Page:Aeronautics and Astronautics Chronology 1915-1960.pdf/11

 lect and distribute scientific and technical data on aeronautics.

February 7: The Joint Army and Navy Technical Aeronautical Board (JAN-TAB) passed resolution on Instrument Standardization in Army and Navy planes for incorporation in general specifications.

February 16: Plant for assembly of American-made airplanes began operations at Romorantin, France.

March 6: Navy unmanned "flying bomb" successfully launched by catapult and flown for 1,000 yards at Sperry Flying Field, Long Island.

March 8: Majs. E. C. Schneider and J. L. Whitney (USA) reached an artificial altitude of 34,000 feet in 24 minutes, at Signal Corps Laboratory, Mineola, N.Y.

March 21: "Dunkirk fighter" or Navy HA seaplane made its first flight at Port Washington, Long Island, with Curtiss pilot Roland Rohlfs as pilot.

March 27: First aircraft built at the Naval Aircraft Factory, the H-16 seaplane, was flown for the first time, and was later used for the antisubmarine patrol from United States and European stations.

March 29: Curtiss 180-T or "Kirkham" triplane fighter ordered by Navy from Curtiss Engineering.

April 6: Night aerial photographs taken with use of magnesium flares by Lt. J. C. McKinney (USA) and civilian pilot Norbert Carolin.

April 15: First Marine Aviation Force formed at NAS Miami, commanded by Capt. A. A. Cunningham.

April 23: First oversea shipment of Liberty motors arrived at assembly and repair station at Pauillac, France.

April 25: Loening M-3 first flown, equipped with Lawrence three-cylinder, air-cooled engine.

April 27: French-built airship AT-1, commanded by Lt. F. P. Culbert (USN), completed a 25-hour 23-minute flight out of Paimboeuf, France, longest flight on record for airship of this type.

April 29: Plans approved for construction of first wind (5-foot) tunnel at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory of NACA.

May 11: First American-made DH-4, with Liberty engine, received in the AEF.

May 15: Navy Bureau of Steam Engineering reported that Marconi SE-I100 radio transmitter designed for use on H-16 flying boat, had proven capable of reliable voice communications from plane to shore up to 50 nautical miles and code communications up to 120 nautical miles.


 * The Post Office's first regular airmail route, Washington to New York, was inaugurated by Army pilots.

May 17: First flight made in France of an American-built military aircraft, a DH-4, built by Dayton Wright Co. adapted from English design.

May 20: Army Aeronautics was divorced from the Signal Corps and two air departments were created: Bureau of Military Aeronautics and Bureau of Aircraft Production.

May 24: First consignment of American-built flying boats, six HS-1's, arrived at Pauillac, France.

During May: At instigation of Dr. W. F. Durand, Chairman of the NACA, General Electric assembled an experimental turbo supercharger on a Liberty engine at Dayton.

June 19: Naval Air Station Pensacola began taking upper atmosphere weather soundings to provide wind velocity and direction. Recording instruments were carried aloft by a kite balloon, a technique developed by the station meteorological officer Lt. W. F. Reed.

During July: Standard Aircraft Corp. requested to build Italian Caproni and English Handley-Page bombers.

August 17: American-designed bomber, Army Martin MB-1, made its first flight with T. E. Springer as pilot. It became the first standard bomber of the Air Service but did not enter combat, while later modifications of it were used by the Post Office Department.

September 18: Altitude world record of 28,899 feet established by Maj. R. W. Schroeder (USA) at Dayton, Ohio.

September 23: Flywheel catapult used successfully to launch Navy "flying bomb" at Copiague, Long Island, a development undertaken by Sperry Co.

September 28: One JN4 aircraft maneuvered another JN4 in flight solely by means of radio at Langley Field, Va.

October 1: First bombing using electrical releases, Allied bombers in an attack on German infantry counterattack.

October 2: First successful flights of Army's Kettering pilotless aircraft with preset controls, "The Bug," at Dayton, Ohio; often called a "guided missile" in later years.

October 3: Flight refueling demonstrated in a seaplane by Lt. Godfrey L. Cabot (USNR), by snatching 155 pounds of weight from a moving sea sled.

October 4: Navy NC-1 flying boat, designed by Hunsaker, Richardson & Westervelt, was successfully test flown.

October 19: Pilotless Navy N-9 training plane, converted to automatic flying machine, flew prescribed course although distance gear failed to land the airplane at preset range of 14,500 yards.

November 6-7: Robert H. Goddard fired several rocket devices before representatives of the Signal Corps, Air Service, Army Ordnance, and others at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

November 11: With the signing of the Armistice, the Army Air Service had a total of 195,024 personnel, of which 20,568 were officers, and the AEF had 3,538 airplanes while 4,865 were in service in the United States. Naval aviation consisted of 6,716 officers and 30,693 men, with 282 officers and 2,189 men in Marine Corps units with a total of 2,107 airplaines, of which 1,172 were flying boats.

November 17: NAS Hampton Roads reported that H-16 flying boat equipped with radio direction finder using British six-stage amplifier had received signals from Arlington, Va., a distance of 150 miles.

November 25: NC-1 flying boat established new world record by taking off from Rockaway Beach, N.Y., with 51 persons aboard.

During November: The NACA first recommended enactment of Federal legislation for civil aviation, enforcement to be under the Department of Commerce.

December 4: First Army transcontinental flight by four Curtiss JN4's began at San Diego, reaching Jacksonville, Fla., on December 22.

December 31: Altitude laboratory at Bureau of Standards completed a full year of detailed analysis of various engine performances up to 30,000-foot altitutdes, which yielded many results of basic importance.

During 1918: Medical Research Laboratory of the Signal Corps published a manual on aviation medicine.


 * Ballistic Branch of the Army Ordnance Corps, in conjunction with the National Bureau of Standards, conducted wind tunnel tests to determine optimum shapes for artillery projectiles.

January 21-31: Second Army transcontinental flight by Maj. T. C. Macauley in DH-4 Liberty, Fort Worth-San Diego-Miami-Fort Worth, which he repeated in April.

February 5: First civil airline with passenger service, Germany's Deutsche Luftreederei which operated between Berlin, Leipzig, and Weimar. 8