Mitsubishi Internal Combustion Engine Company Ltd. registers as an aircraft manufacturing company, with its factory atKobe, Japan, and takes over the aircraft manufacturing business of its parent company,Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.[5]
British military thinkerColonelJ. F. C. Fuller writes that in the next war "Fleets of aeroplanes will attack the enemy's great industrial and governing centres. All these attacks will be made against the civil population in order to compel it to accept the will of the attacker..."[6]
TheRoyal Air Force's "Z Unit" – the first self-contained air unit dedicated to "aerial policing", the use of independent air power to suppress colonial rebellions – beginsoperations inBritish Somaliland against theDervish State of Diiriye Guure andMohammed Abdullah Hassan (the "Mad Mullah") using 10Airco DH.9s. On the first day, a DH.9 drops a bomb on the tent of the Mullah – who has never seen an airplane before and whose advisers tell him that the aircraft must be either chariots fromAllah or friendly messengers from theOttoman Empire's SultanMehmed VI – while he waits to receive their crews as important guests. He survives and flees.[9] The Z Unit will continue to bomb and strafe the Mullah's forces on January 22 and 23.[10]
January 24 – Extensive aerial reconnaissance by the Royal Air Force's Z Unit establishes that theDervish State has abandoned the area around itsDhulbahante garesa forts at Medishi (laterMedistie) and Jid Ali (laterJideli). Independent air operations against the forces of Diiriye Guure and Mohammed Abdullah Hassan end, and the Z Unit begins direct support to British troops pursuing Hassan.[10]
Early in the month, Royal Air Force Airco DH.9s bomb theDervish State stronghold at Tale, includingMohammed Abdullah Hassan's personal compound. Hassan again survives and flees intoAbyssinia.[10] TheBritish campaign to restore their control overBritish Somaliland comes to a successful conclusion in only three weeks, at a low cost in British lives and money. It is the prototype of the "aerial policing" of rebellious colonies that the Royal Air Force will conduct in the 1920s and 1930s, most notably inIraq.[12]
The first interislandcommercial flight in theHawaiian Islands takes place when pilot Charles Fern carries a paying passenger fromHonolulu toMaui and back. The outbound flight requires an emergency stop onMolokai.[7]
February 27 – Piloting a U.S. Army Air ServicePackard-Le Peré LUSAC-11 fighter equipped with one of the firstturbochargers,MajorRudolf Schroeder sets a new world altitude record of 10,099 metres (33,133 feet). His oxygen system fails and he passes out; he regains consciousness only very near the ground and lands safely, but is hospitalized.
March 16 – TheRoyal Air Force renames its Marine Aircraft Experimental Station the "Marine and Armament Experimental Establishment" to reflect its involvement in evaluating weapons and equipment as well asseaplanes,flying boats, and other aircraft connected with naval operations. InMarch 1924 it will become theMarine Aircraft Experimental Establishment.
Bert Hinkler flies the first leg of an attempt to fly fromEngland toAustralia in anAvro Baby, departing London'sCroydon Airport and flying toTurin,Italy, in 9 hours 30 minutes, crossing theAlps during the flight. Although mechanical problems force him to abandon his plans to continue beyond Turin, he wins theBritannia Trophy for his Croydon-Turin flight.[21]
July 4 – The first civil airplane fatalities inCuba take place when aBleriot XI piloted by the famed Cuban aviatorJaime González Grocierstalls on takeoff and crashes atHavana, killing him and another person on board.[25]
July 24 – The fifth annualAerial Derby is held, sponsored for the first time by theRoyal Aero Club, with a trophy and a £500 prize for the overall winner and prizes of £250, £100, and £50 for the first three places in thehandicap competition. Fifteen participants fly over a 102.5-mile (165-kilometer) circuit beginning and ending atHendon Aerodrome inLondon with control points atBrooklands,Esher,Purley, andPurfleet; the aircraft fly the circuit twice. F. T. Courtney is the overall winner, completing the course in aMartinsyde Semiquaver at an average speed of 154.70 mph (248.97 km/h) in 38 minutes 47.2 seconds with a handicap of 1 minute; H. A. Hammersley wins the handicap competition in anAvro Baby for the second consecutive year with a time of 2 hours 32 minutes 6 seconds at an average speed of 78.89 mph (126.96 km/h) with a handicap of 1 hour 35 minutes 0 seconds.
August 2 – Filming a nighttimespin before a large crowd atDeMille Field inLos Angeles,California, as a stunt for the movieThe Skywayman, stunt pilot and film actorOrmer Locklear and his flying partner Milton "Skeets" Elliot are killed when theirCurtiss JN-4 crashes into the sludge pool of anoil well, igniting a massive explosion and fire.
Post-World War I budget cuts have reducedUnited States Marine Corps aviation from almost 400 aviators to fewer than 50, prompting the Marine Corps' first aviator,MajorAlfred A. Cunningham, to write in theMarine Corps Gazette, "One of the greatest handicaps which Marine Corps Aviation must now overcome is a combination of doubt as to usefulness, lack of sympathy, and a feeling on the part of someline officers that aviators and aviation men are not real Marines."[32]
September 8 – The final leg is added to the U.S. transcontinentalairmail service, across theRocky Mountains fromOmaha, Nebraska, toSacramento, California. Because flying at night is dangerous, the mail is carried along the route by train during the hours of darkness.[33]
September 20 – The 1920Schneider Trophy race is flown atVenice, Italy.Lieutenant Luigi Bolgna in aSavoia S.12 is the only starter and wins simply by finishing the race, with an average speed of 172.6 km/h (107.2 mph).
December 10 – Military aviation begins inVenezuela with the opening of the Venezuelan Military Aviation School as a component of theVenezuelan Army.[40]
December 16 – Frank Briggs completes the first east-to-west or west-to-east crossing of Australia, traveling east-to-west betweenSydney and Perth, covering a distance of 3,912 km (2,431 miles), in ade Havilland DH.4.[39][42] (For the first south to north crossing, byHenry Wrigley andArthur Murphy, see1919 in aviation). Also on board are Briggs' employer, aviation entrepreneurC. J. (Jack) De Garis and mechanic Jack Howard. They had left Perth in the early hours of December 13 and spent 21 hours, 38 minutes in the air (not including re-fueling).
December 28 – Exhibition pilotFrank Hawks takes 23-year-oldAmelia Earhart on her first flight – a 10-minute "hop" Earhart's father had arranged and paid $10 for – at a state fair inLos Angeles,California. Both Hawks and Earhart will becomes famous aviators in the years ahead for various firsts and records.
^Scheina, Robert L.,Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987,ISBN0-87021-295-8, p. 193.
^Scheina, Robert L.,Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987,ISBN0-87021-295-8, p. 200.
^Francillon, René J.,Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 30.
^Francillon, René J.,Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 18.
^Francillon, René J.,Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 23.
^Fuller, J. F. C.,Tanks in the Great War, London, 1920, p. 314, quoted in Hastings, Max,Bomber Command: Churchill's Epic Campaign - The Inside Story of the RAF's Valiant Attempt to End the War, New York: Simon & Schuster Inc., 1987,ISBN0-671-68070-6, p. 41.
^Layman, R.D.,Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989,ISBN0-87021-210-9, p. 77.
^O'Connor, Derek, "The Hunt For the Mad Mullah",Aviation History, July 2012, p. 45.
^abcdeO'Connor, Derek, "The Hunt For the Mad Mullah",Aviation History, July 2012, p. 46.
^Franks, Norman,Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998,ISBN1-902304-04-7, pp. 58, 63. Franks' statement on p. 58 that Berthold was killed on December 15, 1919, appears to be incorrect.
^Layman, R.D.,Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989,ISBN0-87021-210-9, p. 122.
^Angelucci, Enzo,The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 182.
^"Aviatrix Makes 87 Loops".Middletown Transcript. Mineola, Long Island. August 21, 1920. p. 2. RetrievedApril 9, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
^Butler, Glen, Colonel, USMC, "That Other Air Service Centennial",Naval History, June 2012, p. 56.
^Jensen, Richard, "The Suicide Club",Aviation History, May 2017, p. 52.
^abChant, Chris,The World's Great Bombers, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000,ISBN0-7607-2012-6, p. 44.
^Hitchins, Wing Commander F.H. (1972).Air Board, Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force. Mercury Series: Canadian War Museum Paper No. 2. University of Ottawa Press. pp. 41–53.ISBN9781772824391.
^Daniel, Clifton,Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987,ISBN0-942191-01-3, p. 272.
^Borch, Fred L.; Robert E. Dorr, "Bravery Over Belgium",Military History, March 2012, p. 17.
^Angelucci, Enzo,The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 197.
^Angelucci, Enzo,The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 323.
^Donald, David, ed.,The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,ISBN978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 77.
