World
Aviation in 1921
31
March
The Australian Air Force is formed from the Air Corps.
8 June
Experimentation with pressurised cabins begins at Wright
Field in the USA, using a modified de Havilland DH4 aircraft.
21 July
United States Army MB2 biplane bombers bomb and sink the
German battleship Ostfriesland with six 2,000 bombs. The
aircraft were under the overall command of Brigadier General
William 'Billy' Mitchell.
30 July
Flying a Caudron, Francois Durafour lands and takes off from
Mont Blanc.
3
August
The first experiments in aerial crop dusting are carried out
by Lieutenant John B. Macready on behalf of the Ohio
Agricultural Experimental Station at Troy in Ohio. Using a
Curtiss JN6 with a specially designed hopper fitted to the
side of the fuselage 175 pounds of powdered arsenate of lead
is distributed over 4,815 trees in an orchard.
The flight takes place at
20-35 feet and is accomplished in six nine-second discharges.
Two days later C.R. Neillie, the Cleveland entomologist who
had suggested the idea, reported "evidences of the wholesale
destruction of insects were everywhere apparent." Less than
1% of the insects in the dusted area had survived.
10 August
The United States Navy Bureau of Aeronautics is formed.
13 August
The 'Royal' prefix granted to Australian Air Force.
23 September
Brigadier General William 'Billy' Mitchell provides another
demonstration of aeroplane bombing against surface ships when
aircraft under his command bomb and sink three unwanted
United States Navy (USN) vessels, including the battleship
USS Alabama.
12 November
Wesley May carries a can of fuel from one aircraft to another
by climbing from one wing the other.
1 December
The United States Navy (USN) dirigible (steerable airship),
Goodyear C7, makes its first flight. |