1914

Master Index

1916

1915 Chronology of Aviation History
Major Aviation Events

1915 Aviation Records

• Speed: 134.54-mph, Norman Spratt, RAF S.E. 4, June 1914

• Distance: 1,180.61-miles, Werner Landman, Albatros, 28 June 1914

• Altitude: 26,739-feet, Heinrich Oelerich, DFW14, July 1914

• Weight: 14,000-lbs, Handley Page Ltd., Handley Page O/100

• Engine Power: 227-hp, Louis Renault, Renault 12A

• January 19 — Suffolk, England … On this date, the first air raid on Britain took place. Two German naval Zeppelin airships attacked Great Yarmouth, King's Lynn, Norfolk, and six other small towns in the area. It was reported to 20 were killed and 40 were injured.

• February 5 — England … The Vickers F.B.5 Gunbus enters service with No. 5 Squadron RFC.

• February 15 — Poland … Russian Sikorsky Ilya Muromets bombers attack the Vistula-Dobrzhani area of Poland.

• March 3 — Washington, DC, United States … NACA, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, predecessor of NASA, established in America.

• March 7 — Belgium … The first British tactical bombing raids made in support of ground troops made in Menin an Courtai.

• April — France … The Morane-Saulnier Type N enters service.

• April 1 — World War I, Western front … French pilot Lt Roland Garros scores the first kill using a non-synchronized machine gun when he shoots down an Albatros observation plane from his Morane-Saulnier Type L.

• April 1 — World War I, Western front … French ace Jean Navarre, with an observer Lt. Robert, score the first kill.

• April 11 — Germany … First flight of the Zeppelin-Staaken R.I.

• April 18 — Germany … Roland Garros is shot down and taken captive.

• April 26 — England … 2nd Lt William Rhodes-Moorhouse is the first airman to receive the Victoria Cross (posthumous).

• May — France … First flight of the SPAD A.2.

• May 26 — Germany … Oberleutnant Küstner and Lt Georg Langhoff score the first German air-to-air victory of World War I.

• May 31 — London, England … German Army Zeppelin LZ 38 airship, made the first Zeppelin attack on London dropping 3,000-lbs of bombs. The London raid killed 7 and injured 14.

• June — Germany … The Fokker Eindecker enters service.

• June 1 — England … First flight of the Airco DH.2.

• June 6 — Ghent, Belgium … LZ 37 becomes the first Zeppelin destroyed in air-to-air combat when it is bombed by Flt Sub-Lt Reginald Warneford, RNAS.

• July 1 — Fôret de Parroy, France … Leutnant Kurt Wintgens achieves the first aerial victory by a true fighter plane in history, flying his Fokker M.5K/MG production prototype of the Fokker Eindecker, downing a Morane-Saulnier two-seat “parasol ” observation aircraft.

• July 6 — France … Lt Oswald Boelcke claims his first victory, a Blériot Parasol, while flying an Albatros C.I two-seater with Lt von WÜhlisch as the observer & gunner.

• July 25 — France … Captain Lanoe Hawker of the RFC wins first Victoria Cross for aerial combat, over France.

• August 1 — France … Lt Max Immelmann shoots down his first aircraft, beginning his career as an ace and the period that will become known as the “Fokker scourge ”.

• August 12 — Turkey … Flt Cdr Charles Edmonds becomes the first pilot to attack a ship with an air-launched torpedo. He is flying a Short Type 184 from HMS Ben-my-Chree. His target is a Turkish supply ship.

• August 14 — England … First flight of the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.9.

• August 19 — France … Lt Oswald Boelcke shoots down his first aircraft flying a Fokker E.I fitted with a gun synchronizer.

• August 20 — Austria-Hungary … The first sustained aerial bombing offensive is made by Italian Caproni Ca.2s against Austria-Hungary.

• August 31 — France … The first French ace Adolphe Pegoud is killed in combat. He scored six victories.

• September — England … The Royal Aircraft Factory FE.2 enters service with No. 6 Squadron RFC.

• No data.

• November 3 — North Sea … Flt Sub-Lt Fowler makes the first take-off of an aircraft with a conventional, wheeled undercarriage from a ship when he flies a Bristol Scout from HMS Vindex.

• November 6 — Gulf of Mexico … A Curtiss AB-2 piloted by Lt Cdr Henry Mustin is catapulted from the deck of USS North Carolina while the ship is underway.

• December — England … First Flight of the Sopwith 1½ Strutter.

• December 12 — Dessau, Germany … The Junkers J.1, the world's first all-metal cantilever monoplane, flew for the first time. The aircraft was powered by a 120-hp Mercedes D.II engine.

• December 15 — Russia … First flight of the Anatra D.

• December 17 — England … First flight of the Handley Page O/400.

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, 1915 in aviation
4. Shupek, John (photos and card images), The Skytamer Archive. Skytamer.com, Whittier, CA