1923 in aviation in Encyclopedia

Air Union is created by the merger of Compagnie des Messageries A riennes (CMA) with Grands Express A riens (CGEA).
January 9 or 17 - The Cierva C.4, designed by Juan de la Cierva y Cordoniu and piloted by Alejandro Gomez Spencer, makes its first flight, covering a distance of about 180 meters (590 feet) at Cuatro Vientos airfield in Spain. It is the first flight by an autogyro, and the first stable flight by any form of rotary-wing aircraft.
January 20 - After suffering an engine failure in flight, the Cierva C.4 autogyro uses autorotation to land without damage.
January 31 - The Cierva C.4 autogyro flies a 4-kilometer (2.5-statute mile) circuit at Cuatro Vientos airfield in Spain.

The Royal Air Force conducts operations in southern Iraq against uprisings led by Sheik Mahmud Barzenci.
February 1 - the Danish Army Flying Corps is established
A British pilot, William Jordan, lands a Mitsubishi 1MF fighter on the Imperial Japanese Navys new aircraft carrier H sh , then takes off from H sh . It is the first landing on and first take off from a Japanese aircraft carrier.^[3]

Dobrolyot is formed, as the first Soviet civil aviation service. It will later become part of Aeroflot.
The British Sempill Mission to Japan, led by Sir William Francis Forbes-Sempill, returns to the United Kingdom. During its 18-month stay in Japan, the Mission has greatly improved 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 brought to Japan will inspire the design of a number of Japanese naval aircraft of the 1920s.
Chilean President Arturo Alessandri separates the Chilean naval aviation arm from the Chilean Army air corps, placing it under Chilean Navy control.^[4]
The Chilean Navy installs its first aircraft catapult aboard the battleship Almirante Latorre.^[5]
March 16 - Imperial Japanese Navy Lieutenant Shunichi Kira lands a Mitsubishi 1MF fighter on the aircraft carrier H sh , becoming the first Japanese pilot to land on an aircraft carrier.^[6]
March 17 - The United States government authorises United States Army aircraft to drop calcium arsenate on Louisiana's cotton fields in order to kill weevils.

April 1 – The Royal Air Force abandons the squadron as the basic organizational unit for those of its aircraft operating from Royal Navy ships, reorganizing them into six-plane flights.^[7]
April 10 – Daimler Airways begins the first scheduled airline service between London and Berlin (via Bremen and Hamburg).
April 16 17 – United States Army Air Service Lieutenants John Arthur Macready and Oakley G. Kelly 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 1 – enters service with the Royal Navy. She is the first ship designed from the waterline up as an aircraft carrier and the first aircraft carrier with an island superstructure to enter service.^[8]
May 2 3 – Kelly MacReady completes the first non-stop flight across the continental United States, flying from New York, New York, to Los Angeles, California, 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 21 – A Curtiss bomber and two Curtiss scout aircraft of the Argentine Navy make a flight of just under 500 miles (805 km) along the coast of Argentina from Puerto Militar to Buenos Aires. It is a significant step forward in the development of Argentine aviation.^[9]
May 23 – The Belgian airline SABENA is formed, adding new European routes to SNETA's routes in Belgian Congo that it takes over.
May 29 – Reuben Fleet founds Consolidated Aircraft Corporation.^[10]^[11]

The United States Army Air Service demonstrates an aerial refueling system using two Airco DH.4 aircraft. The system employs a hose with an on/off nozzle and large funnels.^[12]
June 14 - New Zealand forms its first military aviation services, fore-runners of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

Personnel from the aircraft carrier help to install a TS-1 floatplane fighter on the foredeck of the destroyer at Norfolk, Virginia, as the United States Navy begins to experiment with the operation of seaplanes from destroyers. The TS-1 flies successfully, but its presence interferes with Charles Ausburns routine too much, and the idea is dropped.^[13]
August 21 - The first electric airway beacons start appearing at airfields in the United States to assist in night flying operations.
August 28 - United States Army Air Service Lieutenant 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 1 – The Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier Amagi is heavily damaged by the Great Kant earthquake while still under conversion from a battlecruiser. She is scrapped, and the battleship Kaga is selected for conversion into an aircraft carrier instead.
September 5 – The French Nieuport-Delage NiD 40R sets a new world altitude record of 10,741 meters (35,239 feet).^[14]
September 5 – United States Army bombers carry out anti-shipping exercises, sinking the obsolete battleships and .
September 28 – The 1923 Schneider Trophy race flown at Cowes in the United Kingdom. David Rittenhouse of the United States wins in a Curtiss CR-3 at an average speed of 285.5 km/h (177.4 mph).

October 6 – Curtiss R2Cs 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 8 13 – The Daily Mail sponsors the Motor Glider Competition at Lympne Aerodrome in Lympne, England, the first of the three light airplane trials held there. The contest rewards the most economical aircraft as well as the highest speed, highest altitude, and greatest endurance. Bert Hinkler is among the prize-winners. Record-setting French pilot Alexis Maneyrol dies in the crash of his Peyret Monoplane on the final day.^[15]^[16]
October 30 – Flying the Nieuport-Delage NiD 40R, the French pilot Sadi Lecointe sets a new world altitude record of 11,145 meters (36,565 feet). The record will stand until 1927.^[17]

November 2 – Flying a Curtiss R2C-1, U.S. Navy Lieutenant H. J. Rowe sets a new world airspeed record of 259.16 mph (417.07 km/hr).
November 4 – Flying a Curtiss R2C-1, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Alford J. Williams sets a new world airspeed record of 266.6 mph (429.02 km/hr).^[18]

December 21 - The French dirigible Dixmude explodes over the Mediterranean Sea en route from Cuers-Pierrefeu to Algeria after being struck by lightning. All 52 crew members on board perish.^[19]