British Civil Aviation in 1913

14 February
An armed biplane fighter, the Destroyer EFB1 (Experimental Fighting Biplane No.1), is displayed by Vickers at the Olympia.

1 April
The Daily Mail offers £10,000 for the completion of a transatlantic flight and £5,000 for a round-Britain flight in a British aeroplane, to be completed within 72 hours.

17 April
The first non-stop flight from Britain to Germany is made by Briton Gustav Hamel, who takes 4 hours 18 minutes to fly from Dover to Cologne in his Blériot XI.

8 July
The Sopwith Bat Boat No.1, piloted by Harry Hawker, wins the £500 Mortimer Singer prize for an all-British amphibious aircraft.

13 July
Ronald Whitehouse, a Handley Page test pilot, is cheered as he flies just outside the Hull city boundary to mock the Mayor who forbid him from flying over the city on a Sunday.

16 August
The first major British seaplane competition, the Daily Mail Hydro-Aeroplane Trials, begins. Harry Hawker fails to complete the 2,478 kilometre (1,540 mile) flight, but is awarded a prize of £1,000 for his determination.

September
Benjamin Charles Hucks becomes the first Briton to perform a loop, in his Blériot at Hendon.

17 September
A 70 year old woman, Mrs Leigh, is taken flying by Harold Blackburn when he demonstrates his new Type 1 monoplane at Ripon in Yorkshire.

18 September
The prototype Avro 504 two-seat reconnaissance biplane is test flown for the first time and then competes in the 1913 Aerial Derby two days later.

20 September
The Daily Mail Aerial Derby is won by Gustav Hamel over a course of 95 miles.

November
The British Sopwith Tabloid, a forerunner to the Scout aeroplane, is flown for the first time, at Farnborough.

30 November
Captain Lushington takes Winston Churchill for a flying lesson in his Short aeroplane.