World Aviation in 1911
6 January
750,000 Indians watch a flying display at Calcutta by Henri Jullerot in his Military Biplane.
7 January
Lieutenant Myron Sydney Crissy of the United States Army, drops the first live bomb from an aeroplane when he conducts a test drop on a target in San Francisco from a Wright biplane piloted by Philip O. Parmelee.
9 January
J.J. Hammond reaches speeds estimated at 44-47mph and an altitude of 2,500 feet while giving a demonstration attended by the Governor of Western Australia.
18 January
Eugène Ely, an exhibition pilot, makes the first landing on a ship. He touched down on a 120 feet long platform which had been erected on the stern of the cruiser USS Pennsylvania . The ship was moored in San Francisco Bay. The Curtiss biplane was fitted with three pairs of spring loaded hooks on the undercarriage and cables were stretched across the temporary flight deck at intervals of 3 feet. The aircraft came to a halt after 30 feet.
21 January
Lieutenant Paul W. Beck sends the first wireless-telephonic message from an aeroplane, sending a message from a Wright biplane over Selfridge Field in Michigan.
26 January
Glenn Curtiss makes the first premeditated aeroplane landing on water, water taxiing and water take-off from USS Pennyslvania in San Diego Bay.
1 February
Burgess and Curtiss becomes the first fully licensed aircraft manufacturer in the USA.
5 February
Vivian C. Walsh makes the first aeroplane flight in New Zealand in his Howard-Wright (type) biplane at Auckland.
7 February
The first French flying certificate is issued to Lieutenant de Rose.
18 February
Under the auspices of the British Army, Mr Henri Pecquet in a Humer-Sommer biplane made the first official airmail flight at the United Provinces Exhibition in Allahabad, India. He flew 6,000 letters and cards 5 miles from Allahabad to Naini Junction where they were transferred to rail.
22 February
Henri Pequet and Captain W.G. Windham begin a regular airmail service between Allahabad and Naini Junction in India, to coincide with the Universal Postal Exhibition in Allahabad.
March
The Aeronautica Militar Espanola is formed in Spain.
March
Captain Chambers of the United States Bureau of Navigation is ordered to assist in the formation of a United States Navy (USN) aviation branch.
3 March
Philip O. Parmelee, with Lieutenant B. Foulois as passenger, receives radio messages and drops written messages to army units during a flight near the Mexico/Texas border.
5 March
The Belgian Army Balloon Company is formed as the Compagnie des Ouviers et Aerostiers.
17 March
The Curtiss D pusher-engined biplane with a tricycle landing gear is demonstrated to the United States Army. Later it becomes their Army Aeroplane No.2.
23 March
Louis Breguet flies the world’s first flight with 11 passengers a distance of 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) in his Breguet biplane.
24 March
Roger Sommer flies the world’s first flight with 12 passengers a distance of 800 metres (2,625 feet) in his Sommer biplane.
11 April
The United States Army flying school is established at College Park.
12 April
Frenchman Pierre Prier makes the first non-stop flight from London to Paris, carrying passengers. He flies a Blériot for 3 hours 45 minutes from Hendon to Issy-les-Moulineaux in Paris.
12 April
Lieutenant T. Gordon Ellyson becomes the first pilot in the United States Navy (USN).
May
A Belgian female pilot, Helene Dutrieu, wins the Coppa del Re (Kings Cup) after beating 14 male rivals.
5 May
Anthony Fokker pilots his second Spinne (Spider) monoplane with a 50 horse-power engine.
5 May
Baron Sandji Narahara flies a biplane to 196 feet with a 50 horse-power Gnome engine.
11 May
Edouard Nieport sets a new speed record of 74mph in his Nieuport monoplane with a 28 horse-power engine.
16 May
Delag passenger carrying Zeppelin LZ8 ‘Ersatz Deutschland’ is destroyed in a docking accident, but there are no casualties.
21 May
French Minister of War Maurice Berteaux is killed and Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe is injured when a Train monoplane crashes in Paris at the start of the Paris-Madrid air race.
18 June
The Circuit of Europe air race starts in Paris.
21 June
Edouard Nieport flies at 87mph in his Nie-2N monoplane.
28 June
An English aviator, Tom Sopwith, makes the first charter flight, when hired by the firm Wanamaker’s to deliver a pair of spectacles to Mr W.A. Burpee. Mr Burpee was a passenger on the liner Olympic, which had left New York harbour on a transatlantic voyage. Sopwith, flying his Howard Wright biplane overhauled the liner, then several miles out to sea, and dropped the carefully wrapped package onto the deck.
1 July
The first United States Navy (USN) aeroplane, a Curtiss A1 Triad hydro-aeroplane, is flown.
6 July
The Aerotechnical Institute of Saint-Cyr, France, opens in a building rented from Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe.
7 July
Lieutenant de Vaisseau Conneau wins the Circuit of Europe air race in a Blériot monoplane.
21 July
Whilst on a solo flight in a Farman, Denise Moore becomes the first woman to be killed in an aeroplane when she crashes at Chalons in France.
2 August
Harriet Quimby becomes the first American female pilot.
3 August
A Voisin biplane lands on the River Seine using the aircraft’s amphibious landing gear.
8 September
Emmanuel Helen wins a Michelin cup at Etamples in France, covering 777 miles in 14 hours 4 minutes 40 seconds, with 3 stops.
15 September
Edouard Nieport dies after making an emergency landing during army manoeuvres in the Ardennes in France.
17 September
Calbraith P. Rodgers begins the first coast-to-coast flight across the USA, from New York to Pasadena, in a Burgess-Wright aeroplane. He completes the flight on 5 November.
19 September
The first airmail service in Italy starts between Bologna, Venice and Rimini.
23 September
The first official airmail flight in the USA is piloted by Earle L. Ovington in his Blériot monoplane, flying from Nassau Air Park to Mineola in Long Island. It is also the first airmail to fly on a set route.
25 September
Pole Scipio del Campo pilots the Cywinski and Zbieranski biplane on a flight for 12½ miles.
9 October
Eugene Ely, a Curtiss pilot, is killed in an air show at Macon in Georgia, USA.
10 October
Morane-Saulnier, an aircraft manufacturing company, is founded by Leon Morane and Louis Saulnier.
10 October
A new bombsight and dropping device designed by Riley E. Scott at College Park, USA, is tested by Lieutenant T.D. Milling at Maryland.
17 October
Zee Yee Lee becomes the first Chinese pilot to qualify for a Royal Aero Club certificate (No.148), flying a Bristol Boxkite on Salisbury Plain.
22 October
Capitano Carlo Piazza of the Italian Army becomes the first pilot to use an aeroplane in war. He flies a Blériot monoplane from Tripoli to Azzia, on a reconnaissance mission over Turkish forces, during the Italo-Turkish campaign in Libya.
25 October
Captain Tokugawa makes the first flight of the Japanese Kai-1 biplane, in Japan.
1 November
2nd Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti of the Italian Air Flotilla becomes the first aviator to drop bombs from an aeroplane in war when he drops Cipelli grenades on Turkish forces at Taguira Oasis and Ain Zara.
26 November
Charles Weymann pilots the Nieuport monoplane to win the military aviation trials at Reims in France.
Also this year…
The Romanian Aviation Group is formed at Chitila.