1923 in aviation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1923:
Contents |
[edit] Events
- The Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation is absorbed by the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation.[1]
[edit] January
- Air Union is created by the merger of Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes (CMA) with Grands Express Aériens (CGEA).
- January 9 or 17 - The Cierva C.4, designed by Juan de la Cierva y Cordoniu and piloted by Alejandro Gomez Spencer, makes its first flight, covering a distance of about 180 meters (590 feet) at Cuatro Vientos airfield in Spain. It is the first flight by an autogyro, and the first stable flight by any form of rotary-wing aircraft.[2][3][4]
- January 20 - After suffering an engine failure in flight, the Cierva C.4 autogyro uses autorotation to land without damage.[5]
- January 31 - The Cierva C.4 autogyro flies a 4-kilometer (2.5-statute mile) circuit at Cuatro Vientos airfield in Spain.[6]
[edit] February
- The RAF conducts operations in Southern Iraq against uprisings led by Sheik Mahmud Barzenci.
- February 1 - the Danish Army Flying Corps is established
- A British pilot, William Jordan, lands a Mitsubishi 1MF fighter on the Imperial Japanese Navy's new aircraft carrier Hōshō, then takes off from Hōshō. It is the first landing and first take off from a Japanese aircraft carrier.[7]
[edit] March
- Dobrolyot is formed, as the first Soviet civil aviation service. It will later become part of Aeroflot.
- The British Sempill Mission to Japan, led by Sir William Francis Forbes-Sempill, returns to the United Kingdom. During its 18-month stay in Japan, the Mission has greatly improved Imperial Japanese Navy aviation training and understanding of aircraft carrier flight deck operations and the latest naval aviation tactics and technology, and the aircraft it brought to Japan will inspire the design of a number of Japanese naval aircraft of the 1920s.[8]
- Chilean President Arturo Alessandri separates the Chilean naval aviation arm from the Chilean Army air corps, placing it under Chilean Navy control.[9]
- The Chilean Navy installs its first aircraft catapult aboard the battleship Almirante Latorre.[10]
- March 16 - Imperial Japanese Navy Lieutenant Shunichi Kira lands a Mitsubishi 1MF fighter on the aircraft carrier Hōshō, becoming the first Japanese pilot to land on an aircraft carrier.[11]
- March 17 - The United States government authorises United States Army aircraft to drop calcium arsenate on Louisiana's cotton fields in order to kill weevils.
[edit] April
- April 1 – The Royal Air Force abandons the squadron as the basic organizational unit for those of its aircraft operating from Royal Navy ships, reorganizing them into six-plane flights.[12]
- April 10 – Daimler Airways begins the first scheduled airline service between London and Berlin (via Bremen and Hamburg).
- April 16–17 – United States Army Air Service Lieutenants John Arthur Macready and Oakley G. Kelly establish a new endurance record, staying aloft for 36 hours 5 minutes in a Fokker T-2, covering a distance of 2,518 miles (4,052 km).
[edit] May
- May 1 – HMS Hermes enters service with the Royal Navy. She is the first ship designed from the waterline up as an aircraft carrier and the first aircraft carrier with an island superstructure to enter service.[13]
- May 2–3 – Kelly MacReady completes the first non-stop flight from New York to Los Angeles, in 27 hours in a Fokker T-2.
- May 3 – The Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation is formed by Igor Sikorsky at a Long Island chicken farm.
- May 21 – A Curtiss bomber and two Curtiss scout aircraft of the Argentine Navy make a flight of just under 500 miles (805 km) along the coast of Argentina from Puerto Militar to Buenos Aires. It is a significant step forward in the development of Argentine aviation.[14]
- May 23 – The Belgian airline SABENA is formed, adding new European routes to SNETA's routes in Belgian Congo that it takes over.
- May 29 – Reuben Fleet founds Consolidated Aircraft Corporation.[15][16]
[edit] June
- The United States Army Air Service demonstrates an aerial refueling system using two Airco DH.4 aircraft. The system employs a hose with an on/off nozzle and large funnels.[17]
- June 14 - New Zealand forms its first military aviation services, fore-runners of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
[edit] July
- July 19 - Czechoslovakian airline CSA commences operations.
[edit] August
- Personnel from the aircraft carrier USS Langley (CV-1) help to install a TS-1 floatplane fighter on the foredeck of the destroyer USS Charles Ausburn (DD-294) at Norfolk, Virginia, as the United States Navy begins to experiment with the operation of seaplanes from destroyers. The TS-1 flies successfully, but its presence interferes with Charles Ausburn's routine too much, and the idea is dropped.[18]
- August 21 - The first electric airway beacons start appearing at airfields in the United States to assist in night flying operations.
- August 28 - United States Army Air Service Lieutenant John Richter and Lowell Smith establish a new endurance record of 37 hours 15 minutes in an Airco DH.4, covering 3,293 miles (5,299 km). They are refueled fifteen times during the flight.
[edit] September
- September 1 - The Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier Amagi is heavily damaged by the Great Kantō earthquake while still under conversion from a battlecruiser. She is scrapped, and the battleship Kaga is selected for conversion into an aircraft carrier instead.[19][20]
- September 5 - United States Army bombers carry out anti-shipping exercises, sinking the obsolete battleships USS Virginia and USS New Jersey.
- September 28 - Schneider Trophy race flown at Cowes, UK. Won by David Rittenhouse (USA) in a Curtiss CR-3 at 285.5 km/h (177.4 mph).
[edit] October
- October 6 – Curtiss R2Cs win first and second place in the Pulitzer Trophy Race, the winning aircraft setting a new airspeed record of 243.6 mph (392 km/h).
- October 15 – First British motor glider competition is flown, at Lympne Aerodrome, Kent.
[edit] November
- November 2 – Flying a Curtiss R2C-1, U.S. Navy Lieutenant H. J. Rowe sets a new world airspeed record of 259.16 mph (417.07 km/hr).
- November 4 – Flying a Curtiss R2C-1, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Alford J. Williams sets a new world airspeed record of 266.6 mph (429.02 km/hr).[21]
[edit] December
- December 21 - The French dirigible Dixmude explodes over the Mediterranean Sea en route from Cuers-Pierrefeu to Algeria after being struck by lightning. All 52 crew members on board perish.[22]
[edit] First flights
[edit] January
- Curtiss XPW-8, protoytpe of the Curtiss PW-8[25]
- Mitsubishi 2MT, also known as Mitsubishi B1M
- January 9 - Cierva C.4
- January 19 - Armstrong Whitworth Wolf
[edit] March
[edit] April
- April 29 - Boeing XPW-9, first prototype of the Boeing PW-9 and Boeing FB-1[26]
[edit] May
[edit] June
- June 2 – Boeing XPW-9
- June 3 - Vickers Venture J7277
- June 28 - Armstrong Whitworth Awana
[edit] July
- July 30 - de Havilland DH.50
[edit] August
- August 2 – Wright F2W[28]
- August 22 – Barling XNBL
- August 23 – Polikarpov I-1
[edit] September
- September 3 - USS Shenandoah
- September 9 - Curtiss R2C-1[29]
- September 7 - Handley Page Type S
[edit] October
- October 2 - de Havilland Humming Bird
- October 23 - Handley Page Hyderabad
[edit] Entered service
[edit] Notes
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 202.
- ^ Wikipedia Autogyro article.
- ^ Wikipedia Juan de la Cierva article.
- ^ Wikipedia Cierva C.1 article.
- ^ Wikipedia Cierva C.4 article.
- ^ Wikipedia Cierva C.4 article.
- ^ 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. 85.
- ^ Wikipedia Sempill Mission article.
- ^ Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-295-8, p. 199.
- ^ Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-295-8, p. 199.
- ^ 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. 90.
- ^ Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, ISBN 0-87021-026-2, p. 10.
- ^ Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, ISBN 0-87021-026-2, p. 215.
- ^ Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-295-8, p. 193-194.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 94.
- ^ U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission: Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation.
- ^ 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. 46.
- ^ 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. 122.
- ^ Wikipedia Japanese battlecruiser Amagi article.
- ^ Wikipedia Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga article.
- ^ 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. 123.
- ^ http://www.avalanchepress.com/FrenchAirship.php
- ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 49.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 181.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 126.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 68.
- ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 63.
- ^ 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. 461.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 123.
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