This is a list of
aviation-related events from 1911:
Events
The
French Navy selects the
torpedo boat tenderFoudre for conversion into
France's first ship capable of carrying and handling airplanes. She will become the first warship to be permanently altered for use as an aviation ship.[1]
Imperial Japanese Navy officers arrive in France and the
United States for flight instruction and to study the production and maintenance of airplanes. They will return to
Japan in 1912 as Japan's first naval aviators.[3]
Imperial Japanese Navy
LieutenantTetsukichi Isobe privately builds a
seaplane out of
bamboo. He pilots it for 60 meters (197 feet), reaching an altitude of 3 meters (10 feet), before the seaplane overturns.[4] Although lacking any official association with the navy, it is the first flight in Japan by a member of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
The
United States NavydestroyerPaulding recovers Canadian civilian aviator
John A. D. McCurdy after he is forced down at sea while he attempting a flight from
Key West, Florida, to
Havana,
Cuba. He was unable to take off using an aircraft platform installed in November 1910, which had a hinged extension that could be lowered to sea level, as his airplane was too badly damaged during the recovery to continue its journey.[6]
17 February – At
San Diego, California,
Glenn Curtiss flies a prototype seaplane out to the U.S. Navy armored cruiser
Pennsylvania in the harbor. Pennsylvania hoists the seaplane aboard, then returns it to the water, and Curtiss flies it back to shore. It is the first demonstration that a ship can handle a seaplane.[6]
The
Spanish Air Force is created as the Aeronáutica militar Española, with four aircraft.
19 February – Dimitri Sensaud de Lavaud flew in São Paulo, Brazil with another airplane, a Blériot bought from Giulio Piccolo, an Italian aviator who had an accident and died in São Paulo in 1910. Dimitri's flight with this airplane took place in the area where Palestra Itália Stadium, now known as Parque Antarctica, would be built in the future.
27 June – To win a $1,000 prize from the U.S.-Canadian Carnival for making history's first flight over Niagara Falls, American pilot
Lincoln J. Beachey takes off into a drizzle in a
Curtiss Dbiplane before 150,000 spectators and flies over the lower
falls of
Niagara Falls, then above
American Falls. During a gradual climb, he circles over the falls several times, then dives into the mists of the falls, coming to within 6 meters (20 feet) of the surface of the
Niagara River and passing under the
Honeymoon Bridge at that altitude, becoming the first person to fly under a Niagara Falls bridge. At a speed of 80 km/h (50 mph), he concludes by flying over the river down the length of the
Niagara Gorge.[9]
One of the
Chicago metropolitan area's earliest dedicated aviation facilities officially opens for use in
Cicero, Illinois, as the Cicero Flying Field established by the Aero Club of Illinois.[11]
9 July – Second Lieutenant
Ștefan Protopopescu finishes his pilot training at
Chitila, receiving the no.1 pilot's license of Romania.[12]
22 August –
Lydia Zvereva earns pilot certificate No. 31 from the Russian Aviation Association Flying School in
Gatchina,
Russia, becoming the first Russian woman to earn a pilot's license and the eighth woman worldwide to do so.[18]
25 August –
Harry N. Atwood completes an 11-day flight of 1,256 miles (2,021 km) from
St. Louis, Missouri, to
Governors Island in
New York Harbor, setting a new airplane distance record, exceeding the previous record by 110 miles (180 km). Along the way, he makes 11 stops and spends 28 hours 31 minutes in the air.[16][19]
29 August –
Hilda Hewlett becomes the first British woman to receive a pilot's licence.
30 August – The first 2 (from an order of 6) serially produced aircraft in Romania are delivered to the
Romanian Army.[20]
9 September – The first British airmail flight is made when
Gustav Hamel flies from
Hendon to
Windsor.
15 September – French aeroplane designer and racing pilot
Édouard Nieuport is killed in a flying accident. He was co-founder of the aircraft manufacturer
Nieuport.
24 September – Britain's first
rigid airship,
HMA No. 1 (also known as Hermione or "Mayfly"), built for the
Royal Navy, breaks in half and is wrecked during a pre-commissioning ground test at her builders,
Vickers of
Barrow-in-Furness.
14 October – Worldwide aviation deaths reach a total of 100.[23]
19 October – During an
aerobatic display at
Macon,
Georgia, American aviation pioneer
Eugene Ely pulls out of a dive too late and crashes into the ground, breaking his neck. He jumps clear of the wreckage but dies minutes later.[24]
22 October – A military airplane makes an operational flight for the first time when an
Italian ArmyBlériot XI piloted by
Captain Carlo Piazza flies from
Tripoli to
'Aziziya to carry out reconnaissance of
Ottoman Army positions in
Libya during the
Italo-Turkish War.[25] Later in the day, an Italian
Nieuport flown by a Captain Moizo becomes the first airplane to be damaged by enemy forces in combat when it suffers several hits from Turkish ground fire.[25]
^"Lincoln Beachy". HOME > NIAGARA FALLS HISTORY > TOURISM HISTORY NIAGARA FALLS DAREDEVILS > LINCOLN BEACHY: Niagara Falls Info. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
^Taylor, John W. R. (1972) [1971 - Hamlyn Publishing]. Aircraft. Gossamer All-Color Guide Series. Grosset & Dunlap.
^
abDaniel, Clifton, ed., Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987,
ISBN0-942191-01-3, p. 155.
^Muir, Tom, "Birth of the Aircraft Carrier," MHQ, Winter 2018, p. 64.
^
abcFranks, Norman, Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998,
ISBN1-902304-04-7, p. 8.
^Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 39.
^Franks, Norman, Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998,
ISBN1-902304-04-7, pp. 8-9.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 75.
References
Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849–1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989,
ISBN0-87021-210-9
Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909–1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001,
ISBN1-55750-432-6
This is a list of
aviation-related events from 1911:
Events
The
French Navy selects the
torpedo boat tenderFoudre for conversion into
France's first ship capable of carrying and handling airplanes. She will become the first warship to be permanently altered for use as an aviation ship.[1]
Imperial Japanese Navy officers arrive in France and the
United States for flight instruction and to study the production and maintenance of airplanes. They will return to
Japan in 1912 as Japan's first naval aviators.[3]
Imperial Japanese Navy
LieutenantTetsukichi Isobe privately builds a
seaplane out of
bamboo. He pilots it for 60 meters (197 feet), reaching an altitude of 3 meters (10 feet), before the seaplane overturns.[4] Although lacking any official association with the navy, it is the first flight in Japan by a member of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
The
United States NavydestroyerPaulding recovers Canadian civilian aviator
John A. D. McCurdy after he is forced down at sea while he attempting a flight from
Key West, Florida, to
Havana,
Cuba. He was unable to take off using an aircraft platform installed in November 1910, which had a hinged extension that could be lowered to sea level, as his airplane was too badly damaged during the recovery to continue its journey.[6]
17 February – At
San Diego, California,
Glenn Curtiss flies a prototype seaplane out to the U.S. Navy armored cruiser
Pennsylvania in the harbor. Pennsylvania hoists the seaplane aboard, then returns it to the water, and Curtiss flies it back to shore. It is the first demonstration that a ship can handle a seaplane.[6]
The
Spanish Air Force is created as the Aeronáutica militar Española, with four aircraft.
19 February – Dimitri Sensaud de Lavaud flew in São Paulo, Brazil with another airplane, a Blériot bought from Giulio Piccolo, an Italian aviator who had an accident and died in São Paulo in 1910. Dimitri's flight with this airplane took place in the area where Palestra Itália Stadium, now known as Parque Antarctica, would be built in the future.
27 June – To win a $1,000 prize from the U.S.-Canadian Carnival for making history's first flight over Niagara Falls, American pilot
Lincoln J. Beachey takes off into a drizzle in a
Curtiss Dbiplane before 150,000 spectators and flies over the lower
falls of
Niagara Falls, then above
American Falls. During a gradual climb, he circles over the falls several times, then dives into the mists of the falls, coming to within 6 meters (20 feet) of the surface of the
Niagara River and passing under the
Honeymoon Bridge at that altitude, becoming the first person to fly under a Niagara Falls bridge. At a speed of 80 km/h (50 mph), he concludes by flying over the river down the length of the
Niagara Gorge.[9]
One of the
Chicago metropolitan area's earliest dedicated aviation facilities officially opens for use in
Cicero, Illinois, as the Cicero Flying Field established by the Aero Club of Illinois.[11]
9 July – Second Lieutenant
Ștefan Protopopescu finishes his pilot training at
Chitila, receiving the no.1 pilot's license of Romania.[12]
22 August –
Lydia Zvereva earns pilot certificate No. 31 from the Russian Aviation Association Flying School in
Gatchina,
Russia, becoming the first Russian woman to earn a pilot's license and the eighth woman worldwide to do so.[18]
25 August –
Harry N. Atwood completes an 11-day flight of 1,256 miles (2,021 km) from
St. Louis, Missouri, to
Governors Island in
New York Harbor, setting a new airplane distance record, exceeding the previous record by 110 miles (180 km). Along the way, he makes 11 stops and spends 28 hours 31 minutes in the air.[16][19]
29 August –
Hilda Hewlett becomes the first British woman to receive a pilot's licence.
30 August – The first 2 (from an order of 6) serially produced aircraft in Romania are delivered to the
Romanian Army.[20]
9 September – The first British airmail flight is made when
Gustav Hamel flies from
Hendon to
Windsor.
15 September – French aeroplane designer and racing pilot
Édouard Nieuport is killed in a flying accident. He was co-founder of the aircraft manufacturer
Nieuport.
24 September – Britain's first
rigid airship,
HMA No. 1 (also known as Hermione or "Mayfly"), built for the
Royal Navy, breaks in half and is wrecked during a pre-commissioning ground test at her builders,
Vickers of
Barrow-in-Furness.
14 October – Worldwide aviation deaths reach a total of 100.[23]
19 October – During an
aerobatic display at
Macon,
Georgia, American aviation pioneer
Eugene Ely pulls out of a dive too late and crashes into the ground, breaking his neck. He jumps clear of the wreckage but dies minutes later.[24]
22 October – A military airplane makes an operational flight for the first time when an
Italian ArmyBlériot XI piloted by
Captain Carlo Piazza flies from
Tripoli to
'Aziziya to carry out reconnaissance of
Ottoman Army positions in
Libya during the
Italo-Turkish War.[25] Later in the day, an Italian
Nieuport flown by a Captain Moizo becomes the first airplane to be damaged by enemy forces in combat when it suffers several hits from Turkish ground fire.[25]
^"Lincoln Beachy". HOME > NIAGARA FALLS HISTORY > TOURISM HISTORY NIAGARA FALLS DAREDEVILS > LINCOLN BEACHY: Niagara Falls Info. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
^Taylor, John W. R. (1972) [1971 - Hamlyn Publishing]. Aircraft. Gossamer All-Color Guide Series. Grosset & Dunlap.
^
abDaniel, Clifton, ed., Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987,
ISBN0-942191-01-3, p. 155.
^Muir, Tom, "Birth of the Aircraft Carrier," MHQ, Winter 2018, p. 64.
^
abcFranks, Norman, Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998,
ISBN1-902304-04-7, p. 8.
^Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 39.
^Franks, Norman, Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998,
ISBN1-902304-04-7, pp. 8-9.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 75.
References
Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849–1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989,
ISBN0-87021-210-9
Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909–1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001,
ISBN1-55750-432-6