1911 in aviation - Definition and Overview

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1911:

Events

January

• January 18 - Eugene Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania anchored in San Francisco Bay, marking the first time an aircraft landed on a ship.

February

• February 5 - the first undisputed aeroplane flight in New Zealand is made by Vivian Walsh at Auckland
• February 18 - the first airmail is carried by an aeroplane. Henri Pequet carries mail across the Jumna River, from Allahabad to Naini Junction, India.

March

• the Spanish Air Force is created as the Aeronáutica militar Española, with four aircraft.
• March 23 - Louis Breguet carries 11 passengers a distance of 5 km (3.1 miles)

April

• April 1 - The first flying unit of the British Military, the Air Battalion Royal Engineers formed.
• April 12 - Pierre Prier makes the first non-stop flight from London to Paris

May

• May 31 - Andre Beaumont beats Roland Garros in the Paris to Rome air race, completing the 1,465 km (910 mile) course in 28 hours, 5 minutes.

July

• July 4 - First ever commercial cargo to be carried by an aircraft. The General Electric company paid £100 to have a case of electric lamps flown from Shoreham to Hove in England.

September

• September 9 - the first British airmail flight is made. Gustav Hamel flies from Hendon to Windsor.
• September 23 - the first US airmail flight is made. Earle Ovington flies 9.7 km (6 miles) from Nassau Boulevard, New York to Mineola, Long Island

October

• October 19 - Eugene Ely dies in an aircrash.
• October 22 - First aircraft to be used in war, an Italian Army Blériot XI, flies from Tripoli to Azizia to spy on Turkish positions.
• October 24 - Orville Wright soars in a glider 9 minutes and 45 seconds over dunes near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

November

• November 1 - 2nd Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti of the Italian Air Flotilla drops several small bombs on Turkish troops during the Italo-Turkish War. This was the first time bombs had been dropped from an aeroplane in war.
• November 5 - Calbraith Rodgers completes the first coast-to-coast airplane flight across the USA in the Vin Fiz Flyer - taking 49 days, with several crashes en-route.

First flights