British Civil Aviation in 1936
20 January
King George V dies and is succeeded by King Edward VIII, who becomes the first British monarch to fly in an aeroplane when he travels from Sandringham to London.
9 February
Flight Lieutenant T. Rose lands at Cape Town in South Africa after a flight in a Miles Falcon from Lympne in Kent that took 3 days 17 hours 19 minutes.
17 March
A passenger is fined £10 for smoking on an Imperial Airways Handley Page HP42, in the first British prosecution for smoking on board an airliner.
3 April
Hitler’s publishes a statement to British Ministers visiting Germany in March, that the Luftwaffe has reached parity with the Royal Air Force.
2 May
American parachutist, Clem Sohn, makes his first jump in England, at Hanworth airfield near London. Unusually, Sohn attached wings to his body, which were deployed when he opened his arms and legs and allowed him to glide.
4-7 May
Mrs Amy Mollison (Amy Johnson) flies from Gravesend to Wingfield, near Capetown in South Africa in a new record time of 3 days 6 hours 26 minutes. Her aircraft is a Percival Gull Six (G-ADZO).
16 May
Miss Daphne Kearley becomes the first and only pre-war British air hostess. Paid £12 a month, she works for Air Dispatch and flies on an Avro 642. In addition to her normal duties she also provides typing skills, taking dictation and producing letters for business passengers between Croydon and Le Bourget in France. Her airline meals usually consist of smoked salmon and caviar.
17 May
Gatwick Airport opens the first covered walkways to aircraft.
4-5 September
Mrs Beryl Markham becomes the first woman to fly across the North Atlantic from east to west. She leaves Abingdon in Berkshire and crash lands her Percival Vega Gull (VP-KCC) at Baleine in Nova Scotia after a flight of 24 hours 40 minutes. Thankfully, she is not injured in the accident.
29 September – 1 October
Charles W.A. Scott and Giles Guthrie win the Schlesinger Air Race from the United Kingdom to South Africa, flying a Percival Vega Gul (G-AEKE). Their time is 2 days 4 hours 56 minutes and they are the only ones to complete the course.
5-16 October
Miss Jean Batten flies solo from Lympne in Kent to Auckland in New Zealand in her Percival Gull Six (G-ADPR) aircraft.
29-30 October
J.A. Mollison flies from Harbour Grace in Newfoundland to Croydon in 13 hours 17 minutes, establishing a new record time for a west to east North Atlantic crossing. Mollinson uses a Bellanca 28-70 (NR190M) aircraft.