1912 in aviation

none in aviation 19th Century 20th century 21st century 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1880s 1890s 1900–19091900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s Aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1912: thumb|A French dirigible. Events First successful all-metal aircraft flies, the Tubavion monoplane built by Charles Ponche and Maurice Primard in France. The French Navy officially establishes an air arm, the Service Aéronautique.Layman 1989, p. 15. 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. Captain Alessandro Guidoni of Italy experiments with the air-launching of torpedoes by dropping weights from a Farman biplane.Chant, Chris, The Worlds Great Bombers, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000, 0-7607-2012-6, p. 13. January–March 10 January Lieutenant Commander Charles Samson flies Short Improved S.27 No. 38 from a platform constructed over the deck of battleship HMS Africa moored in the River Medway, England. It is the United Kingdoms first takeoff by an airplane from a ship. An aircraft drops propaganda leaflets for the first time, when Italian Army Captain Carlo Piazza drops leaflets over Ottoman Army positions in Libya from an airplane during the Italo-Turkish War.Franks, Norman, Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998, 1-902304-04-7, p. 9. Glenn Curtiss pilots the first flight of a flying boat, at Hammondsport, New York.Daniel, Clifton, ed., Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987, 0-942191-01-3, p. 158. 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.https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=MMSAB04:000333022:mpeg21:a00009 Wereldrecord. Bredasche Courant 23 January 1912 Delpher nlhttps://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=MMKB15:000780036:mpeg21:a00066 Vliegen. De Kleine Courant 22 January 1912 Delpher nl 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.Daniel, Clifton, ed., Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987, 0-942191-01-3, p. 159. 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.http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_20622085/fowler-tried-harder-but-was-only-second-flier Blackstock, Joe, "Fowler Tried Harder But Was Only the Second Flier To Cross the Nation By Airplane," Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, May 14, 2012. 2012-05-28 https://web.archive.org/web/20120517103305/http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_20622085/fowler-tried-harder-but-was-only-second-flier 2012-05-17 dead Roy, "Jacksonville's Role in First Cross-Country Flight in 1912," The Florida Times Union, February 28, 2012. English aviator Graham Gilmour is killed when his Martin-Handasyde monoplane, flying from Brooklands, suffers a structural failure and crashes in the Old Deer Park in Richmond, London.Flight The Late Mr Grahame Gilmour http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1912/1912%20-%200172.html 1912-02-24 172 22 February – Jules Védrines becomes the first pilot to exceed 100 mph km/h. He makes his flight in a Deperdussin monoplane near Pau, France, flying a distance of 200 km mi on in 1 h 15 min 20.8 s, an average speed of 169 km/h mph on.Védrines Regains the Speed Record Flight 2 March 1912. 24–25 February – Italian Army Captain Carlo Piazza takes the first wartime reconnaissance photographs from an airplane, photographing Ottoman Army positions in Libya during the Italo-Turkish War. March – The conversion of the ex-torpedo boat tender Foudre into the French Navys 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.Layman 1989, p. 17–18. 1 March – Albert Berry makes the first parachute jump out of an aeroplane, leaping from a Benoist pusher biplane piloted by Tony Jannus at 1,500 ft m off us over Kinlock Field at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri. 5 March – Airships are used for military purposes for the first time, when the Italian dirigibles P2 and P3 begin reconnaissance missions behind Ottoman Army lines west of Tripoli, Libya, during the Italo-Turkish War.World War I Centennial: Bombs Over Libya April–June 2 April – Eleanor Trehawke Davies becomes the first woman to cross the English Channel in an airplane, flying as the passenger of Gustav Hamel.Daniel, Clifton, ed., Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987, 0-942191-01-3, p. 160. 3 April – Flying a Wright Model B on a demonstration flight at Long Beach, California, Calbraith Perry Rodgers collides with a seagull, which becomes entangled in his plane's control cables. The plane crashes into the Pacific Ocean, killing Rodgers, who becomes the first fatality in history as the result of a bird strike.Brotak, Ed, "When Birds Strike," Aviation History, May 2016, p. 46. 16 April – American aviator Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly the English Channel, making the crossing from Dover, England, to France in 59 minutes."Today in History," Washington Post Express, April 16, 2012, p. 34. 17 April – Austrian physicist Victor 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.APS News: "This Month in Physics History: April 17, 1912: Victor Hess’s balloon flight during total eclipse to measure cosmic rays" 19 April – An Italian blimp takes the first known motion pictures of enemy positions, filming Ottoman Army positions in Libya during the Italo-Turkish War.http://cnparm.home.texas.net/Wars/TripWar.htm The Troplitanian War 1911–1912 2013-01-18 2015-12-17 https://web.archive.org/web/20151217065824/http://cnparm.home.texas.net/Wars/TripWar.htm dead 22 April – Englishman Denys Corbett Wilson completes the first completely successful aeroplane crossing of the Irish Sea, from Goodwick in Wales to Crane near Enniscorthy in Ireland (Robert Loraine's flight in 1910, often credited as the first crossing, landed 200 feet short). 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.Layman 1989, p. 15.Layman 1989, p. 17. 9 May – Commander Charles Rumney Samson becomes the first person to fly an aircraft off the deck of a moving ship. He takes off in Short Improved S.27 No.38 from a ramp built over the deck of the battleship HMS Hibernia in Weymouth Bay.http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1912/1912%20-%200442.html The Naval Review and the Aviators Flight 18 May 1912 442 13 May 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.Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, 1-55750-076-2, p. 10. A Flanders F.3 Monoplane crashes at Brooklands, Surrey, in the United Kingdom, killing both people on board. The Public Safety and Accidents Investigation Committee of the Royal Aero Club looks into the causes of the incident in history's first aviation accident investigation resulting in a published report. The report, which blames the accident on pilot error, will appear in the publication Flight on 8 June 1912. 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.O'Connor, Derek, "'An Outstanding American Citizen,'" Aviation History, March 2017, p. 52. 22 May – United States Marine Corps First Lieutenant Alfred A. Cunningham reports to the Naval Aviation Camp at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, to begin training as the U.S. Marine Corpss first aviator. The date is considered the birth date of U.S. Marine Corps aviation.Knapp, Walter, "The Marines Take Wing," Aviation History, May 2012, p. 50. 27 May – The worlds first seaplane carrier, the French Navy's Foudre, embarks her first floatplane,Layman 1989, p. 17. a Canard Voisin. 30 May – Wilbur Wright, co-inventor of the airplane, dies in Dayton, Ohio, of typhoid fever. June Sopwith Aviation Company founded. The Imperial Japanese Navy takes its first step toward establishing an aviation arm, establishing the Naval Aeronautical Research Committee.Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, 0-87021-313-X, p. 37. 1 June – The first aeroplane flight in Norway is made by Secondløytnant Hans Dons in the Royal Norwegian Navy's first aircraft, the Rumpler Taube floatplane Start. He flies 48 km mi off us from Gannestad to Øra in 35 minutes. 2 June – The Lewis machine gun is first tested in an aircraft by the United States Army. This weapon would go on to become the standard armament of many fighter aircraft during World War I. 8 June The Italian dirigibles P2 and P3 discover and make a highly effective bombing attack against Ottoman Army cavalry during a battle at Zanzur in the Italo-Turkish War, making an important contribution to the Italian Armys offense in the battle. 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. 10 June – The Austro-Hungarian submarine U-5 tows a kite balloon, apparently to determine the best coloration for submarines to avoid detection while underwater. Other than the experimental use of incendiary balloons from Vulcano to bombard Venice in 1849 by its predecessor the Austrian Navy, it is the only operation of an observation balloon by the Austro-Hungarian Navy.Layman 1989, p. 13. 11 June – Silas Christofferson flies a biplane 8 mi in off from a 170 ft m mid off us -long 0 ramp on the roof of the 150 ft m mid off us -tall 0 Multnomah Hotel in Portland, Oregon, to the Vancouver Barracks in Vancouver, Washington. A crowd of over 45,000 observes the flight, which takes him 12 minutes. June 11, 2024 Clark County Historical Museum's Post https://www.facebook.com/cchmuseum/posts/otd-in-clark-county-history-june-11-1912-aviator-silas-christofferson-flew-from-/994012589398903/ facebook.com Clark County Historical Museum 8 June 2026http://www.newspapers.com/clip/35353922/the_sensation_of_flying_high/ The Sensation of Flying High The World 25 October 1912 8 en 2019-08-28 The Oregonian claims that he is the first person to trust "his heavier-than-air machine in a start from the midst of a business section of a great city."Aviator Flies Off Hotel Top Safely 12 June 1912 The Oregonian 19 June – The Royal Flying Corpss Central Flying School opens at Upavon, Wiltshire. 27 June – Following successes using aircraft against the Turks in North Africa, Italy forms a specialised Air Battalion (Battagliore Aviatori). July–September 1 July – During an air show, Harriet Quimby and a meet organizer flying with her as a passenger die in an airplane crash in Dorchester Bay off Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. 2 July Denmark establishes an army air corps. It is the predecessor of the Danish Air Force . An attempt at the first transatlantic flight fails when Melvin Vanimans dirigible Akron explodes shortly after takeoff, 500 ft m off us over the North Atlantic Ocean off Atlantic City, New Jersey, killing Vaniman, his brother Carl Vaniman, and all three others on board.Siegel, Nan, "Renaissance Man Melvin Vaniman", Aviation History, July 2012, p. 53.Kenney, Kimberly, "A Thousand Miles By Airship", Aviation History, July 2012, p. 53. 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.Robertson 1967, p. 37 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.Layman 1989, p. 111. 1 August – The United States Marine Corpss first aviator, First Lieutenant Alfred A. Cunningham, makes his first solo flight, piloting a "hydroplane" (floatplane) in Massachusetts.Anonymous, "Today in History," The Washington Post Express, August 1, 2013, p. 26. 2 August – Start of British Military Aeroplane Competition at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain for aircraft to meet the requirements of the newly formed Royal Flying Corps. The competition attracts 32 entrants and is won by S. F. Cody with his Cody V biplane.The Times London Aeroplane Tests: First Prizes Won By Mr. Cody., British Successes 31 August 1912 4, column A 39992 10 August – Frank McClean flies a Short Brothers floatplane up the River Thames between the upper and lower parts of Tower Bridge and underneath London Bridge.The Times London Sir Francis McClean Pioneer Aviator Obituaries 1955-08-12 11, column C 53297 16 August – Glenn L. Martin founds the first Glenn L. Martin Company.Rumerman, Judy. "The First U.S. Aircraft Manufacturing Companies." https://web.archive.org/web/20070930030455/http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Aerospace/earlyU.S/Aero1.htm 2007-09-30 U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, 2003. Retrieved: July 30, 2011. 6 September – Royal Flying Corps members Captain Patrick Hamilton and Lieutenant Athole Wyness Stuart are killed in a crash near Willian, Hertfordshire flying a Deperdussin monoplane.The Army FatalitiesFlight 14 September 1912 7 September – The French aviator Roland Garros sets a world altitude record of 13,200 ft m off us.Daniel, Clifton, ed., Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987, 0-942191-01-3, p. 165. 8 September – The Argentine Air Force is formed as a flying school at El Palomar, the military airport near Buenos Aires. 9 September – Flying a Deperdussin Monocoque monoplane, Jules Védrines wins the fourth Gordon Bennett Trophy race at a speed of 169.7 kph mph onThe Gordon Bennett Cup Flight 21 September 1912 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. 25 September – Charles Voisin dies and Raymonde de Laroche suffers serious injuries in an automobile accident near Lyon, France.Pawlak, Debra Ann, "The Baroness of Flight," Aviation History, July 2008, p. 17. 21 September – First flight from Kjeller Airport, the first airport established in Norway.Kjeller flyplass Store norske leksikon Godal Anne Marit Anne Marit Godal Norsk nettleksikon Oslo http://snl.no/Kjeller_flyplass no 2013-10-09 30 September – Igor Sikorsky wins the international military competition at Petrograd flying the S-6-B.Sikorsky Igor The Story of the Winged-S 1944 Dodd, Mead & Company New York 9781258163556 48 October–December 6 October – At Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal, Japan, Lieutenant Yōzō Kaneko makes the Imperial Japanese Navys first flight, piloting a Farman seaplane for 15 minutes and reaching an altitude of 30 m ft off us.Peattie 2001, p. 5-6. 16 October – The second use of an aerial bomb and an airplane as a bomber takes place when Bulgarian Army Aviation Department pilots Radul Milkov and Prodan Tarakchiev, flying an Albatros F.II, bomb the Turkish railway station of Karaagac (near Edirne), during the First Balkan War.The first was on 1 November 1911. 22 October – The Australian Flying Corps is formed. The British Admiralty establishes an air departmentLayman 1989, p. 32. and orders the Vickers E.F.B.1, the first British airplane built as an armed fighting aircraft.Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the Worlds 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, 9781846810008, p. 17. 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. 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.Peattie 2001, p. 5. A Curtiss Triad becomes the first aircraft to be launched by catapult, at the U.S. Navys Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. 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.Layman 1989, p. 111. William Beardmore and Company proposes the first Royal Navy aircraft carrier with a flight deck - a 450 ft m off us on, 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.Layman 1989, p. 33-4. 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 XII floatplane 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.http://www.airandspacemuseum.org/BenoistPaper.htm airandspacemuseum.org The Brief, Bright Aviation Career of St. Louis's Tom Benoist 2013-01-19 https://web.archive.org/web/20101221070214/http://www.airandspacemuseum.org/BenoistPaper.htm 2010-12-21 dead 31 December – The Royal Navy has 16 aircraft in service – eight biplane landplanes, five monoplane landplanes, and three "hydro-aeroplanes." Births March 29 – Hanna Reitsch, German soldier and pilot (d. 1979)Dennis Piszkiewicz From Nazi Test Pilot to Hitler's Bunker: The Fantastic Flights of Hanna Reitsch Westport Praeger 1997 978-0-27595-456-7 3 November 6 – Whitney Straight, American-born British Air Commodore, motor racing driver and businessman (d. 1979) Deaths February 17 – Graham Gilmour, English aviator (b. 1885) April 3 – Cal Rodgers, American aviator (b. 1879) May 30 – Wilbur Wright, American aviation pioneer (b. 1867) June 1 – Philip Parmalee, American aviator (b. 1887) June 12 – Hubert Latham, French aviation pioneer (b. 1883) July 1 – Harriet Quimby, American aviator and film writer (b. 1875) August 26 – Fung Joe Guey, Chinese aviation pioneer (b. 1883)Maksel Rebecca August 13, 2008 http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/The_Father_of_Chinese_Aviation.html The Father of Chinese Aviation Air & Space Smithsonian Institution August 18, 2012 September 14 – Howard W. Gill American aviator (b. 1882) September 28 – Lewis C. Rockwell American aviation pioneer (b. 1885) First flights January 10 January – Short S.36 February Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2 flown by designer Geoffrey de Havilland. March Bristol-Coanda monoplane 1 March – AEA Cygnet 3 March – Avro Type E, later renamed the Avro 500 April 2 April Short S.41 May 1 May Avro Type F 24 May Short S.45 June June 9 or 10 – Caudron Type B Multiplace August Avro Type G September ca. September – Caudron Type E Notes 33em References Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849–1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, 0-87021-210-9 Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909–1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, 1-55750-432-6 Robertson, Bruce. Aircraft Markings of the World 1912–1967, Stroud, England: Harleyford Publications, 1967. Category:1912-related lists Category:Aviation by year Category:Technology timelines by year Category:Transport timelines by year