The Provisional Regulation of Air Traffic in Switzerland (Order of the Federal Military Department of July 18, 1919 – AS 35 640) stipulated in Article 1 “Provisional conditions for admission to air traffic in Switzerland”, figure 5:
“For the aircraft, the navigation permits and for the pilots, the licences must be issued by the Federal Military Department on the basis of this order; the aircraft must also be entered in the Register of aircraft controlled by the Confederation.”
Article 5 stated: “At the same time when the navigation permit is issued, the aircraft are entered in a register of federally controlled aircraft kept by the Aerodrome Management Dübendorf. The entry may only take place after the nationality marks prescribed by the Aerodrome Management have been affixed.
The Aerodrome Management draws a registration fee of CHF 100 for each registered aircraft.”
The Order of the Federal Council of January 27, 1920 concerning the regulation of air traffic in Switzerland (AS 36 171) supplemented the provisions on the entry of aircraft in the Swiss register in Section C. Aircraft, Article 8 (Link).
Register of aircraft controlled by the Confederation – 1919-1934 :
- 1st publication of Swiss aircraft register – 21.4.1921
- Swiss Aircraft Register 1919-1934 (CH-Register)
When Switzerland joined the Convention for the Regulation of Aerial Navigation of 1919 (the Paris Convention), the nationality marks “CH” were replaced by “HB” from October 1, 1934. The Radiotelegraph Treaty of Washington, in force since January 1, 1929, assigned the country code “HB” to Switzerland for radio communications; the “H” suggests the reference to “Helvetica”. Since then, the registrations of Swiss aircraft are composed of HB and three further letters (for gliders: numbers).
From October 1, 1934, all aircraft newly registered in Switzerland were given a number in chronological order (beginning with 401) in addition to the HB-registration marks. The system of numbers noted on the Certificate of Registration (CoR) was continued until around mid-1946.
- Aircraft newly taken up in the Swiss Aircraft Register 1934-1946
- List of aircraft registered in Switzerland – Status 1 August 1947
Information about HB registered aircraft – current or cancelled – can be found in the electronic aircraft register data bank of the Federal Office of Civil Aviation via the following direct link:
Last modification 2021.03.29. – DR