April 11921

Adrienne Bolland crosses the Andes

Milestone105 years ago

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15historical events

60occurrences in earlier years

1921–2025years covered

Fact of the day

In an 80-horsepower Caudron G.3 that could barely climb to 4,000 metres, Adrienne Bolland of France takes off from Mendoza and lands in Santiago de Chile after four hours among peaks above 6,000: the first woman to fly across the Andes. She was 25, and nobody in Mendoza believed she would make it.

Also on this day · 14

1932Airline Hillman’s Airways starts flying

Bus operator Edward Hillman opens Hillman’s Airways with a service between Romford and Clacton-on-Sea, using a de Havilland Puss Moth and a Fox Moth.

1949Milestone The Stratocruiser enters service

Pan American introduces the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, the luxurious double-deck four-engined airliner with a bar on the lower deck.

1949Airline Tunisair starts flying

Tunisair, founded the previous year with a stake held by Air France, begins operations from Tunis.

1955Airline Lufthansa returns to German skies

With the post-war ban on flying lifted, the new Lufthansa begins scheduled services linking Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Cologne and Munich with Convair 340s. Six weeks later it will cross borders.

1956Accident TWA 400 at Pittsburgh

A TWA Martin 4-0-4 crashes on take-off from Pittsburgh after an engine failure: 22 of the 36 on board die.

1964Milestone The Hawker Siddeley Trident enters service

The Hawker Siddeley Trident, a British airliner, enters service.

1965Airline TEAL becomes Air New Zealand

Tasman Empire Airways Limited, the airline of the flying boats across the Tasman Sea, changes its name to Air New Zealand.

1965Milestone The YS-11 enters service

Japan Domestic Airlines puts the NAMC YS-11, the first airliner designed in Japan since the war, into service.

1969First flight The Harrier enters service

The Hawker Siddeley Harrier enters service, the British jump jet able to take off and land vertically: a feat of engineering that fascinated the world and that no other aircraft of its class matched.

1969Airline Air Jamaica starts flying

Air Jamaica begins operations from Kingston and Montego Bay to New York and Miami.

1970Accident A Royal Air Maroc Caravelle at Berrechid

A Royal Air Maroc Caravelle crashes near Berrechid on approach to Casablanca: 61 of the 82 on board die.

1971Milestone The Trident 3B enters service

British European Airways puts the Trident 3B into service, the stretched version of the British tri-jet with a fourth booster engine for take-off.

1987Airline Western Airlines disappears into Delta

Western Airlines, the oldest airline still operating in the United States, founded in 1925, is merged into Delta Air Lines.

1997Airline Air Inter merges into Air France

Air Inter, France’s domestic airline since 1954, ceases to exist as it is merged into Air France.

This day in earlier years · 60

Occurrences recorded on April 1 in earlier years across the fleet we document; this year’s are in News. Each one opens the record of the aircraft involved.