1920

Master Index

1922

1921 Chronology of Aviation History
Major Aviation Events

1921 Aviation Records

• Speed: (France), 205.22-mph, Joseph Sadi-Lecointe, Nieuport-Delage 29, 26 September 1921.

• Distance:(UK), 1,884-miles, Alcock and Brown, Vickers Vimy, 15 June 1919.

• Altitude:(USA), 34,610-feet, Roland Rohlfs, Curtiss Wasp, 18 September 1919.

• Weight:(Italy), 57,319-lbs, SAI Caproni, Caproni Ca 60.

• Engine Power: (France), 838-hp, Marcel Riffard, Breguet-Bagatti 32.

1921

• 1921 — Bessie Coleman attends flying school in France and became the first licensed African-American female pilot.

• 1921 — Mexicana de Aviacion begins service.

January 1921

• No data.

February 1921

• February 24 — First flight of the Douglas Cloudster.

March 1921

• No data.

April 1921

• April — First flight of the Fairey Pintail.

• April 19 — First flight of the Short Cromarty flying boat.

May 1921

• May — First flight of the Boeing GA-1.

June 1921

• June — Boeing wins a $1,448,000 contract to build 200 Thomas-Morse MB-3 fighters for the US Army, allowing the company to abandon furniture-making.

• June 8 — the US Army carries out the first experiments in cabin pressurization, using a de Havilland DH.4.

• June 13 — the US Army and Navy begin trials in Chesapeake Bay to test the effectiveness of aircraft in attacking ships. The captured German destroyer G-102, light cruiser Frankfurt and battleship Ostfriesland will all be successfully sunk by aerial bombing.

• June 16 — First flight of the Blériot-SPAD S.46.

• June 21 — First flight of the Bristol Ten-Seater.

July 1921

• July — Douglas Aircraft Company founded.

• July 16 — First flight of the Avro 552.

August 1921

• August 11 — Schneider Trophy race flown at Venice, Italy. In an all-Italian field, Giovanni De Briganti won the race in a Macchi M-7. Speed 189.7 km/h (117.9 mph).

• August 24 — British Airship R-38 breaks up over Hull, Yorkshire during trials, killing 44 people.

September 1921

• September 19 — the first regular scheduled airline service in Latin America commences, with Colombian airline SCADTA operating float-equipped Junkers F.13s between Barranquilla and Girandot.

October 1921

• October — The RAF takes over from the British Army in assuming policing duties in Iraq.

• October 15 — the Spanish airline Compania Española de Trafico Aereo is established — it will eventually form part of Iberia Airlines.

November 1921

• November — The 6th Salon d'Aeronautique is held in Paris. The Breguet 19 is unveiled.

• November 5 — Curtiss test pilot Bert Acosta wins the Pulitzer Trophy in a Curtiss CR-2 and establishes a new closed-circuit airspeed record of 284.36 km/h (176.7 mph).

December 1921

• December 5 — The first regular air services in Australia commence, with West Australian Airways.

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, 1921 in aviation.
4. Shupek, John (photos and card images), The Skytamer Archive. Skytamer.com, Whittier, CA.