1910

Master Index

1912

1911 Chronology of Aviation History
Major Aviation Events

1911 Aviation Records

• Speed: 82.73-mph, Edouard Nieuport, Nieuport Nie-2 N, 21 June 1911, France

• Distance: 460-miles, Armand Gobé, Nieuport, 24 December 1911, France

• Altitude: 12,828-feet, Roland Garros, Blériot XI, 4 September 1911

• Weight: 2,976-lbs, Léon Levavasseur, Antoinette Monobloc

• Engine Power: 177-hp, Clerget, Double Clerget 4W

January 1911

• January 14 — Farnborough, England … The British War Office buys the de Havilland N° 2 biplane for £400. The craft is renamed the F.E.1, standing for the Farman Experimental 1, because of it resembles a Farman biplane.

• January 15 — San Francisco, California, United States … Lt. Myron Sidney Crissy and Philip O. Parmalee drop the first live bomb from an airplane in a test. The test showed that 36-lb bomb dropped from an altitude of 1,500-feet could impact within 20-feet of a target.

• January 18 — USS Pennsylvania, San Francisco Bay, California, United States … Curtiss test pilot Eugene Ely flying a Curtiss Model D biplane recorded the first landing of an aeroplane on a ship, the cruiser USS Pennsylvania.



• January 21 — Selfridge Field, Michigan, United States … Lt. Paul W. Beck makes the first wireless-telephonic transmission from an airplane as he sends a message from a Wright flying 100 feet over Selfridge Field, Michigan.

February 1911

• February 1 — Massachusetts, United States … Burgess and Curtiss become the first licensed aircraft manufacturer in the United States.

• February 1 — El Paso, Texas, United States … On this date, airplanes were probably used for the first time in warfare. The flying troupe Moisant International Aviators were hired by the Mexican government to perform an aerial spying mission on the rebels on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande Rio near Juarez.

• February 5 — New Zealand … The first undisputed aeroplane flight in New Zealand is made by Vivian Walsh at Auckland in the Howard-Wright biplane Manurewa.

• February 18 — Naini Junction, India … On this date, under the auspices of the British Army, the world's first official airmail flight took place. French pilot Henry Pecquet flew from Allahabad to Naini Junction, India.

March 1911

• March — Spain … The Spanish Air Force is created as the Aeronáutica Militar Española, with four aircraft.

• March 23 — France … Louis Breguet carries 11 passengers a distance of 5 km (3.1 miles).

April 1911

• April 1 — England … First flight of the Avro Type D.

• April 1 — England … The first flying unit of the British Military, the Air Battalion Royal Engineers formed.

• April 11 — College Park, Maryland, United States … The US Army establishes its first flying school at College Park, Maryland.

• April 12 — United States … Lt. T. Gordon Ellyson becomes the United States Navy's first pilot.

• April 12 — London, England to Paris, France … Pierre Prier, flying a Blériot monoplane, made the first non-stop passenger flight from London to Paris.

May 1911

• May 5 — Germany … Anthony Fokker, flies his second Spinne (Spider) monoplane with a 50-hp Argus engine.

• May 8 — United States … US Naval Aviation Service created and the Navy's first airplane, a Curtiss Model D, is ordered.

• May 17 — England … First flight of the Blackburn Mercury.

• May 31 — France/Italy … Andre Beaumont beats Roland Garros in the Paris to Rome air race, completing the 1,465 km (910 mile) course in 28 hours, 5 minutes.

June 1911

• June 18 — Paris, France … The Circuit of Europe, the first real international air race, started from Paris. The 994-mile circuit, from Paris to Liège (Belgium), Utrecht (Netherlands), Brussels (Belgium), Roubaix and Calais (France), London and Dover (England), then Back to Paris, drew 52 entrants. André Beaumont came in first with a winning time of 58 hours and 38 minutes.

• June 21 — Châlons, France … Edouard Niéuport, flies his Niéuport 2N monoplane at a speed of 87.2-mph.

July 1911

• July 1 — Lake Keuka, Hammondsport, New York, United States … First flight of the U.S. Navy's first aeroplane, the Curtiss A-1 Hydro-aeroplane. The craft was flow by its builder, Glenn Curtiss, for five minutes at an altitude of 25-feet.

  

• July 4 — England … First ever commercial cargo was flown by Horatio Barber in his Valkyrie B tail-first monoplane. The General Electric company paid £100 to have a box of Osram electric lamps flown from Shoreham to Hove in England.

• July 22 — Brooklands, Surrey, England … The first Round Britain air race started from Brooklands, Surrey.

• August — United States … Harriet Quimby and Matilde Moisant become the first licensed female pilots in the United States.

• August 18 — Farnborough, England … Geoffrey de Havilland begins flight testing of the Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2 biplane.

• August 29 — Brooklands, Surrey, England … Mrs. Hewlett is the first British woman to win a pilot's license, at Brooklands race-track.

August 1911

• No data.

September 1911

• September 9 — England … The first British airmail flight is made. Gustav Hamel flies from Hendon to Windsor.

• September 15 — England … Édouard de Nié Port, one of the pre-eminent aeroplane designers and racing pilots of the era, and co-founder with his brother Charles of the French aircraft manufacturer Nieuport, is killed in a flying accident.

• September 17 to November 11 — Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York, United States … First coast-to-coast flight across the United States made by Calbraith P. Rodgers in a Wright EX biplane nicknamed the Vin Fiz. Rodgers was airborne for 82 hours 4 minutes, and covered the distance of 4,321 miles at an average speed of approximately 52-mph.

  

• September 19 — Hendon, England … First official air mail flight in Great Britain, made by Gustav Hamel in a Blériot monoplane, which carried air mail between Hendon and Windsor.

  

• September 23 — Nassau Air Park, New York, United States … First official air mail flight in the United States, made by Earl L. Ovington flying a Blériot monoplane. The flight was from Nassau Air Park to Mineola, Long Island, NY.

  

October 1911

• October 10 — France … Léon Morane and Louis Saulnier found the Morane-Saulnier aircraft manufacturing company.

• October 19 — United States … Eugene Ely dies in an air crash.

• October 22 — Libya … First use of an aeroplane in war, Italian Capitano Piazza making a reconnaissance of Turkish positions in his Blériot XI monoplane.

  

• October 24 — Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, United States … Orville Wright soars in a glider 9 minutes and 45 seconds over dunes near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

• October 25 — Japan … Captain Tokugawa made the first flight of the Japanese Kai-1 army biplane. The craft was powered by a 50-hp Gnome engine.

• October 31 — San Jose, California, United States … John Montgomery is fatally injured in a crash of his Evergreen glider near San Jose, California.

November 1911

• November 1 — Turkey … 2nd Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti of the Italian Air Flotilla drops several small bombs on Turkish troops during the Italo-Turkish War. This was the first time bombs had been dropped from an aeroplane in war.

• November 5 — United States … Calbraith Rodgers completes the first coast-to-coast airplane flight across the USA in the Vin Fiz Flyer - taking 49 days, with several crashes en-route.

December 1911

• December 27 — Farnborough, England … Geoffrey de Havilland made the first flight of the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.1 on this date at Farnborough.

Works Cited

1. Gunston, Bill, et al. Chronicle of Aviation. Liberty, Missouri: JL Publishing Inc., 1992. 14-17
2. Parrish, Wayne W. (Publisher). "United States Chronology". 1962 Aerospace Yearbook, Forty-Third Annual Edition. Washington, DC: American Aviation Publications, Inc., 1962, 446-469.
3. Wikipedia, 1911 in aviation
4. Shupek, John (photos and card images), The Skytamer Archive. Skytamer.com, Whittier, CA