including the First World War
One of the best fighters of World War One, widely used by French, American, and other Allied squadrons, 8,472 being produced.
In 1916 a new generation of German fighters threatened to win air superiority over the Western Front. The French aircraft company, Société pour l’Aviation et ses Dérives (SPAD), responded by developing a replacement for its [...]
The famed American volunteers of the French Lafayette Escadrille were flying the SPAD VII in February 1918 at the time they transferred to the U.S. Army Air Service, becoming the 103rd Aero Squadron. Several other U.S. units also used the SPAD VII, although most American Expeditionary Force (AEF) fighter squadrons were equipped with the improved version, [...]
A woefully underpowered machine, the H.F. 20 Series planes could only be used on observation flights in France. It also served as a trainer, and in secondary theaters, notably in German East Africa where an H.F.22 variant participated in the hunt for the Konigsberg.
Top Speed: 65 m.p.h.
Manufacturer: Farman Freres
Year: 1914
Engine: 80 h.p. [...]
Top Speed: 75 m.p.h.
Manufacturer: Deutsche Flugzeug-Werke
Year: 1914
Engine: 100 h.p. Mercedes 6-cylinder
Wingspan: 45 feet 11 inches
Weight: 2,233 lb.
Armament: none
The American Navy dirigible or blimp C-5 left Montauk Point on May 14, 1919 in an attempt to cross the Atlantic by way of Halifax, where it arrived at 10 o’clock on the morning of May 16th, after being in the air almost 26 hours. A perfect landing was made at the Pleasantville base [...]
An attempt was made to cross the Atlantic in a Sopwith Atlantic biplane by Com. Mackenzie Grieve and Maj. Harry Hawker on 18 May 1919. This plane generally followed the design of Sopwith warplanes, and had a 46 feet wingspan and was 31 feet long, weighing 6000 pounds fully equipped for flight. It was supposed [...]
The British dirigible R-34 left East Fortune, near Edinburgh, Scotland, at 2 A.M., July 2, 1919 and proceeded via Newfoundland to Mineóla, New York, arriving at Roosevelt Field at 9 A.M., Sunday, July 6. To show that this was not merely good fortune, a return trip even more successful was made, leaving New York at [...]
The first non-stop flight from America to Europe was accomplished in 1919 by the Vickers “Vimy” Bomber, a bi-motored Rolls-Royce airplane, piloted by Captain John Alcock and navigated by Lieut. Arthur W. Brown.
The trip started at St. Johns, Newfoundland, at 12.13 P.M., New York time, on Saturday, June 14, 1919 and 16 hours and [...]
The year 1919 was memorable in the history of aviation for the first successful flight across the Atlantic, achieved by aviators of the United States Navy using NC flying boats, jointly developed by the United States Navy and the Curtiss Engineering Corporation, the N in the designation standing for navy and the C for Curtiss. [...]
In 1920, the Nieuport-Delage Ni-D 29 was the fastest airplane in the world. Designed by the Nieuport firm for the French Aviation Militaire in 1918, the Ni-D 29 appeared too late for combat in WWI. Following its record-breaking performance in the 1920 Gordon Bennett Trophy race, when it flew 168 miles per hour, it was [...]
