Timeline of military aviation

Last updated March 18, 2023

1794 – French Aerostatic Corps use a tethered balloon at the Battle of Fleurus as a vantage point.
1849 – In 1849, Austrian forces besieging Venice launched some 200 incendiary balloons, each carrying a 24- to 30-pound bomb that was to be dropped from the balloon with a time fuse over the besieged city. The balloons were launched from land and from the Austrian navy ship SMS Vulcano that acted as a balloon carrier.^[1]^[2]
1861 – The Union Army Balloon Corps is established during the American Civil War.
1878 – The British Army Balloon Equipment Store is established at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich by the Royal Engineers.
1885 – Balloons are deployed by the British Army to Bechuanaland and Suakin.
1888 – The British Army School of Ballooning is established.
1907 – The first military air organization, the Aeronautical Division of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, is formed 1 August
1907 – British Colonel John Capper flies the military airship Nulli Secundus from Farnborough to Crystal Palace in London.^[3]
1909 – Heavier-than-air military aviation is born with the US Army's purchase of Signal Corps Aeroplane No. 1.
1910 – The first experimental take-off of a heavier-than-air craft from the deck of a US Navy vessel, the cruiser USS Birmingham
1910 – First bombing attack against a surface ship: Didier Masson and Captain Joaquín Bauche Alcalde, flying for Mexican Revolutionist Venustiano Carranza, dropped dynamite bombs on Federalist gunboats at Guaymas, Mexico, on 10 May 1913.
1910 – The Aviation Militaire of the French Army is formed 22 October.
1911 – The Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers is formed, the first British heavier-than-air unit.
1911 – Heavier-than-air aircraft are used in war for the first time during the Italo-Turkish War.^[4]
1912 - The Royal Flying Corps is formed. A few months later the Dominion of Australia also formed the Australian Flying Corps.
1914 - The Royal Naval Air Service is formed by splitting airship squadrons away from the Royal Flying Corps.
1914 – In August, Russian Staff-Captain Pyotr Nesterov becomes the first pilot to ram his plane into an enemy spotter aircraft.
1914 – 6 September, the first aircraft raid was launched by the Japanese seaplane carrier Wakamiya on Qingdao.
1914 – In October, a plane^{[ who? ]} is shot down by another aircraft^{[ who? ]} with a handgun over Rheims, France.
1914 – The first conventional air-to-air kill occurs on 5 October when a gunner on a French Voisin machine-guns a German Aviatik reconnaissance aircraft in World War I.^[5]
1918 - The Royal Air Force, the world's first independent air force is formed.
1918 - HMS Argus (I49) became "the world's first carrier capable of launching and landing naval aircraft".^[6]
1940 - The Battle of Britain, the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, was fought.
1958 - The first ever air-to-air kill with a missile, when a Chinese Nationalist North American F-86 Sabre kills a Chinese PLAAF Mikoyan-Guryevich MiG-15 during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis ^[7]
1980 - The only confirmed air-to-air helicopter battles occur during the Iran–Iraq War.

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The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC supported the British Army by artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance. This work gradually led RFC pilots into aerial battles with German pilots and later in the war included the strafing of enemy infantry and emplacements, the bombing of German military airfields and later the strategic bombing of German industrial and transport facilities.

The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in mergers with other institutions.

The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force (RAF), the world's first independent air force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1912 in aviation</span> List of events of 1912 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1912:

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1914.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1915:

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

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1917.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1918:

World War I was the first major conflict involving the large-scale use of aircraft. Tethered observation balloons had already been employed in several wars, and would be used extensively for artillery spotting. Germany employed Zeppelins for reconnaissance over the North Sea and Baltic and also for strategic bombing raids over Britain and the Eastern Front.

The Air Department of the British Admiralty was established prior to World War I by Winston Churchill to administer the Royal Naval Air Service.

Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases.

This is a list of aviation-related events during the 19th century :

<i>Luftstreitkräfte</i> Air warfare branch of the German Empire

The Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte —known before October 1916 as Fliegertruppen —was the air arm of the Imperial German Army. In English-language sources it is usually referred to as the Imperial German Air Service, although that is not a literal translation of either name. German naval aviators of the Marine-Fliegerabteilung were an integral part of the Imperial German Navy. Both military branches operated aeroplanes, observation balloons and airships.

A balloon carrier or balloon tender was a ship equipped with a balloon, usually tied to the ship by a rope or cable, and usually used for observation. During the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century, these ships were built to have the furthest possible view of the surrounding waters. After several experiments, the type became formalized in the early 1900s, but was soon to be superseded by the development of seaplane carriers and regular aircraft carriers at the beginning of World War I.

Air Commodore Edward Maitland Maitland, was an early military aviator who served in the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers, the Royal Flying Corps, the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Air Force. He was a noted pioneer of lighter-than-air aviation.

The Tondern raid or Operation F.7, was a British bombing raid mounted by the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force against the Imperial German Navy airship base at Tønder, Denmark, then a part of Germany. The airships were used for the strategic bombing of Britain. It was the first attack in history by aircraft from an aircraft carrier. On 19 July 1918, seven Sopwith Camels took off from the converted battlecruiser HMS Furious. For the loss of one man and several aircraft, the British destroyed Zeppelins L 54, L 60 and a captive balloon.

The following timeline of British military aviation covers the military aviation activities of the British Armed Forces from its origins in the 19th century to the present day:

The Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare was formed as part of the Regio Esercito on 7 January 1915, incorporating the Aviators Flights Battalion (airplanes), the Specialists Battalion (airships) and the Ballonists Battalion. Prior to World War I, Italy had pioneered military aviation in the Italo-Turkish War during 1911–1912. Its army also contained one of the world's foremost theorists about the future of military aviation, Giulio Douhet; Douhet also had a practical side, as he was largely responsible for the development of Italy's Caproni bombers starting in 1913. Italy also had the advantage of a delayed entry into World War I, not starting the fight until 24 May 1915, but took no advantage of it so far as aviation was concerned.

References

↑ Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918: An Illustrated History of Their Impact, Justin D. Murphy, page 9-10
↑ Mikesh, Robert C. "Japan's World War II balloon bomb attacks on North America." (1973).
↑ Colonel Templer and the birth of aviation at Farnborough, RAeS, May 2007
↑ Gerard J. De Groot (2005). The bomb: a life . Harvard University Press. pp. 2–. ISBN 978-0-674-01724-5 . Retrieved 25 April 2011.
↑ Christopher Chant (2002). A century of triumph: the history of aviation. Simon and Schuster. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-7432-3479-5.
↑ Geoffrey Till, "Adopting the Aircraft Carrier: The British, Japanese, and American Case Studies" in Murray, Williamson; Millet, Allan R, eds. (1996). Military Innovation in the Interwar Period. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 194. ISBN 0-521-63760-0.
↑ David R. Mets (December 2008). Airpower and Technology: Smart and Unmanned Weapons. ABC-CLIO. pp. 85–86. ISBN 978-0-275-99314-6 . Retrieved 6 April 2011.

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[Murphy-1] Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918: An Illustrated History of Their Impact, Justin D. Murphy, page 9-10

[Mikesh-2] Mikesh, Robert C. "Japan's World War II balloon bomb attacks on North America." (1973).

[3] Colonel Templer and the birth of aviation at Farnborough, RAeS, May 2007

[Groot2005-4] Gerard J. De Groot (2005). The bomb: a life . Harvard University Press. pp. 2–. ISBN 978-0-674-01724-5 . Retrieved 25 April 2011.

[Chant2002-5] Christopher Chant (2002). A century of triumph: the history of aviation. Simon and Schuster. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-7432-3479-5.

[6] Geoffrey Till, "Adopting the Aircraft Carrier: The British, Japanese, and American Case Studies" in Murray, Williamson; Millet, Allan R, eds. (1996). Military Innovation in the Interwar Period. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 194. ISBN 0-521-63760-0.

[Mets2008-7] David R. Mets (December 2008). Airpower and Technology: Smart and Unmanned Weapons. ABC-CLIO. pp. 85–86. ISBN 978-0-275-99314-6 . Retrieved 6 April 2011.

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Timeline of military aviation

See also

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References