British Military Aviation in 1913

February
The War Office lifts its ban on Royal Flying Corps (RFC) pilots flying monoplanes.

March
The Experimental Branch of the Military Wing, Royal Flying Corps, is formed to conduct experiments in ballooning, kiting, wireless telegraphy, photography, meteorology, bomb-dropping, musketry, gunnery and artillery co-operation, under the first Officer Commanding, Major H. Musgrave.

16-17 April
Lieutenant R. Cholmondeley flies a Maurice Farman biplane from Larkhill to Upavon and back, on the first night flight made by an aeroplane of No.3 Squadron of the Military Wing.

June
The Australian Minister of Defence, Senator G.F. Pearce, announces the formation of the first military flying school in the British Empire outside the United Kingdom. The school is subsequently established on a 295 hectare site at Point Cooke in Victoria, during the early months of 1914.

July
Aircraft from Yarmouth, Leven and Cromarty participate in naval manoeuvres. The manoeuvres demonstrate the need for a larger seaplane, more capable of withstanding the rigours of the North Sea than those then in service and the importance of fitting wireless transmitters to all seaplanes, both for transmitting scouting reports and to enable crews to call for assistance in the event of a forced landing.

17 July
The Royal Navy accepts the Short brothers' Folder seaplane and assigns it to HMS Hermes at Sheerness.

7 August
The aviation pioneer Colonel Samuel Franklin Cody is killed when attempting to land on Laffan's Plain at Farnborough.

September
Aircraft of the Royal Flying Corps Military and Naval Wings participate in Army Manoeuvres.

2 September
The Royal Flying Corps' first sea crossing by the is made by four aeroplanes of No.2 Squadron, flying across the Irish Sea to Rathbone Camp in County Limerick for manoeuvres.

3 October
Major G.C. Merrick becomes the first pilot to be killed while training at the Central Flying School, when the Short biplane in which he was flying crashes.

26 October
The aircraft requirements of the Royal Navy are outlined in a minute by the First Lord of the Admiralty. The First Lord states that aeroplanes and seaplanes are required for both 'oversea' (maritime) and home defence duties.

According to official historian Sir Walter Raleigh, three new types of aircraft were recommended, "first, an oversea fighting seaplane, to operate from a ship as base; next, a scouting seaplane, to work with the fleet at sea; and last, a home-service fighting aeroplane, to repel enemy aircraft when they attack the vulnerable points of our island, and to carry out patrol duties along the coast."

22 November
Captain C.A.H. Longcroft of No.2 Squadron flies non-stop between Montrose, Portsmouth and Farnborough in a Royal Aircraft Factory BE2. His flight covers a distance of 445 miles in a time of 7 hours 20 minutes. In recognition, Captain Loncroft receives the Royal Aero Club's Britannia Challenge Trophy.