page_title: List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft before 1925
section_title: 1917
hierarchical_section_title: List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft before 1925 / 1917
caption_attribution_description: IWM caption&#160;: Squadron Commander E H Dunning attempting to land his Sopwith Pup on the flying-off deck of HMS FURIOUS, Scapa Flow, 7 August 1917. He was killed when his aircraft veered off the flight deck and into the sea. See File:Dunning killed on second carrier landing IWM Q 80597.jpg for following photograph.
context_page_description: This is a list of notable accidents and incidents involving military aircraft grouped by the year in which the accident or incident occurred. Not all of the aircraft were in operation at the time. Combat losses are not included except for a very few cases denoted by singular circumstances.
context_section_description: 1 January
  Five Royal Naval Air Service crew en route from Manston, England to Villacoublay, France in a Handley Page 0/100 bomber, run into clouds, lose their direction due to a compass fault, and land to ask directions. Unfortunately, they come down behind German lines at Chalandry, near Lâon, France, and before they can either burn the machine or take off, a German infantry patrol captures them and their intact bomber. An unconfirmed story states that Manfred von Richthofen flew this machine to 10,000 feet before the Kaiser at a later date. Another source cites 2 February as the date of this incident.
  21 January
  Sergente Menegoni of 71 Squadriglia, Regio Esercito, was killed when his Nieuport 11, 1622, suffered a structural failure of the wing struts and crashed.
  28 January
  Royal Aircraft Factory test pilot Maj. Frank W. Goodden is killed in the second prototype S.E.5, A4562 at RAE Farnborough, when it breaks up in flight. At the time of his death, Goodden was one of Britain's most experienced pilots. Inspection found that the wings had suffered failure in downward torsion. Plywood webs were added to the compression ribs, curing the trouble and were standardized on all later S.E.5s and 5a's.
  7 February
  Imperial German Navy Zeppelin LZ82 L 36, damaged during landing in fog at Rheden upon Aller and decommissioned.
  12 March
  Flight Sub-Lieutenant Ronald Victor Knight, Royal Naval Air Service, died at RAF Cranwell on 12 March 1917 where he was an assistant flying instructor. The engine of the plane in which he was flying failed and he dived to his death. He is buried in Wells Cemetery, Somerset and his name is shown on the war memorial in Wells.
  26 March
  Ex-Royal Flying Corps pilot J. B. Fitzsimmons is killed while engaging in some low level aerobatics in a high wind in the sole Nestler Scout (no serial) when the fabric began stripping from the wings. Fitzsimmons crashes into a hangar and the airframe is wrecked. No further development work takes place on the design.
  June
  During this month, six Russian Anatra D biplanes crash due to poor quality manufacturing, killing their pilots.  The Russian aircraft builder was hampered by a shortage of high-quality wood and fabricated each wing spar in two pieces, overlapping at the joint by only 12 inches, held together with glue and tape.
  16 June
  Imperial German Navy Zeppelin L 40, LZ88, damaged beyond repair in a failed landing at Nordholz Airbase.
  July
  Even though Vickers already had experience in building promising tractor scouts, and the pusher-style Gunbus had been outmoded for two years in the presence of dedicated dogfighters, the company built one prototype Vickers F.B.25, powered by a 150-hp. direct-drive Hispano-Suiza engine in 1917, armed with one 1.59 inch Breech-Loading Vickers Q.F. Gun, Mk II (popularly known as the "Vickers Crayford rocket gun") in the nose as an anti-airship night fighter. A ten-inch searchlight was intended to be fitted in the extreme nose but there is no evidence that this was ever installed. Design underwent trials at Martlesham Heath in late June or early July, but crashed whilst landing in a strong wind, a trials report stating that due to poor controls, the aircraft proved to be "almost unmanageable in a wind over 20 mph". The serial of this aircraft is not known, although a document, traced recently, refers to it as No. "13", and it has been suggested that this may indicate A9813 – formerly a cancelled number intended for a Sopwith Triplane.
  21 July
  French test pilot/instructor Jean Robinet, awarded Aviator's Certificate No. 476 by the Aéro-Club de France on 29 April 1911, is KWF an Anatra D at the Anatra Factory, Odessa, Russia, this date.
  2 August 
  "Captain Ralph L. Taylor, U. S. R., instructor of the Government Aviation Training School at Mineola, L. I., was killed when the military biplane under his control fell from a height of 800 feet, Aug. 2.  Sergt. Thomas F. Pell, a student aviator with Captain Taylor, was injured." The Aviation Archeology database has no listing for this accident.
  3 August 
  "When the motor of his airplane stopped 300
caption: Sqn Cdr E. H. Dunning landing aboard HMS Furious in the Scapa Flow, in a Sopwith Pup, believed to have been N6453, 2 August 1917, five days before his fatal third attempt.
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