This is a list of aviation-related events from 1917.
Events During her 30 November 1916 – 24 February 1918 cruise, the Imperial German Navy commerce raider carries a Friedrichshafen FF.33e seaplane nicknamed Wölfchen ("Little Wolf" or "Wolf Cub"), which during 1917 singlehandedly captures at least four of the 37 enemy ships Wolf captures and sinks during her cruise. Wölfchen makes between 54 and 56 flights, the most by any World War I shipboard aircraft.Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, , p. 30. The Aircraft Committee of the Royal Navys Grand Fleet decides to phase balloon ships out of naval service. The balloon ships are returned to mercantile service, or converted into balloon depot ships (to inflate and maintain balloons for use by other ships) or seaplane carriers.Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, , pp. 73, 75. The Imperial Russian Navy operates the worlds second-most-powerful seaplane carrier force, behind only that of the British Royal Navy.Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, , p. 96. The Gallaudet Aircraft Company changes its name to Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 202. The Groupe Latécoère aircraft company is founded in Toulouse, France. The French Armys Service Aeronautique experiments with the use of a Breguet 14 as an air ambulance for rapid casualty evacuation on the Western Front.Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, , p. 185.
January The Luftstreitkrafte (German Air Force) disbands three Kampfgeschwader (bomber wings) and redesignates their squadrons as Schutzstaffeln (escort squadrons). Operating two-seat Albatros L 1 DDK, Rumpler 4A 13, Gotha Taube, and Fokker M.8 aircraft, the new "Schusta" squadrons are tasked with escorting two-seat observation planes of the Feldflieger Abteilungen (field flying detachments) and Artillerieflieger Abteilungen (artillery flying detachments) during their reconnaissance flights, and are based with them.Blumberg, Arnold, "The First Ground-Pounders," Aviation History, November 2014, pp. 39-40. The Thomas Brothers Aeroplane Company merges with the Morse Chain Works to form the Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation in Ithaca, New York.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, , p. 417. January 11 - The Royal Navy seaplane carrier Ben-my-Chree is sunk by Ottoman artillery while in harbor at Castelorizo Island, becoming the only aviation ship of any nationality sunk by enemy action during World War I.Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, , p. 44. January 12 – Manfred von Richthofen receives the Pour le Mérite (the "Blue Max") for having shot down 16 Allied aircraft since September 1916.Anonymous, "The Red Baron′s Red-Letter Day," Aviation History, January 2017, p. 8. January 27 - A French air raid on Freiburg, Germany takes place.
February The Royal Flying Corpss No. 100 Squadron, the first British night fighter squadron, is formed. Germany begins Operation Türkenkreuz ("Turks Cross") bombing campaign against England,Chant, Chris, The Worlds Great Bombers, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000, , p. 34. initially using airships. The United States Army forms the 7th Aero Squadron for service in the Panama Canal Zone. February 7 – Suffering progressive damage due to a series of crashes in bad visibility and poor weather, the Imperial German Navy Zeppelin L 36 finally crashes onto the Aller river and is destroyed by high winds. Her crew survives.Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 189-190. February 8 – Flying a SPAD VII, the French ace Georges Guynemer becomes the first Allied pilot to shoot down a German heavy bomber when he downs a Gotha G.III. February 13 – Over the Gulf of Mexico off Pensacola, Florida, United States Marine Corps aviator Francis Thomas Evans, Sr., performs an aerobatic loop in a Curtiss N-9 floatplane, becoming the first person to loop a seaplane – a feat previously believed impossible in an N-9 even by the N-9s manufacturer. He will receive a Distinguished Flying Cross for the achievement in 1936. However, the recovery techniques he discovers when the N-9 stalls and spins – previously thought impossible to recover from in an N-9 – during some of the days loop attempts prove of far greater importance and have been in use ever since.Knapp, Walter, "The Marines Take Wing," Aviation History, May 2012, pp. 51-52. February 26 – In anticipation of a possible entry by the United States into World War I, U.S. Marine Corps aviator Alfred A. Cunningham receives orders to establish, equip, and command an aviation company for a Marine Corps advance base force at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Late February The German Navy Zeppelin L 42 achieves an altitude of , a record for an airship.Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 186. The commander of the German Naval Airship Service, Peter Strasser, requests the authorization of a force of 30 naval Zeppelins, 24 for use over the North Sea and six for service over the Baltic Sea.Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 188.
March Royal Naval Air Service Handley Page O/100 bombers begin night attacks on German naval bases, railway stations and railway junctions, and industrial targets.Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the Worlds Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day, London: Anness Publishing Ltd., 2006, , p. 263. United States Navy Lieutenant Kenneth Whiting proposes to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels that the Navy acquire a ship with an aircraft catapult and a flight deck. Although rejected on June 20, it is the first serious U.S. Navy consideration given to acquisition of an aviation ship since the American Civil War (1861–1865).Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, , p. 116. March 8 – Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, inventor of the practical dirigible, dies.Phythyon, John R., Jr., Great War at Sea: Zeppelins, Virginia Beach, Virginia: Avalanche Press, Inc., 2007, p. 7. March 13 – The United States Armys 6th Aero Squadron is organized in the Territory of Hawaii, operating three Curtiss N-9 seaplanes.Aviation Hawaii: 1879-1919 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii March 16–17 (overnight) – The German Naval Airship Service attempts to bomb England for the first time in 1917, in the first use of new Zeppelins designed for high-altitude flight that the Services commander, Peter Strasser, believes will be too high for British air defenses to reach. The five Zeppelins – at least three of which achieve altitudes of between – mostly bomb open countryside and do only £79 in damage and kill no one. Disabled by mechanical failure, L 39 drifts over Compiègne, France, and is shot down by French antiaircraft guns with the loss of her entire crew, and L 35 is badly damaged while landing in Germany. The success of the Zeppelins in reaching high altitudes during a bombing raid encourages Strasser, who accompanies the raid aboard L 42, to plan a new bombing offensive.Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 190-193. March 21 – The world's first drone flight takes place when an unmanned de Havilland monoplane aerial target aircraft with a wingspan is launched off a pneumatically powered ramp at the Royal Flying Corps base at Upavon in Wiltshire, England, and flies briefly under radio control from the ground by Henry Segrave.Professor A. M. Low, "The First Guided Missile," FLIGHT, 3 October 1952, p. 436. Dozens of generals from Allied countries — probably in England for the Imperial War Conference — witness the flight.Steve Mills, The Dawn of the Drone, Casemate Publishers, 2019. Dr. Archibald Low, the officer commanding the secret RFC Experimental Works in Feltham, Middlesex, had invented the control system.
April Known as Bloody April. The Royal Flying Corps, while supporting the Arras offensive, loses 245 aircraft—140 in the first two weeks—out of an initial strength of 365. Aircrew casualties are 211 killed or missing and 108 captured. The opposing Germans lose only 66 aircraft.Blumberg, Arnold, "The First Ground-Pounders," Aviation History, November 2014, p. 40. Adolphe Bernard founds the Etablissements Adolphe Bernard (Adolphe Bernard Establishments) to manufacture SPAD fighter aircraft under licence. In 1922, Bernard will reorganize the company as the Société Industrielle des Métaux et du Bois (Industrial Company for Metals and Wood), and after a 1927 bankruptcy he will reorganize it again as the Société des Avions Bernard (Bernard Aircraft Company). April 6 The United States enters World War I, declaring war on the German Empire. United States Marine Corps aviation has a total strength of seven officers and 43 enlisted men.Butler, Glen, Colonel, USMC, "That Other Air Service Centennial," Naval History, June 2012, p. 56. April 13 – Royal Naval Air Service flying boats begin flying "Spider Web" patrols over the North Sea in the vicinity of the North Hinder light ship to detect German submarines in the area. The new patrol pattern, resembling a spider web, allows four aircraft to search a 4,000-square-mile (10,000-square-kilometer) area in about five hours, only half the time it takes a surfaced submarine to transit the area. The flying boats make 27 patrols in the next 18 days, sight eight German submarines, and make bombing attacks against three of them.Allward, Maurice, An Illustrated History of Seaplanes and Flying Boats, New York: Dorset Press, 1981, , p. 27.Terraine, John, The U-Boat Wars 1916-1945, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1989, , p. 74. April 20 – The United States Navys first airship, DN-1 flies for the first time at Pensacola, Florida. Tests of the highly unsuccessful DN-1 come to an end only nine days later.Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, "Army-Navy Airship Cooperation," Naval History, June 2011, p. 20. April 24 – Flying a Halberstadt CL.II, Hauptmann Eduard W. Zorer, the commanding officer of Schutzstaffel 7 – a German escort squadron charged with using its two-seater aircraft to escort two-seat reconnaissance aircraft – drops down to an altitude of to use machine-gun fire to support German troops counterattacking British trenches along the Gavrelle-Rœux road near Arras during the Battle of Arras. Under fire from hundreds of British rifles and machine guns, he and his pilot spray the British trenches with 500 rounds of ammunition before a hit in their engine forces them to withdraw. The incident represents the birth of close air support as a mission of the world's air forces.Blumberg, Arnold, "The First Ground-Pounders," Aviation History, November 2014, pp. 41-42. April 26 – The Pacific Aero Products Company is renamed the Boeing Airplane Company.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 63.
May