30 September 1913

The New York Times reported on September 30, 1913, that "twenty Curtiss hydro-aeroplanes received at Sevastopol last year by the Naval and Military Aero Club have given the fullest satisfaction. The naval and military hydroaeroplane pilots at Sevastopol were trained by Charles Witmer, an expert member of the Curtiss aerial staff... It is the intention of the Russian Admiralty... to equip both the Baltic and Black Sea fleets with a considerable number of the latest and greatly improved Curtiss hydro-aeroplanes."

29 September 1913

On 29 September 1913, a Bleriot XI-2 arrived in New Zealand from Britain. Not the first aeroplane to fly in New Zealand, it did represent the first attempt by the New Zealand Government to fly a military aeroplane. The aircraft, flown by Second Lieutenant Joseph Hammond, was demonstrated successfully but the program was ended after a contretemps involving an unauthorized female passenger. The Bleriot was returned to England.

28 September 1913

On September 28, 1913 Adolph G. Sutro of San Francisco, flying a hydro-aeroplane of his own design, "broke three aeroplane records..." Sutro flew four and three-sixteenths miles in 3 min 40 sec (51 mph), lowering the old record held by T.O.M. Sopwlth; carried 900 pounds skyward, beating Phil Parmalee's record of 458 pounds, and established an altitude record of 800 feet with passengers.

27 September 1913

On September 27, 1913, during the Reims grand-meeting, (the Gordon-Bennett Cup, which he won), Maurice Prévost broke the world speed record at 200 km/h (108 knots) for one hour. His aircraft was a Deperdussin monoplane of advanced design.

26 September 1913

September 26, 1913 saw the first flight of Anthony Fokker's M.3, one of a series of monoplanes designed in an effort to win German military orders. It exhibited poor stability and was not successful, but was part of the lineage leading to the E.I Eindecker.

25 September 1913

Henry and John Herber "Hebbie" James gained Wales' first Royal Aero Club Aviators Certificates in 1913, building and flying their own aeroplane. The brothers first attempt at flight, on 25 September 1913, resulted in near-disaster with the biplane dropping 60 feet to the ground. Hebbie James was lucky to escape with cuts and bruises. Another attempt was made on 22 November, when a short flight was achieved. In the Spring of 1914 the James brothers achieved their ambition of flying over their home town of Narberth.

24 September 1913

On September 24, 1913, French airman Albert Moreau won the Bonnet prize flying his "Aerostable" monoplane. The prize required a flight of 20 km with the controls of the aircraft untouched, other than the steering gear. Moreau steered with the rudder.

23 September 1913

On September 23, 1913, French pilot Roland Garros flew non-stop across the Mediterranean in a Morane-Saulnier monoplane powered by an 80 hp Gnome rotary engine, a distance of 460 miles from St. Raphael, France to Bizerta, Tunisia. This was 20 times further than Bleriot's historic crossing.

22 September 1913

The Grahame-White Type X Charabanc (powered at first by a 120 hp (89 kW) Austro-Daimler engine) was built to meet the demand for passenger-carrying flights which could not be satisfied by the existing two-seat designs. Flown by Louis Noel with seven passengers aboard, it set a British world record on 22 September 1913.

21 September 1913

Twelve days after Pyotr Nesterov's September 9 loop at Kiev, Adolphe Pégoud duplicated the feat. Because Nesterov's "misuse" of an airplane was not mentioned in the Russian press, Pégoud was reported to have been the first person to perform the aerial maneuver of flying an airplane in a vertical circle and inspired pilots worldwide to try similar stunts.

20 September 1913

On September 20, 1913, Gustav Hamel won the 95 mile Aerial Derby around London flying a Morane-Saulnier Type H monoplane. His average speed was 75.18 mph.

19 September 1913

On September 19, 1913, in the world of aviation, it would seem that nothing of any significance occurred.

18 September 1913

The Avro 504 was first flown on 18 September 1913. It was powered by an 80 hp Gnome Lambda rotary engine. Production during World War I totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind that served in that conflict. Over 10,000 were built by the time production ended in 1932.

17 September 1913

On 17 September 1913 the U.S. Army Signal Corps Aeronautical Division's aircraft no. 13, a Wright Model C biplane, was destroyed in a crash in the Phillipines. It was one of a series of crashes that led to grounding of the Model C's.

16 September 1913

The 1913 Michelin Cup, with an $8,000 prize, was awarded to the aviator who covered the greatest distance flying a minimum of 50km per day on consecutive days. It was won by Georges Fourney who flew 15,990.8 km over 23 days ending Sept. 16, 1913. He flew a Renault-powered Farman biplane.

15 September 1913

With money earned from selling rubber-band powered model airplanes, and barrel hoops, redwood scraps and automobile and motorcycle parts that he had begged at Chicago's Cicero Field, 16 year-old Emil Matthew "Matty" Laird set out to build his first plane. On Sept. 15, 1913, it was ready for flight. He got 10 feet in the air, changed his mind and tried to land, breaking the wing. Laird was to become a noted and influential designer and builder of airplanes.

14 September 1913

French inventor M. Bonnet was quoted in the Sept. 14, 1913 number of the Indianapolis Evening Star regarding successful tests of his life-saving parachute. He anticipated the Cirrus BRS system by nearly a century, saying he hoped to perfect "another and larger parachute which will save not only the pilot of an aeroplane but the aeroplane as well."

13 September 1913

Romanian designer and aviator Aurel Vlaicu died on September 13, 1913 near Câmpina while attempting to be the first to fly across the Carpathian Mountains in his Vlaicu II monoplane. He was buried in Bellu cemetery, in Bucharest.

12 September 1913

Reportedly, a U.S. Army Signal Corps Wright Model "C" crashed on takeoff at Manila, P.I. on September 12, 1913.

11 September 1913

West Virginian Paul Peck was killed in Chicago when the Columbian biplane he was piloting disintegrated in mid-air. He was 23.

10 September 1913

The Post Office Department authorized mail to be flown from the fair grounds to the post office in Carmi, Illinois, on September 9 and 10, 1913, as Route No. 635,003. According to the Carmi postmaster, aviator Anthony Jannus flew a sack containing 241 pieces of mail on a single flight. Mail is known with postmarks on September 10 or 11, all with the official one-line "MAILED VIA AIRSHIP" cachet.

9 September 1913

Russian Army aviator Pyotr Nikolayovich Nesterov believed an aircraft could fly a loop, a feat not previously performed. Despite the doubts of his peers, Nesterov proved his theory on 9 September 1913 and became the first pilot to fly a loop. This was done in a Nieuport IV monoplane with a 70 hp Gnome engine over Syretzk Aerodrome near Kiev, before many watchers. For this he was disciplined with ten days of close arrest, ostensibly "for risking government property".

8 September 1913

On September 8, 1913, one hundred years ago today, in the world of aviation it appears that nothing of significance occurred.

7 September 1913

On September 7, 1913 aviator Tony Jannus took young Jean Baker for an airplane ride at St. Louis against her father's wishes. The elder Baker threatened an innocent

2 September 1913

RUTLAND, Vt., Sept. 2, 1913 -- In the fall of an aeroplane at the fair grounds today, George Schmitt, an aviator, was fatally hurt, and J. Dyer Spellman, Assistant Judge of the Municipal Court, received burns which may cause his death. Spellman ascended as a passenger with Schmitt. They were 200 feet above the fair grounds when spectators saw the aeroplane stop, turn and fall. Schmitt was crushed under the heavy radiator, suffering fractures of the skull and hip. Spellman's clothing caught fire he was badly burned. Schmitt was twenty-three years old.

1 September 1913

Essential to aerobatic technique is the ability to fly an aircraft inverted (upside down), which was first demonstrated on September 1, 1913, by the Frenchman Adolphe Pégoud, flying a Bleriot XI.