This is a list of
aviation-related events from
1916:
Events
January
★
January 12 - German
aces
Max Immelmann and
Oswald Boelcke, with 8 kills, are the first pilots awarded with ''
Pour le Mérite'' ("the Blue Max")
★
January 29 - the second and last
Zeppelin raid on
Paris inflicts 54 casualties.
March
★
March 16 - US military aircraft fly their first mission over foreign soil when
Curtiss JN3s of the
1st Aero Squadron carry out reconnaissance over
Mexico.
★
March 18 - German ace
Ernst Udet scores his first kill
April
★
April 15 -
RFC and
RNAS aircraft deliver 13 tons of stores into
Kut el Amara,
Mesopotamia, while it is
besieged by the Turks. This was the first time aircraft were used for such a purpose.
★
April 20 - the ''Escadrille Américanne'', later to be known as ''
Lafayette Escadrille'', is established as an American volunteer unit in France, equipped with
Nieuport 11s.
May
★
May 2 - eight German Zeppelins raid the east coast of England, causing 39 casualties. The Zeppelin
L 20 (LZ59) is wrecked in a storm off
Stavanger,
Norway on the return journey.
★
May 17 -
Parasite fighter experiments begin in the UK to launch a
Bristol Scout from a
Porte Baby airship.
June
★
June 17 - the first French ace,
Jean Navarre, is shot down and wounded, ending his combat career with 12 confirmed kills.
★
June 18 - the first German ace
Max Immelmann is shot down and killed by a
FE.2b from
No. 25 Squadron RFC -- a symbolic end of the "
Fokker Scourge". He had scored 15 kills.
★
June 23 -
Victor Chapman of ''Lafayette Escadrille'' becomes the first US airman to be killed in action, shot down near
Verdun.
July
★
No.3 Wing RNAS becomes Britain's first
strategic bombing unit, equipped with
Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutters
★
July 1 - beginning of the
Battle of the Somme. In the five months of the battle, the British lose 782 aircraft and 576 pilots but maintain air superiority over the battlefield.
August
★
August 2 - 16 German Zeppelins raid southeast England. Lt
William Leefe-Robinson,
RFC shoots down Zeppelin
SL 11 in a
BE.2c.
★
August 6 - French ace Capitaine
René Fonck gains his first confirmed victory.
★
August 27 -
Oswald Boelcke creates the first German special fighter squadron ''
Jagdstaffel 2'' (Jasta 2).
September
★
September 15 - British submarine
''B-10'' is sunk by
Austrian Lohner flying boats, led by ''Fregatten-Leutnant'' Zelezny, becoming the first submarine sunk by aircraft; French submarine
''Foucault'' is sunk by two Austrian Lohner flying boats, led by ''Fregatten-Leutnant'' Zelezny, becoming the first submarine sunk at sea by aircraft.
★
September 17 - Rittmeister
Manfred von Richthofen scores his first kill, from a
Albatros D.II
★
September 23-
24 - eleven Zeppelins attack England. Two are shot down,
LZ 76 by ground fire, and
LZ 74 by Lt
Frederick Sowrey
October
★
October 12 -
Canadian Royal Naval Air Service ace
Raymond Collishaw claims his first victory.
★
October 28 - German ace
Oswald Boelcke is killed in a mid-air collision.
November
★
November 23 - British ace
Lanoe Hawker VC is shot down by
Manfred von Richthofen
★
November 28 - Central
London is bombed by an
LVG C.II flown by R. Brandt
First flights
February
★
February 9 -
Sopwith Pup flown by
Harry Hawker
April
★
SPAD S.VII
May
★
May 28 -
Sopwith Triplane flown by
Harry Hawker
June
★
June 17 -
Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8
★
June 29 - the
B & W Seaplane,
William Boeing's first aircraft.
July
★
July 25 -
Anatra DS
August
★
Airco DH.4
September
★
September 9 -
Bristol F.2A
★
September 12 - the
Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane
October
★
October 25 -
Bristol F.2B Fighter
November
★
November 22 -
Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5
Entered service
February
★
Airco DH.2 with
No. 24 Squadron RFC
April
★
Sopwith 1½ Strutter
August
★
SPAD S.VII with
Escadrille No. 26
November
★
Sopwith Triplane
December
★
December 24 -
Sopwith Pup with
No. 54 Squadron RFC
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