1911 in aviation

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

[edit] Events

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 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.

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 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 8 - US Naval Aviation Service created and the Navy's first airplane, a Curtiss Model D, is ordered.
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 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.

August - Harriet Quimby and Matilde Moisant become the first licensed female pilots in the United States.

September 9 - the first British airmail flight is made. Gustav Hamel flies from Hendon to Windsor.
September 15 - Édouard de Nié Port, one of the pre-eminent aeroplane designers and racing pilots of the era, and co-founder with his brother Charles of the French aircraft manufacturer Nieuport, is killed in a flying accident.
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 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 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.