28 August 1914

The first dog-fight of the Great War is believed to have taken place on 28th August 1914, when Lieutenant Norman Spratt, flying a Sopwith Tabloid, forced down a German Albatros C.1 two-seater. This was an amazing achievement as his Sopwith was not armed.

27 August 1914

A Royal Naval Air Service force commanded by Wing Commander C. R. Samson landed in Ostend on 27th August 1914. It was composed of seven different types of aeroplane, both biplanes and monoplanes, with three different makes of engine. One of these makes had two different sizes of engine.

26 August 1914

Escadrille 26 was founded on 26 August 1914, at Arras under the command of Capt. Robert Jannerod. It was originally equipped with Morane-Saulnier aircraft, leading to its designation as Escadrille MS26. The squadron is still active today.

25 August 1914

On August 25, 1914, staff at a Bavarian corps headquarters near Nancy in northeast France saw an airplane that circled overhead and dropped a brilliant light. While contemplating this seemingly harmless firework, the Bavarians found themselves under French shellfire — the light had been a flare dropped from the plane to mark their position.

24 August 1914

As the result of a zeppelin raid on 24 August 1914, the port city of Antwerp in Belgium became the first city to be bombed from the air.

23 August 1914

RFC pilot Philip Joubert de la Fetre and his observer flew over the Battle of Mons on 23 August 1914. His diary recorded that "...we had been told authoritatively in England that if we flew at 3000 feet we were unlikely to be hit by small arms fire and that gunfire was likely to be equally ineffective. We had hardly crossed the battle line at 4000 feet before my machine was hit five times, one shot ringing the bell on my steel seat...in the neighborhood of Tournai, fire from a German column that was moving to turn our position at Mons put a hole in my petrol tank..."

22 August 1914

On 22 August 1914, British Capt. L.E.O. Charlton and Lt. V.H.N. Wadham reported German General Alexander von Kluck's army was preparing to surround the BEF, contradicting all other intelligence. The British High Command took note of the report and started to withdraw toward Mons, saving the lives of 100,000 soldiers.

21 August 1914

The German airship LZ-22, accompanied by LZ-23, was hit by infantry fire during a reconnaissance mission in Alsace on 21 August 1914 and was damaged beyond repair in a subsequent forced landing in St. Quirin, Lorraine.

20 August 1914

On August 20, 1914, Orville Wright and student pilot U.S. Navy Lt. Kenneth Whiting were trying out a modified Wright Model G Aeroboat when one of the wings broke and sent the plane into the Great Miami River in Dayton. Orville “narrowly escaped drowning” in the accident. Lt. Whiting also survived, apparently unscathed, and went on to a distinguished career in Naval aviation.

19 August 1914

The Royal Flying Corps first went into action on August 19th 1914, six days after leaving the UK for its base in France. Two aeroplanes took off from Amiens to take reconnaissance photos but such was the weather that one of the pilots lost his way and only one pilot was able to complete his mission.

18 August 1914

The R.A.F B.E.8 saw service on the Western Front early in the war. It was prone to spinning, and several machines were lost in crashes. On 18 August 1914 a B.E.8 crashed at Peronne, killing its observer and injuring the pilot, Lt. R. Smith-Barry. He recovered (although he needed to walk with a stick for the rest of his life) and established a school teaching spins and spin recovery.

17 August 1914

On 17 August 1914, Capt. Lewis E. Goodier Jr. tested a bomb-dropping device designed by Lt. Riley Scott in a Martin Model T at the Signal Corps Aviation School at North Island, California.

16 August 1914

Perry, Beadle & Co. was formed by E.W. Copland Berry, a pilot, and F.P. Hyde Beadle, a technician. The firm developed several tractor biplanes but ceased operation when Perry was killed in a flying accident on 16 August 1914, making him the first RFC officer to die in France in the Great War.

15 August 1914

The first aerial dogfight of the war occurred during the Battle of Cer, which began on 15 August 1914. A Serbian aviator named Tomić encountered an Austro-Hungarian plane while performing a reconnaissance mission. The Austro-Hungarian pilot fired at Tomić with his revolver. Tomić managed to escape, and, within several weeks, all Serbian and Austro-Hungarian planes were fitted with machine-guns.

14 August 1914

The first genuine bomber to be used in combat was the French Voisin, which bombed the Zeppelin hangers at Metz-Frascaty on August 14, 1914.

13 August 1914

After assembling with other RFC squadrons in the south of England, the Montrose-based No2 Squadron of the RFC took off for Amiens on the Western Front and were the first to land on August 13, 1914. Their Farman Shorthorns and BE2s had no armaments of any kind and they had no parachutes – at the time deemed “bad for morale”. The only means the pilots had to defend themselves was their service revolver.

12 August 1914

On 12 August 1914, Lt. Robert R. Skene and Airman R.K. Barlow became the RFC's first fatalities of the war when their heavily loaded Bleriot XI crashed en route to Dover, soon after taking off. An inquest found that just over Netheravon, Lt. Skene made a sharp left-hand turn causing the machine to dive from a height of 150 feet. The jury returned a verdict of Accidental Death. Lt. Skene was 23 years old, and had been the first man in England to loop the loop.

11 August 1914

On August 11, 1914, British naval officials began building a seagoing air force. The Admiralty commandeered three cross-Channel packets — Engadine, Riviera, and Empress — and ordered their conversion into seaplane carriers. Each was given a hangar for four such craft, along with a pair of derricks to hoist them in and out.

10 August 1914

10 August 1914 was to have seen the start of the Circuit of Britain seaplane race, with entrants from Sopwith, Beardmore, Grahame-White, Eastbourne, White and Thompson, Avro and Blackburn. Competitors were on their way to the starting point at Calshot when war was declared against Germany. The race never took place and all the competing aircraft were commandeered by the Admiralty.

9 August 1914

On August 9, 1914 the French airship "Fleurus" conducted a reconnaissance and bombed the town of Trier in the war's first raid on Germany. The airship, under the command of Captain Tixier, reconnoitered the Serre-Trier-Luxembourg region and dropped four 155 mm shells on a rail station before returning to base without incident.

8 August 1914

On 8 August 1914, an unnamed observer in a French aircraft piloted by Joseph Sadi-Lecointe was wounded by German rifle fire and became the first French casualty of the First World War.

7 August 1914

On the 7th of August 1914 at Farnborough, Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh M Trenchard was appointed Officer Commanding the Military Wing of the Royal Flying Corps and took charge of all Royal Flying Corps activities in Great Britain.

6 August 1914

On August 6, 1914 at Kansas City, MO, De-Lloyd "Dutch" Thompson, of Chicago, in a Gyro powered Day Tractor biplane, broke the American altitude record today by rising to the height of 15,600 feet. The previous record was 11,260 feet, made by Lincoln Beachey at Chicago in 1913.

5 August 1914

The Aeronautical Division of the US Army Signal Corps, a quasi-headquarters (Lt. Col. Samuel Reber, Washington, D.C.) issued orders in the name of the Chief Signal Officer. On August 5, 1914, by Signal Corps Aviation School General Order No. 10, the Aviation Section was organized into the Signal Corps Aviation School (Capt. Arthur S. Cowan, San Diego), and the 1st Aero Squadron (Capt. Benjamin D. Foulois).

4 August 1914

At the age of 18, Marjorie Stinson enrolled in the Wright School at Dayton, soloed on August 4, 1914 and received her license on August 12. She joined her family in establishing a flight school in San Antonio, TX. Marjorie was an instructor, along with her sister Katherine; her brother Edward acted as chief mechanic, and their mother became the business manager.

3 August 1914

on August 3, 1914, six bombs were dropped from a German Zeppelin on the French town of Lunéville a full hour before the German ambassador Wilhelm von Schoen handed his country’s official declaration of war to French ambassador M. Viviani.

2 August 1914

On August 2nd, 1914 while flying along over Bay City, MI, Lionel H. DeRemer's Wright Model B hydro-aeroplane caught fire in the air, but he was able to bring it down safely on the Saginaw River. After trying to extinguish the fire, he swam ashore and watched the plane burn completely. This ended his flying as a pilot. He went back to the field of music, first in teaching, then playing in theatre and dance orchestras.

1 August 1914

Norman Thompson derived the design of the White & Thompson 'Seaplane No.2' from the Curtiss Model F. This single-engined machine was entered for the Seaplane Circuit of Britain which was abandoned due to the onset of the war. Taken over by the Admiralty,it first flew on 1 August 1914 and, after service at various stations, was wrecked in June 1915.