1904 in aviation

Years in aviation:	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907
Centuries:	19th Century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
Years:	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1904:

Events

Before the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, the Imperial Russian Navy conducts many experiments with towing balloons and man-lifting kites from its warships.^[1]

1 April – Captain Ferdinand Ferber makes a failed attempt to fly an Archdeacon glider at Berck sur Mer, Picardie.
3 April – Gabriel Voisin successfully flies a modified Archdeacon glider at Berck sur Mer, Picardie. Voisin added a canard to the design. His longest flight on this day is 25 seconds.

9–11 May – The Imperial Russian Navy armored cruiser Rossia carries a balloon on a raiding cruise against Japanese ships into the Sea of Japan in the first use by a warship of a balloon on the high seas in wartime. The balloon makes 13 successful ascents before it breaks its moooring lines and is damaged after landing on the sea.^[2]
23 May – The Wright brothers make their first flight attempt in the Wright Flyer II. They are not successful.
26 May – The Wright brothers make their first successful flight in the Wright Flyer II. It is the first of 100 flights they will make in the Flyer II during 1904.^[3]

An Imperial Japanese Navy observer in an Imperial Japanese Army kite balloon spots fire for a naval shore battery against Russian ships in the harbor at Port Arthur during the Siege of Port Arthur. It is the first time in history that an observer in any kind of aerial device directs gunfire against a purely naval target.^[4]
3 August – Major Thomas Scott Baldwin demonstrates the first successful U.S. airship, California Arrow, at Oakland, California

20 September – Wilbur Wright makes the first circuit flight, in the Wright Flyer II.

The Imperial Russian Navy begins conversion of the passenger ship Lahn into an aviation ship named Russ capable of handling a spherical balloon and eight kite balloons and of supporting aerial photography. Russ is the first self-propelled, seagoing ship intended specifically for aeronautical services and the first ship to employ multiple aeronautic devices.^[5]
9 November – Wilbur Wright flies the Wright Flyer II a distance of 3 miles near Dayton, Ohio, the first flight of longer than five minutes.

The Wrights apply for patents for their flying machine in Germany and France.
Frenchman Robert Esnault-Pelterie flies a glider based on the Wright brothers' glider designs but employing ailerons rather than wing-warping for control. His glider is the first full-sized aircraft to employ ailerons.^[3]
The French Navy disbands its balloon branch.^[6]
During the Russo-Japanese War, the Imperial Japanese Army uses two Japanese-designed kite balloons during the Siege of Port Arthur; they make 14 successful flights. It is Japan's first combat use of military aviation of any kind.^[4]^[7]
At Vladivostok, Imperial Russian Army engineer Captain Fyodor A. Postnikov and his crews make frequent ascents in spherical balloons and a kite balloon from Russian ships, and the armored cruiser Rossia tests various forms of air-sea communications from balloons and the use of shipboard balloons for directing gunfire against shore targets and in detecting naval mines.^[2]
The Royal Swedish Navy commissions Ballondepotfartyg Nr 1 ("Balloon Depot Ship No. 1"), a barge designed to operate one kite balloon. She is the first watercraft designed and built specifically for aeronautical purposes.^[8]

^ Layman 1918, p. 91
^ ^a ^b Layman 1989, p. 93.
^ ^a ^b Century of Flight Aviation Timeline 1904
^ ^a ^b Layman 1989, p. 85.
^ Layman 1989, p. 94.
^ Layman 1989, p. 15.
^ Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, ISBN 0-87021-313-X, p. 29.
^ Layman 1989, p. 106.

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

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