31 May 1914

On May 31, 1914 the NY Times published a full-page article headlined, "FLIES WITH LANGLEY'S AEROPLANE AND VINDICATES HIM". This alluded to Glenn Curtiss' recent flight in the highly modified Langley Aerodrome. The article strongly implies that the brothers Wright merely implemented Langley's pioneering work.

30 May 1914

The B.E.2c was the result of research by Edward T. Busk intended to provide an inherently stable aeroplane. The first example, a converted B.E.2b, flew on 30 May 1914 with Busk at the controls. The B.E.2c used the same fuselage as the B.E.2b, but was really a new type, being fitted with new wings of different plan form, increased dihedral, ailerons and forward stagger, and a new tailplane.

29 May 1914

From the Carbondale (IL) Daily Free Press: Salisbury, England, May 29 (1914) — Winston Spencer Churchill, First Lord of the British Admiralty, accomplished the first series of tests required in order to obtain an air pilot's certificate. Churchill, at the steering apparatus of a naval aeroplane, rose at Netheravon and after a flight over Salisbury Plain landed with ease in the Yeomanry camp. The First Lord hopes to qualify for his certificate next week.

28 May 1914

The extensively modified Langley Aerodrome was test flown by Glenn Curtiss on May 28, 1914 on a lake at Hammondsport, New York as part of an effort to cast doubt on the validity of the Wright patent. The machine allegedly flew 150 feet in a straight-line flight. Curtiss had redesigned the wings, changing the camber, leading edge, and aspect ratio. He also redesigned the wing spars and the carburetor and added hydroplane floats.

27 May 1914

The first Burgess Model H that had been acquired by the Army was wrecked on 27 May 1914.

26 May 1914

Gaston Caudron entered a two-seat biplane of his own design into the Concours de La Sécurité en Aéroplanes at Buc aerodrome, near Paris. On Tuesday 26 May 1914 Caudron made demonstrations of his machine, displaying "...marked steadiness and perfect landings..." at Chalons, before leaving for Chartres, "...where he arrived safely after a long tussle with a head wind."

25 May 1914

The Short S.81, an experimental gun-carrying pusher biplane seaplane, was delivered to the Royal Naval Air Service on 25 May 1914. It was first fitted with in July 1914. It was fitted with a number of different guns for trials, including a 1½ pounder (37 mm) semi-automatic Vickers quick-firing gun and a 6 pounder (57 mm) Davis gun (an early recoilless gun). It was deleted from the inventory in October 1915, when trials were complete.

24 May 1914

A contest was scheduled for May 24, 1914 in Rio de Janeiro to awaken the enthusiasm of the Brazilian public for aviation. A Morane-Saulnier monoplane piloted by Lt. Ricardo Kirk competed against a Bleriot-Sit monoplane piloted by civilian aviator Ernesto Darioli. The race started from the Field of the Alfonsos and passed over several parts of the city. An accurate landing as close as possible to a six meter circle was required at the finish. Darioli abandoned the race due to the overheating of his engine and Lt. Kirk was declared the winner.

23 May 1914

The notable English aviator Gustav Hamel disappeared over the English Channel on 23 May 1914 while returning from Villacoublay on a new Morane-Saulnier monoplane he had just collected. In July, the crew of a fishing vessel found a body in the Channel off Boulogne. Although they did not retrieve the body, their description of the corpse provided strong circumstantial evidence that the body was Hamel's.

22 May 1914

On May 22, 1914 the Zeppelin LZ 24 left Friedrichshafen at 0716 and after a flight of record duration (34:59) and altitude (reaching 3,125 metres (10,250 ft)) it landed at Johannisthal 1715 on the 23rd.

21 May 1914

On 21st May, 1914, Princess Ludwig of Lowenstein-Wertheim chartered the Handley-Page Type G (H.P.7) (designed by George R. Volkert) to fly her from Hendon to Calais in order to keep an urgent engagement in Paris. W. Rowland Ding was her pilot, and he flew the biplane back on the following day.

20 May 1914

Writing on 20 May 1914 from Veracruz, RADM Charles J. Badger reported to Navy Sec'y Daniels that, "The Navy Aviation Corps on board Mississippi have performed all their duties well and their observations when in flight have been of service to the land forces."

19 May 1914

On May 19, 1914, Lidia Vissarianovna Zvereva, the first Russian woman pilot, became the first woman aerobatic pilot when she looped a Morane Parasol monoplane.

18 May 1914

On 18th May 1914, First Sea Lord Winston Churchill called for a ‘war squadron’ of ‘ten fighting aeroplanes’ to be created at Eastchurch for the aerial defence of the Chatham Dockyard. He said that the ‘design of these aeroplanes should be reconsidered in the light of the latest experience. They should all be identical in pattern, should all come from one maker, and should have all their parts interchangeable. ... These machines should be kept quite separate from the practice and school machines, and eight of the ten should always be ready to fly.’

17 May 1914

On 17 May 1914 at Nevers, France, Madame Lucienne Cayat de Castella ascended to a height of 800m (2500 feet) while suspended horizontally by a belt under the fuselage of a Goupy Type M biplane. She then descended using a parachute designed by her husband. She would die about two months later at an exhibition in Brussels, when her parachute malfunctioned.

16 May 1914

On 16 May 1914 the Angers-Avrillé airfield 260 kilometers southwest of Paris (aéroport d'Angers-Avrillé) began operation. The airfield was built on a 1.26 hectare plot of land donated to the city of Angers by the Comité d'Aviation de l'Anjou. The field operated until 1998 when it closed due to urban encroachment.

15 May 1914

Just after ascending from the beach at West Hartlepool on 15 May 1914, Lt. M.H. Harland's Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.1 encountered a fog bank and made a forced landing on the Seaton Carew golf links. The propeller blades were smashed and the machine was driven into a sandbank where the wheel axle became disconnected and the runners were broken. The plane was dismantled and taken to the Royal Flying Corps headquarters.

14 May 1914

The sixth Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.5 set a world altitude record at 18,900 ft, on May 14, 1914.

13 May 1914

On May 13, 1914 Ralph M. Brown began a 90 day suspension imposed by the Aero Club of America as punishment for having flown over the City of New York the previous week.

12 May 1914

On May 12, 1914, Capt. Ernest V. Anderson and Air Mechanic Henry W. Carter of No. 5 Squadron, RFC were killed when their Sopwith Three-Seater collided with another of that type flown by Lt. C.W. Wilson. Wilson was injured and both aircraft were destroyed. The inquest believed Wilson's aircraft may have been obscured by the upper wing of Anderson's.

11 May 1914

The M-Class Zeppelin LZ24 (Military No. L3) flew for the first time on 11 May 1914. About nine months later it was abandoned by its crew after an emergency landing in Denmark due to engine failure and extreme winds. It then was blown out to sea.

10 May 1914

Benjamin D. Thomas, formerly with Sopwith, designed the Model J for the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corporation. Powered by a 90 hp Curtiss OX-2 engine, it was one of the predecessors of the famous "Jenny". The Model J first flew on May 10, 1914.

9 May 1914

Mr. William Newell made the first parachute descent from an airplane in England on 9 May 1914. He jumped from the Grahame-White Type X Charabanc biplane piloted by Reginald Carr at an altitude of 2,000 feet and alit 2 min 22 sec later at the Hendon aerodrome.

8 May 1914

In 1914 Lebbeus Hordern, a wealthy Sydney merchant, imported a Maurice Farman ‘hydro-aeroplane’, the first seaplane in Australia. Its 70 hp Renault engine enabled a maximum speed of 60 mph. It could carry ‘two seventeen-stone passengers’ or three passengers of lesser weight. On May 8, 1914, Maurice Guillaux flew Hordern's Farman for the first time. Over the next few days he made many flights carrying passengers.

7 May 1914

Sopwith authorized the construction of two machines on 7 May 1914 for the planned Gordon Bennett Cup race. The outbreak of war prevented the holding of the contest and both were completed and purchased by the Admiralty. In naval service, one went to France for a time, before being deleted in March 1916. The second was deleted at Chingford in July 1915.

6 May 1914

On May 6, 1914, Captain Gustavo Salinas and his copilot Teodoro Madariaga made history in the skies over Mazatlan. Supporting a rebel army battling government forces, Madariaga -- in the first try at aerial bombing in the Western Hemisphere -- tossed a pigskin packed with dynamite, coal and nails over the side of the plane, hoping to hit a federale fort. The makeshift bomb missed its target, hitting a shoe factory a few blocks away.

5 May 1914

An extraordinary meeting of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale at Paris on 5 May 1914 discussed the proliferation of areas prohibited for aerial navigation and passed a resolution asking governments to limit the extent of such areas and simplify their regulation.

4 May 1914

On May 4, 1914, War Department Bulletin No. 35 specified two levels of qualification for U.S. Army aviators. Those who held the rank of Captain or above with at least three years flying experience would be rated as “Military Aviators.” Others were to be ranked as “Junior Military Aviators.”

3 May 1914

On May 3, 1914 the third and last of Marinus van Meel's machines he called te Briks had its first flight. It was bought by the Luchtvaartafdeeling (LVA) as its fifth aircraft, joining one earlier Brik and three French Farmans, and served as a dual-control trainer until 1915.

2 May 1914

At a “Monster Aviation Meeting” in Sydney on May 2, 1914, Frenchman Maurice Guillaux presented spectacular aerobatics including dives and low level flying. He concluded his first performance with a long spiral volplane during which the whistle of the wind could be heard through the wire stays bracing the wings. Guillaux returned to the air, stunning the crowd of 60,000 with a series of 10 loop-the-loops and the performance of an ‘outside’ loop-the-loop, which begins with a forward dive and is completed on the outside of the circle.

1 May 1914

Pilots Salim Bey and Kemal Bey landed their Bleriot XI, 'Edremit', at Jerusalem on 1 May 1914 (the first Turkish airplane to do so). They were en route from Istanbul to Cairo.