1925 in aviation

Updated on Dec 07, 2024

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This is a list of aviation-related events from 1925.

Events

In the United Kingdom, the first Royal Auxiliary Air Force squadrons are formed.

The Eberhart Steel Products Company of Buffalo, New York, forms an aircraft design and manufacturing subsidiary, the Eberhart Aeroplane and Motor Company.

Summer 1925 – Two Breguet 19 G.R. aircraft owned by the Japanese Asahi Shimbun newspaper group fly from Tokyo, Japan, to Paris, France.

January

January 1 – The French airline CIDNA is formed.

February

February 3–4 – In a Breguet 19 G.R., the French aviators Lemaître and Ludovic Arrachart set a world distance record, flying 3,166 km (1,967 miles) from Étampes, Paris, France, to Villa Cisneros, Spanish Sahara.

February 12 – Sabena establishes the first airline connection between Belgium and the Belgian Congo, pioneering a long-haul route to Léopoldville.

March

March 1 - Ryan Airline Company begins regular services.

April

The first in-flight movie is shown on a scheduled flight: First National's The Lost World on Imperial Airways service from London to the Continent.

The Prix Solex, a competition in France offering a prize of 55,000 FF requiring a flight of about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from Paris to Rouen using less than 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) of gasoline and oil, takes place. Maurice Drouhin wins in a Salmson 3 Ad-powered Farman Aviette.

April 13 - The first scheduled air freight service begins in the United States.

April 15 - Ukvozdukhput begins services in the Ukraine.

April 21 – Italian aviator Francesco de Pinedo and his mechanic Ernesto Campanelli depart Rome on a 201-day flight in the SIAI S.16ter flying boat Gennariello that will take them to Australia and Japan before they return to Rome in November.

May

May 1 - The Imperial Japanese Army Air Corps is established under the command of Lieutenant General Kinichi Yasumitsu. It has 3,700 personnel and about 500 aircraft.

May 4 – Italian legislation sets the peacetime strength of the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) at 182 squadrons, with 78 of them assigned directly to the air force, 69 to the Italian Royal Army, and 35 to the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy). The army and navy are given temporary command of the squadrons assigned to them for the length of time it takes to train them for wartime operations.

June

June 10 – Italian aviator Francesco de Pinedo and his mechanic, Ernesto Campanelli, arrive at Melbourne, Australia, after a 50-day flight from Rome in the SIAI S.16ter flying boat Gennariello during which they have made 27 intermediate stops without serious mishaps. They will remain in Melbourne for 36 days before continuing their journey through Australia and to Japan.

June 20 - Off New England, a United States Coast Guard Vought UO-1 becomes the first aircraft to pursue a rum-runner.

June 24 - Off New England, a U.S. Coast Guard Vought UO-1 becomes the first aircraft to assist in the capture of a rum-runner.

July

July 13 - Western Air Express, the future Western Airlines, is founded. It will begin flight operations in April 1926.

July 16 – Italian aviator Francesco de Pinedo and his mechanic Ernesto Campanelli resume their flight from Italy to East Asia and the Western Pacific, flying from Melbourne to Sydney, Australia, in the SIAI S.16ter flying boat Gennariello after a 36-day stay in Melbourne. They had left Rome 86 days earlier and made 28 intermediate stops before arriving in Sydney. They will remain in Sydney for 21 days before continuing their journey through Australia and to Japan.

August

The Italian government′s Commission for Aeronautics is replaced by a new Ministry of Aeronautics. The Regia Aeronautica (Royal Air Force), formerly subordinate to the commission, is subordinated to the new ministry.

August 6 – Italian aviator Francesco de Pinedo and his mechanic Ernesto Campanelli resume their flight from Italy to East Asia and the Western Pacific, departing Sydney, Australia, in the SIAI S.16ter flying boat Gennariello on their way to Tokyo.

August 7–9 – Flying in France on the route Chartres–Étampes–Toussus-le-Noble–Chartres, the French aviators Jules Landry and Maurice Drouhin set a closed-circuit distance record of 4,400 kilometers (2,732.4 miles) in 45 hours 11 minutes 59 seconds in a Farman F.62.

August 31 – U.S. Navy Commander John Rodgers and his crew take off from San Francisco, California in a PN-9 flying boat in an attempt to make the first transpacific flight from North America to the Hawaiian Islands. They are forced down in the Pacific Ocean on September 1 after flying 1,841.12 statute miles (2,964.77 km) nonstop. The four then sail the aircraft as a boat 450 nautical miles (833 km) farther toward Hawaii before being picked up by the U.S. Navy submarine USS R-4 (SS-81) 10 nautical miles (18.5 km) north of Kauai on September 10. Although unsuccessful, their flight sets a world nonstop distance record for Class C seaplanes which will stand until 1930.

September

The Czechoslovakian Avia BH-21R racer wins the Czechoslovakian national air races, covering the 200 km (120 mi) course at an average speed of 300.59 km/hr (186.78 mph).

September 1 – After modifications, the aircraft carrier HMS Furious returns to service with the Royal Navy as the first ship ever to be equipped with a round-down Located at the after end of her flight deck, the round-down, which improves air flow and gives pilots landing aboard Furious greater confidence, will become standard on aircraft carriers.

September 2 – The U.S. Navy dirigible USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) breaks up in a storm and crashes near Caldwell, Ohio, killing 14 of her crew. Twenty-nine crew members survive.

September 3 – The Spanish Navy aviation ship Dédalo, the only ship ever built capable of operating airships, balloons, and seaplanes, accompanies a Spanish fleet to Morocco to participate in the Rif War. Her aircraft and one of the airships she operates support the Spanish campaign to capture Ajir, which falls on October 2. She is the only European aviation ship to see combat between the end of the Russian Civil War and the beginning of World War II.

September 15 – The Bolivian airline Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano is founded.

September 23 – The Bolivian airline Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano begins flight operations, flying a Junkers F.13 which takes off from Cochabamba, Bolivia.

September 26 – Italian aviator Francesco de Pinedo and his mechanic Ernesto Campanelli arrive in Tokyo in the SIAI S.16ter flying boat Gennariello after a 58-day flight from Sydney, Australia, during which they have made 19 intermediate stops. They had departed Rome 158 days earlier and made 48 intermediate stops, including lengthy stays in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia, on their way to Tokyo, all without an engine change or any serious mishaps.

October

October 3 or 30 – The Royal Navy cruiser Vindictive launches a Fairey IIID floatplane by catapult. It is the first catapult launch of a standard British naval aircraft from a ship at sea.

October 15 – The British airship R.33 successfully launches a de Havilland DH.53 Humming Bird piloted by Flying Officer Campbell MacKenzie-Richards and Flying Officer Riggs in flight.

October 16 – The Air Union Farman F.60 Goliath F-HMFU Île de France crashes at Wadhurst, East Sussex, England, during a scheduled passenger flight from England to Paris, France. Three of the six people aboard die and two suffer injuries.

October 17 – Italian aviator Francesco de Pinedo and his mechanic Ernesto Campanelli depart Tokyo in the SIAI S.16ter flying boat Gennariello after a 21-day stay to begin the homeward leg of their flight from Rome to Australia and Tokyo and back again. The only engine change of what has so far been a 187-day, 49-stop flight has been made in Tokyo.

October 18

Joseph Sadi-Lecointe wins the Beumont Cup, with a speed of 194 mph (312 km/h).

American professional baseball player Marv Goodwin of the Cincinnati Reds is seriously injured during reserve duty with the United States Army Air Service when the plane he is piloting during a training exercise goes into a tailspin at an altitude of 200 feet (61 meters) and crash-lands at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas. He will die of his injuries on October 21, the first professional athlete killed as the result of a plane crash.

October 26 – The 1925 Schneider Trophy race is flown at Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. Jimmy Doolittle of the United States Army Air Service wins in a Curtiss R3C-2 at an average spee dof 374.2 km/h (232.6 mph).

November

In mid-month, Farman Aviation Works test pilot Louis Bossoutrot sets several load-related world aviation records in the prototype of the Farman F.140 Super Goliath, reaching an altitude of 4,990 meters (16,371 feet) with a useful load of 2,000 kilograms (4,409 pounds), an altitude of 3,586 meters (11,675 feet) with a useful load of 5,000 kilograms (11,023 pounds) and a flight duration of 1 hour 12 minutes 21 seconds, and an altitude of 2,000 meters (6,562 feet) with a greatest useful load of 6,000 kilograms (13,228 pounds).

November 7 – Italian aviator Francesco de Pinedo and his mechanic Ernesto Campanelli return to Rome, completing a 201-day flight covering around 35,000 miles (56,361 kilometers) in the SIAI S.16ter flying boat Gennariello. Departing Rome on April 21, their outbound route had taken to them to Brindisi in Italy; Leros in Greece; Baghdad in Iraq; Bushehr and Chabar in Persia; Karachi, Bombay, Cocanada, and Calcutta in British India; Akyab, Rangoon, Tavoy, and Mergui in Burma; Phuket in Siam; Penang in British Malaya; Singapore; Batavia, Surabaya, Sumbawa, and Kupang in the Netherlands East Indies, and Broome, Carnarvon, Perth, Bunbury, Albany, Israelite Bay, Adelaide, and Melbourne, Australia, where they had arrived on June 10 and spent just over five weeks before proceeding to Sydney, where they had arrived on July 16 and spent another three weeks. Resuming their flight on August 6, they had visited Brisbane, Rockhampton, Townsville, Innisfail, and Cooktown, and Thursday Island, Australia; Merauke, Dobo, Amboina, and Menado in the Netherlands East Indies; Cebu, Atimonan, Manila, and Aparri in the Philippines; Tamsui on Formosa; Shanghai in China; Mokpo in Korea; and Yamakawa and Kagoshima, Japan, before arriving in Tokyo on September 26. After a three-week stay there, they had begun their return journey on October 17, a 15,000-mile (24,155-kilometer) trip that they make in only 22 days, with stops at Kagoshima; Shanghai; Hong Kong; Haiphong and Saigon in French Indochina; Bangkok in Siam; Rangoon; Calcutta, Benares, Delhi, and Karachi in British India; Bandar Abbas in Persia; Baghdad; Alexandretta in Turkey; and Taranto in Italy before arriving in Rome. The entire journey, made without special preparations for support at any of the stops and involving two long flights – of 600 miles (966 km) and 1,200 miles (1,932 km) – across the dry land of the Indian Subcontinent in a non-amphibious flying boat, proceeds without major incident and requires only one engine change, carried out at Tokyo. Flight describes the journey as "the most extensive aerial tour on record."

November 20 – Germany holds a state funeral in Berlin for fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen, the top-scoring ace of World War I with 80 aerial victories. He had been shot down and killed on 21 April 1918.