1921

Master Index

1923

1922 Chronology of Aviation History
Major Aviation Events

1922 Aviation Records

• Speed: (USA), 224.28-mph, William Mitchell, Curtiss R-6, 18 October 1922.

• Distance:(USA), 2,517.8-miles, Kelly and Macready, Fokker T-2, 6 October 1922.

• 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.

1922

• 1922 — Irish Air Corps formed at Baldonnel Aerodrome. First aircraft is a Martinsyde Type A.

• 1922 — The Persian Army forms an air department.

• 1922 — First commercial night flight between London and Paris.

• 1922 — Hermann Oberth submits his dissertation, rejected as “too fantastic”, which was published in 1923 as The Rocket to Planetary Spaces. It became a major work in spaceflight history.

• 1922 — The Vickers Vernon entered service with the Royal Air Force.

January 1922

• January 3 — First flight of the Aero A.10.

February 1922

• No data.

March 1922

• March 13 — Portuguese pilots Capt Gago Coutinho and Capt Sacadura Cabral leave Lisbon to attempt the first crossing of the South Atlantic by air. They arrive in Brazil on June 16 in the third Fairey III they use for the trip.

• March 20 — The US Navy commissions its first aircraft carrier, a converted collier, the USS Langley.

• March 26 — First flight of the de Havilland DH.34.

April 1922

• April 4 — The Colombian Ministry of War opens a flying school (the Escuela de Aviación) at Flandes.

• April 7 — A Daimler Airway de Havilland DH.18 collides with a Companie des Grands Express Aériens Farman Goliath over France. All seven people — everyone aboard the two aircraft — are killed in the first mid-air collision of two airliners.

• April 16 — taking advantage of the Treaty of Rapallo, a flying school for German pilots is set up at Lipetsk. By 1933, 450 German military pilots will have trained here.

May 1922

• May 1 — Deruluft (Deutsche-Russische Luftverkehrs, “German-Russian Airlines”) commences operations.

• May 15 — Instone Air Line commences flights between London and Brussels.

June 1922

• June 16 — Henry Berliner demonstrates a primitive helicopter to the US Army.

July 1922

• July — First flight of the Bristol Racer.

• July 1 — The US Navy orders the still-under-construction battlecruisers USS Lexington and USS Saratoga to be completed as aircraft carriers.

• July 10 — The Aircraft Development Corporation is incorporated in Michigan. Later they change their name to the Detroit Aircraft Corporation.

August 1922

• August — Britain's Air Ministry issues its first requirement for a purpose-designed night fighter. Specification 25/22 will eventually be filled by the Hawker Woodcock.

• August 10 — Schneider Trophy race flown at Naples, Italy. Won by the only non-Italian competitor, H.C. Biard in a British Supermarine Sea Lion II. Winning speed 234.5 km/h (145.7 mph).

• August 18 — Arthur Martens makes the first sailplane flight of over one hour at the Wasserkuppe. His aircraft, named Vampyr (“Vampire”) is designed by Wolfgang Klemmperer.

• August 22 — First flight of the Vickers Victoria.

• August 25 — Capt Norman MacMillan and Geoffrey Mallins are rescued from the Bay of Bengal when their round-the-world attempt in a Fairey III is thwarted by engine failure.

September 1922

• September 4 — Lt Jimmy Doolittle flies across the United States in under a day in a de Havilland DH.4. He takes 21 hours 19 minutes to fly from Pablo Beach, Florida to Rockwell Field, California.

• September 9 — Capt Frank Barnard wins the first King's Cup Race air race, flying from England to Scotland and Back in 6 hours 32 minutes in a de Havilland DH.4.

• September 20 — first flight over 200 mph (322 km/h) made by Sadi Lecointe in a Nieuport-Delage NiD 29.

• September 27 — the US Navy conducts the first large-scale torpedo bombing exercises. Eighteen Naval Aircraft Factory PT's attack three battleships and score 8 hits in 25 minutes.

October 1922

• October 6 — Lt John Macready and Lt Oakely Kelley set a flight endurance record of 35 hours 18 minutes in a Fokker T-2.

• October 13 — First flight of the Curtiss R-6.

• October 17 — Lt Virgil Griffin makes the first take-off from a US aircraft carrier in a Vought VE-7 from USS Langley.

• October 20 — Lt Harold Harris makes the first parachute escape from a stricken aircraft, bailing out of a Loening PW-2 over Dayton, Ohio.

• October 26 — the first landing is made on USS Langley by Lt Cdr Geoffrey DeChevalier in an Aeromarine 39.

November 1922

• November — The 7th Salon d'Aéronautique is held in Paris.

• November 2 — Qantas begins its first scheduled flights, between Charleville, Queensland and Cloncurry, Queensland.

• November 11 — Etienne Oehmichen flies 525 m (1,722 ft) in a helicopter.

• November 12 — Japan's first airmail service commences, linking Sakai, Osaka and Tokushima.

• November 18 — First flight of the Dewoitine D.1.

• November 19 — Malert (Magyar Legiforgalmi) is formed, a fore-runner of MALéV Hungarian Airlines.

• November 24 — First flight of the Vickers Virginia.

• November 28 — First flight of the Fairey Flycatcher.

December 1922

• December 27 — The Hosho, Japan's first aircraft carrier is commissioned.

• December 31 — The first German aircraft flies over Britain since the end of World War I, a Deutsche Luft-Reederei Dornier Komet.

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, 1922 in aviation
4. Shupek, John (photos and card images), The Skytamer Archive. Skytamer.com, Whittier, CA