The first Bulgarian Air Force is formed, using Blériot, Albatros, Farman, Nieuport, Voisin, Somer, Skiorski, and Bristol aircraft (23 in total) to fight in the First Balkan War.
20 January –John Verrept broke the world altitude record with two passengers. He flew up to 1075 metres from Vidamée near Senlis, beating the former record of 896 metres by René Moineau.[5][6]
4 February – In Paris, Austrian-born French inventor Franz Reichelt, the "Flying Tailor," dies in a jump from the Eiffel Tower in an attempt to demonstrate his "parachute-suit," a wearable parachute. The jump is captured on film.
5 February – The British Arbitration League, a peace society, issues an appeal against air warfare. Among those signing it are the British physician and author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the British novelist and poet Thomas Hardy, and the American painter John Singer Sargent.[7]
12 February –Anthony Fokker establishes Fokker Aeroplanbau in Germany, predecessor to Fokker Aircraft Company.
17 February
Robert G. Fowler completes the first west-to-east flight across the continental United States, arriving in Pablo Beach, Florida, also becoming the second person to complete a U.S. transcontinental flight. After a false start from San Francisco, California, on 11 September 1911, he had begun his journey from Los Angeles, on 19 October 1911. During his journey, he flew the first plane to be launched from a rolling railroad handcar, took up as a passenger Edward Shaw at Beaumont, Texas, allowing Shaw to film the first aerial motion pictures, and made the first air delivery of medicine, during a flight from Jennings to Evangeline, Louisiana. He made 65 forced landings during his journey.[8][9]
22 February –Jules Védrines becomes the first pilot to exceed 100 miles per hour (160km/h). He makes his flight in a Deperdussin monoplane near Pau, France, flying a distance of 200km (120mi) in 1 h 15 min 20.8 s, an average speed of 169km/h (105mph).[11]
24–25 February –Italian ArmyCaptain Carlo Piazza takes the first wartime reconnaissance photographs from an airplane, photographing Ottoman Army positions in Libya during the Italo-Turkish War.[3]
March – The conversion of the ex-torpedo boat tenderFoudre into the French Navy's first ship capable of carrying and handling airplanes is completed. In her new role, Foudre is the first ship with an airplane hangar. She also is the first warship to be permanently altered for service as an aviation ship.[12]
17 April –AustrianphysicistVictor Hess ascends in a balloon during a nearly total solar eclipse – one of ten balloon flights he makes between 1911 and 1913 to study ionization in the atmosphere – and notes that ionization does not decrease with the sun blocked by the moon. He concluders that the source of ionization is not the sun, but rather something farther out in space. His flight marks the discovery of what American physicist Robert Millikan in 1925 will name cosmic rays.[17]
May – A recommendation is made that the French Navy investigate the design and procurement of an aircraft carrier with a flight deck. For the first time, an armored hangar is suggested for such a ship. Plans for the ship are cancelled about 1917 prior to any construction.[1][19]
George V approves the formation of the Royal Flying Corps. Under overall control of the British Army, it includes all British military and naval aircraft, organized into a Military Wing and a Naval Wing.[21]
19 May – As a curious crowd looks on, the Italian engineer Giuseppe Bellanca teaches himself to fly in series of short, tentative hops at Mineola Field on Long Island outside Mineola, New York. His success prompts him to establish the Bellanca School of Flying, which he operates from 1912 to 1916.[22]
The first annual Aerial Derby takes place, sponsored by the Daily Mail. Seven participants flying a single circuit of an 81-mile (130-kilometer) course, starting and finishing at Hendon Aerodrome in London, with control points at Kempton Park, Esher, Purley, and Purfleet. A crowd of 45,000 spectators pays to see the start and finish, and large numbers of people watch the race along its route. Thomas Sopwith wins in a Bleriot XI-2 with a time of 1 hour 23 minutes 8.4 seconds, winning £250 and a gold cup.
26 July – France is the first country to use national markings on military aircraft other than a flag when they decree that military aircraft should display the manufacturer and serial number, the maximum load and roundels on the fuselage and wings.[28]
31 July – The United States Navy tests an aircraft catapult for the first time. The test, which is conducted ashore, is a failure, as the aircraft is badly damaged.[29]
10 September – A third fatal accident involving a Royal Flying Corps monoplane occurs when a Bristol Coanda monoplane crashes near Wolvercote (Oxford), killing Lieutenants E. Hotchkiss and C. Bettington. These accidents lead to a ban on the use of monoplanes by the RFC.
2 November – The first airplane flights in Japan by Imperial Japanese Navy personnel are made by two officers at Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal using Farman and Curtiss seaplanes.[24]
12 November
The first demonstration of naval aircraft at an Imperial Japanese Navy fleet review takes place at Yokohama, with Lieutenant Yōzō Kaneko flying a Farman seaplane and Lieutenant Sankichi Kōno a Curtiss seaplane.[43]
19 November – Italy's colonial air force is established as the Servizio d'Aviazione Coloniale.
28 November – The Italian Air Battalion is made a fully operational command, the (Flotta Aerea d'Italia).
The United States Navy launches a flying boat by catapult for the first time.[29]
William Beardmore and Company proposes the first Royal Navyaircraft carrier with a flight deck - a 450-foot (140-meter), 15,000-ton ship capable of carrying ten airplanes – to the British Admiralty. The Admiralty rejects the proposal on the grounds of insufficient experience with operation of aircraft at sea.[44]
16 December –Tony Jannus arrives in New Orleans, Louisiana, completing a flight from Omaha, Nebraska, over the Missouri and Mississippi rivers in a Benoist Type XIIfloatplane he had begun on November 6. The 1,973-mile (3,177-km) journey sets a new distance record for overwater flight, and the 42 aerial exhibitions Jannus has performed along the way have exposed thousands of people in the central and southern United States to aviation.[45]
31 December – The Royal Navy has 16 aircraft in service – eight biplane landplanes, five monoplane landplanes, and three "hydro-aeroplanes."[21]
Franks, Norman, Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998, ISBN1-902304-04-7, p. 9.
Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the World's Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day, London: Hermes House, 2006, ISBN9781846810008, p. 17.
Piszkiewicz, Dennis (1997). From Nazi Test Pilot to Hitler's Bunker: The Fantastic Flights of Hanna Reitsch. Westport: Praeger. p.3. ISBN978-0-27595-456-7.
Maksel, Rebecca (August 13, 2008). "The Father of Chinese Aviation". Air & Space. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849–1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN0-87021-210-9
Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909–1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, ISBN1-55750-432-6
Robertson, Bruce. Aircraft Markings of the World 1912–1967, Stroud, England: Harleyford Publications, 1967.
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