1923 in aviation

Events

The Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation is absorbed by the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation.

During 1923, French Breguet 14T bis Sanitaire air ambulances evacuate 870 wounded French personnel from the Levant and French Morocco.

January

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

January 1 – The French aviator Joseph Sadi-Lecointe sets a new air speed record, averaging 335 km/hr (208 mph) at Istres, France.

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 13 – The Aeromarine Airways Aeromarine 75 flying boat Columbus suffers engine failure during a flight from Key West, Florida, to Havana Cuba, and lands in the Florida Strait. Buffeted by 10-to-15-foot (3-to-4.5-meter) waves, it begins to fill with water. Four passengers die, but the ferry ship H. M. Flagler saves the other three passengers and both crew members.

January 20 – After suffering an engine failure in flight, the Cierva C.4 autogyro uses autorotation to land without damage.

January 24

The Government of Italy establishes a Commission for the Air Force, with Prime Minister Benito Mussolini as commissioner and Aldo Finzi as his deputy.

The Italian press reports that in a test of the Italian armed forces′ ability to get all their airplanes into the air at the same time and keep them flying for one hour, only 76 were able to do so. The armed forces′ own statistics report that the Italian Royal Army had 237 aircraft in working order and the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) had 48. The discrepancy arises from [[Prime Minister of Italy}Prime Minister]] Benito Mussolini′s to depict his predecessors in the Italian government as militarily incompetent.

January 31 – The Cierva C.4 autogyro flies a 4-kilometer (2.5-statute mile) circuit at Cuatro Vientos airfield in Spain.

February

The Royal Air Force conducts operations in southern Iraq against uprisings led by Sheik Mahmud Barzenci.

A British pilot, William Jordan, lands a Mitsubishi 1MF fighter on the Imperial Japanese Navy's new aircraft carrier Hōshō, then takes off from Hōshō. It is the first landing on and first take off from a Japanese aircraft carrier.

February 1 – The Danish Army Flying Corps is established.

February 15 – The French aviator Joseph Sadi-Lecointe sets a new world air speed record, averaging 377 km/hr (234 mph) at Paris, France.

March

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.

The Chilean Navy installs its first aircraft catapult aboard the battleship Almirante Latorre.

March 16 – Imperial Japanese Navy Lieutenant Shunichi Kira lands a Mitsubishi 1MF fighter on the aircraft carrier Hōshō, becoming the first Japanese pilot to land on an aircraft carrier.

March 17 – The United States government authorizes United States Army Air Service aircraft to drop calcium arsenate on Louisiana's cotton fields in order to kill weevils.

March 20 – El Salvador forms the Salvadoran Army Air Force. It later will become the Salvadoran Air Force.

March 28 – The Italian Army′s air arm, the Corpo Aeronautico Militare, becomes an independent air force, the Regia Aeronautica (Royal Air Force).

April

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.

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

May 1 – HMS Hermes 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.

May 2–3 – United States Army Air Service Lieutenants John Arthur MacReady and Oakley G. Kelly complete the first non-stop flight across the continental United States, flying from Hempstead, New York, to San Diego, California, covering nearly 2,800 miles (4,509 km) in 27 hours in a Fokker T-2 at an average speed of over 100 mph (161 km/hr).

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

May 10 – Brazil establishes a School of Naval Aviation in Rio de Janeiro near Galeão beach on Governador Island. Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport eventually will be constructed on the site.

May 14 – A Farman F.60 Goliath operated by Air Union on a flight from Paris-Le Bourget Airport outside Paris, France, to Croydon Airport in London, England, loses a wing in flight, crashes near Monsures, France, and is destroyed by fire. All six people on board die.

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.

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.

June

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.

The admirals′ committee of the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) pronounces itself in favor of the construction of at least one aircraft carrier to operate with the Italian fleet, providing the fleet with air defense as well as an offensive aerial strike capability.

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

July

Twenty-one aircraft compete in the Grand Prix de Motoaviette – a competition at Buc, Yvelines, France, open to any aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight of less than 250 kilograms (551 pounds), offering a 125,000 FF prize for the fastest flight of 30 laps around a 10-kilometer (6.21-mile) course. Lucien Coupet wins in a Salmson 3 Ad-powered Farman Aviette, covering 310 kilometers (192.5 miles) in 4 hours 37 minutes 19 seconds.

August

The Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) participates in Italian Royal Army maneuvers south of Lake Garda intended to test the capabilities of the army′s celeri divisions. The air force component of the maneuvers tests aerial reconnaissance capabilities and the effectiveness of attacks on enemy troops by 32 fighter aircraft and of night attacks against bridges by two bombers. Although the reconnaissance is deemed "indispensable," it is not effective due to command and control problems. The fighter and night bombing attacks are more successful, although the ground troops′ failure to attempt to take cover from or evade air attack is of significant help to the fighters.

Personnel from the aircraft carrier USS Langley (CV-1) help to install a TS-1 floatplane fighter on the foredeck of the destroyer USS Charles Ausburn (DD-294) 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 Ausburn's routine too much, and the idea is dropped.

August 6

The eighth annual Aerial Derby is held, sponsored by the Royal Aero Club. Thirteen participants fly over a 99.5-mile (160-kilometer) circuit beginning and ending at Croydon Airport in London with control points at Brooklands, Hertford, and West Thurrock; the aircraft fly the circuit twice. L. L. Carter is the overall winner, completing the course in a Gloster Mars at an average speed of 192.4 mph (309.6 km/h) in 1 hour 2 minutes 23 seconds; H. A. Hammersley wins the handicap competition in an Avro Viper with a time of 1 hour 49 minutes 56 seconds at an average speed of 109.5 mph (176.2 km/h) with a handicap of 51 minutes 38 seconds. It is the last Aerial Derby; plans for another one in 1924 will be cancelled due to a lack of high-speed entrants, and later talk of reviving the event comes to nothing.

The third annual Air League Challenge Cup race is held as part of the Aerial Derby programme at Croydon Airport in London. The team relay race format of previous races is dropped; instead, the 16 competitors – all Royal Air Force pilots – compete individually, each flying a Bristol F.2B Fighter fitted with a 275-horsepower (205-kilowatt) Rolls-Royce Falcon engine over a 100-mile (161-kilometer) triangular course. Captain Horace Scott Shield, representing RAF Eastchurch, wins the race.

August 21 – The first electric airway beacons start appearing at airfields in the United States to assist in night flying operations.

August 27 – A Farman F.60 Goliath operated by Air Union on a scheduled passenger flight from Berck-sur-Mer Airport in Berck-sur-Mer, France, to Croydon Airport in London, England, makes an unscheduled landing at Lympne, England, for repairs to its overheating left engine. After it continues its flight to Croydon, its right engine fails. Its pilot attempts a forced landing on East Malling Heath, but goes into a spin and crashes on final approach when passengers misunderstand an instruction for some of them to move towards the rear of the aircraft, affecting the Goliath's center of gravity. One passenger dies, but the other 10 passengers and both crew members survive.

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

September 1 – The Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier Amagi is heavily damaged by the Great Kantō 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 4 – The United States Navy's first U.S.-built rigid airship, the as-yet-unnamed ZR-1, makes her first flight at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey. She contains most of the world's extracted reserves of helium at this time.

September 5

The French Nieuport-Delage NiD 40R sets a new world altitude record of 10,741 meters (35,239 feet).

United States Army bombers carry out anti-shipping exercises, sinking the obsolete battleships USS Virginia (BB-13) and USS New Jersey (BB-16).

September 10 – United States Marine Corps Lieutenant Lawson H. Sanderson sets a new world airspeed record of 238 mph (383 km/hr) in a Navy-Wright NW.

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).

The United States Army blimp OB-1 is destroyed in a crash at Highland, Illinois.

October

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).

Czech Airlines is founded by the government of Czechoslovakia as CSA Československé státní aerolinie ("Czechoslovak State Airlines"), commencing operations on October 29 with a Prague Kbely–Bratislava flight.

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.

October 10 – The United States Navy's first U.S.-built rigid airship, ZR-1. is christened and commissioned and receives her name: USS Shenandoah (ZR-1).

October 23 – General Pier Ruggero Piccio becomes the first Commandant General of the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force). When he leaves the position in 1925, the position will be renamed Chief of Air Staff.

October 30 – Flying the Nieuport-Delage NiD 40R, the French pilot Joseph Sadi-Lecointe sets a new world altitude record of 11,145 meters (36,565 feet). The record will stand until 1927.

October 31 – The Italian armed forces are ordered to test their efficiency by getting all of their airplanes into the air and flying them for one hour; 420 aircraft pass the test.

November

During a speech at Centocelle Airport in Rome, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini says, "As head of the government with the enormous responsibility of the existence, independence, freedom, and well-being of the Italian people, I am obliged not to believe in universal peace, and still less in perpetual peace. No one knows whether the war of tomorrow will be exclusively an aerial or a land or a naval war. For me, it is enough to ponder on what others are doing. If others are arming in the skies, then we must arm in the skies."

The French Air Force has a force of 296 bombers and 300 fighters. Other than Italy, France is the only European continental power building a substantial air force.

November 1 – The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company buys the rights to manufacture Luftschiffbau Zeppelin dirigibles in the United States.

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/h).

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/h).

November 18 – During an air show at Kelly Field, Texas, the first aerial refueling-related fatality in history occurs when the fuel hose becomes entangled in the right wings of both the refueler and the receiver aircraft. The United States Army Air Service pilot of the refueler, Lieutenant P. T. Wagner, dies in the ensuing crash of DH-4B 23-444.

December

December 21 – The French dirigible Dixmude explodes over the Mediterranean Sea during a flight from Cuers-Pierrefeu, France, to French Algeria after being struck by lightning. Her entire crew of 52 perishes.

First flights

Avia BH-9

Dayton-Wright PS-1

Engineering Division TP-1

Farman F.120 Jabiru

Loening OL

Piaggio P.2

Piaggio P.3

January

Curtiss XPW-8, protoytpe of the Curtiss PW-8

Mitsubishi 2MT, also known as Mitsubishi B1M

January 9 – Cierva C.4

January 19 – Armstrong Whitworth Wolf

January 30 – Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.7

March

Aero A.18

Hawker Woodcock

April

April 29 – Boeing XPW-9, first prototype of the Boeing PW-9 and Boeing FB-1

May

Armstrong Whitworth Siskin III

Gloster Grebe

May 9 – Blériot 115

June

June 2 – Boeing XPW-9

June 3 – Vickers Venture J7277

June 12 – Junkers J 21 (also known as T 21 and H 21)

June 28 – Armstrong Whitworth Awana

July

Gerhardt Cycleplane

July 1 – Nieuport-Delage NiD 40R

July 30 – de Havilland DH.50

August

August 2 – Wright F2W

August 21 – ANEC I

August 22 – Barling XNBL

August 23 – Polikarpov I-1

September

September 4 – USS Shenandoah (ZR-1)

September 9 – Curtiss R2C-1

September 7 – Handley Page Type S

September 14 – Junkers T 23

October

October 2 – de Havilland Humming Bird

October 23 – Handley Page Hyderabad

November

November 30 – Junkers J 22 (also known as T 22)

Entered service

Mitsubishi 1MF with Imperial Japanese Navy