1922

Master Index

1924

1923 Chronology of Aviation History
Major Aviation Events

1923 Aviation Records

• Speed: (USA), 267.16-mph, Alford J. Williams, Curtiss R-2C-1, 4 November 1923.

• Distance:(USA), 3,293-miles, Smith and Richter, de Havilland DH.4B, 28 August 1923.

• Altitude: (France), 36,565-feet, Joseph Sadi-Lecointe, Nieuport-Delage, 30 October 1923.

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

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

January 1923

• January — Air Union is created by the merger of Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes (CMA) with Grands Express Aériens (CGEA).

• January 9 — First flight of the Cierva C.4.

• January 19 — First flight of the Armstrong Whitworth Wolf.

February 1923

• February — The first take-off and landing on the new Japanese aircraft carrier Hosho is made by a British pilot in a Mitsubishi 1MF.

• February — The RAF conducts operations in Southern Iraq against uprisings led by Sheik Mahmud Barzenci.

• February 1 — The Danish Army Flying Corps is established.

March 1923

• March — First flight of the Aero A.18.

• March — First flight of the Hawker Woodcock.

• March — Dobrolyot is formed, as the first Soviet civil aviation service. It will later become part of Aeroflot.

• March 17 — The U.S. government authorizes Army aircraft to drop calcium arsenate on Louisiana's cotton fields in order to kill weevils.

April 1923

• April 10 — Daimler Airways begins the first scheduled service between London and Berlin (via Bremen and Hamburg).

• April 16 — 17 — Lt John Arthur Macready and Lt Oakley Kelley establish a new endurance record, staying aloft for 36 hours 5 minutes in a Fokker T-2, covering a distance of 2,518 miles (4,052 km).

May 1923

• May — First flight of the Gloster Grebe.

• May 2-3 — Kelly MacReady complete the first non-stop flight from New York to Los Angeles, in 27 hours in a Fokker T-2.

• May 3 — The Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation is formed by Igor Sikorsky at a Long Island chicken farm.

• May 9 — First flight of the Blériot 115.

• May 23 — Belgian airline SABENA is formed, adding new European routes to SNETA's routes in Belgian Congo that it takes over.

June 1923

• June 2 — First flight of the Boeing XPW-9.

• June 14 — New Zealand forms its first military aviation services, fore-runners of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

• June 28 — First flight of the Armstrong Whitworth Awana.

July 1923

• July 19 — Czechoslovakian airline CSA commences operations.

• July 30 — First flight of the de Havilland DH.50.

August 1923

• August 21 — First electric Airway Beacons start appearing at US airfields, to assist in night flying operations.

• August 22 — First flight of the Barling XNBL.

• August 23 — First flight of the Polikarpov I-1.

• August 28 — Lt John Richter and Lowell Smith establish a new endurance record of 37 hours 15 minutes in an Airco DH.4, covering 3,293 miles (5,299 km). They are refueled fifteen times during the flight.

September 1923

• September 3 — First flight of the USS Shenandoah.

• September 3 — First flight of the Curtiss R2C.

• September 5 — US Army bombers carry out anti-shipping exercises, sinking the obsolete battleships USS Virginia and USS New Jersey.

• September 28 — Schneider Trophy race flown at Cowes, UK. Won by David Rittenhouse (USA) in a Curtiss CR.3 at 285.5 km/h (177.4 mph).

October 1923

• October 2 — First flight of the de Havilland Humming Bird.

• October 6 — Curtiss R2C's win first and second place in the Pulitzer Trophy Race, the winning aircraft setting a new airspeed record of 243.6 mph (392 km/h).

• October 15 — First British motor glider competition is flown, at Lympne, Kent.

• October 23 — First flight of the Handley Page Hyderabad.

November 1923

No data.

December 1923

• December 21 — The French dirigible Dixmude exploded over the Mediterranean Sea en route from Cuers-Pierrefeu to Algeria after being struck by lightning. All 52 crew members on board perished.

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, 1923 in aviation
4. Shupek, John (photos and card images), The Skytamer Archive. Skytamer.com, Whittier, CA