Germany is unified as an Imperial federation of states, led by the King of Prussia (Kaiser Wilhelm I) and defeats France in the Franco-Prussian War. This spurs a new era of population growth and rapid industrialization. The Germans forcibly annex the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine from France.

The Russian Empire and France form their own partnership in 1891, in reaction to the Triple Alliance.

Britain and France sign a series of agreements on April 8th called the Entente Cordial, signifying the end of British neutrality in continental Europe. The agreements directly concern colonies, but were motivated by the fear of German antagonism, including the Kaiser’s attempt to build a battle fleet to challenge England on the high seas.

The Anglo-Russian Entente is signed on August 31, 1907, to identify respective control in Persia, Afghanistan and Tibet. France, Britain, and Russia form the Triple Entente in an attempt to balance the growing German threat. The alliance is later called “the Allies.”

Eugene B. Ely makes the first airplane takeoff from a warship when he flies from the cruiser USS Birmingham off Norfolk, Virginia on November 14th.

The air forces of Europe are established as: the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in Britain; the Fliegertruppe (Flying Troops), in Germany and the Aéronautique Militaire in France.

Roland Garros becomes the first person to cross the Mediterranean Sea by air, in a Morane-Saulnier monoplane.

A French civilian pilot, René Caudron, makes a shipboard takeoff in an airplane from a ramp constructed over the foredeck of the seaplane carrier Foudre, using a Caudron G.3 amphibian floatplane.

The first flight of the flying boat America, which businessman Rodman Wanamaker has ordered with a goal of sponsoring the first transatlantic flight, occurs at Hammondsport, New York. The outbreak of World War I five weeks later will prevent the transatlantic attempt from taking place.

The Naval Wing of the British RFC separates from the RFC and establishes itself as a separate entity, the Royal Naval Air Service, under the control of the Royal Navy. Previously given the responsibility for the operation of all British military airships, the Royal Navy retains control of all British airships until December 1919.

Walter L. Brock wins the London–Paris return air race.

The Austro-Hungarian Navy battleships Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand, Radetzky, and SMS Zrínyi each transport one flying boat from Pola to the Gulf of Cattaro on the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic Sea. The following day they carry out a reconnaissance of the border with Montenegro. These are the first operational flights in Europe by naval aircraft.

Russia begins partial troop mobilization as a precaution. The Germans then warn Russia on its mobilization and begin to mobilize themselves.

Russia begins full mobilization of its troops in reaction to the Austrian attack on Serbia. Germany demands that it stop.

The air order of battle on the Western Front is approximately: RFC 48; France 136; Germany 180 aircraft.

Germany and Russia enter World War I with Germany '​s declaration of war on Russia; German Army mobilizes.

The United Kingdom and France declare war on Germany. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) is ordered to France under the command of Field Marshal Sir John French.

Dutch military aircraft display an Orange disc on each side of the fuselage and on the upper and lower surfaces of the wings.

The Imperial German Army Zeppelin Z VI is the first airship lost in combat. Badly damaged by artillery and infantry gunfire on her first combat mission while bombing Liège, Belgium, at low altitude, she limps back into Germany and is wrecked in a crash-landing in a forest near Bonn.

The French dirigible Fleurus becomes the first Allied aircraft to fly over Germany during World War I, conducting a reconnaissance mission from August 10-11.

Lieutenant Robin R. Skene and mechanic R. Barlow crash their Blériot monoplane on the way to Dover, becoming the first members of the RFC to die on active duty.

The French Voisin III becomes the first true bomber and is used in combat for the first time in an attack on German airship hangars at Metz-Frascaty, Germany.

Two Imperial Germany Army Zeppelins on their first combat missions become the second and third airships lost in combat after being damaged by French infantry and artillery fire during low-altitude missions in the Vosges mountains. Z VII limps back into Germany to crash near St. Quirin in Lothringen, while Z VIII crash-lands in Badonvillers Forest near Badonvillers, France, where French cavalry drives off her crew and loots her. The loss of three airships on their first combat missions in August sours the German Army on the further combat use of airships.

An early attempt to get a Lewis gun into action in air-to-air combat fails when a RFC Farman armed with one scrambles to intercept a German Albatros and takes 30 minutes to climb to 1,000 feet, with the lack of performance blamedon the gun's weight. On landing, the pilot is ordered to remove the Lewis gun and carry a rifle on future missions

British Capt GS Shepard and Lt IM Bonham-Carter observe and report that Gen. Kluck’s right wing was likely to outflank the British left flank unless the BEF retreat is maintained.

Flying a Morane-Saulnier Type G monoplane, Imperial Russian Army pilot Pyotr N. Nesterov becomes the first pilot to down an enemy aircraft in aerial combat. After firing unsuccessfully with a pistol at an Austro-Hungarian Albatros B. II crewed by Franz Malina (pilot) and Baron Friederich von Rosenthal (observer), Nesterov rams the Albatros. Both aircraft crash, killing all three men.

German Lt Ferdinand von Hiddessen bombs Paris for the first time in an Etrich Taube.

First Sea Lord Winston Churchill establishes the policy for the air defense of the United Kingdom. He calls for the use of antiaircraft artillery and searchlights around likely targets; the deployment of aircraft forward in Europe to attack all Zeppelin and other enemy air bases within reach; the interception of enemy aircraft between Dover and London by British aircraft, coordinated by telephone and telegraph; the basing of aircraft at Hendon specifically for the defense of London, with their crews specifically trained and equipped for night-fighting and their operations also coordinated by telephone; a blackout in major cities; and warning the public of the dangers of air attack, precautions against it, and how to take shelter when under air attack

French reconnaissance aircraft spot a gap between the First and Second German Armies as they head southeast toward the Marne.

During the Siege of Tsingtao, the Imperial Japanese Navy carries out its first air combat mission. A three-seat Farman seaplane from the Wakamiya bombs German fortifications at Tsingtao, China, and conducts a reconnaissance of Kiaochow Bay.

The Canadian Aviation Corps is formed.

The first French bomber group is formed.

Two British scouts join BEF as first fighter contingent and attach rifles to fuselage at an angle to fire around the propeller.

The Imperial Japanese Navy auxiliary cruiser Chikezen Maru carries two floatplanes during an unsuccessful search for the Imperial German Navy armed merchant raider Wolf in the Indian Ocean.

Two RNAS Sopwith Tabloids set out to attack the Zeppelin sheds at Düsseldorf. One of the aircraft attacks the Cologne railway station instead, but the other, piloted by Flight Lieutenant Reggie Marix, finds his target and destroys a shed holding the German Army Zeppelin Z IX (or LZ25) as well as Z IX itself. This is the first time that an airplane destroys a dirigible.

The British hasten to adopt roundel insignia based on a reverse of the French cockade.

The RFC identifies the first two missions of its aircraft: photography and artillery spotting. No one identifies the need for an air superiority mission.

The world’s first women combat aviator, Princess Eugenie M. Shakhovskaya, is assigned to the Imperial Russian I Field Air Squadron as a reconnaissance pilot.

Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the Secretary of State for the German Navy, advocating massed Zeppelin attacks on London, writes, "The English are now in terror of the Zeppelin, perhaps not without reason...[S]ingle bombs from flying machines are wrong; they are odious when they hit and kill old women, and one gets used to them. If [however] one could set fire to London in thirty places, then what in a small way is odious would retire before something fine and powerful."

The first air-sea battle in history occurs when Japanese Navy Farman seaplanes make an unsuccessful attempt to bomb German and Austro-Hungarian ships in Kiaochow Bay during the Siege of Tsingtao.

The first US Navy flying school opens at Pensacola, Florida.

SMS Glyndwr is the first Imperial German Navy aviation ship to be commissioned. She serves initially as a seaplane pilot training ship.

Flying a Maurice Farman biplane, Royal Naval Air Service Wing Commander Charles R. Samson conducts history '​s first night bombing raid, attacking Ostend, Belgium.

The first successful photographic missions are flown over the Western Front. The negatives are developed and distributed to staffs and ground units to record enemy positions.

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.

French Second Lieutenant Adolphe Pégoud shoots down his first aircraft on his way to becoming the world’s first “Ace.”

Russian Sikorsky Ilya Muromets bombers attack the Vistula-Dobrzhani area of Poland, the first bombing raid by this aircraft.

The British begin the naval bombardment of the Dardanelles, spearheaded by the first lord of the British Admiralty, Winston Churchill (over the strong opposition of the First Sea Lord Admiral John Fisher). On March 18, 18 Allied battleships enter the straits; Turkish fire, including undetected mines, sink three of the ships and severely damage three others.

The Imperial Russian Navy '​s Black Sea Fleet begins seaplane carrier raids against the Bosporus and the Ottoman Empire '​s European Black Sea coast. The raids, which continue until May, are history '​s first in which battleships play a subsidiary role while operating with aviation ships, foreshadowing the aircraft carrier-battleship task forces of World War II

The third German attempt to bomb the United Kingdom fails when the naval Zeppelin L-8, sent to attack alone, encounters a gale over the North Sea and is blown out of control over Nieuwpoort, Belgium, where Belgian antiaircraft gunners shoot her down.

The Royal Navy charters the cargo ship SS Manica for conversion into the first British balloon ship, HMS Manica. The Royal Navy will be the only navy during World War I to operate balloon ships, specialized ships designed to handle observation balloons as their sole function.

Imperial Russian Air Service Stabskapitän Alexander Kazakov uses a grapnel to hook his aircraft to a German Albatros two-seater aircraft in mid-air, hoping to destroy the Albatros by detonating a small bomb fixed to the device. When his mechanism jams as he unreels it, he instead downs the Albatros by ramming it with his undercarriage.

Future French ace Jean Navarre and his observer/gunner, Sub-Lieutenant Jean Robert, in a Morane-Saulnier L, attack a German Aviatik B.I over Merval, France. Robert uses a carbine to damage it and wounds its pilot, forcing it to land behind French lines and surrender. It is their first victory.

Adolphe Pégoud scores his fourth and fifth aerial victories, becoming history 's first ace, although the designation is not widely known or accepted. Pegoud had been a pre-war daredevil pilot and a publicist of his own efforts to demonstrate aviation to the public. The French newspapers described him as a “Volant l’As” (Flying Ace). A sixth victory follows on July 11, but on August 31 Pegoud is killed in an air-to-air encounter with one of the German students he taught before the war, Corporal Walter Kandulski.

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.

Roland Garros suffers an engine malfunction; he lands behind German lines, and the Germans learn the secret of his machine gun bullet deflectors. The Germans call Anthony Fokker to examine the device.

Flying a BE-2C, RFC 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.

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.

Second Lieutenant William Rhodes-Moorhouse of the RFC '​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 to receive the Victoria Cross.

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.

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.

Italy enters World War I on the side of the Allies, declaring war on Austria-Hungary.

The German Navy Zeppelin LZ 38 carries out the first air raid on London, killing seven people and injuring 14.")

Flight Sub-Lieutenant Reginald Warneford of the RNAS '​s No. 1 Squadron, flying a Morane-Saulnier L, destroys Zeppelin LZ 37. This victory is the first airship downed air-to-air combat by use of a bomb. The event occurs over Ghent, Belgium, as LZ 37 crashes in Sint-Amandsberg, Belgium, killing one person on the ground and all but one of the crew. Within 36 hours, Warneford receives the Victoria Cross for the action.

RNAS Flight Sub-Lieutenant Reginald Warneford receives the French Légion d'honneur in Paris for shooting down the Zeppelin LZ 37 on June 7, but shortly after the ceremony, he and Henry Beach Newman, an American journalist, die in the crash of a new Farman biplane during takeoff from Buc.

German Leutnant Kurt Wintgens, flying the Fokker M.5K/MG, E.5/15 production prototype of the Fokker Eindecker fighter (one of five built) armed with a Parabellum MG14 gun, achieves the first claimed aerial victory using a synchronization gear which allows a machine gun to shoot through a turning propeller without hitting its blades. He claimed downing a Morane-Saulnier L two-seat "parasol" observation aircraft over the Western Front. However, the claim is unconfirmed because the aircraft fell beyond German lines. Wintgens would down two more Morane Type L two-seaters, one each on July 4 (again unconfirmed) and 15, with the July 15th victory being his first confirmed victory, all achieved with E.5/15.

Wintgens battle begins the "Fokker scourge," the first period of German air superiority, in which German Fokker Eindeckers will take a heavy toll of Allied aircraft over the Western Front.

The French Navy seaplane carrier Pas-de-Calais is commissioned. She is the first paddle steamer to serve as an aviation vessel.

The US Department of the Navy establishes an Office of Naval Aeronautics, the first formal recognition of naval aviation within the United States Navy bureaucracy.

The French ace Georges Guynemer scores the first of his 54 victories, flying a Morane-Saulnier L monoplane named Vieux Charles, shooting down a German Aviatik.

Leutnant Max Immelmann shoots down a BE-2C, his first victory, with the lMG 08-armed production Fokker E.I, E.13/15, beginning his career to become an ace.

A British a Sopwith Baby equipped with wheeled floats takes off from a platform on HMS Campania, a fully operational British aviation ship for the first time.

Fokker Eindecker E-1s shoot down four British aircraft from 4 Squadron, accelerating the “Fokker Scourge.”

Flying a Short 184 from HMS Ben-my-Chree. RNAS Flight Commander Charles Edmonds becomes the first pilot to attack a ship with an air-launched torpedo in his attack of a 5,000-gross-register-ton Turkish supply ship during the Dardanelles Campaign.

Four German Navy airships attempt to bomb London. Two turn back with engine trouble, and L 11 mistakenly bombs open fields near Ashford and Faversham. L 10, however, becomes the first German Navy airship ever to reach London.

The first sustained aerial bombing offensive is made by Italian Caproni Ca.2s against Austria-Hungary. The Ca.2 becomes the first Italian bomber to strike enemy troop positions during World War I.

The first ace, Adolphe Pegoud, Escadrille MS-49 is killed in combat. He had scored six victories.

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.

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 660-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.

Admiral Henning von Holtzendorff, Chief, 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.

The German Air Service, with its Fokker Eindeckers, increasingly exerts air superiority over the 25 squadrons of the RFC.

Five German Navy Zeppelins attempt to bomb London after a five-week hiatus, L 15 bombs central London, during which RFC pilot John Slessor, flying a BE-2c, intercepts her, becoming the first man to intercept an enemy aircraft over the United Kingdom, although he is unable to fire. 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.

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.

Bulgaria enters the war on the side of the Central Powers and activates her Army Aviation Corps.

Boelcke downs victory number six. Boelcke and Immelmann’s success leads the other Eindecker pilots to become increasingly aggressive, causing great concern among the RFC and French units. The Allies are forced to add escorts for reconnaissance missions.

The United States Navy armored cruiser USS North Carolina becomes the first warship to launch an aircraft by catapult, launching a Curtiss AB-2 flying boat piloted by Lieutenant Commander Henry Mustin over her stern.

The United States Army  forms the 2d Aero Squadron.

Field Marshal Sir John French is relieved, and command of the BEF is given to General Sir Douglas Haig as a result of the failure of the Loos offensive.

The "Fokker Scourge" continues into January with Oswald Boelcke being transferrred to the Verdun Front and Max Immelmann remaining in Flanders. The RFC and French have no answer to the Fokker Eindecker monoplane and its syncronized machine guns.

German aces Oswald Boelcke and Max Immelmann, each with eight victories, are the first pilots awarded the Pour le Mérite ("Blue Max").

The second and last Zeppelin raid on Paris inflicts 54 casualties.

The German Air Service 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, [disambiguation needed], Jametz, Cunel, and other strategic locations along the Western Front.

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.

The German army launches a battle of attrition at Verdun. To support the morale of French troops defending against the German offensive, the future French ace Jean Navarre 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.

The French introduction of the Nieuport 11 "Bene" with a forward-firing machine gun, and the British deployment of the de Havilland DH-2 affect the air battle. Both are better than the Fokker Eindecker, and the balance of air superiority begins to tip to the Allies.

Oswald Boelcke moves his small section of two o Eindeckers, KEK Sivry, closer to the front at Verdun to respond quickly to intercept opposing aircraft incursions.

German Leutnant Ernst Udet scores his first victory. He will end the war with 62 victories to becme the second highest German ace and the fourth ranking of all World War I aces.

Captain-Commandant of the US Coast Guard Ellsworth P. Bertholf orders experimentation with the use of aircraft and directs Third Lieutenant Elmer F. Stone to begin flight training. It is the birth of US Coast Guard aviation.

The first Bristol Scout, a rotary-engined, tractor biplane arrives in France with 24 Squadron. From this point on, all British single-seat fighters will be called “scouts,” meaning fast reconnaissance.

Beginning in April, the British increasingly control the air over the Somme battlefield, aided by the German Air Service’s concentration at Verdun.

The French Le Prieur rocket, a new Allied "balloon-busting" weapon, is used for the first time.

The RFC establishes its first Home Defense squadron, No. 39 Home Defense Squadron, at Hounslow.

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.

Navy Lt. R.C. Saufley, flying a Curtis pusher biplane, sets a world altitude record of 16,072 feet.

RFC and Royal Naval Air Service RNAS 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. Despite this herculean effort, the British forces are forced to surrender on April 29.

The Sherif of Mecca and his family lead a revolt against the Ottoman Empire. The British government establishes the Air Board in a first attempt to coordinate RFC and RNAS procurement.

The Lafayette Escadrille flies French Nieuport 11s on its first patrol over Mulhouse on the Verdun Front, led by Corporal Kiffin Rockwell.

Kiffin Rockwell shoots down a German two-seater aircraft, the first aerial victory claimed by the Lafayette Escadrille.

Boelcke scores victory number 17, and the Emperor promotes him to Captain (Hauptmann). At 24 years old he becomes the youngest Captain in the Prussian army.

French pilots shoot down five German observation balloons with La Prieur rockets.

Flight Lt. F. J. Rutland, flying 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.

American naval aviation pioneer Richard C. Saufley is killed on Santa Rosa Island on a flight out of the 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.

German ace Max Immelmann dies when his Fokker Eindecker E. III crashes. A German investigation determines the aircraft came apart in flight; the British credit DH-2 pilot James T. B. McCudden with the victory. Immelmann had scored 15 victories.

Victor Chapman of the Lafayette Escadrille becomes the first American airman to be killed in action, flying a Nieuport 16, shot down near Verdun-sur-Meuse.

Since January 1, 46 German airship sorties have crossed the coast of England between Yorkshire and Kent, and German airships have attacked London twice. British aircraft defending England have contributed (with antiaircraft guns) to the shooting down of only one German airship.

The British and French launch the Battle of the Somme begins. The British maintain air superiority over the battlefield for three months, but then lose it to the Germans, led by Boelcke’s Jagdstaffel 2. In the five months of the battle, the RFC loses 782 aircraft and 576 pilots and lose air superiority over the battlefield.

William Boeing founds the Pacific Aero Products Company. In 1917 it will be renamed Boeing Airplane Company.

The second phase of the Battle of the Somme begins.

The Imperial Russian Navy '​s Black Sea Fleet raids Varna, Bulgaria, employing a seaplane carrier-battleship force.

French ace Capitaine René Fonck gains his first confirmed victory. With 75 victories, He will become the highest-scoring Allied ace and second-highest-scoring ace overall of the War.

Jagdstaffel (Jasta) 1 is officially formed with Hauptmann Martin Zander as commander.

Albert Ball of 60 Squadron shoots down three German aircraft in one day.

Jasta 1 is formed at Bertincourt with Martin Zander as commander. Their aircraft include the Albatros D. I, the first true fighter aircraft with two forward-firing machine guns.

Led by the commander of the Imperial German Navy '​s airship force, Peter Strasser, aboard the Zeppelin L 32, 13 German naval airships attack England overnight. Several are damaged by British antiaircraft fire and a British seaplane and most of their bombs miss their targets widely, but L 31 under Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Mathy bombs southeast London, inflicting £130,000 in damage, including damage to a power station at Deptford, and killing nine and injuring 40 civilians.

Romania enters World War I on the Allied side, declaring war on Austria-Hungary.

Field Marshal von Hindenburg replaces General von Falkenhayn as Chief of the General Staff. His first decision is to terminate the offensive at Verdun and concentrate forces to defend the Somme.

A formation of German Gotha G.III heavy bombers destroys the railway bridge over the Danube River at Cernavodă, Romania.

12 German Navy and four German Army airships raid southeast England in the largest airship raid of World War I; they drop 823 bombs totaling 38,979 pounds, killing four people and injuring 12. RFC Lieutenant William Leefe-Robinson, flying a BE-2c, shoots down the German Army airship SL 11, which falls spectacularly in flames near London, killing her entire crew of 16. The German Army Airship Service withdraws from future bombing raids on England, leaving the bombing campaign to German naval airships. This is considered the turning point in the defense of the United Kingdom against German airship raids.

Britain awards Lieutenant William Leefe-Robinson the Victoria Cross for shooting down SL-11.

Two Austro-Hungarian Lohner flying boats, led by Fregattenleutnant Zelezny, sink the British submarine B-10 and the French submarine Foucault. B10 is the first submarine sunk by aircraft, and Foucault is the first submarine sunk at sea by aircraft

Kiffin Rockwell is killed flying a Nieuport 17 in combat with a German two-seater.

Twelve German Navy Zeppelins attack England over two days. Most scatter their bombs widely, and bombs strike Nottingham and Grimsby. L 33 bombs central London with 42 high-explosive and 20 incendiary bombs, hitting several warehouses and setting fire to an oil depot, a lumber yard, and several groups of houses, with 10 people killed and 12 seriously injured. L 31 under Heinrich Mathy also bombs London, destroying a tramcar, damaging houses and shops, and killing 13 and injuring 33 people. Two of the newest Zeppelins are shot down, L 33 by ground fire and L 32 by RAF Lieutenant Frederick Sowrey; L 33 '​s crew is captured and L 32 '​s is killed.

Nine German Navy Zeppelins set out to attack England. L 22 bombs an armament factory complex in Sheffield, killing 28 and injuring 19 people, and L 21 drops several bombs on Bolton. Others turn back, and the rest scatter their bombs widely over the countryside and sea.

Oswald Boelcke continues to lead Jasta 2 and fly his Albatros D. II prototype 386/16. He shots down nine more between October 1 and the 24th.

Jasta commander Oswald Boelcke and Manfred von Richthofen each get a victory. It is Boelcke’s 39th and von Richthofen’s sixth.

Oswald Boelcke is killed in an aircraft accident when he and his wingman, Erwin Böhme, collide. Boelcke’s Albatros spins out of control. Boelcke’s death is a great blow to the German Air Force as he was a fabled leader, honored and respected by friend and foe alike. He is Germany '​s leading ace with 40 victories at the time of his death. He is considered by history to be the "father" of the German Air Force and the father of air combat. World War I will end with him tied with Oberleutnant Lothar von Richthofen and Leutnant Franz Buchner as the 10th-highest-scoring German aces of the conflict.

Cpl. Eugene Bullard of the United States, flying for the French, becomes the world's first black pilot.

The British end the Battle of the Somme, which resulted in 1,265,000 casualties.

After a lengthy dogfight, British ace Lanoe Hawker, VC, flying an Airco DH.2, is shot down and killed by Manfred von Richthofen in an Albatros D.II. Lanoe '​s score stands at seven kills at the time of his death, and he is von Richthofen '​s 11th victory.

The first bombing of central London by a fixed-wing aircraft takes place when a German LVG C.II biplane flown by R. Brandt drops six bombs near Victoria Station.

The German Emperor renames Jasta 2, Jasta “Boelcke,” the first such honor to be bestowed on a German Air Force unit.

In Operation Iron Cross, the Imperial German Navy dirigibles L 35 and L 38 attempt the first bombing of Petrograd, Russia. Neither bombs the target due to clouds and bad weather, and L 38 makes a forced landing at Seemuppen, Courland, in German-occupied Russia, where strong winds eventually destroy her on December 29.

17,341 officers and men are deployed in the United Kingdom for home air defense. Among them are 12,000 officers and men manning antiaircraft guns and 2,200 officers and men assigned to the 12 RFC squadrons operating 110 aeroplanes.S

The German Air Force begins the year with more advanced aircraft and more experienced pilots than the British or French and continue to hold air superiority that would culminate in “Bloody April.” The Germans dominate the ground battlefield in preparation for their withdrawal to shorten their front on the Hindenburg Line in March.

The German Air Force deploys the Albatros D. III, which is designed with a thin lower wing, like the Nieuport fighter. The aircraft is more maneuverable than other biplanes, but the wing is subject to frequent failures, and the type is grounded at the end of the month until the wing can be strengthened. After the alterations, the Albatros D. III becomes the most numerous German fighter during “Bloody April.”

The Royal Navy seaplane carrier Ben-my-Chree is sunk by Ottoman artillery while in harbor at Castelorizo Island, becoming the only aviation ship of any nationality sunk by enemy action during World War I.

The French conduct an air raid on Freiburg, Germany

RFC '​s No. 100 Squadron is formed as the first British night bomber unit, flying FE-2Bs.

Germany announces it was returning to the policy of unrestricted submarine warfare it had previously suspended in response to pressure from the United States and other neutral countries. This is one of the major factors that leads the US to enter the war later this year.

Flying a SPAD VII, the French ace Georges Guynemer becomes the first Allied pilot to shoot down a German heavy bomber when he downs a Gotha G.III

The German Navy Zeppelin L 42 achieves an altitude of 19,700 feet (6,005 meters), a record for an airship.

United States Navy Lt Kenneth Whiting proposes to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels that the Navy acquire a ship with an aircraft catapult and a flight deck. Although rejected on June 20, it is the first serious U.S. Navy consideration given to acquisition of an aviation ship since the American Civil War (1861–1865).

The Russian Revolution begins.

The German Naval Airship Service attempts to bomb England with the first use of new Zeppelins designed for high-altitude flight. The Service '​s commander, Peter Strasser, believes it will be too high for British air defenses to reach. The five Zeppelins – at least three of which achieve altitudes of between 17,100 and 19,000 feet – mostly bomb open countryside and do only slight damage and kill no one. Disabled by mechanical failure, L 39 drifts over Compiègne, France, and is shot down by French antiaircraft guns with the loss of her entire crew. L 35 is badly damaged while landing in Germany. The success of the Zeppelins in reaching high altitudes encourages Strasser, who accompanies the raid aboard L 42, to plan a new bombing offensive.

Canadian Billy Bishop makes his first claim of a German Albatros D. III. He goes on to claim 72 victories to become the top British ace, although his exploits and victories are very controversial.

The British begin the air offensive for the Battle of Arras, aimed to capture Vimy Ridge. The British, with numerical superiority, expect victory, but their aircraft are still qualitatively inferior to the Albatros D. IIs and IIIs of the GAF. In the 6-day period, April 4-9, the RFC have 75 aircraft shot down.

The United States enters World War I, declaring war on Germany.

The Lafayette Escadrille moves to Ham on the Somme Front and remains there for two months before returning to the Verdun Front at Aisne.

Manfred von Richthofen shoots down his 41st victory, finally surpassing the 40-victory record of Oswald Boelcke.

The United States Navy '​s first airship, DN-1 flies for the first time at Pensacola, Florida.

Hauptmann Eduard W. Zorer, the commanding officer of Schutzstaffel 7, on an escort mission, drops down to 60 feet to strafe British trenches along the Gavrelle-Rœux road during the Battle of Arras. Under fire from hundreds of British rifles and machine guns, he and his pilot spray the British trenches with 500 rounds of ammunition before a hit in their engine forces them to withdraw. The incident represents the birth of close air support as a mission of the world's air forces.

Manfred von Richthofen masses 20 fighters to perform a fighter sweep near Douai; one result is the first loss of a British SE-5, among other casualties.

Major William “Billy” Mitchell is the first regular Army officer to fly over German lines.

The German Navy Zeppelin L 43 attacks a force of British light cruisers and destroyers in the North Sea near the Dogger Bank with three 110-lb bombs, hitting the light cruiser HMS Dublin. It one of the few cases of an airship successfully attacking a warship.

British ace Captain Albert Ball is killed in a crash following a dogfight with Lothar von Richthofen, who also crashes but survives. Ball’s 44 victories place him 19th in WWI aces and 10th among the British.

The Second Battle of the Aisne ends.

Flying the Curtiss H.12 Large America flying boat 8666, RNAS Flight Commander Robert Leckie shoots down the German Zeppelin L 22 18 nautical miles north-northwest of Texel Island. It is the first time that a flying boat shoots down a Zeppelin.

A RNAS seaplane flown by Flt Sub Lt C. R. Morrish sinks U-36 in the North Sea, the first German submarine sunk by a British airplane.

The French government asks the US to furnish 5,000 pilots, 50,000 mechanics and 4,500 aircraft for the Allies’ war effort by the spring of 1918.

The German Air Force begins Operation Türkenkreuz ("Turk's Cross"), a heavier-than-air bombing campaign targeting London. The first operation is a mass daylight air raid by 21 Gotha G.IV bombers which divert from London due to clouds over the city and attack secondary targets in Folkestone and the Shorncliffe Army Camp, killing 95 people and injuring 195. Seventy-four British aircraft take off to intercept, but the Germans lose only one Gotha, shot down by nine RNAS Sopwith Pups that engage the bombers as they fly over the coast of Belgium on their way back to base. It is the first of 22 German heavier-than-air raids on the United Kingdom during World War I.

French ace Georges Guynemer, flying a SPAD with Escadrille SPAD 3, scores four victories in the space of one minute.

Birdseye B. Lewis and Chance M. Vought found the Lewis & Vought Corporation, which later will become the Chance Vought Corporation.

An attack prior to the Battle of Messines Ridge on a British supply train by German aircraft disrupts the supply of British ammunition, forcing British artillery to cease firing after three hours.

With the failure of the French Nivelle offensive, the British launch attacks on the Flanders Front, hoping to drive the Germans from the Belgian coast. The initial objective is Messine Ridge. The RFC also changes its reporting nomenclature from HA for Hostile Aircraft to EA for Enemy Aircraft.

RFC Lieutenants Harold Satchell and Thomas Lewis of No. 20 Squadron shoot down and kill German ace Leutnant Karl Emil Schäfer. His 30 victories will place him in a tie with five other pilots as the 28th-highest-scoring German ace of World War I.

The United States Navy's First Aeronautical Detachment disembarks from the collier USS Jupiter in France under the command of Kenneth Whiting. It is the first U.S. military unit to arrive in Europe.

The Battle of Messines Ridge begins with the explosion of 400 tons of ammonal at 3:10 am under the German front lines.

The first US Navy aviation unit arrives in France.

Five German Navy Zeppelins attempt a high-altitude raid on London and southern England. Only two arrive over England. L 42 bombs Ramsgate and detonates a munitions dump, wrecking the naval base, killing three civilians, and injuring 14 civilians and two Royal Navy personnel, then returns safely to Germany. L 48 bombs open fields outside Harwich before RFC Lieutenant L. P. Watkins of No. 37 Squadron shoots her down in flames over Harwich. killing 14 of the 17 men on board and fatally injuring one of the survivors. Among the dead is Viktor Schütze, the deputy commander of the German Naval Airship Service.

The German Army's Air Force brings together four Jagdstaffeln (fighter squadrons) – Jastas 4, 6, 10, and 11 – to form Germany's first Jagdgeschwader (fighter wing) I. Manfred von Richthofen is promoted from commanding officer of Jasta 11 to its commander of Jagdgeschwader I. This unit will become known as the "Flying Circus," thanks to the colorful paint schemes on its aircraft and possibly because it often moved from place to place for its operations in a manner similar to a traveling circus.

An aircraft takes off successfully from a flying-off platform mounted on a warship '​s gun turret for the first time when RNAS Flight Commander F. J. Rutland takes off from a platform aboard the British light cruiser HMS Yarmouth in a Sopwith Pup.

The famous Sopwith Camel is introduced into service by the RFC, assisting the British to recapture air superiority over the battlefield.

Manfred von Richthofen is wounded with a bullet crease that causes splinters in his head in a fight with British FEs. He is treated in hospital and returns to Jagdstaffel 1 in August, but he is never the same again.

In daylight, 22 German Gotha G. IV bombers make the fourth attack on the United Kingdom of Operation Türkenkreuz, killing 57 to 65 people and injuring 193 to 245 (sources differ on casualty totals). British aircraft fly 100 sorties to intercept the German bombers, shooting one down and damaging three others; the bombers shoot down two of the intercepting British aircraft.

RNAS Flight Lieutenant O. A. Butcher, manning a kite balloon lofted by the destroyer HMS Patriot off the Shetland Islands, sights the German submarine U-69 at a range of 28 nautical miles (52 km), allowing Patriot to intercept U-69 and sink her with depth charges.

The United States Navy establishes the Naval Aircraft Factory at League Island Navy Yard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Major Benjamin D. Foulois is appointed Officer in Charge of the US Airplane Division.

The British begin the Third Battle of Ypres to take the pressure off the French after their defeat on the Aisne. British aircraft notably are employed in low-level flying to support infantry and attack German front lines. Behind the front, British fighters strafe German airfields to keep their fighters on the ground.

United States Secretary of War Newton D. Baker announces the completion of the first Liberty engine 28 days after its design began. Before the end of World War I, 13,574 will be manufactured, and total will reach 20,478 by 1919.

The German Navy Zeppelin L 53 achieves an altitude of 20,700 feet, a new record for an airship.

A Sopwith Pup flown by RNAS Squadron Commander Edwin Dunning becomes the first aircraft to land aboard a moving ship, the hybrid aircraft carrier-battlecruiser HMS Furious.

In daylight, German Gotha G. IV bombers make the sixth attack on the United Kingdom of Operation Türkenkreuz, bombing Shoeburyness and Southend. In the fifth raid on July 22 and this raid, the Germans lose a combined five bombers, one of the them shot down and the other four wrecked in crashes on landing as they return to their bases.

Tasked to study how the United Kingdom '​s air forces could be best organized for the war with Germany and to consider whether they should remain subordinate to the British Army and Royal Navy, General Jan Smuts completes the Smuts Report. In it, he observes that an air service could be used as "an independent means of war operations," that "there is absolutely no limit to the scale of its future independent war service," that soon "aerial operations with their devastation of enemy lands and destruction of industrial and populous centers on a vast scale may be the principal operations of war, to which older forms of military and naval operations may become secondary and subordinate." He projects that by the summer of 1918 "the air battle front will be far behind the Rhine" while the ground front is still bogged down in Belgium and France and that air attacks on German industry and lines of communication could be an "important factor in bringing about peace." The report is the foundation of a new theory of warfare advocated by British bomber advocates and will inspire the creation of the independent Royal Air Force in 1918.

The Luftstreitkrafte attempts the largest heavier-than-air raid against the United Kingdom of World War I, sending 28 Gotha bombers from their bases in Belgium to attack England despite predictions of unfavorable winds. After two hours in the air, they have only reached Zeebrugge on the Belgian coast, and it takes them another hour to reach the coast of England, where they find themselves 40 miles off course. With too little fuel to go on, the strike commander orders the bombers to abort the raid and return to base; two of them come down in the North Sea, two others crash-land in the neutral Netherlands, and others are lost in crash-landings in Belgium.

The Luftstreitkrafte sends 15 Gotha bombers to attack England in a daylight raid. Five turn back over the North Sea, and the remaining 10 encounter British fighter aircraft and heavy antiaircraft fire over the Isle of Thanet. Two Gothas are shot down immediately, and another is shot down over Dover. The losses prompt to Germans to halt daylight raids over the United Kingdom and switch to night bombing.

The United States Army '​s 1st Aero Squadron arrives in France.

After the losses suffered in the face of improving British air defenses in the August 22 daylight raid against England, the German Air Force decides to experiment with night raids, sending five Gotha bombers to attack Chatham Dockyard in Kent. The raid kills 152, including 130 Royal Navy recruits who die in a direct hit on their barracks in the highest death toll inflicted by a single aerial bomb during World War I. The German bombers find that British night defenses are still weak.

French ace Capitaine Georges Guynemer goes missing in action while flying a SPAD XIII during combat with German aircraft near Poelkapelle, Belgium. Kurt Wisserman of Jasta 3 is credited with shooting him down, but Guynemer '​s body is never found. Guynemer has 54 kills at the time of his death.

While on convoy escort duty in the Atlantic Ocean, the United States Navy armored cruiser Huntington has her kite balloon blown away in bad weather. For rescuing the balloonist, a shipfitter from her crew is awarded the first Medal of Honor of World War I.

A RNAS Curtiss H-12 flying boat piloted by Flight Sub-Lieutenant N. Magor sinks the German submarine UB-32 in the North Sea. It is the only confirmed instance of a British aircraft sinking a German submarine without the assistance of surface ships during World War I.

For the second time, French ace René Fonck shoots down six German aircraft in a day.C125

The RFC forms its first wing at Ochey, France, dedicated to long-range bombardment of targets in Germany. It will later become VIII Brigade.

The Royal Navy tests an aircraft catapult for the first time, using compressed-air aboard the test ship Slinger to launch an unmanned Short 184 with its fuselage fabric removed and engine replaced by ballast.

German “balloon busting” ace Heinrich Gontermann scores his 39th and final victory.

The DH-4 bomber is ordered into mass production in the US; 4,500 are eventually built with 1,213 reaching France.

Elements of the 1st Division, AEF, fire artillery on the Western Front near Nancy.

This day marks the end of the Third Battle of Ypres. It is remarkable for the because it results in the first RFC structured and sustained involvement in the ground battle. The RFC not merely provided air cover, reconnaissance, and air support, but for the first time actively participated in the ground war by low level strafing and bombing tactical targets in what would become the mission of close air support.

In an attempt to deliver medical supplies and munitions to German ground forces in German East Africa, the German Navy Zeppelin L 59, specially modified for long-range flights, makes a 4,196-statute mile journey from Yambol, Bulgaria, over European Turkey, Asia Minor, and the Mediterranean Sea and into Africa to a point west of Khartoum before being recalled to Yambol, which she reaches after 95 hours 5 minutes continuously in the air at an average speed of 44 mph. The flight sets a new aircraft endurance record. She returns to Yambol with enough fuel aboard to have remained in the air for another 64 hours.

Lt Erwin Böhme, 24-victory ace, is shot down in flames. He was the wingman who had collided with Oswald Boelcke.

With America’s squadrons imminent, the Lafayette Escadrille pilots are released from French military service in order to transfer to the US Air Service. Only one, 2 Lt. EC Pearson, remains with the French Spa 3. American bureaucratic inertia causes a two-month delay, whereby many former Escadrille pilots fly as civilians. The Lafayette Escadrille formally ends on February 18, when its pilots formed the nucleus of the 103d US Aero Squadron. However, the squadron continues to be attached to the French Air Force and does not transfer to the AEF until August 1918.

Imperial German Navy Zeppelins make daily reconnaissance patrols over the Heligoland Bight throughout the month.

Germany and Russia halt hostilities on the Eastern Front, allowing the Germans to move forces to the West.

Chikuhei Nakajima and Seibi Kawanishi found the Japan Aeroplane Manufacturing Work Company Ltd. It is the first aircraft manufacturing company in Japan.

The United States declares war on Austria-Hungary.

British ace James McCudden, 56 Squadron, destroys four German aircraft in a single day.

By the end of the year, the US has the 1st, 2d, 26th and 42d divisions deployed at the front in France. The 41st Division is converted to depot duties behind the lines.

The year of 1918 opens gloomily for the Allies. Despite many concentrated offensive battles, the Allies failed to force a breakthrough in 1917. One of the lessons was that the massive artillery bombardments did not achieve their objectives, resulting in their abandonment for the final year of the war. The British ground forces are so depleted by the massed infantry attacks and high casualties that by February 1918 each division was reduced from 12 to nine battalions! The losses and meager gains during 1917 cause the Allies to abandon thoughts for offensives and concentrate on strategic and tactical defense. Meanwhile, the German Air Force is on track to double its size in eight months and hopes to win back air superiority which it lost in the months after “Bloody April.” On the other hand, the RFC is one of the greatest assets the British have in both size and the extent of its operations. British aircraft production increases greatly and pilot training improves markedly in quality. The year sees increased cooperation between air and ground forces of all the beligerents

Kawasaki Heavy Industries Company Ltd. organizes an aircraft division.

In January, Gunner-observer Captain John H. Hedley is thrown from the cockpit of his Bristol F2B Fighter without a parachute during a dogfight when his pilot, Captain Reginald "Jimmy" Makepeace, puts the plane into a steep dive. After he falls several hundred feet, Hedley and the aircraft come back together and he manages to grab the fighter '​s after fuselage and crawl back into his cockpit unharmed.

The British government establishes the British Air Council and Air Ministry.

Three RFC aircraft – an RE-8 of No. 21 Squadron and two SE-5as of No. 60 Squadron – engage in a dogfight with the Albatros D.Va of German ace, Max Ritter von Müller, formerly of Jasta 2 “Boelcke.” Von Müller’s aircraft is shot down in flames, and von Müller jumps to his death to escape the fire. His 36 victories will make him 15th among German aces and the highest-scoring Bavarian ace of the war.

Maj. Gen. Sir John Salmond is named to succeed Trenchard as commander of the RFC in France.

Second Lieutenant Carl Mather is killed in an aircraft collision at Ellington Field, Texas. The future Mather Air Force Base, later Sacramento Mather Airport, at Rancho Cordova, California, will be named for him.

2/Lt Stephen W. Thompson achieves the first aerial victory by the U.S. military in his role as an aerial gunner, while flying with a French squadron.

The United States replaces the national insignia for its military aircraft adopted in 1917 with a roundel with an outer red ring, then a blue ring, and a white center. The Allies had requested the change out of a fear that the star in the 1917 US marking could be mistaken for a German cross. The roundel will remain in use until the United States reverts to its former markings in August 1919.

British ace James McCudden again scores four victories.

The German high command issues a memorandum governing the employment of German ground-attack squadrons in the upcoming spring offensive on the Western Front, Operation Michael. It lays out the role of the squadrons as "flying ahead of and carrying the infantry along with them, keeping down the fire of the enemy's infantry and barrage batteries," adding that the appearance of ground-attack aircraft over the battlefield "affords visible proof to heavily engaged troops that the Higher Command is in close touch with the front, and is employing every means to support the fighting troops." It also directs the squadrons to "dislocate traffic and inflict appreciable loss on reinforcements hastening up to the battlefield."

The Tour sector is chosen as the most logical, and quiet, place for the American Air Service to begin combat operations.

The Finnish Air Force is founded.

The US establishes the Office of the Director of Naval Aviation.

The first regular international airmail service begins, with Hansa-Brandenburg C.I aircraft linking Vienna, L'viv, Proskurov and Kiev.

The US 95th Aero Squadron flies the first offensive patrol of the American First Pursuit Group.

The 94th (the “Hat in the Ring”) Pursuit Squadron flies its first mission across German lines.

Germany launches Operation Michael, marking the beginning of the Spring Offensive on the Allies on the Somme. In the initial attack against the British front west of St Quentin, the German Air Force has 1,680 aircraft to the RFC's 579 on the Somme. Thirty-eight German close air support squadrons take part in the offensive; massed at key points of the attack, the German ground-attack aircraft engage the enemy front line and disrupt the flow of enemy supplies, replacements, and reinforcements behind the line. The German Air Force throws itself into the battle, but it is hampered by fuel shortages, pilot shortages and increasing distance from the moving front lines. Nevertheless, the German offensive is quite successful, advancing 30 miles in eight days, the same distance it took the Allies six months to gain in 1916.

Captain John Lightfoot Trollope of the RFC ​ No. 43 Squadron shoots down six German aircraft in a single day.

Under attack by several German Fokker Dr.I triplanes over Albert, France, 18-year-old Canadian Second Lieutenant Alan Arnett McLeod, the pilot of an Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8 of the RFC '​s No. 2 Squadron, and his observer, Lieutenant Arthur Hammond, shoot down four of the German fighters before themselves being shot down in flames and crash-landing in no man's land. The seriously injured McLeod carries the badly wounded Hammond to the British lines, and, although McLeod is wounded again in the process, both men survive. McLeod will receive the Victoria Cross for his actions in a ceremony on September 4 at the age of 19, the youngest airman to be awarded the Victoria Cross in World War I.

The Balkenkreuz (beam or bar cross) replaces the Cross Pattée (Iron Cross) as the national marking on German military aircraft, making the legs of the cross straight and of equal width instead of curved.

Vizefeldwebel (Sergeant) Weimar becomes the first person to use a parachute in combat, when he successfully bails out of a German Albatros D. Va fighter.

French, British and American political leaders officially make General Foch the Supreme Allied Commander-in-Chief.

Royal Air Force Lieutenant C. H. Noble-Campbell of No. 38 Squadron attacks the German Navy Zeppelin L 62 while piloting an F.E.2b over England. He is wounded in the head by machine-gun fire from L 62, but returns safely to base. It is the only occasion on which an attacking airman is wounded in combat with an airship.

The Germans initiate the Battle of the Lys between Armetieres and Givenchy with extensive gas shelling. Rain and mist prevent air support, but the rapid advance catches nine RAF squadrons unprepared, and they have to evacuate or burn their aircraft in place.

Captain H. W. Woollett of the Royal Air Force's No. 43 Squadron scores six victories, including five Albatros D.Vs, in two sorties.

German ace Manfred von Richthofen, a living legend called the "Red Baron" and "ace of aces," is shot down and killed. By the time of his death, he had 80 victories. Credit for his kill is given to Canadian Captain Roy Brown, but current evidence is that he was killed by ground fire from Australian troops. His victory total will not be exceeded until June 1941.

Belgium's top-scoring ace, Willy Coppens, claims his first victory.

Eddie Rickenbacker scores his first victory, shooting down a German Pfalz D.III fighter near Baussant, France. He is flying a Nieuport 28 fighter and becomes the top-scoring American ace of World War I with 26 victories.

Maj. Gen. Mason M. Patrick replaces Brig. Gen. Foulois as Chief of the Air Service, AEF.

James Norman Hall is shot down by an Albatros over Vieville-en-Haye and made a prisoner of war. He survives and with Charles Nordhoff, writes several original works, including The Lafayette Flying Corps in 1920 and Mutiny on the Bounty in 1932.

The German Riefenfluzeug Abteilung ("Giant Airplane Detachment) 501 attempts the first heavier-than-air raid on England since March, sending four Riefenfluzeuge bombers to bomb Dover. They encounter high winds over the North Sea and are recalled; when they return home, they find their bases shrouded in fog. One lands safely the next day, but the other three are destroyed in crashes, with only one entire crew surviving and only one crew member surviving from each of the other two bombers.

The first American-built DH-4 powered by an American Liberty engine is delivered to the AEF.

The first regular United States air mail service commences, between New York and Washington, D.C. Lieutenant Geoffrey Boyle makes the first flight in a Curtiss JN-4H.

Raoul Lufbery, commander of the 94th (Hat in the Ring) Aero Squadron and second highest scoring American ace with 17 victories, is killed in air combat.

Germany launches the largest heavier-than-air raid against the United Kingdom of World War I, with 38 Gotha and three Riesenfkugzeug bombers participating. This is the last raid on London. The bombers drop 2,724 pounds of bombs according to British estimates or 3,307 pounds according to the Germans, killing 49 people, injuring 177. British fighters and antiaircraft guns shoot down six Gothas, and Bristol F-2B Fighter forces a seventh Gotha to land substantially intact in England. In the 27 heavier-than-air raids, German bombers have dropped 246,774 lbs. of bombs, killing 835 people, injuring 1,972, and inflicting £1,418,272 of damage in exchange for the loss of 62 bombers either shot down or destroyed in crashes.

The US Army Air Service, replaces the Aviation Section, Signal Corps, as the American air force;

In Russia, Order No. 385 of the Bolshevik People '​s Commissariat on Military and Naval Affairs creates the Main Directorate of the Workers '​ and Peasants '​ Red Air Fleet, the predecessor of the Soviet Air Forces

The 1st US Infantry Division leads and wins local action at the Battle of Cantigny under French command.

Maj. Gen. Mason Patrick assumes command of the US Air Service.

Erich Löwenhardt, with 24 victories, is awarded the Pour le Mérite on this day. He becomes the commander of Jasta 10 and extends his string to 54 before being shot down on August 10, flying a Fokker D. VII. He becomes the 9th highest overall ace and the 3rd highest German ace, behind only Manfred von Richthofen and Ernst Udet.

The United States Marine Corps consolidates its aviation forces at the Marine Flying Field at Miami, to form the First Marine Aviation Force. Composed of four squadrons, the force will deploy to France for combat.

The French hold the Marne while the AEF at Chateau-Thierry prevent the Germans from crossing the river.

Douglas Campbell, 94th Aero Squadron, scores his sixth and final victory. Badly wounded by antiaircraft fire during the flight, he sees no further combat. After the war he becomes a vice president with Pan American World Airways and lives until 1990, age 94.

Capt. John Alcock and Lt. Arthur Whitten Brown of Great Britain make the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, flying from Newfoundland to Ireland in 16 hours and 12 minutes arriving on June 15, 1918

Led by Captain Fiorello LaGuardia, 18 United States Army Air Service cadets assigned to various squadrons of the 4th and 14th Bombardment Groups take part in an Italian bombing raid against the Austro-Hungarian railway center at Falze de Piave. Shot down and taken prisoner by Austria-Hungary, Lieutenant Clarence Young becomes the first of three American aircrew casualties suffered while flying with the Italians during World War I.

Attached to the Royal Air Force's No. 65 Squadron, US Army Air Service ace First Lieutenant Field Eugene Kindley scores his initial (of 12) victories, shooting down the Pfalz D.III of Jagdstaffel 5 commanding officer Leutnant Wilhelm Lehmann over Albert, France.

Four 4 companies (1,000 men) from the 33d Division participate in the first offensive action by AEF units serving under British (Australian) command during the Battle of Hamel.

Second Lieutenant Quentin Roosevelt is shot down and killed by a German fighter over Chamery, France. Quentin is the youngest son of former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. He was flying Flying a Nieuport 28, serving in the 95th Aero Squadron.

The Germans focus part of their Marne attack on US forces, resulting in the Battle of Château-Thierry. American soldiers hold the line and advance in many places, gaining the victory.

Major Edward "Mick" Mannock, the United Kingdom's highest scoring ace of the war, is shot down by German ground fire and killed. He officially is credited with 73 victories as the highest-scoring British ace of World War I, but he never claimed that many and his actual score may have been nearer 61.

The USMC '​s 1st Marine Aviation Force, minus one of its four squadrons, arrives at Brest, France, to become the first U.S. Marine Corps aviation force to serve in combat. Delays in transportation and the arrival of equipment will prevent it from operating until mid-October.

A large petroleum barge on the Volga River in Russia is equipped with a flight deck and elevators (lifts) to carry up to nine Grigorovich M.9 flying boats and three Nieuport fighters. Named Kommuna and towed by a sidewheel paddle tug, she and her aircraft actively support operations of the Bolshevik Volga River Flotilla during the Russian Civil War.

French ace Lieutenant Gabriel Guérin is killed in action. His 23 victories will tie him with Lieutenant René Dorme for ninth-highest-scoring French ace of World War I.

The Second Battle of the Marne ends with an American-French victory. This ended Germany's last offensive and paved the way for the fight to the Armistice.

Eight Italian Ansaldo SVA biplanes of the 87 Squadriglia "Serenimissa," led by Gabriele d'Annunzio, fly over Vienna for 30 minutes without interference from Austro-Hungarian forces, taking photographs and dropping leaflets before returning to base without loss.

After shooting down two enemy aircraft earlier in the day, the German ace Rudolf Berthold collides with an enemy plane during a dogfight with Sopwith Camels. His Fokker D.VII crashes into a house, injuring him; although he survives, he never flies another combat mission. Called “the Iron Man,” his total of 44 kills will make him the sixth-highest-scoring German ace of World War I. He survives the war, but joins the Freikorps and dies in a street battle with Socialists in 1920.

The French ace René Fonck shoots down three German aircraft in ten seconds in a head-on attack. All three crash within 300 feet of one another near Roye, France.

A U.S. Navy Curtiss 18-T-1 triplane sets a new world speed record of 163 mph.

John D. Ryan is appointed first Director of the U.S. Army Air Service and serves until November 27, 1918.

The Royal Air Force begins to issue parachutes to its squadrons for the first time.

The U.S. Marine Corps '​s 1st Marine Aviation Force, building up in the Calais-Dunkirk area of France to operate as an element of the U.S. Navy '​s Northern Bombing Group, takes delivery of its first bomber.

The first major and distinctly American offensive is the reduction of the salient during the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. General Pershing commands the US First Army composed of seven divisions and more than 500,000 men. 627 French and 611 American fighters (30 squadrons) are brought together for the Battle. The American units are under the command of Brig Gen Billy Mitchell and is the largest force of aircraft assembled for a single operation.

Flying a Sopwith Camel, Frank Broome of the Royal Air Force's No. 151 Squadron shoots down a giant German Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI bomber over Beugny, France, one of the only two R.VI bombers lost to enemy action in World War I and the only one shot down by an Allied aircraft. He will be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for the achievement.

The German ace Georg von Hantelmann shoots down and kills the French ace Lieutenant Maurice Boyau while the latter is attacking German observation balloons. Boyau '​s 35 kills will make him the fifth-highest-scoring French ace of World War I.

Royal Air Force LtCol Richard Bell Davies makes the first true aircraft carrier landing in history, landing a Sopwith 1½ Strutter on the bare steel flight deck of HMS Argus in the Firth of Forth.

US forces of 1,200,000 troops launch the Meuse-Argonne offensive with air support from the Army Air Service. The battle lasts until the Armistice on November 11. The observations squadrons have a difficult time over the dense and hilly Argonne terrain. The fighter squadrons are grouped effectively to deal with the massed Geschwader.

German ace Leutnant Fritz Rumey either collides with the SE-5a of Captain George Lawson or is shot down by Lieutenant Frank Hale during a dogfight with No. 32 Squadron. Rumey parachutes from his D.VII at 1,000 feet but falls to his death when his parachute fails. His 45 kills will make him the fifth-highest-scoring German ace of World War I.

USAAS Second Lieutenant Frank Luke, the second-highest-scoring American ace of World War I with 18 victories, is wounded and shot down, but he dies in a gunfight with German soldiers.

German ground-attack aircraft of Schlachtstaffel 3 intervene to support German troops in danger of being overrun by US Army forces in the Argonne Forest in France. A German officer on the ground reports that the German air attack causes the American troops to break off their attack and scatter "in wild flight."

American technicians successfully launch a guided missile, “the Bug” at Dayton, Ohio.

The Kingdom of Bavaria brings together four fighter squadrons – Jastas 23, 32, 34, and 35 – to form its first Jagdgeschwader (fighter wing) IV. Eduard Ritter von Schleich is its first commanding officer. It is the fifth Jagdeschwader in the German armed forces, and the last to be formed during World War I.

The Imperial German Navy's air command proposes that merchant ships be converted into Germany's first aircraft carriers with flight decks.

Baron Willy Coppens, the highest-scoring Belgian ace, scores his last victory, shooting down a German observation balloon near Praatbos, Belgium. It is the last of his 37 victories, 34 of them observations balloons. He is its top-scoring "balloon buster."

Canadian pilot William Barker, an ace with 46 victories flying Sopwith Camels, attacks a Jagdgeschwader 3 flight of 60 Fokker D. VIIs, and despite being wounded in one arm and both legs, shoots down four fighters, for which he is awarded the Victoria Cross. His other exploits included soloing after only 55 minutes of instruction, shooting down his first enemy aircraft as an observer in a BE-2D and logging 379 hours in Sopwith Camel #B6313 in Italy, before it was retired from service in October 1918. He ends the war with 50 victories, the fourth highest Canadian ace, the sixth highest in Britain and the 12th overall. Surviving the war, he dies in an aircraft crash in 1930.

USAAS First Lieutenant Field Eugene Kindley and First Lieutenant Jesse Creech share the kill of a German Fokker D.VII near Villers-Pol, France. It is the last of Kindley's 12 aerial victories.

Eddie Rickenbacker shoots down a German observation balloon near Remonville, France, for his 26th and final aerial victory. His 26 victories (21 aircraft and five balloons) will make him the top-scoring American ace of World War I. Six of his victories were in a Nieuport 28 and 20 in the SPAD XIII.

Forty German Fokker D.VIIs attack nine Sopwith Camels of the Royal Air Force '​s No. 65 Squadron southeast of Ghent, Belgium. Camels of No. 204 Squadron join the action, and in the whirling dogfight which follows, the British pilots claim 22 German aircraft either shot down or last seen headed earthward out of control.

Captain R. M. Smith, Brigadier General A. E. Borton, and Major General W. Salmond set out in a Handley Page O/400 from Heliopolis, Egypt, to Karachi (then in India) to survey a route for airmail.

Major A. S. C. MacLaren and Captain Robert Halley set out on the first England-India flight, in a Handley Page V/1500