1922 in aviation

Events

Irish Air Corps formed at Baldonnel Aerodrome. First aircraft is a Martinsyde Type A
The Persian Army forms an air department

First commercial night flight between London and Paris.

Hermann Oberth submits his dissertation, rejected as "too fantastic", which was published in 1923 as The Rocket to Planetary Spaces. It became a major work in spaceflight history.

March
March 13 - Portuguese pilots Cpt Gago Coutinho and Cpt Sacadura Cabral leave Lisbon to attempt the first crossing of the South Atlantic by air. They arrive in Brazil on June 16, in the third Fairey III they use for the trip.

March 20 - The US Navy commissions its first aircraft carrier, a converted collier, the USS Langley.

April
April 4 - The Colombian Ministry of War opens a flying school (the Escuela de Aviación) at Flandes.

April 7 - A Daimler Airway de Havilland DH.18 collides with a Companie des Grands Express Aériens Farman Goliath over France. All seven people - everyone aboard the two aircraft - are killed in the first mid-air collision of two airliners.

April 16 - taking advantage of the Treaty of Rapallo, a flying school for German pilots is set up at Lipetsk. By 1933, 450 German military pilots will have trained here.

May
May 1 - Deruluft (Deutsche-Russische Luftverkehrs, "German-Russian Airlines") commences operations.

May 15 - Instone Air Line commences flights between London and Brussels.

June
June 16 - Henry Berliner demonstrates a primitive helicopter to the US Army.

July
July 1 - the US Navy orders the still-under-construction battlecruisers USS Lexington and USS Saratoga to be completed as aircraft carriers.

July 10 - The Aircraft Development Corporation is incorporated in Michigan. Later they change their name to the Detroit Aircraft Corporation.

August
Britain's Air Ministry issues its first requirement for a purpose-designed night fighter. Specification 25/22 will eventually be filled by the Hawker Woodcock.

August 10 - Schneider Trophy race flown at Naples, Italy. Won by the only non-Italian competitor, H.C. Biard in a British Supermarine Sea Lion II. Winning speed 234.5 km/h (145.7 mph).

August 18 - Arthur Martens makes the first sailplane flight of over one hour at the Wasserkuppe. His aircraft, named Vampyr ("Vampire") is designed by Wolfgang Klemmperer.

August 25 - Cpt Norman MacMillan and Geoffrey Mallins are rescued from the Bay of Bengal when their round-the-world attempt in a Fairey III is thwarted by engine failure.

September
September 4 - Lt Jimmy Doolittle flies across the United States in under a day in a de Havilland DH.4. He takes 21 hours 19 minutes to fly from Pablo Beach, Florida to Rockwell Field, California.

September 9 - Cpt Frank Barnard wins the first King's Cup Race air race, flying from England to Scotland and back in 6 hours 32 minutes in a de Havilland DH.4.

September 20 - first flight over 200 mph (322 km/h) made by Sadi Lecointe in a Nieuport-Delage NiD 29.

September 27 - the US Navy conducts the first large-scale torpedo bombing exercises. Eighteen Naval Aircraft Factory PTs attack three battleships and score 8 hits in 25 minutes.

October
October 6 - Lt John Macready and Lt Oakely Kelley set a flight endurance record of 35 hours 18 minutes in a Fokker T-2.

October 17 - Lt Virgil Griffin makes the first take-off from a US aircraft carrier in a Vought VE-7 from USS Langley

October 20 - Lt Harold Harris makes the first parachute escape from a stricken aircraft, bailing out of a Loening PW-2 over Dayton, Ohio.

October 26 - the first landing is made on USS Langley by Lt Cdr Geoffrey DeChevalier in an Aeromarine 39

November
The 7th Salon d'Aéronautique is held in Paris

November 2 - Qantas begins its first scheduled flights, between Charleville, Queensland and Cloncurry, Queensland.

November 11 - Etienne Oehmichen flies 525 m (1,722 ft) in a helicopter.

November 12 - Japan's first airmail service commences, linking Sakai, Osaka and Tokushima.

November 19 - Malert (Magyar Legiforgalmi) is formed, a fore-runner of MALÉV Hungarian Airlines.

December
December 27 - the Hōshō, Japan's first aircraft carrier is commissioned.

December 31 - the first German aircraft flies over Britain since the end of World War I, a Deutsche Luft-Reederei Dornier Komet

First flights

January
January 3 - Aero A.10

March
March 26 - de Havilland DH.34

July
Bristol Racer

August
August 22 - Vickers Victoria

October
October 13 - Curtiss R-6

November
November 18 - Dewoitine D.1
November 24 - Vickers Virginia
November 28 - Fairey Flycatcher

Entered service
Vickers Vernon with the Royal Air Force.