1913 in aviation - Definition and Overview

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1913:

Events

• The Serbian air force is established as an army air service. Six officers receive pilot training in France.
• First air strike ever. Mexican pilot Gustavo Salinas Camilla and Frenchman Didier Masson, attacked land and naval federal forces for rebels led by Pancho Villa.

January

• January 13 - Brazilian naval aviation commences with the foundation of a flying school.

February

• February 11 - the Chilean air force is established at Lo Espejo (today El Bosque).

March

• China obtains twelve military aircraft from France.
• March 15 - The US Army forms the 1st Aero Squadron under Capt Charles Chandler at Texas City to scout for Mexican incursions along the border.

April

• April 16 - First contest for the Schneider Trophy. Maurice Prévost wins in a Deperdussin monoplane, completing the 28 circuits of the 10 km (6.2 mile) course with an average speed of 73.63 km/h (45.75 mph)
• April 24 - O. Gilbert flies 825 km from Villacoublay to Vitoria (8 hours and 23 minutes).
• April 27 - Robert G. Fowler makes first flight across the isthmus of Panama. Technically this is the first flight from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

July

• July 1 - Royal Netherlands Army forms its Aviation Division (Luchtvaart Afdeling)

August

• August 7 - Aviation pioneer Samuel Cody is killed in a crash
• August 20 - 700 feet above Buc, France, parachutist Adolphe Pegond becomes the first person to jump from an airplane and land safely.

September

• September 1 - Frenchman Adolphe Pégoud does the first upside-down flight.
• September 9 - Prevost reaches 204 km/h with the "Deperdussin-racing aeroplane".
• September 23 - Roland Garros makes the first air crossing of the Mediterranean Sea. He flies the 729 km (453 miles) from Saint-Raphael to Bizerte in 7 hours 53 minutes.

December

• December 13-14 - German balloonist Hugo Kaulen stays aloft for 87 hours. This record lasted until 1935.

First flights

May

• May 13 - Sikorsky Ruskii Vitiaz, the world's first four-engined aircraft. It was also the first aeroplane with a lavatory.

September

• September 18 - Avro 504

November

• Sopwith Tabloid

December

• December 11 - Sikorsky Ilya Murometz

Entered service