1921 in aviation
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1921:
Events
- Bessie Coleman attends flying school in France and became the first licensed African-American female pilot.
- Mexicana de Aviación begins service.
- The Imperial Japanese Navy acquires its first rigid and semi-rigid airships.[1]
- The Italian General Giulio Douhet publishes his highly influential book Command of the Air. In it, he argues that the ability of aircraft to fly over armies and navies renders those forces of secondary importance; that the vastness of the sky makes defense against bombers impossible; that only offensive bombing to destroy the enemy 's air force can allow a country to achieve command of the air; that once it is achieved, a bombing campaign can be carried out against enemy "vital centers", including industry, transportation, government, communications, and "the will of the people;" and that success against enemy civilian morale in particular would be the key to victory.
January
- January 6 – After modifications, HMS Argus returns to service with the Royal Navy as the world 's first aircraft carrier equipped with palisades.[2] Installed on the port and starboard edges of the flight deck and capable of being raised and lowered, the palisades when raised serve as a windbreak and prevent aircraft on the flight deck from blowing or rolling overboard in heavy weather.
March
April
May
- American stunt pilot Laura Bromwell sets a women 's aviation speed record of 135 mph (217 km/hr).[4]
- May 15 – Laura Bromwell sets a women 's record for consecutive loops, looping her airplane 199 consecutive times in 1 hour 20 minutes over New York State.[4][5]
June
- Boeing wins a $1,448,000 contract to build 200 Thomas-Morse MB-3 fighters for the US Army, allowing the company to abandon furniture-making.
- June 1 – On the second day of the Tulsa race riot, whites in six biplane trainer aircraft from nearby Curtiss-Southwest Field attack African-Americans on the ground in the Greenwood section of Tulsa, Oklahoma, with rifles and incendiary bombs.[6][7]
- June 5 – Twenty-three-year-old American stunt pilot Laura Bromwell dies in the crash of her Canadian-built airplane on the outskirts of Garden City on Long Island, New York, when she loses control at the top of a loop and her aircraft plummets into the ground from an altitude of 1,000 feet (305 m).[4]
- June 8 – The United States Army carries out the first experiments in cabin pressurisation, using a de Havilland DH.4.
- June 13 – The U.S. Army and United States Navy begin trials in Chesapeake Bay to test the effectiveness of aircraft in attacking ships. The captured German destroyer G-102, light cruiser Frankfurt, and battleship Ostfriesland will all be sunk by aerial bombing during the tests.
July
August
September
- The British 30-man Sempill Mission, led by Sir William Francis Forbes-Sempill (Captain, the Master of Sempill), arrives in Japan, bringing with it over 100 aircraft comprising 20 different models. Before it returns to the United Kingdom in March 1923, the Mission will greatly improve 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 brings will inspire the design of a number of Japanese naval aircraft of the 1920s.[14]
- September 19 – The first regular scheduled airline service in Latin America commences, with Colombian airline SCADTA operating float-equipped Junkers F.13s between Barranquilla and Girandot, Colombia.
- September 28 – Piloting the same United States Army Air Service Packard-Le Peré LUSAC-11 fighter that set a world altitude record on February 27, 1920, Lieutenant John A. Macready sets a new world altitude record of 10,518 meters (34,508 feet).[15] Macready receives the Mackay Trophy for the flight.
October
- The Royal Air Force takes over from the British Army in assuming policing duties in Iraq.
- October 4 – At Long Branch, New Jersey, professional stunt flier Madeline Davis attempts to become the first woman to transfer from a moving automobile to an airplane flying overhead via a rope ladder, but loses her grip on the ladder, strikes the ground at a speed of about 45 miles per hour (72 km/hr), and dies soon afterward.[16]
- October 15 – The Spanish airline Compañía Española de Tráfico Aéreo is established. It will eventually form part of the airline Iberia.
November
- The sixth Salon d'Aeronautique is held in Paris. The Breguet 19 is unveiled.
- November 5 – Curtiss test pilot Bert Acosta wins the Pulitzer Trophy in a Curtiss CR-2 and establishes a new closed-circuit airspeed record of 284.36 km/h (176.7 mph).
- November 19 – Flying a Curtiss CR-2, Bert Acosta sets a new world speed record of 197.8 mph (318.32 km/hr)[17]
December
First flights
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
October
November
- Engineering Division PW-1[26]
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.
- ↑ Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, ISBN 0-87021-026-2, p. 215.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Guttman, Jon, "Crazy Capronis," Aviation History, July 2008, p. 55.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Daniel, Clifton, ed., Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987, ISBN 0-942191-01-3, p. 280.
- ↑ Gunston, Bill, ed., Aviation: Year by Year, London: Amber Books Limited, 2001, cited at Wings Over Kansas: Aviation History: Aviation History Facts: May
- ↑ Madigan, Tim, The Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, New York: St. Martin's Press, 2001, ISBN 0-312-27283-9, pp. 4, 131-132, 144, 159, 164, 249.
- ↑ McCabe, Scott, "Crime History: Dozens Killed During Tulsa Race Riot", The Washington Examiner, May 31, 2013, p. 8.
- ↑ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 182.
- ↑ The New York Times, July 8, 1921, Friday, Page 1, Big Navy Dirigible Burned in Flight; Flames Destroy the C-3 at Hampton Roads
- ↑ Chant, Chris, The World 's Great Bombers, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000, ISBN 0-7607-2012-6, p. 48.
- ↑ Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, Second Edition, London: Putnam, 1976, ISBN 0-370-10054-9, p. 2.
- ↑ Butler, Glen, Colonel, USMC, "That Other Air Service Centennial," Naval History, June 2012, p. 57, claims that the United States Navy created the Bureau of Aeronautics in July 1921.
- ↑ Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-295-8, p. 199.
- ↑ Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, ISBN 1-55750-432-6, pp. 17-20.
- ↑ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 195.
- ↑ "Girl Dies In Stunt Boarding Airplane From Moving Auto". The New York Times. 5 October 1921. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
- ↑ 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. 121.
- ↑ "Today in History," Washington Post Express, December 1, 2011, Page 62.
- ↑ 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. 121.
- ↑ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 76.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 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. 423.
- ↑ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 291.
- ↑ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 63.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 121.
- ↑ 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. 422.
- ↑ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 198.
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