World Aviation in 1918 - Part 1

Part 2

January
The German D-Type (Fighter) competition at Berlin-Adlershof is won by the Fokker VII designed by Reinhold Platz and is put into production as the Fokker DVII

The first German Gotha Bomber to be shot down at night over England is destroyed by No.44 Squadron with Sopwith Camels over Wickford in Essex.

5 January
Five German Navy Airships are destroyed in an explosion at the Ahlhorn sheds.

23 January
The first American Expeditionary Force (AEF) balloon ascent is made at the Balloon School at Cuperly in France.

February
The Airco DH4, the first American mass produced combat aircraft, begins production.

The first operational squadrons of the American Expeditionary Force are formed in France. American Air Force squadrons go on to destroy 781 enemy aircraft.

Lieutenant Stephen W. Thompson becomes the first American pilot to gain an aerial victory while serving with an American squadron.

18 February
The first American fighter squadron, the 95th Aero (Pursuit) Squadron, arrives in France.

March
The Aviation of the 1st Polish Corps is formed from the 1st Polish aviation Unit.

Ilmailuvòimat, the Finnish Air Arm, is formed.

Dr Ing Theodor von Kárman and Wilheim Zurovec complete an electrically powered helicopter in Budapest. The PKZ1 performs four tethered lift-offs, with all but one carrying three people.

3 March
The American Expeditionary Force (AEF) begin airship operations with the French Astra-Torres AT1 non-rigid dirigible (steerable airship).

5 March
The 2nd Balloon company is established, becoming the first United States balloon unit to serve operationally in France with American Expeditionary Force (AEF) ground forces.

10 March
The Junkers D1, an all-metal single-seat cantilever monoplane fighter, is flown as a prototype. 41 aircraft are eventually produced.

11 March
The first regular international air mail is organised in Austria by A.R. von Marwil. Mail is carried in a Hansa-Brandenburg CI from Vienna to Lvov (then Lemberg) and Proskurov via Cracow. A branch service is also run from Proskurov to Odessa. The service expands on 11 July 1918 by adding Budapest to its destinations, but later collapses with the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918.

14 March
American aircraft of the 95th (Pursuit) squadron begin patrol flights over the Western Front, defending the River Marne from German reconnaissance aircraft. Observation patrols begin on the 19 March with aircraft of the 94th (Pursuit) squadron.

19 March
While on patrol near Heligoland, Ensign Stephen Potter becomes the first United States Navy (USN) airman to shoot down a German aircraft.

21 March
The German spring offensive begins and hundreds of aircraft take part in Kaiserschlacht ('Emperors Battle').

27 March
A Curtiss H16 flying boat, the first production aircraft built by the United States Naval Aircraft Factory, makes its first flight.

April
Fokker DVII biplane fighters become operational on the Western Front with Jagdegeschwader I. The DVII proves itself to be the best German fighter of the First World War.

1 April
A pilot of Jasta 56 is the first to bale out in an emergency when his Albatros DVa is shot down over British lines. He was probably using a Heinecke cushion-type parachute, landed safely and was taken prisoner.

12 April
German Gotha bombers bombed Paris, hitting a hospital and killing a mother, baby and a nurse. Bombs also exploded in the city and northern suburbs. A further attack that night left 26 dead and 72 injured.

The Loughead brothers fly their F1 Seaplane from Santa Barbara to San Diego.

Part 2