1916 in aviation - Definition and Overview

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1916:

Events

January

• January 12 - German aces Max Immelmann and Oswald Boelcke, with 8 kills, are the first pilots awarded with Pour le Mérite ("the Blue Max")
• January 29 - the second and last Zeppelin raid on Paris inflicts 54 casualties.

March

• March 16 - US military aircraft fly their first mission over foreign soil when Curtiss JN3s of the 1st Aero Squadron carry out reconnaissance over Mexico.
• March 18 - German ace Ernst Udet scores his first kill

April

• April 15 - RFC and RNAS aircraft deliver 13 tons of stores into Kut el Amara, Mesopotamia, while it was besieged by the Turks. This was the first time aircraft had been used for such a purpose.
• April 20 - the Escadrille Américanne, later to be known as Lafayette Escadrille, is established as an American volunteer unit in France, equipped with Nieuport 11s.

May

• May 2 - eight German Zeppelins raid the east coast of England, causing 39 casualties. The Zeppelin L 20 is wrecked in a storm off Stavanger, Norway on the return journey.
• May 17 - Parasite fighter experiments begin in the UK to launch a Bristol Scout from a Porte Baby airship.

June

• June 17 - the first French ace, Jean Navarre, is shot down and wounded, ending his combat career with 12 confirmed kills.
• June 18 - the first German ace Max Immelmann is shot down and killed by a FE.2b from No. 25 Squadron RFC -- a symbolic end of the "Fokker Scourge". He had scored 15 kills.
• June 23 - Victor Chapman of Lafayette Escadrille becomes the first US airman to be killed in action, shot down near Verdun.

July

• No.3 Wing RNAS becomes Britain's first strategic bombing unit, equipped with Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutters
• July 1 - beginning of the Battle of the Somme. In the five months of the battle, the British lose 782 aircraft and 576 pilots but maintain air superiority over the battlefield.

August

• August 2 - 16 German Zeppelins raid southeast England. Lt William Leefe-Robinson, RFC shoots down Zeppelin SL 11 in a BE.2c.
• August 6 - French ace Capitaine René Fonck gains his first confirmed victory.
• August 27 - Oswald Boelcke creates the first German special fighter squadron Jagdstaffel 2 (Jasta 2).

September

• September 15 - French submarine Foucault is sunk by two Austrian flying boats, becoming the first submarine to be sunk by an aircraft.
• September 17 - Rittmeister Manfred von Richthofen scores his first kill, from a Albatros D.II
• September 23-24 - eleven Zeppelins attack England in a mass air-raid. Two are shot down, LZ 76 by ground fire, and LZ 74 by Lt Frederick Sowrey

October

• October 12 - Royal Naval Air Service ace Raymond Collishaw claims his first victory.
• October 28 - German ace Oswald Boelcke is killed in a mid-air collision.

November

• November 23 - British ace Lanoe Hawker VC is shot down by Manfred von Richthofen
• November 28 - Central London is bombed by an LVG C.II flown by R. Brandt

First flights

February

• February 9 - Sopwith Pup flown by Harry Hawker

April

• SPAD S.VII

May

• May 28 - Sopwith Triplane flown by Harry Hawker

June

• June 17 - Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8
• June 29 - the B&W, William Boeing's first aircraft.

September

• September 9 - Bristol F.2A
• September 12 - the Hewitt-Sperry flying bomb

October

• October 25 - Bristol F.2B Fighter

November

• November 22 - Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5

Entered service

February

• Airco DH.2 with No. 24 Squadron RFC

April

• Sopwith 1½ Strutter

August

• SPAD S.VII with Escadrille No. 26

November

• Sopwith Triplane

December

• December 24 - Sopwith Pup with No. 54 Squadron RFC