1921 in aviation in Encyclopedia

1921 in aviation

Encyclopedia

Tutorials

Videos

Books

Software

DVDs

1921 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1921:

Bessie Coleman attends flying school in France and became the first licensed African-American female pilot.
Mexicana de Aviaci n begins service.
The Imperial Japanese Navy acquires its first rigid and semi-rigid airships.^[1]
The Italian General Guilio Douhet publishes his highly influential book Command of the Air. In it, he argues that the ability of aircraft to fly over armies and navies renders those forces of secondary importance; that the vastness of the sky makes defense against bombers impossible; that only offensive bombing to destroy the enemys air force can allow a country to achieve command of the air; that once it is achieved, a bombing campaign can be carried out against enemy "vital centers", including industry, transportation, government, communications, and "the will of the people;" and that success against enemy civilian morale in particular would be the key to victory.

January 6 – After modifications, HMS Argus returns to service with the Royal Navy as the worlds first aircraft carrier equipped with palisades.^[2] Installed on the port and starboard edges of the flight deck and capable of being raised and lowered, the palisades when raised serve as a windbreak and prevent aircraft on the flight deck from blowing or rolling overboard in heavy weather.

American stunt pilot Laura Bromwell sets a womens aviation speed record of 135 mph (217 km/hr).^[3]
May 15 – Laura Bromwell sets a womens record for consecutive loops, looping her airplane 199 consecutive times in 1 hour 20 minutes over New York State.^[4]^[5]

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 5 – 23-year-old American stunt pilot Laura Bromwell dies in the crash of her Canadian airplane on the outskirts of Garden City on Long Island, New York, when she loses control at the top of a loop and her aircraft plummets into the ground from an altitude of 1,000 feet (305 m).^[6]
June 8 – The United States Army carries out the first experiments in cabin pressurisation, using a de Havilland DH.4.
June 13 – The U.S. Army and United States 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 sunk by aerial bombing during the tests.

Donald W. Douglas founds the Douglas Company.^[7]
July 21 – United States Army Air Service Martin NBS-1 bombers sink the decommissioned German battleship Ostfriesland in the Atlantic Ocean off the Virginia Capes after Billy Mitchell urges bombing trials to show the power of aircraft to sink major warships.^[8]

August 10 – The United States Department of the Navy establishes the Bureau of Aeronautics to oversee all matters relating to naval aircraft, personnel, and operations. United States Marine Corps aviation remains under a separate command, the Director of Aviation at Headquarters Marine Corps.^[9]^[10]
August 11 – The 1921 Schneider Trophy race is flown at Venice, Italy. In an all-Italian field, Giovanni De Briganti wins the race in a Macchi M.7 with an average speed of 189.7 km/h (117.9 mph).
August 24 – The British airship R-38 breaks up over Hull, Yorkshire, during trials, killing 44 people
August 30 – Three Short aircraft of the naval aviation branch of the Chilean Army air corps carry out a successful mock raid from Valparaiso on Coquimbo. This will influence the eventual Chilean decision to separate naval aviation from army aviation.^[11]

The British 30-man Sempill Mission, led by Sir William Francis Forbes-Sempill (Captain, the Master of Sempill), arrives in Japan, bringing with it over 100 aircraft comprising 20 different models. Before it returns to the United Kingdom in March 1923, the Mission will greatly improve Imperial Japanese Navy aviation training and understanding of aircraft carrier flight deck operations and the latest naval aviation tactics and technology, and the aircraft it brings will inspire the design of a number of Japanese naval aircraft of the 1920s.^[12]
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, Colombia.
September 28 – Piloting the same United States Army Air Service Packard-Le Per LUSAC-11 fighter that set a world altitude record on February 27, 1920, Lieutenant John A. Macready sets a new world altitude record of 10,518 meters (34,508 feet).^[13] Macready receives the Mackay Trophy for the flight.

The Royal Air Force takes over from the British Army in assuming policing duties in Iraq
October 15 – The Spanish airline Compa a Espa ola de Tr fico A reo is established. It will eventually form part of the airline Iberia.

The sixth 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).
November 19 – Flying a Curtiss CR-2, Bert Acosta sets a new world speed record of 197.8 mph (318.32 km/hr)^[14]

December 1 – The first flight of a helium-filled airship takes place, as the United States Navys C-class blimp C-7 flies from Hampton Roads, Virginia, to Washington, D.C..^[15]
December 5 – The first regular air services in Australia commence, with West Australian Airways.
December 16 – USS Wright (AZ-1) is commissioned as the United States Navys first and only balloon ship. She is the only U.S. Navy ship ever to bear the "AZ" designation for "lighter-than-air craft tender."^[16]