The ItalianGeneralGiulio Douhet publishes his highly influential book Command of the Air. In it, he argues that the ability of aircraft to fly over armies and navies renders those forces of secondary importance; that the vastness of the sky makes defense against bombers impossible; that only offensive bombing to destroy the enemy's air force can allow a country to achieve command of the air; that once it is achieved, a bombing campaign can be carried out against enemy "vital centers", including industry, transportation, government, communications, and "the will of the people;" and that success against enemy civilian morale in particular would be the key to victory.
When the Italian Chief of the Naval Staff AdmiralPaolo Thaon di Revel argues for the development of aircraft carriers, saying "the development and use of aeroplanes in wars on our seas and along our coasts is today the most essential element of national defense," Minister of the Navy Admiral Giovanni Sechi replies that aircraft carriers are unnecessary in an enclosed sea like the Mediterranean and that a perfectly good substitute for them is "a well-organized network of coastal air stations."[2]
January
January 6 – After modifications, HMS Argus returns to service with the Royal Navy as the world's first aircraft carrier equipped with palisades.[3] Installed on the port and starboard edges of the flight deck and capable of being raised and lowered, the palisades when raised serve as a windbreak and prevent aircraft on the flight deck from blowing or rolling overboard in heavy weather.
February
Concerned that the transcontinental U.S. Air Mail service established in September 1920 had turned out to be little faster – although much more expensive – than train-only service because the United States lacks a system of lighted navigation beacons, meaning that air mail pilots could not fly safely at night and trains had to carry air mail along the route during the hours of darkness, Assistant Postmaster General of the United StatesOtto Praeger stages four experimental day-and-night air mail flights as a publicity stunt before incoming PresidentWarren G. Harding can take office on March 4 and appoint his successor. The flights consist of two eastbound and two westbound trips between New York City and San Francisco, California. The two westbound flights become stranded in Dubois, Pennsylvania, and Chicago, Illinois. The first eastbound flight ends in tragedy when the de Havilland DH-4B carrying the mail stalls and crashes after takeoff from Elko, Nevada. The only real success is by the second eastbound flight, whose pilot manages to fly at night from North Platte, Nebraska, to Chicago.[4]
March 27–28 – The Italian Fascist newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia co-sponsors a conference in Milan that calls for the Government of Italy to establish an independent air ministry and concludes that "the air force is about to become the decisive arm in the future conflicts between peoples and therefore the means must be readied to safeguard the command of our skies."[7]
April 18 – The first military flight in Honduras takes place when an American pilot under contract to the Honduran military flies a Bristol F.2b Fighter.
May
American stunt pilot Laura Bromwell sets a women's aviation speed record of 135 mph (217 km/h).[8]
May 2 – Italian World War IaceGiovanni Ancillotto makes a flight across the Andes in Peru, flying from Lima to Cerro de Pasco in an Ansaldo A.1 Balilla in 1 hour 35 minutes, after which he spends 15 minutes flying over Cerro de Pasco before landing. He makes the flight at an average altitude of 5,500 meters (18,044 feet), reaches a maximum altitude of 7,000 meters (22,966 feet) while passing Mount Meiggs, and covers the 123-kilometer (76-mile) portion of the flight from Lima to La Oroya at an average speed of 230 km/h (143 mph).[9]
May 15 – Laura Bromwell sets a women's record for consecutive loops, looping her airplane 199 consecutive times in 1 hour 20 minutes over New York State.[8][11]
June 5 – Twenty-three-year-old American stunt pilot Laura Bromwell dies in the crash of her Canadian-built airplane on the outskirts of Garden City on Long Island, New York, when she loses control at the top of a loop and her aircraft plummets into the ground from an altitude of 1,000 feet (305 m).[8]
June 15 – 29-year-old Bessie Coleman, having attended flying school in France, gets her pilot's licence and becomes the first African American to earn an international pilot's licence.[15]
July 16 – The sixth annual Aerial Derby is held, sponsored by the Royal Aero Club, with a trophy and a £500 prize for the overall winner and prizes of £200, £100, and £50 for the first three places in the handicap competition. Nineteen participants fly over a 102.5-mile (165-kilometer) circuit beginning and ending at Hendon Aerodrome in London with control points at Brooklands, Esher, Purley, and Purfleet; the aircraft fly the circuit twice. J. H. James is both the overall winner and the winner of the handicap competition, completing the course in a Gloster Mars at an average speed of 163.34 mph (262.87 km/h) in 1 hour 18 minutes 10 seconds with a handicap of 4 minutes 42 seconds. However, Harry Hawker has been killed on July 12 in a crash while practising.
August 11 – The 1921 Schneider Trophy race is flown at Venice, Italy. In an all-Italian field, Giovanni De Briganti wins the race in a Macchi M.7 with an average speed of 189.7 km/h (117.9 mph).
August 24 – The British airshipR-38 breaks up over Hull, Yorkshire, during trials, killing 44 of the 49 people on board.
August 30 – Three Short aircraft of the naval aviation branch of the Chilean Army air corps carry out a successful mock raid from Valparaiso on Coquimbo. This will influence the eventual Chilean decision to separate naval aviation from army aviation.[21]
The British 30-man Sempill Mission, led by Sir William Francis Forbes-Sempill (Captain, the Master of Sempill), arrives in Japan, bringing with it over 100 aircraft comprising 20 different models. Before it returns to the United Kingdom in March 1923, the Mission will greatly improve Imperial Japanese Navy aviation training and understanding of aircraft carrierflight deck operations and the latest naval aviation tactics and technology, and the aircraft it brings will inspire the design of a number of Japanese naval aircraft of the 1920s.[22]
September 17 – The first annual Air League Challenge Cup race is held as the final event in of the Royal Aero Club's first Aviation Race Meeting at Croydon Airport in London. Competitors race a total of 72 miles (116 km) over a three-lap course in teams of three, with each team member physically passing a baton to the next team member after completing one lap. Three Royal Air Force teams – dubbed "Red," "White," and "Blue" – are the only entrants, and the Red Team – from No. 24 Squadron at RAF Kenley – wins flying an SE.5a on the first and third laps and an Avro 504K on the second lap.[23]
October 4 – At Long Branch, New Jersey, an inexperienced amateur stunt flier, Madeline Davis, attempts to become the first woman to attempt to transfer from a moving automobile to an airplane flying overhead via a rope ladder. She loses her grip on the ladder and is fatally injured.[27][28]
^Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, ISBN1-55750-432-6, p. 15.
^Gooch, John, Mussolini and His Generals: The Armed Forces and Fascist Foreign Policy, 1922–1940, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN978-0-521-85602-7, p. 50.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917–1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 215.
^Jensen, Richard, "The Suicide Club," Aviation History, May 2017, p. 64.
^ abcBery, Coline (2016). Adrienne Bolland ou les ailes de la liberté. Le Passeur. p. PT230. ISBN9782368904664.
^ abcGuttman, Jon, "Crazy Capronis," Aviation History, July 2008, p. 55.
^Gooch, John, Mussolini and His Generals: The Armed Forces and Fascist Foreign Policy, 1922–1940, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN978-0-521-85602-7, p. 54.
^ abcDaniel, Clifton, ed., Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987, ISBN0-942191-01-3, p. 280.
^Gooch, John, Mussolini and His Generals: The Armed Forces and Fascist Foreign Policy, 1922–1940, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN978-0-521-85602-7, p. 39.
^Madigan, Tim, The Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, New York: St. Martin's Press, 2001, ISBN0-312-27283-9, pp. 4, 131-132, 144, 159, 164, 249.
^McCabe, Scott, "Crime History: Dozens Killed During Tulsa Race Riot", The Washington Examiner, May 31, 2013, p. 8.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN0-517-56588-9, p. 182.
^Chant, Chris, The World's Great Bombers, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000, ISBN0-7607-2012-6, p. 48.
^Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, Second Edition, London: Putnam, 1976, ISBN0-370-10054-9, p. 2.
^Butler, Glen, "That Other Air Service Centennial", Naval History, June 2012, p. 57, claims that the United States Navy created the Bureau of Aeronautics in July 1921.
^Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN0-87021-295-8, p. 199.
^Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, ISBN1-55750-432-6, pp. 17–20.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 195.
^ abcAngelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 121.
^"Today in History," Washington Post Express, December 1, 2011, Page 62.
^Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN0-87021-210-9, p. 121.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 76.
^ abAngelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 423.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 291.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 63.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN0-517-56588-9, p. 422.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 198.
