This is a list of aviation-related events from 1916:
Events Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft simulate night torpedo attacks for the first time against Japanese fleet units in Tateyama Bay during annual fleet maneuvers, although no torpedoes are dropped.Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909–1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, , p. 35. The British Admiralty invites bids for aircraft catapults for the first time, asking for electric, hydraulic, and compressed air catapults. It does not pursue electric or hydraulic types, but two compressed-air types are produced.Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849–1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, , p. 78. Officers of the Chilean Navy begin flight training in Chile. It is the beginning of a Chilean naval aviation arm - the first Latin American naval air arm - which is subordinated to the Chilean Army's Military Aviation Service of Chile.Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810–1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, , pp. 198–199. Spring – British officials order one million rounds of .303-caliber (7.7-mm) explosive and incendiary ammunition for use by aircraft against German airships. The ammunition will be issued to Royal Flying Corps home air defense squadrons during the summer.Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, p. 139.
January On a single evening, 10 of the 16 Royal Flying Corps aircraft which take off to defend England against German air attack crash, killing three pilots. By May, RFC night flying skills will have improved to the point that 10 aircraft that take off on a single evening all land safely.Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, p. 138. January 12 – German aces Max Immelmann and Oswald Boelcke, each with eight kills, are the first pilots awarded the Pour le Mérite ("Blue Max"). January 13 – The Curtiss Aeroplane Company, Curtiss Motor Company, Curtiss Engineering Company, and Burgess and Curtis merge to form the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 108. January 14 – In response to high losses German Fokker Eindecker fighters are inflicting on Allied reconnaissance aircraft flying over the Western Front, Royal Flying Corps Headquarters orders that reconnaissance planes have an escort of at least three fighters flying in close formation with them, and that a reconnaissance aircraft must abort its flight if even one of the three fighters becomes detached from the formation for any reason.Franks, Norman, Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998, , p. 20. January 18 – The world's first practical all-metal aircraft, the Junkers J 1, makes its first true flight. January 29 – The second and last Zeppelin raid on Paris inflicts 54 casualties. January 31-February 1 (overnight) – German airships resume bombing raids against the United Kingdom, as nine Imperial German Navy Zeppelins led personally by the chief of the German Naval Airship Division Peter Strasser attempt to attack Liverpool. None do, and they scatter their bombs widely around the English Midlands. Zeppelin L.19 (LZ 54) and her entire crew are lost in the raid; she is last seen on February 3 when the British trawler King Stephen finds her floating in the North Sea, speaks with her crew, and then leaves them to their fate.Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, p. 131–133.
February The German Army's air service, the Imperial German Flying Corps, takes the first step toward forming separate fighter squadrons by establishing Kampfeinsitzer Kommando ("single-seat battle unit," abbreviated as KEK) formations consisting only of fighter aircraft. KEK units form in France at Vaux-en-Vermandois, Avillers, Jametz, Cunel, and other strategic locations along the Western Front to act as Luftwachtdienst (aerial guard force) units. Command of all pilots, airplanes, and searchlights devoted to the defense of London from air attack is consolidated under a single commander – Major T. C. Higgins, the commanding officer of the Royal Flying Corps's No. 19 Reserve Squadron at Hounslow – for the first time.Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 130. February 6 – Aircraft from the Imperial Russian Navy Black Sea Fleet's seaplane carriers Imperator Nikolai I and Imperator Aleksandr I sink the Ottoman collier Irmingard (4,211 grt). Irmingard is the largest ship sunk by air attack in World War I.Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849–1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, , p. 101. February 21 – The Battle of Verdun begins. The Germans deploy 168 aircraft. To support the morale of French troops defending against the German offensive, the future French ace Jean Navarre soon begins daily aerobatic flights over the front line in a Nieuport 11 Bébé ("Baby") fighter with its fuselage painted in French red, white, and blue.Hollway, Don, "The Sentinel of Verdun," Aviation History, November 2012, p. 38. February 26 – Merely by appearing behind a German two-seat aircraft over the Verdun battlefield, Jean Navarre induces its crew to land in French-held territory and surrender without ever firing a shot. Later that morning he shoots down a German bomber for his fifth victory.Hollway, Don, "The Sentinel of Verdun," Aviation History, November 2012, pp. 38–39.
March Air defense of the United Kingdom becomes solely the responsibility of the Royal Flying Corps; previously, it has shared the responsibility with the Royal Naval Air Service. The RFC is also authorized to form its first ten Home Defense squadrons.Whitehouse, Arch (1966). The Zeppelin Fighters. New York: Ace Books. No ISBN. pp.129–130. March 16 – United States Army aircraft fly their first mission over foreign soil when Curtiss JN-3s of the 1st Aero Squadron carry out reconnaissance over Mexico. March 18 – German ace Ernst Udet scores his first kill. March 21 – Captain-Commandant of the United States Coast Guard Ellsworth P. Bertholf orders Coast Guard experimentation with the use of aircraft and directs Third Lieutenant Elmer F. Stone to begin flight training. It is the birth of U.S. Coast Guard aviation. March 24 – Royal Flying Corps receives its first of many Nieuport fighters, a Nieuport 16. March 31–April 1 (overnight) – Seven German Navy Zeppelins attempt to bomb London. Two turn back with engine trouble, and L 15 is so badly damaged by British fighters and antiaircraft guns that she crash-lands off the coast of England and her crew is captured.Whitehouse, Arch (1966). The Zeppelin Fighters. New York: Ace Books. pp.134–137.
April A new French "balloon-busting" weapon, the Le Prieur rocket, is tested for the first time. The German Army's air service, the Fliegertruppe, sets a goal of having 37 new Jagdstaffeln (fighter squadrons) in service by April 1917. The Royal Flying Corps establishes its first Home Defense squadron, No. 39 Home Defense Squadron, at Hounslow. The Imperial Japanese Navy establishes its first land-based air group (Kōkūtai), the Yokosuka Naval Air Group.Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909–1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, , pp. 14, 29, 253, 255. April 1 The Royal Naval Air Service Training Establishment, Cranwell, is founded at Cranwell, Lincolnshire, England. It later will become RAF Cranwell. United States Coast Guard Third Lieutenant Elmer F. Stone begins flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Pensacola, Florida. He is the first U.S. Coast Guard aviator. April 1–2 (overnight) through April 5–6 (overnight) – German Navy airships raid England for five more nights straight.Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, p. 137. April 15 – Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service aircraft deliver 13 tons of stores into Kut el Amara, Mesopotamia, while it is besieged by the Turks. It is the first time aircraft are used for such a purpose. April 20 – The Escadrille Américaine ("American Squadron"), later to be known as the Lafayette Escadrille ("Lafayette Squadron"), is established as an American volunteer unit in France, equipped with Nieuport 11s.
May May 1 – Lydia Zvereva, the first Russian woman and eighth woman worldwide to earn a pilot's certificate, dies of typhoid fever at the age of 26. May 2 – Eight German Zeppelins raid the east coast of England, causing 39 casualties. The Zeppelin LZ 59 (L 20) is wrecked in a storm off Stavanger, Norway on the return journey. May 17 – Parasite fighter experiments to launch a Bristol Scout fighter from a Felixstowe Porte Baby trimotor flying boat begin in the United Kingdom with a successful flight and separation by the two aircraft. The experiments are intended to enhance the capability of fighter aircraft to intercept German dirigibles patrolling over the North Sea at high altitudes. The concept soon falls out of favor as experiments with launching aircraft from ships meet with success.Johnsen, Frederick A., "Mother Ships," Aviation History, January 2018, p. 48. May 18 – Kiffin Rockwell shoots down a German two-seater aircraft, the first aerial victory claimed by the Lafayette Escadrille, an American-manned squadron of the French Air Service.Franks, Norman, Aircraft Versus Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998, , p. 29. May 19 – French ace Jean Navarre shoots down a German Aviatik C over Chattancourt, France, becoming the first Allied ace credited with 10 victories. May 22 – The first operational use of rockets by aircraft, and the first aircraft-on-aircraft use of rockets, takes place when eight French aces including Charles Nungesser, Joseph-Henri Guiguet, and Jean Chaput flying Nieuport 16s make an early-morning attack that downed six German observation balloons using Le Prieur rockets. May 31 – A Short Type 184 from the Royal Navy seaplane carrier Engadine achieves the only British aerial reconnaissance flight of the Battle of Jutland, reporting the sighting of three cruisers and ten destroyers of the German High Seas Fleet before a broken fuel pipe forces it to end the mission.Chant, Chris, The World's Great Bombers, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000, , p. 15.
June Oswald Boelcke's Dicta Boelcke, the first pamphlet on tactics for aerial warfare, is distributed to the German Air Service. June 9 – American naval aviation pioneer Richard C. Saufley is killed on Santa Rosa Island during a flight from Naval Aeronautic Station Pensacola, Florida when his Curtiss Model E hydroplane AH-8 goes down at the 8-hour-51-minute mark of his flight. June 15 – The Boeing Model 1, or B & W Seaplane, makes its first flight. 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 an FE.2b from the Royal Flying Corps's No. 25 Squadron, a symbolic end to the "Fokker Scourge". He had scored 15 kills. June 24 Victor Chapman of the Lafayette Escadrille becomes the first American airman to be killed in action, shot down near Verdun-sur-Meuse. Eduardo Bradley and Angel María Zuloaga became the first to cross the Andes on an aerostat filled with coal gas. The eastbound flight reached an altitude of 8,100m where the temperature dropped to −30 °C. The adventure lasted three and a half hours from the moment of liftoff in Santiago to the landing in Cerro de la Cepa, Uspallata, Mendoza.