1915 in aviation

Years in aviation: 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918
Centuries: 19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades: 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s
Years: 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918
A German airship and a French aeroplane battle in the sky, 1915.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1915:

Events

January

  • January 6 or 15 – The German submarine U-12 departs Zeebrugge with a Friedrichshafen FF.29 seaplane lashed to her deck in an attempt to use submarines to carry seaplanes within range of England. The seaplane is forced to take off early, reconnoiters the coast of Kent, and has to fly all the way back to Zeebrugge when bad weather makes returning to U-12 impossible. It is the only German attempt to operate an aircraft from a submarine.[3][4]
  • January 7 – Italy establishes the Corpo Aeronautica Militare ("Military Aviation Corps") as part of the Italian Royal Army.
  • January 19–20 (overnight) – The first Zeppelin raid on the United Kingdom takes place, carried out by the Imperial German Navy dirigibles L 3, L-4, and L-6. L-6 turns back with engine trouble, but L-3 drops six 50-kg (110-lb) high-explosive and seven incendiary bombs on Great Yarmouth and L-4 bombs Sheringham, Snettisham, and King's Lynn. The raid kills four people and injures 16.[5][6][7]
  • January 24 – An airship plays a role in a naval battle for the first time, when the German Navy Zeppelin L 5, flying a routine patrol, arrives over the ongoing Battle of the Dogger Bank between British and German battlecruisers in the North Sea. Operating cautiously after taking fire from British light cruisers, L-5 finds it difficult to track the action through cloud cover and plays a minimal role in the engagement, passing limited information to the commanding German admiral, Franz von Hipper, in the late stages of the battle.[8]
  • January 25 – The Imperial German Navy suffers its first wartime loss of an airship when PL 19 is forced down on the Baltic Sea by icing and engine failure while attempting to return to base after bombing Libau, Russia. Two Imperial Russian Navy minesweepers capture her seven-man crew and set her ablaze, destroying her. No further airship operations will take place in the Baltic theater until mid-July.[9]

February

  • February 2 – The only Imperial Russian Navy seaplane carrier to see service in the Baltic Sea during World War I, Orlitza, is commissioned.[10]
  • February 15 – Russian Sikorsky Ilya Muromets bombers attack the Vistula-Dobrzhani area of Poland, the first bombing raid by the Ilya Muromets.
  • February 17 – Only four weeks after they became the first two airships to bomb the United Kingdom, the Imperial German Navy Zeppelins L-3 and L-4 are wrecked in Denmark while attempting to search for British ships off Norway. L-3's crew burns her before being interned by Danish authorities. L-4 is blown out over the North Sea after touching down in Denmark and disappears with four men still on board; the Danes intern the rest of her crew.[11]
  • February 26 – The second German attempt to bomb the United Kingdom fails when strong headwinds force the German Navy Zeppelin L-8, sent out to attack alone, to give up her attempt and land at an Imperial German Army camp in German-occupied Belgium.[12]

March

April

  • April 1
    • In a Morane-Saulnier L, future French ace Jean Navarre and his observer/gunner, Sub-Lieutenant Jean Robert, attack a German Aviatik B.I over Merval, France. Robert uses a carbine to damage it and wound its pilot, forcing it to land behind French lines and surrender. It is Navarre's first victory.[19]
    • Later in the day, French pilot Lieutenant Roland Garros scores the first kill achieved by firing a machine gun through a tractor propeller when he shoots down a German Albatros observation plane. With no synchronization gear yet available for his machine gun, he uses metal deflector wedges installed on the propeller of his Morane Saulnier L fighter to keep the machine gun from shooting his own propeller blades off. It is also his first kill. He will score two more victories this way, on April 15 and April 18.[20]
  • April 3 – French pilot Adolphe Pégoud scores his fifth aerial victory, becoming history's first ace.[19]
  • April 14–15 (overnight) – Germany bombs the United Kingdom for the second time when the German Navy Zeppelin L 9 bombs the Tyneside area of England, either killing or injuring a woman and a small boy.[16]
  • April 15–16 (overnight) – The German Navy Zeppelins L 5, L 6, and L 7 – the latter carrying Peter Strasser, the commander of the German Naval Airship Division, as an observer – bomb England. Although they meet little resistance other than rifle fire, their bombs inflict little damage.[16]
  • April 16 – The United States Navy conducts the first catapult launch of an aircraft from a floating platform, launching an airplane from Navy Coal Barge No. 214 at Naval Air Station Pensacola at Pensacola, Florida.[21]
  • April 18
    • German forces shoot down and capture Roland Garros.
    • Flying a B.E.2c, Royal Flying Corps pilot Lanoe Hawker attacks the German Zeppelin sheds at Gontrode, Belgium, destroying a brand-new shed and shooting down a nearby Drachen observation balloon. He will be awarded the Distinguished Service Order for the action. The Germans soon cease to use Gontrode as an airship base.[22]
  • April 19 – During the Gallipoli campaign, the Royal Navy balloon ship Manica lofts her observation balloon operationally for the first time in the first operational use of a balloon ship during World War I. The observer in her balloon directs fire against Ottoman positions for the armored cruiser Bacchante. Manica's work during the campaign impresses the British Admiralty enough for it to order additional balloon ships[14]
  • April 20 – Flying a reconnaissance mission along the border with Mexico in a Martin T biplane, First Lieutenant Byron Q. Jones (pilot) and Lieutenant Thomas D. Milling (observer) become the first United States Army aviators to come under enemy fire during a flight when Mexican forces open fire on them with small arms and at least one machine gun while they are over the Rio Grande at Brownsville, Texas. Their plane is hit, but they are uninjured. It is considered the first combat air sortie in U.S. Army history.[23]
  • April 26 – Second Lieutenant William Rhodes-Moorhouse of the Royal Flying Corps's No. 2 Squadron is mortally wounded while carrying out a bombing attack on a railway junction at Kortrijk, Belgium; he dies the next day. For the action, he posthumously will become the first airman of any sort while flying against the enemy to receive the Victoria Cross.

May

  • The British War Office issues instructions specifying the aircraft and armament Royal Flying Corps squadrons are to have ready for defense of the United Kingdom against German airships. One aircraft is to be kept ready for immediate takeoff at all times, with the Martinsyde Scout preferred over other aircraft. The instruction also lists a specific mix and numbers of weapons the aircraft are to carry, including bombs, grenades, and incendiary darts.[24]
  • May 3
    • On patrol over the North Sea, the German Navy Zeppelin L 9, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Mathy, encounters four British submarines on the surface and attacks them while HMS E5 fires at her and the other three dive; L 9 tries to bomb E5 as E5 dives, but does no damage. L 9 later catches HMS E4 on the surface and attacks with bombs, but E4 dives and survives as well. L 9 later sights another surfaced submarine and moves in to attack while the submarine fires at her, but the submarine dives before L 9 can attack.[25]
    • The oldest continually operational Royal Air Force station, RAF Northolt (on the edge of London), opens as the home to the Royal Flying Corps' No. 4 Reserve Aeroplane Squadron.
  • May 10–11 (overnight) – The Imperial German Army Zeppelin LZ 38 attempts to bomb Southend-on-Sea on England's Thames Estuary, but is driven off by unexpected gunfire. LZ 38's commander, Hauptmann Erich Linnarz, allegedly scrawls a threat to return on a calling card from his wallet and drops it in a weighted canister which the British find on Canvey Island.[26]
  • May 11 – An early attempt to intercept an airship with a shipborne aircraft takes place in the North Sea when the Royal Navy seaplane tender HMS Ben-my-Chree tries to launch a Royal Naval Air Service Sopwith seaplane to attack a German Zeppelin sighted low on the horizon at a range of 70 nautical miles (130 kilometres). The attempt fails when the launching platform collapses, and the unmolested Zeppelin goes on to bomb four surfaced British submarines – without damaging them.[27]
  • May 16–17 (overnight) – Two Royal Naval Air Service Avro 504s intercept the Imperial German Navy Zeppelins LZ 38 and LZ 39, badly damaging LZ39 with four 20-lb (9-kg) bombs dropped on its envelope from above.[18]
  • May 23 – Italy enters World War I on the side of the Allies, declaring war on Austria-Hungary.
  • May 24 – Italy's only dirigible, Città de Ferrara, bombs Pola, beginning Italy's bombing campaign against Austria-Hungary.[28]
  • May 26 – Oberleutnant Kästner and Lt Georg Langhoff score the first German air-to-air victory of World War I.
  • May 31-June 1 (overnight) – The Imperial German Navy Zeppelin LZ 38 carries out the first air raid on London, killing seven people and injuring 14.

June

July

Leutnant Kurt Wintgens' "E.5/15" Fokker Eindecker production prototype, as it appeared for the July 1 combat engagement
Capt. Lanoe Hawker's Bristol Scout C, No. 1611, as it appeared for his Victoria Cross-earning engagement.
  • July 25 – Following his bombing raid exploits on the Gontrode zeppelin base some three months earlier, while flying a Lewis machine gun-armed Bristol Scout C, military s/n 1611, Royal Flying Corps Captain Lanoe Hawker shoots down three German aircraft while on patrol over Passchendaele, Belgium. For this achievement, he will become the first single-seat scout/fighter pilot to be awarded the Victoria Cross for combat against enemy airplanes.

August

September

  • September 3–4 (overnight) – Four Imperial German Navy airships attempt to bomb England. One of them, L 10, is struck by lightning and crashes in flames in the North Sea near Neuwerk, Germany, with the loss of her entire 20-man crew.[46]
  • September 7 – A force of Royal Navy ships in the North Sea bombarding Imperial German Army positions at Ostend, Belgium, comes under attack by German aircraft, which bomb the scout cruiser HMS Attentive. Attentive suffers two killed and seven wounded, and the Royal Navy force disperses briefly before returning to resume its bombardment.[47]
  • September 7–8 (overnight) – Two Imperial German Army airships raid England. One, the Schütte-Lanz SL-2, bombs Millwall, Deptford, Greenwich, and Woolwich docks, but crash-lands in Germany short of her base after suffering engine failure on the way home. The other, the Zeppelin LZ 74, drops most of her 2,000-kg (4,409-lb) bombload on greenhouses in Cheshunt before dropping her lone remaining incendiary bomb onto a shop on Fenchurch Street in London.[48]
  • September 8–9 (overnight) – Four German Navy Zeppelins attempt to bomb England. Two suffer engine trouble, while L 9, attacks a benzole plant at Skinningrove, Yorkshire, but her bombs fail to penetrate the roof of the benzol house or of a neighboring TNT store, and there are no casualties. L 13, however, bombs London – including the dropping of a 300-kg (661-lb) bomb, the largest yet dropped on Britain – killing 22 people and inflicting the most damage – valued at £530,787 – in a single airship or airplane bombing raid throughout all of World War I. Her commander, Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Mathy, becomes a great hero in Germany.[49]
  • September 12
    • Flying a Nieuport 10 named le Demon ("The Demon"), Jan Olieslagers forces a German Aviatik C.I down, becoming the first Belgian pilot to score an aerial victory.[50]
    • Fearing large-scale British retaliatory raids for German airship raids against London and resentful of German Navy publicity about the achievements of naval airships in bombing the city, Chief of the German General Staff General Erich von Falkenhayn issues a statement pointing out that German Army airships are restricted to bombing London's docks and harbor works and are prohibited from attacking the central City of London.[51]
  • September 14 – Admiral Henning von Holtzendorff, Chief of the German Naval Staff, restricts German naval airships bombing London to targets along the banks of the River Thames and directs them as far as possible to avoid bombing the poorer, working-class northern quarter of the city.[52]

October

  • October 13–14 (overnight) – After a five-week hiatus, German airships resume raids against the United Kingdom, as five German Navy Zeppelins attempt to bomb London. L 15 bombs central London, during which Royal Flying Corps pilot John Slessor, flying a B.E.2c, intercepts her, becoming the first man to intercept an enemy aircraft over the United Kingdom, although he is unable to fire on L 15. The other four Zeppelins scatter their bombs over various towns and the countryside. The raid is one of the deadliest of World War I, killing 71 people and injuring 128.[53]
  • October 14 – Bulgaria enters World War I on the side of the Central Powers. During October, the Imperial Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet raids Varna, Bulgaria, employing a seaplane carrier-battleship force.[13]
  • October 15 – Orville Wright sells the Wright Company – which he had founded in 1909 with his late brother Wilbur Wright – to a group of New York investors.
  • October 18 – The Third Battle of the Isonzo begins. It will last until 3 November, and during the battle Italian aircraft will make their first contribution to Italy's ground war."[28]

November

December

First flights

January

March

April

May

June

August

October

September

December

Entered service

February

April

June

September

October

November

December

Retirements

November

References

  1. ^ Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, p. 120.
  2. ^ Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. p. 2. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979..
  3. ^ Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, pp. 29-30.
  4. ^ Wikipedia SM U-12 (Germany) article.
  5. ^ Cross, Wilbur, Zeppelins of World War I, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1991, ISBN 1-56619-390-7, pp. 19-20.
  6. ^ Frankland, Noble, Bomber Offensive: The Devastation of Europe, New York: Ballantine Books Inc., 1970, p. 10.
  7. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 70, 73-76.
  8. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 94-95.
  9. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 216-218. The 15 January 1915 date given for the incident on p. 217 appears to be a typographical error; the 25 January 1915 date given on p. 216 appears to be accurate.
  10. ^ Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, p. 97.
  11. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 76, 95-96.
  12. ^ a b Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 76.
  13. ^ a b Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, pp. 96, 101.
  14. ^ a b Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, p. 73.
  15. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 76-77.
  16. ^ a b c Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 78.
  17. ^ Franks, Norman, Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998, ISBN 1-902304-04-7, p. 11.
  18. ^ a b Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-076-2, p. 33.
  19. ^ a b Hollway, Don, "The Sentinel of Verdun," Aviation History, November 2012, p. 36.
  20. ^ Hollway, Don, "The Sentinel of Verdun," Aviation History, November 2012, p. 38.
  21. ^ a b Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, p. 112.
  22. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 79-80.
  23. ^ Heaton, Dan, "Gunfire Over the Rio Grande," Aviation History, May 2014, pp. 16-17.
  24. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 72-73.
  25. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 97-98.
  26. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 80-81.
  27. ^ a b Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 98.
  28. ^ a b Gooch, John, Mussolini and His Generals: The Armed Forces and Fascist Foreign Policy, 1922-1940, Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-85602-7, p. 52.
  29. ^ Clark, Basil, The History of Airships, New York: St Martin's Press, 1961, Library of Congress 64-12336, p. 146.
  30. ^ a b Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, ISBN 0-87021-026-2, p. 215.
  31. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 84-92.
  32. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 104.
  33. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 93.
  34. ^ Sands, Jeffrey, "The Forgotten Ace, Ltn. Kurt Wintgens and his War Letters", Cross & Cockade USA, Summer 1985.
  35. ^ Franks, Norman, Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998, ISBN 1-902304-04-7, p. 20.
  36. ^ Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, p. 20.
  37. ^ Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, Second Edition, London: Putnam, 1976, ISBN 0-370-10054-9, p. 2.
  38. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 98-100.
  39. ^ Gooch, John, Mussolini and His Generals: The Armed Forces and Fascist Foreign Policy, 1922-1940, Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-85602-7, p. 53.
  40. ^ a b Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-076-2, p. 12.
  41. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 101-103.
  42. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 104-106.
  43. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 107-108.
  44. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 108.
  45. ^ Blumberg, Arnold, "Bombing, Italian Style," Aviation History, November 2015, p. 49.
  46. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 108-109.
  47. ^ historyofwar.org Adventure class scout cruisers.
  48. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 109.
  49. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 109-111.
  50. ^ Above Flanders Fields: A Complete Record of the Belgian Fighter Pilots and Their Units During the Great War. p. 72–73.
  51. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 112-113.
  52. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 113.
  53. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 113-121.
  54. ^ Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-076-2, p. 39.
  55. ^ Wilkinson, Stephan, "Angels of Mercy," Aviation History, January 2016, p. 41.
  56. ^ Chant, Chris, The World's Great Bombers, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000, ISBN 0-7607-2012-6, p. 37.
  57. ^ Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, p. 139.
  58. ^ Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, ISBN 0-87021-313-X, p. 30.
  59. ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 73.
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