1918 in aviation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1918:
[edit] Events
[edit] January
[edit] February
- March 6 – The Finnish Air Force is founded
- March 6 – The first successful flight of a powered unmanned heavier-than-air craft, the Curtiss-Sperry Flying Bomb takes place. It is the precursor to modern unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
- March 11 – The first regular international airmail service begins, with Hansa-Brandenburg C.I aircraft linking Vienna, Lviv, Proskurov, and Kiev.
- March 15 – After an extensive conversion, HMS Furious re-enters service with the Royal Navy as the world's first aircraft carrier with aircraft lifts (elevators).[8]
- March 18 – The first Norwegian airline, Det Norske Luftfartrederi, is founded
- March 21 – Germany launches Operation Michael, marking the beginning of the Spring Offensive. In the initial attack against the British front west of St Quentin, the German Army Air Service has 1,680 aircraft to the Royal Flying Corps' 579.
- March 24 – Captain John Lightfoot Trollope of the Royal Flying Corps' No. 43 Squadron shoots down six German aircraft in a day.
- March 25 – Ensign John McNamara makes the first United States Navy attack on a submarine.
- March 30 – Alan Jerrard VC, a British ace with seven victories, is shot down by Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg and taken captive.
- April 1 – The Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service combine to form the Royal Air Force, the world's first independent air force, with Sir Hugh Trenchard as the first Chief of the Air Staff.[9] The Women's Royal Air Force is formed at the same time.
- April 4 – A two-seater aircraft takes off from a flying-off platform on a ship for the first time, when a Royal Air Force Sopwith 1½ Strutter launches from a platform mounted on a 12-inch (305-mm) gun turret of the Australian battlecruiser HMAS Australia. By November 1918, ships of the British Grand Fleet will carry over 100 aircraft on flying-off platforms, by which time 22 light cruisers will have a flying-off platform and every battleship and battlecruiser will carry a two-seat aircraft on a platform mounted on a forward turret and a single-seat fighter on a platform mounted on an after turret.[10]
- April 8 – A flight of Airco DH.4s makes the first independent raid of World War I by aircraft of the United States Army's Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, the forerunner of the United States Army Air Service.[11]
- April 12 – The final Zeppelin raid on England is carried out.
- April 12 – Captain H.W. Woollett of No. 43 Squadron RAF scores six victories in two sorties, including five Albatros D.Vs.
- April 21 – Manfred von Richthofen, a living legend called the "Red Baron" and "ace of aces" is shot down and killed. By the time of his death, he had claimed 80 victories. Credit for his kill is given to Canadian Captain Roy Brown, but this is disputed by others who claim that he was killed by ground fire from Australian troops. His kill total will not be exceeded until 1941.
- April 23 – Lieutenant Paul Baer shoots down his fifth aircraft, becoming the first ace of the American Expeditionary Force
- April 25 – Belgium's top-scoring ace, Willy Coppens, claims his first victory.
- April 27 – The United States Department of War creates a Division of Military Aeronautics responsible for the training of United States Army aviation personnel and units.[12]
- April 29 – Flying a Nieuport 28 fighter, the top-scoring American ace of World War I, Eddie Rickenbacker, scores his first victory, shooting down a German Pfalz D.III fighter near Baussant, France.
- May 15 - The first regular United States airmail service commences, between New York and Washington, DC. The first flight is made by Lieutenant Geoffrey Boyle in a Curtiss JN-4H.
- May 16 - The Imperial German Navy recommissions the light cruiser Stuttgart after her conversion into a seaplane carrier. She is the only German seagoing aviation ship capable of working with the fleet commissioned during either World War I or World War II.[13]
- May 19 - Raoul Lufbery, commander of the 94th (Hat in the Ring) Aero Squadron and second highest scoring American ace with 17 victories, is killed in air combat.
- May 19 – U.S. Army Major Harold M. Clark Jr. and Sergeant Robert P. Gay make the first interisland flight in Hawaii, flying from Fort Kamehameha on Oahu to Maui. They continue on to the island of Hawaii the same day, where they crash on the slopes of Mauna Kea. Uninjured, they wander on foot for a week before finding help.[14]
- May 20 - German bombs fall on London for the last time in World War I. During their one-year-long heavier-than-air bombing campaign against England, the Germans have dropped 84,745 kg (186,830 lbs) of bombs and lost 61 bombers.[15]
- May 21 - President Woodrow Wilson creates a Bureau of Aircraft Production responsible for aeronautical equipment.[16]
- May 24 - József Kiss, Austro-Hungarian fifth-highest-scoring ace, is shot down in combat. He had scored 19 victories.
- May 24 - In Russia, Order No. 385 of the Bolshevik People's Commissariat on Military and Naval Affairs creates the Main Directorate of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Air Fleet, the predecessor of the Soviet Air Forces.[17]
- May 24 - The United States Department of War recognizes the Bureau of Aircraft Production and the Division of Military Aeronautics as constituting the United States Army Air Service.[12]
- May 31 - Douglas Campbell scores his fifth victory, becoming the first American pilot to be become an ace while flying for an American unit.
- From the basis of VIII Brigade, the Royal Air Force forms the Independent Force, tasked to mount a strategic bombing campaign against Germany "independently" of the ground and sea campaigns the Allies have been waging since 1914.[18]
- A detachment of American bomber pilots is stationed in Italy to strike at Austria-Hungary.
- June 5 – Douglas Campbell, the first American to become an ace while flying for an American unit, scores his sixth and final victory. Badly wounded during the flight, he sees no further combat.
- June 19 – Italy's highest-scoring ace, Maggiore (Major) Francesco Baracca is killed by Austro-Hungarian ground fire. He had claimed 34 victories.
- June 24 – The first scheduled Canadian airmail flight is made, between Montreal and Toronto.
- June 24 – The Royal Air Force employs its new 1,650-lb (748-kg) bomb in combat for the first time when a Handley Page O/400 of No. 216 Squadron drops one on Middelkerke, Belgium.
- July 9 – British ace James McCudden is killed when his aircraft crashes on take-off at Auxi-le-Château, France. He has 57 victories at the time of his death; enough to make him the seventh-highest-scoring ace of World War I.
- July 14 – Flying a Nieuport 28, the youngest son of former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, Second Lieutenant Quentin Roosevelt – serving as a fighter pilot in the United States Army Air Service's 95th Aero Squadron – is shot down and killed by a German fighter at Chamery, France.
- July 19 – Seven Sopwith 2F.1 Camels from the Royal Navy aircraft carrier Furious attack the Imperial German Navy airship base at Tondern, destroying the Zeppelins L 54 and L 60. It is the most successful attack by shipboard aircraft of World War I.[19][20]
- July 21 – Two United States Navy seaplanes from Naval Air Station Chatham, Chatham, Massachusetts, attack a surfaced German submarine that is firing at a tug and three barges off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. One bomb strikes the submarine, but is a dud.[21]
- July 26 – Major Edward "Mick" Mannock, the United Kingdom's highest scoring ace of the war, is shot down by German ground fire and killed. He traditionally is credited with 73 victories as the highest-scoring British ace of World War I, but he never claimed that many and his actual score may have been 61.
- July 30 – Lieutenant Frank Linke-Crawford, the fourth-highest-scoring Austro-Hungarian ace, is shot down and killed in aerial combat. He had scored 27 victories.
- July 30 – The United States Marine Corps's 1st Marine Aviation Force, minus one of its four squadrons, arrives at Brest, France, to become the first U.S. Marine Corps aviation force to serve in combat. Delays in transplortation and the arrival of equipment will prevent it from operating until mid-October.[22]
- July 31 – An aircraft takes off from platform installed on a towed lighter for the first time, when Royal Air Force Lieutenant Stewart Culley takes off in a Sopwith Camel from a lighter towed behind a British warship.[23][24]
- July 31 – A Royal Air Force bombing raid over Germany by 12 Airco DH.9s suffers the loss of 10 aircraft shot down.[25]
[edit] August
- A large petroleum barge on the Volga River in Russia is equipped with a flight deck and elevators (lifts) to carry up to nine Grigorovich M.9 flying boats and three Nieuport fighters. Named Kommuna and towed by a sidewheel paddle tug, she and her aircraft actively support operations of the Bolshevik Volga River Flotilla during the Russian Civil War.[26]
- August 5-6 (overnight) – Five Imperial German Navy Zeppelins attempt to bomb the United Kingdom in the fourth and final such raid of 1918. All of their bombs fall through clouds into the North Sea, and the commander of the Naval Airship Division, Fregattenkapitän Peter Strasser, is killed in action when a Royal Air Force Airco DH.4 piloted by Major Egbert Cadbury and crewed by Captain Robert Leckie shoots down the Zeppelin in which he is flying as an observer, L70, in flames over the coast of England.[27][28] After Strasser's death, Germany attempts no more airship raids against the United Kingdom. During their 1915-1918 bombing campaign, German airships have made 208 raids against England, dropped 5,907 bombs, and killed 528 people, and injured 1,156.[29]
- August 9 – Eight Italian Ansaldo SVA biplanes of the 87 Squadriglia "Serenimissa", led by Gabriele D'Annunzio, fly over Vienna for 30 minutes taking photographs and dropping leaflets before returning to base without loss.[30]
- August 11 – After taking off in a Sopwith Camel from a barge towed behind the destroyer HMS Redoubt, Royal Air Force Flight Sub-Lieutenant Stuart Culley shoots down the Imperial German Navy Zeppelin L 53, which had been flying a scouting mission over the North Sea. It is the first successful interception of an enemy aircraft by a shipborne fighter. German airships never conduct another scouting mission. L 53's sole survivor is a crewman who parachutes from the Zeppelin at an altitude of 19,000 feet (5,791 m), almost certainly a record at the time.[31] L 53 is the last German airship destroyed during World War I.
- August 11 – The first use of a parachute from an airplane in combat occurs when a German pilot escapes his burning Pfalz D.III after being attacked by a pilot from the Royal Air Force's No. 19 Squadron.
- August 19 – A U.S. Navy Curtiss 18-T-1 triplane sets a new world speed record of 163 mph (232.32 km/hr).[32]
- August 22 – Lieutenant Frigyes Hefty of the Austro-Hungarian Air Corps successfully parachutes from his burning fighter after a dogfight with Italian aircraft. He is the first person to survive a combat parachute jump.[33]
- August 27 – The first Director of the United States Army Air Service is appointed.[12]
[edit] September
- Known as Black September, during the month the Allies lose 560 aircraft, of which 87 are American.
- September 7 – The U.S. Marine Corps's 1st Marine Aviation Force, building up in the Calais-Dunkirk area of France to operate as an element of the U.S. Navy's Northern Bombing Group, takes delivery of its first bomber.[34]
- September 12 – 627 French and 611 American fighters are brought together for the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. At the time, it is the largest force of aircraft assembled for a single operation.
- September 14 – The British aircraft carrier Argus is completed. She is the world's first aircraft carrier with an unobstructed flight deck from stem to stern.[8][35]
- September 18 – A U.S. Navy Curtiss 18-T-1 triplane piloted by Roland Rholfs sets a world altitude record of 34,910 feet (10,640 m).[32]
- September 24 – Lieutenant David Ingalls claims his fifth victory, to become the first U.S. Navy ace in history and the only one of World War I.
- September 28 – Flying an Airco DH.9 with the Royal Air Force's No. 218 Squadron, U.S. Marine Corps First Lieutenant Everett R. Brewer (pilot) and Gunnery Sergeant Harry B. Wershiner (observer) become the first U.S. Marine Corps personnel to shoot down an enemy plane in aerial combat. They both are badly wounded during the engagement.[36]
- September 29 – United States Army Air Service Second Lieutenant Frank Luke, the second-highest-scoring American ace of World War I with 18 victories, is killed in action.
- September 29 – Second Lieutenant Chapin Barr becomes the first U.S. Marine Corps pilot to die in aerial combat.[37]
[edit] October
- October 5 – The famous French pilot Lieutenant Roland Garros, who in 1915 had become the first man to shoot down another aircraft by firing a machine gun through a tractor propeller, is shot down and killed in combat near Vouziers, France. He has four victories at the time of his death.
- October 11 – The Imperial German Navy's air command proposes that merchant ships be converted into Germany's first aircraft carriers with flight decks.[38]
- October 12 – The Imperial German Navy's Naval Airship Division flies its last combat mission.[39]
- October 14 – Baron Willy Coppens, highest scoring Belgian ace, is heavily wounded, ending his combat career. He had scored 37 victories, 34 of which were observation balloons.
- October 14 – The first all-U.S. Marine Corps air combat action in history takes place, when five Airco DH.4s and three Airco DH.9s bomb Pitthem, Belgium.[40] On the return flight, German Fokker D.VII and Pfalz D.III fighters attack the bombers.[41] Second Lieutenant Ralph Talbot (pilot) and Gunnery Sergeant Robert Guy Robinson (gunner) become separated from the formation after their DH.4 loses power, then encounter 12 German fighters. Although Robinson is terribly wounded during the resulting dogfight, they hold off the Germans and Talbot lands at a Belgian hospital, where Robinson is treated. For this action, they will become the first U.S. Marine Corps aviators to receive the Medal of Honor during a ceremony on November 11, 1920.[42][43]
- October 25 – U.S. Marine Corps Second Lieutenant Ralph Talbot dies in a crash during a test flight 11 days after the action for which he will receive a posthumous Medal of Honor in 1920.[44]
- October 29 – The Danish airline Det Danske Luftfartselskab, the oldest airline that still exists, is founded
- October 30 – Flying a SPAD XIII fighter, Eddie Rickenbacker shoots down a German observation balloon near Remonville, France, for his 26th and final aerial victory. His 26 victories (22 aircraft and four balloons) will make him the top-scoring American ace of World War I.
[edit] November
[edit] December
[edit] First flights
[edit] February
[edit] August
[edit] September
[edit] October
[edit] November
[edit] Entered service
[edit] August
[edit] References
- ^ Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, ISBN 1-55750-432-6, p. 15.
- ^ Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-295-8, p. 199.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 195.
- ^ Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, ISBN 0-87021-313-X, p. 21.
- ^ Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, ISBN 1-55750-432-6, p. 16.
- ^ Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, ISBN 0-87474-510-1, p. 41.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, with Peter Bowers, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1985, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, pp. 19.
- ^ a b Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, ISBN 0-87021-026-2, p. 215.
- ^ Hastings, Max, Bomber Command: Churchill's Epic Campaign - The Inside Story of the RAF's Valiant Attempt to End the War, New York: Simon & Schuster Inc., 1987, ISBN 0-671-68070-6, p. 39.
- ^ Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-076-2, pp. 14-15.
- ^ Infoplease: Famous Firsts in Aviation
- ^ a b c Mauer, Maurer, Air Force Combat Units of World War II: The Concise official Military Record, Edison, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, 1961, ISBN 0-7858-0194-4, p. 4.
- ^ Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Insitute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, p. 27.
- ^ Aviation Hawaii: 1879-1919 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii
- ^ Chant, Chris, The World's Great Bombers, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000, ISBN 0-7607-2012-6, p. 26.
- ^ Mauer, Maurer, Air Force Combat Units of World War II: The Concise official Military Record, Edison, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, 1961, ISBN 0-7858-0194-4, pp. 3-4.
- ^ Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, ISBN 0-87474-510-1, p. 36.
- ^ Frankland, Noble, Bomber Offensive: The Devastation of Europe, New York: Ballantine Books Inc., 1970, p. 11.
- ^ Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Insitute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, p. 61.
- ^ Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-076-2, p. 12.
- ^ A Chronological History of Coast Guard Aviation: The Early Years, 1915-1938.
- ^ Knapp, Walter, "The Marines Take Wing," Aviation History, May 2012, p. 52.
- ^ Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-076-2, p. 15.
- ^ The date of this event is placed on 1 August 1918 in Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters: The Fascinating Story of the Great Zeppelin Raids of the First World War, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p.251.
- ^ Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-076-2, p. 97.
- ^ Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, p. 102.
- ^ Cross, Wilber, Zeppelins of World War I, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1991, ISBN 1-56619-390-7, pp. 175-179.
- ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, pp. 245-248.
- ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, p. 8.
- ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 51.
- ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 251.
- ^ a b c d Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 114.
- ^ 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: Anness Publishing Ltd., 2006, ISBN 13579108642, p. 25.
- ^ Knapp, Walter, "The Marines Take Wing," Aviation History, May 2012, p. 52.
- ^ Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Insitute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, pp. 66, 70.
- ^ Knapp, Walter, "The Marines Take Wing," Aviation History, May 2012, p. 53.
- ^ Knapp, Walter, "The Marines Take Wing," Aviation History, May 2012, p. 53.
- ^ Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Insitute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, p. 28.
- ^ Phythyon, John R., Jr., Great War at Sea: Zeppelins, Virginia Beach, Virginia: Avalanche Press, Inc., 2007, p. 14.
- ^ Knapp, Walter, "The Marines Take Wing," Aviation History, May 2012, p. 53.
- ^ Knapp, Walter, "The Marines Take Wing," Aviation History, May 2012, p. 50.
- ^ Borch, Fred L., and Robert E. Dorr, "Bravery Over Belgium," Military History, March 2012, p. 17.
- ^ Knapp, Walter, "The Marines Take Wing," Aviation History, May 2012, p. 53.
- ^ Knapp, Walter, "The Marines Take Wing," Aviation History, May 2012, p. 53.
- ^ Clark, Basil, The History of Airships, New York: St Martin's Press, 1961, Library of Congress 64-12336, p. 147.
- ^ a b Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 378.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 427.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 430.
- ^ Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, London: Putnam, 1976, ISBN 0-370-10054-9, p. 424.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 116.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 117.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 293.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 195, claims that this flight was in "mid-August 1918."
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 196.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 291.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 420.
- ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 39.
- ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 40.
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) with a roundel with an outer red ring, then a blue ring, and a white center 
. The Allies had requested the change out of a fear that the star in the 1917 U.S. marking could be mistaken for a German cross. The roundel will remain in use until the United States reverts to its former markings in August 1919.[7]
