1920 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1920:

Events Juan de la Cierva y Cordoniu invents the autogyro. His first autogyro, the Cierva C.1, fails to become airborne, but is the first aircraft to demonstrate the principle of autorotation as it taxis on the ground. The Argentine Navy establishes a naval aviation division and allocates funds for the founding of a naval aviation school.Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, , p. 193. The Peruvian Navy establishes a Naval Aviation Corps.Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, , p. 200. Imperial Japanese Army aviation elements see combat for the first time in operations around Vladivostok during the Siberian Intervention.Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, , p. 30. The Aichi Clock and Electric Company Ltd. begins the production of airframes at Nagoya, Japan. It will begin producing aircraft engines in 1927.Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, , p. 18. Mitsubishi Internal Combustion Engine Company Ltd. registers as an aircraft manufacturing company, with its factory at Kobe, Japan, and takes over the aircraft manufacturing business of its parent company, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, , p. 23. The Stinson Aircraft Company is founded in Ohio in the United States. British military thinker Colonel J. F. C. Fuller writes that in the next war "Fleets of aeroplanes will attack the enemys great industrial and governing centres. All these attacks will be made against the civil population in order to compel it to accept the will of the attacker..."Fuller, J. F. C., Tanks in the Great War, London, 1920, p. 314, quoted in Hastings, Max, Bomber Command: Churchills Epic Campaign - The Inside Story of the RAFs Valiant Attempt to End the War, New York: Simon & Schuster Inc., 1987, , p. 41.

January

January 3 – Discussing the possibility of an airplane flight from San Francisco, California, Sir Arthur Whitten Brown — who had made a transatlantic flight in 1919 — says "there are no airplanes of sufficient flying radius" to make such a flight. January 17 – The first United States Navy airplane flight in the Hawaiian Islands takes place when a plane takes off from Honolulu.Aviation Hawaii: 1920-1929 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii January 21 The last Royal Navy balloon ship, HMS Canning, which has operated since December 1916 as a balloon depot ship, is sold.Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, , p. 77. The Royal Air Forces "Z Unit" – the first self-contained air unit dedicated to "aerial policing", the use of independent air power to suppress colonial rebellions – begins operations in British Somaliland against the Dervish State of Diiriye Guure and Mohammed Abdullah Hassan (the "Mad Mullah") using 10 Airco DH.9s. On the first day, a DH.9 drops a bomb on the tent of the Mullah – who has never seen an airplane before and whose advisers tell him that the aircraft must be either chariots from Allah or friendly messengers from the Ottoman Empires Sultan Mehmed VI – while he waits to receive their crews as important guests. He survives and flees.O'Connor, Derek, "The Hunt For the Mad Mullah", Aviation History, July 2012, p. 45. The Z Unit will continue to bomb and strafe the Mullahs forces on January 22 and 23.O'Connor, Derek, "The Hunt For the Mad Mullah", Aviation History, July 2012, p. 46. January 24 – Extensive aerial reconnaissance by the Royal Air Forces Z Unit establishes that the Dervish State has abandoned the area around its Dhulbahante garesa forts at Medishi (later Medistie) and Jid Ali (later Jideli). Independent air operations against the forces of Diiriye Guure and Mohammed Abdullah Hassan end, and the Z Unit begins direct support to British troops pursuing Hassan. January 29 – Royal Air Force Airco DH.9s bomb the Dervish State's Dhulbahante garesa fort at Gallbaridur. January 30 – Royal Air Force DH.9s bomb Mohammed Abdullah Hassans baggage train and personal retinue, but he survives.

February

Alan A. Griffith's analysis of the process of brittle fracture is published. Early in the month, Royal Air Force Airco DH.9s bomb the Dervish State stronghold at Tale, including Mohammed Abdullah Hassans personal compound. Hassan again survives and flees into Abyssinia. The British campaign to restore their control over British Somaliland comes to a successful conclusion in only three weeks, at a low cost in British lives and money. It is the prototype of the "aerial policing" of rebellious colonies that the Royal Air Force will conduct in the 1920s and 1930s, most notably in Iraq.O'Connor, Derek, "The Hunt For the Mad Mullah", Aviation History, July 2012, p. 47. February 1 The South African Air Force is established as an independent air arm. The first interisland commercial flight in the Hawaiian Islands takes place when pilot Charles Fern carries a paying passenger from Honolulu to Maui and back. The outbound flight requires an emergency stop on Molokai. February 2 – World War I United States Army Air Service Captain Field Eugene Kindley, who had shot down 12 German planes during the war, is killed in the crash of his SE.5 while performing a demonstration flight for General of the Armies John J. Pershing at Kelly Field near San Antonio, Texas. February 4 – Pierre van Ryneveld and Quintin Brand set out in a Vickers Vimy from Cairo to cross Africa by air from North to South. They will arrive in Cape Town on March 20. February 5 – The Royal Air Force College is established at Cranwell, Lincolnshire. February 14 – Eleven Italian aircraft – three Caproni Ca.3 bombers and eight Asaldo SVA-9 trainers – take off from Centocelle Airport in Rome to fly to Tokyo. Only two of the planes – SVA-9s flying as pathfinders for the rest of the planes, piloted by Arturo Ferrarin and Guido Masiero – will complete the journey, arriving in Tokyo on May 31.earlyaviators.com Schubert, Jim, "Book Report: Italian Aviators Rome to Tokyo in 1920 by Lt. Gen'l. (Ret.) Domenico Ludovico" February 18 – The French military pilot Joseph Vuillemin and his observer, Lieutenant Chalus, complete the first flight across the Sahara Desert.Daniel, Clifton, Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987, , p. 263. February 25 – The United States Department of War authorizes the United States Army Air Service to establish its own service schools analogous to the service schools of the United States Army and United States Navy. February 27 – Piloting a U.S. Army Air Service Packard-Le Peré LUSAC-11 fighter equipped with one of the first turbochargers, Major Rudolf Schroeder(de) sets a new world altitude record of . His oxygen system fails and he passes out; he regains consciousness only very near the ground and lands safely, but is hospitalized.

March

March 9 – A DH-4 from Aberdeen Proving Grounds piloted by Lt. Rene Studler drops aerial bombs against an ice dam on the Susquehanna River to break it up and prevent flooding.Uncharted Lancaster, The Day the U.S. Army Went to War with the Susquehanna River March 15 – The sixth-highest-scoring German ace of World War I, Rudolf Berthold, is killed by a rioting mob in Harburg, Hamburg, Germany.firstworldwar.com Who's Who: Rudolf BertholdFranks, Norman, Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998, , pp. 58, 63. Franks' statement on p. 58 that Berthold was killed on December 15, 1919, appears to be incorrect. March 16 – The Royal Air Force renames its Marine Aircraft Experimental Station the "Marine and Armament Experimental Establishment" to reflect its involvement in evaluating weapons and equipment as well as seaplanes, flying boats, and other aircraft connected with naval operations. In March 1924 it will become the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment. March 24 The United States Navy decommissions the collier USS Jupiter at the Norfolk Navy Yard, for her conversion into its first aircraft carrier, designated CV-1.Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, , p. 122. The United States Coast Guard opens Coast Guard Air Station Morehead City at Morehead City, North Carolina. It is the first Coast Guard Air Station.A Chronological History of Coast Guard Aviation: The Early Years, 1915-1938. March 28 – Croydon Airport replaces Hounslow Heath Aerodrome as London's airport.

April

Three Imperial Japanese Navy Yoko-type seaplanes fly from Yokosuka, Japan, to Kure, Japan; Chinkai, Korea; Sasebo, Japan; and back to Yokosuka. On the last leg they fly non-stop for a world-record 11 hours 30 minutes, the first time any fixed-wing aircraft has flown nonstop for more than 10 hours.Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, , p. 16. In the United Kingdom, the Women's Royal Air Force is disbanded.rafmuseum.org.uk Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) 1918 - 1920 April 17 - The Venezuelan Air Force is formed, with a flying school at Maracay.

May

May 8 – Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the German Army's air service, the Luftstreitkräfte, is dissolved. Germany will not have a military air service again until the establishment of the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, in February 1935. May 17 KLM and Aircraft Transport and Travel begin a joint air service between London and Amsterdam. Canada establishes the Canadian Air Force, forerunner of the Royal Canadian Air Force. May 31 Italian pilots Arturo Ferrarin and Guido Masiero land at Tokyo, Japan, flying Ansaldo SVA-9 trainers, the only two out of 11 Italian planes to complete a flight begun from Rome on February 14. Their 106-day, 11,000-mile (17,700-km) journey has included only 23 flying days, during which they have averaged 99.5 miles per hour (160 km/h) while in the air. During the trip, they had stopped at Bari in Italy; Valona in Albania; Thessaloniki, Greece; İzmir, Aydın, and Antalya in Turkey; Aleppo, Baghdad, and Basrah in Mesopotamia; Bushehr, Bandar Abbas, and Chabar in Persia; and in rural Baluchistan (for repairs), Hyderabad, at an unnamed place (for repairs), and in Karachi, and Delhi in British India. At Delhi, Masiero's SVA-9 had been destroyed in a hard landing, so he and his mechanic had taken a train to Calcutta, while Ferrarin and his mechanic had flown on to Calcutta, stopping at Allahabad and flying over the Taj Mahal at Agra along the way. From Calcutta, the two pilots had switched to new SVA-9s and flown on to Rangoon in Burma; Bangkok and Ubon in Siam; Hanoi in French Indochina; Portuguese Macao; and Guangzhou and Fuzhou in China, where Masiero's SVA-9 had been destroyed in a crash. Masiero and his mechanic had then traveled to Shanghai by boat while Ferrarin flew there. At Shanghai, Masiero had taken possession of a new SVA-9 and the two pilots had flown on to Qingdao and Mukden in China; Sinuiju, Seoul, and Taegu in Chosen; and then across the Sea of Japan to a stop at Osaka, Japan, before arriving at Yoyogi Army Field in Tokyo. Bert Hinkler flies the first leg of an attempt to fly from England to Australia in an Avro Baby, departing London's Croydon Airport and flying to Turin, Italy, in 9 hours 30 minutes, crossing the Alps during the flight. Although mechanical problems force him to abandon his plans to continue beyond Turin, he wins the Britannia Trophy for his Croydon-Turin flight.Australian Dictionary of Biography: Bert Hinkler