drewitz, East Germany, killing all 11 people on board.
• *A United States Air Force Convair RB-36H Peacemaker on a 25-hour training mission strikes an hill at an altitude of near Burgoyne's Cove, inland from Nut Cove, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, while flying in sleet, fog, freezing drizzle, and poor visibility at a ground speed of. The B-36 crashes and bursts into flames, killing its entire crew of 23. Brigadier General Richard E. Ellsworth, the plane's copilot, is among the dead. A U.S. Air Force Boeing SB-29 Superfortress search and rescue plane sent out to assist in search efforts disappears and is presumed to have crashed as well.
• March 20 - Transocean Airlines Flight 942, a Douglas C-54G-10-DO Skymaster carrying military personnel from Walker Air Force Base in Roswell, New Mexico, to Oakland International Airport in Oakland, California, suddenly goes into a steep descent and crashes in a field southwest of Alvarado, California, killing all 35 people on board.
• March 23 - Czechoslovak airline captain Mira Slovak and a few co-conspirators hijack a Czech Airlines Douglas DC-3 commercial airliner with 24 passengers aboard during a domestic flight from Prague to Brno and flies it to West Germany, where United States Air Force F-84 Thunderjets escort it to a landing at Frankfurt-am-Main. He defects to the West; four of the passengers choose to remain in the West.
• March 27 - The Netherlands establishes the Royal Netherlands Air Force as an independent service.
• March 29 - The Central African Airways Vickers VC.1 Viking Shangani disintegrates in mid-air near Mkwaya, Tanganyika, after encountering a sudden strong gust of wind during a flight from Chileka Airport in Blantyre, Nyasaland, to Dar es Salaam International Airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika, killing all 13 people aboard. Investigators blame corrosion of the aircraft's starboard boom for the disaster.

  April

• April 1 - British European Airways and Air France introduce "Tourist Class" fares.
• April 3 - BOAC introduces a weekly service to Tokyo by the de Havilland Comet 1 jet airliner.
• April 10 - During takeoff from Palisadoes Airport in Kingston, Jamaica, for the inaugural flight of Caribbean International Airways with the airline's owner, Owen Roberts, as its pilot, a Lockheed 18-56-23 Lodestar suffers the failure of an engine. It climbs to between, then enters a slight banking turn and crashes into the Caribbean Sea, killing 13 of the 14 people on board. Roberts is among the dead.
• April 14 - While on approach to Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington, a Miami Airlines Douglas DC-3C strikes 150-to-200-foot- tall trees at the level of Cedar Mountain and crashes east of Selleck, Washington, killing seven of the 25 people on board.
• April 16 - An Aigle Azur Douglas C-47A-75-DL Skytrain operating on a military charter flight to Nà Sản Airport in Sơn La, French Indochina, loses a wing shortly after takeoff from Gia Lam Airport in Hanoi, French Indochina, and crashes, killing all 30 people on board.
• April 17 - The United States Air Force establishes the Seventeenth Air Force, activating it for service in North Africa, Portugal, the Mediterranean, Austria, the Middle East, Pakistan, India, and Ceylon.
• April 20 - Western Air Lines Flight 636, a Douglas DC-6B flying at night on the last leg of a flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco to Oakland, California, descends below the prescribed minimum altitude of and crashes into San Francisco Bay, killing eight of the ten people on board.
• April 24 - Tragedy strikes the United States Air Force's Project Tip Tow - which tests the feasibility of strategic bombers carrying fighter aircraft attached to their wingtips to defend them against enemy interceptors - when an EF-84D Thunderjet flips over onto the wing of an ETB-29A Superfortress after attaching to its wingtip, causing the EF-84D, the ETB-29A, and another EF-84D attached to the ETB-29A's other wingtip to crash, killing everyone aboard all three aircraft.