In the book L'Aviation Militaire ("Military Aviation"), Clément Ader writes ...an aircraft carrier will become indispensable. Such ships will be very differently constructed from anything in existence today. To start with, the deck will have been cleared of any obstacles: it will be a flat area, as wide as possible, not conforming to the lines of the hull, and will resemble a landing strip. The speed of this ship will have to be at least as great as that of cruisers or even greater...Servicing the aircraft will have to be done below this deck...Access to this lower deck will be by means of a lift long enough and wide enough to take an aircraft with its wings folded...Along the sides will be the workshops of the mechanics responsible for refitting the planes and for keeping them always ready for flight.[2] Discussing the landing of aircraft, he writes, The ship will be headed straight into the wind, the stern clear, but a padded bulwark set up forward in case the airplane should run past the stop line.
15 April – The first airport and flying school in Italy opens at Centocelle Airport in Rome. The opening coincides with a visit by Wilbur Wright, who gives a flight demonstration of a Wright airplane.
20 July – Orville Wright sets a new United States airplane endurance record, remaining aloft for 1 hour 20 minutes 25 seconds.[7]
25 July
Louis Blériot claims a £1,000 prize from the British Daily Mail newspaper for being the first pilot to cross the English Channel in an airplane. He makes the crossing in his Blériot Type XI, flying 21 miles (34 km) from Les Barraques near Calais to Northfall Meadow near Dover Castle in 37 minutes. Blériot also receives an additional £3,000 from the French government.[10]
While Bleriot warms up his Blériot XI prior to his flight, a farm dog runs into the plane's propeller and is killed. It is the first terrestrial wildlife strike involving an aircraft ever recorded.[14]
Orville Wright flies with passenger Lt. Benjamin Foulois at an average 42.58 miles per hour (68.53 km/h) mph over a measured round-trip course, successfully completing flight tests in the Wright Military Flyer for the U.S. Army at Fort Myer, Virginia. The Army buys the airplane for $30,000.
7 August – French aviator Roger Sommer sets a new world airplane endurance record, remaining aloft for 2 hours 27 minutes 15 seconds.[17]
26 August – The Antoinette IV airplane sets a world distance record at Rheims, flying 154.6 km (96.1 mi) in 2 hours 17 minutes 21 seconds:[12]
27 August – Henri Farman raises the airplane distance record to 180 km (110 mi).[18]
28 August
At Rheims, Glenn Curtiss wins the first airplane race held for the Gordon Bennett Cup, flying 20 km (12.42 miles) in 15 minutes 50.6 seconds at an average speed of 47 mph (75.7 km/h), finishing 5.6 seconds ahead of Louis Blériot.[17]
Louis Blériot sets a world speed record over a 10 km (6.2 mi) circuit at a speed of 76.95 km/h (47.81 mph).[18]
2 September – Scarborough Beach Amusement Park in the Beaches neighborhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada hosts one of the first, if not the first, air shows in North America. The show features one plane, a Curtiss Golden Flyer piloted by Charles Willard, which on the first evening is forced to make an emergency landing in Lake Ontario after only a few seconds in the air.[20][21]
26 September – The brothers Alexander and Anatol Renner fly an airship (which they have designed and built themselves) for the first time, making eight flights over the autumn fair at Graz. These are the first airship flights in Austria-Hungary.[25]
2 October – Orville Wright sets a new world altitude record for airplanes, reaching an estimated 500 meters (1,640 feet) over Potsdam, Germany.[26][27]
15–23 October – Britain's first Aviation Meeting held at Doncaster Racecourse.[28]
4 November – John Moore-Brabazon makes the first live cargo flight by airplane when he puts a small pig in a waste-paper basket tied to a wing-strut of his airplane.
20 November – Cerchez & Co., the first aircraft company, the first aerodrome and the first flight school in Romania is founded at Chitila by Mihail Cerchez.[33]
5 December – George Taylor becomes the first person to fly a heavier-than-air craft in Australia, in a glider he designed. On the same day Florence Taylor becomes the first woman in Australia to fly a heavier-than-air craft, in the glider designed by her husband.
8 December – With Enea Bossi, Sr., at the controls, the first Italian-designed and -built airplane to fly takes to the air for the first time. Bossi, Giuseppe Bellanco, and Paolo Invernizzi had designed it.[34][35][36]
31 December – Harry Ferguson becomes the first person to fly an aircraft in Ireland, when he takes off in a monoplane he had designed and built himself.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1909 in aviation.
^Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, p. 13.
^Macintyre, Donald, Aircraft Carrier: The Majestic Weapon, New York: Ballantine Books Inc., 1968, p. 8.
^Daniel, Clifton, ed., Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987, ISBN 0-942191-01-3, p. 122.
^Fryer, Jonathan (September 2008). "Where British aviation began". The Journal of Kent History. 67: 18–19.
^Robinson, Douglas H., Giants in the Sky, Henley-on-Thames: Foulis, 1973. ISBN 0 854 29145 8
^Daniel, Clifton, ed., Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987, ISBN 0-942191-01-3, p. 124.
^ abDaniel, Clifton, ed., Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987, ISBN 0-942191-01-3, p. 125.
^"Personalities in the Gliding Movement - Mr. E.C. Gordon England A.F.R.Ae.S." (PDF). The Sailplane & Glider. 3 (7). British Gliding Association: 74. 1932-04-01. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
^Wooldridge, E. T. "Early Flying Wings (1870–1920)". Century of Flight. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
^ abDaniel, Clifton, ed., Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987, ISBN 0-942191-01-3, p. 126.
^"Three Men in an Aeroplane." Flight,'19 June 1909.
^ abDonald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 52.
^Calder, Nigel, The English Channel, New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1986, ISBN 0-14-010131-4, p. 188.
^Brotak, Ed, "When Birds Strike," Aviation History, May 2016, p. 49.
^Cameron, Dugald; Galbraith, Roderick; Thomson, Douglas (2003). From Pilcher to the planets: aspects of Glasgow and the West of Scotland's early contribution to aviation as seen against the history of flight and a view of the art of engineering. University of Glasgow. ISBN 9780852167786.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, ISBN 0-87021-313-X, p. 29.
^ abDaniel, Clifton, ed., Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987, ISBN 0-942191-01-3, p. 127.
^ abTabulated Performances, &c at the Rheims MeetingFlight4 September 1909
^Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 33.
^"The Curtiss Aeroplane in Flight". The Globe and Mail. 3 September 1909. p. 1.
^Elliott, Robbins (1988). The Ontario Book of Days. Toronto: Dundurn Press. p. 111. ISBN 1-55002-033-1.
^Gibbs-Smith, C.H. Aviation: An Historical Survey London: NMSI, 2003 ISBN 1-900747-52-9
^ abDaniel, Clifton, ed., Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987, ISBN 0-942191-01-3, p. 128.
^Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 32.
^Phythyon, John R., Jr., Great War at Sea: Zeppelins, Virginia Beach, Virginia: Avalanche Press, Inc., 2007, p. 43.
^Daniel, Clifton, ed., Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987, ISBN 0-942191-01-3, p. 129.
^"Aviation History Facts: October". centennialofflight.net.
^Blake, Richard. The Book of Postal Dates, 1635-1985. Caterham: Marden. p. 20.
^Phythyon, John R., Jr., Great War at Sea: Zeppelins, Virginia Beach, Virginia: Avalanche Press, Inc., 2007, p. 44.
^Ch. 8, Pg 224-238(PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-02. Retrieved 2013-12-18.
^Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 28-29.
^Dan Antoniu; George Cicoș (27 October 2006). "Primii pași către o industrie aeronautică în România" (in Romanian).
^Grosser, Morton (1981). Gossamer Odyssey: The Triumph of Human-Powered Flight. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-7603-2051-9.
^United States of America Declaration of Intention & Petition for Naturalization #270572 (or #270872), United States of America Certificate of Naturalization #2313991
^O'Connor, Derek, "'An Outstanding American Citizen,'" Aviation History, March 2017, p. 52.
^"Hans Grade monoplane". Magdeburg Museum of technology. Retrieved 31 January 2014.