1920 in aviation

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Template:Short description Template:Yearbox Template:Portal This is a list of aviation-related events from 1920:

EventsEdit

  • Juan de la Cierva y Cordoniu invents the autogyro. His first autogyro, the Cierva C.1, fails to become airborne, but is the first aircraft to demonstrate the principle of autorotation as it taxis on the ground.
  • The Argentine Navy establishes a naval aviation division and allocates funds for the founding of a naval aviation school.<ref>Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, Template:ISBN, p. 193.</ref>
  • The Peruvian Navy establishes a Naval Aviation Corps.<ref>Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, Template:ISBN, p. 200.</ref>
  • Imperial Japanese Army aviation elements see combat for the first time in operations around Vladivostok during the Siberian Intervention.<ref>Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, Template:ISBN, p. 30.</ref>
  • The Aichi Clock and Electric Company Ltd. begins the production of airframes at Nagoya, Japan. It will begin producing aircraft engines in 1927.<ref>Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, Template:ISBN, p. 18.</ref>
  • Mitsubishi Internal Combustion Engine Company Ltd. registers as an aircraft manufacturing company, with its factory at Kobe, Japan, and takes over the aircraft manufacturing business of its parent company, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.<ref>Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, Template:ISBN, p. 23.</ref>
  • The Stinson Aircraft Company is founded in Ohio in the United States.
  • British military thinker Colonel J. F. C. Fuller writes that in the next war "Fleets of aeroplanes will attack the enemyTemplate:'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..."<ref>Fuller, J. F. C., Tanks in the Great War, London, 1920, p. 314, quoted in Hastings, Max, Bomber Command: ChurchillTemplate:'s Epic Campaign - The Inside Story of the RAFTemplate:'s Valiant Attempt to End the War, New York: Simon & Schuster Inc., 1987, Template:ISBN, p. 41.</ref>

JanuaryEdit

  • January 17 – The first United States Navy airplane flight in the Hawaiian Islands takes place when a plane takes off from Honolulu.<ref name="hawaii.gov">Aviation Hawaii: 1920-1929 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii</ref>
  • January 21
    • The last Royal Navy balloon ship, HMS Canning, which has operated since December 1916 as a balloon depot ship, is sold.<ref>Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, Template:ISBN, p. 77.</ref>
    • The Royal Air ForceTemplate:'s "Z Unit" – the first self-contained air unit dedicated to "aerial policing", the use of independent air power to suppress colonial rebellions – begins operations in British Somaliland against the Dervish State of Diiriye Guure and Mohammed Abdullah Hassan (the "Mad Mullah") using 10 Airco 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 from Allah or friendly messengers from the Ottoman EmpireTemplate:'s Sultan Mehmed VI – while he waits to receive their crews as important guests. He survives and flees.<ref>O'Connor, Derek, "The Hunt For the Mad Mullah", Aviation History, July 2012, p. 45.</ref> The Z Unit will continue to bomb and strafe the MullahTemplate:'s forces on January 22 and 23.<ref name="O'Connor, Derek 2012, p. 46">O'Connor, Derek, "The Hunt For the Mad Mullah", Aviation History, July 2012, p. 46.</ref>
  • January 24 – Extensive aerial reconnaissance by the Royal Air ForceTemplate:'s Z Unit establishes that the Dervish State has abandoned the area around its Dhulbahante garesa forts at Medishi (later Medistie) and Jid Ali (later Jideli). 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.<ref name="O'Connor, Derek 2012, p. 46"/>
  • January 29 – Royal Air Force Airco DH.9s bomb the Dervish State's Dhulbahante garesa fort at Gallbaridur.<ref name="O'Connor, Derek 2012, p. 46"/>
  • January 30 – Royal Air Force DH.9s bomb Mohammed Abdullah HassanTemplate:'s baggage train and personal retinue, but he survives.<ref name="O'Connor, Derek 2012, p. 46"/>

FebruaryEdit

MarchEdit

AprilEdit

MayEdit

JuneEdit

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JulyEdit

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AugustEdit

SeptemberEdit

OctoberEdit

NovemberEdit

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DecemberEdit

First flightsEdit

FebruaryEdit

AprilEdit

MayEdit

JuneEdit

  • June 11 – Verville VCP<ref>Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 197.</ref>

JulyEdit

SeptemberEdit

OctoberEdit

  • October 13 – Naval Aircraft Factory TF<ref>Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 323.</ref>

NovemberEdit

Entered serviceEdit

AugustEdit

RetirementsEdit

SeptemberEdit

  • Avro 538 by Avro<ref>Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, Template:ISBN, p. 77.</ref>

ReferencesEdit

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