Category AIRFORCE

AUGUST 3 At Oakland, California, Cap­tain Thomas S. Baldwin conducts the first American dirigible flight. He flies an air­ship, equipped with a Curtiss motor, in a complete circuit.

September 20 At Dayton, Ohio, Wilbur Wright again makes aviation history with the first circular flight of a heavier-than – air craft around Huffman Prairie.

FEBRUARY 22 At San Diego, California, Lieutenant W. D. Coney makes the first solo transcontinental flight by flying his DH-4B to Jacksonville, Florida, in 22 hours, 27 minutes. This is also one of the earliest mail-service flights.

FEBRUARY 25 At Langley Field, Vir­ginia, the first Air Service School is established; it becomes the Air Corps Tactical School in July 1926.

FEBRUARY 27 Over Dayton, Ohio, a Packard-LePere LUSAC 11 biplane flown by Major R. W. Schroeder reaches a world-record altitude of 33,114 feet. The aircraft is powered by a modified Liberty 400 engine.

May 1 At Dayton, Ohio, the GA-1 tri­

plane, the Army’s first armored aircraft, debuts. This twin-engined bomber is heavi­ly armed with eight machine guns and a 37mm cannon, but only flies at 105 miles per hour; it does not enter production.

May 14—16 At Bolling Air Field, Wash­ington, D. C., the first Army Air Tourna­ment, which features several captured German aircraft, draws a crowd of

10.0 people.

June 4 In Washington, D. C., Congress

passes the Army Reorganization Bill of 1920, which grants the Air Service per­manent status on par with the infantry, cavalry, and artillery. The military rating of “airplane pilot” also arises, with authorized flight pay of 50 percent above existing base pay. Furthermore, the Air Service is authorized 1,514 officers and

16.0 enlisted men.

June 5 To ease competition fears from

the Navy, Congress passes legislation restricting the Air Service to land bases.

June 8 Over San Antonio, Texas, Lieu­tenant John H. Wilson makes an unoffi­cial world-record parachute jump from 19,861 feet.

June 11 At Langley Field, Virginia, Wind Tunnel 1, which is only five feet in length, is successfully tested. Results obtained convince the National Advisory Commit­tee for Aeronautics (NACA) that a larger device is necessary for meaningful results.

June 28 Army and Navy representatives are encouraged by NACA to enroll air offi­cers to the Massachusetts Institute of Tech­nology (MIT) to study aeronautical science; among those assigned there is James H. Doolittle, who garners a doctorate.

July 1 In Ohio, the Wright Aeronautical Company constructs a Hispano-Suiza air­plane engine capable of firing a 37mm cannon shell down the propeller shaft.

July 15-October 20 At Mitchel Field, New York, four DH-4Bs under Captain St. Clair Streett fly to Nome, Alaska, and back; the trip covers

9,0 miles and is successfully concluded.

September 11 At Langley Field, Vir­ginia, three airships fly under radio com­munication and are directed while aloft and still in formation.

October 3 On the Potomac River near Washington, D. C., a Huff-Daland HD-4 Bridget aircraft flown by Lieutenants Godfrey L. Cabot and Harold R. Harris retrieves a five-gallon can of gasoline from a float. This constitutes an early attempt at in-flight refueling.

OCTOBER 20 At Mineola Field, New York, a flight of four aircraft under Cap­tain St. Clair Streett, who departed on the previous July 15, returns after a record 9,000-mile flight to Alaska and back. Streett wins a Mackay Trophy along with the Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts.

November 1 At Langley Field, Virginia, Major Thomas DeWitt Milling assumes command of the Field Officers School, a precursor of the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field, Alabama. It arises to create new air doctrines and tac­tics for fast-changing times.

November 25 At Mitchel Field, New York, Lieutenant Corliss C. Moseley, fly­ing a Verville-Packard 600, wins the first Pulitzer Air Race at an average speed of 156.5 miles per hour.

FEBRUARY 17 At Miami, Florida, Lieu­tenant Colonel Robert D. Olds leads six Boeing B-17A bombers to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to attend the inaugural of President Roberto Ortiz.

FEBRUARY 27 At Langley Field, Vir­ginia, six Boeing B-17 bombers under Lieutenant Colonel Robert D. Olds return from a 10,000-mile round trip flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and back. The trip required 33 hours and 30 minutes of flying time and the crews receive the Mackay Trophy. Moreover, their success heralds that the age of stra­tegic bombing is at hand.

April 6 At Wright Field, Ohio, testing begins on the radically different Bell XP – 39, whose engine is midway down the fuselage, behind the pilot’s compartment, with a 37mm cannon mounted to fire down the fuselage centerline. During World War II nearly 5,000 P-39s are sent to the Soviet Union, where Russian pilots praised its heavy firepower and rugged construction.

MAY 1 Along the eastern seaboard, the Army stages three days of maneuvering to establish if airplanes can repel a sea­borne attack. The exercise involves 220 aircraft and 3,000 men, and is judged successful.

MAY 12 Over the Atlantic, the Army Air Corps dispatches three B-17 bombers that intercept the Italian liner Rex 700 miles at sea. The Navy, suitably alarmed, demands that Army aircraft be limited to only 100 miles from the coast. The lead navi­gator in this stunt is Captain Curtis LeMay.

July 28 Lieutenant Harold L. Neely, fly­ing a Seversky P-35 fighter, completes a transcontinental flight in 9 hours and 54 minutes flying time.

AUGUST 3—12 At Langley Field, Vir­ginia, a flight of three Boeing B-17 bombers under Major Vincent J. Meloy, 2nd Bombardment Group, departs on a goodwill flight to Bogota, Colombia, and back.

August 19 At Mitchel Field, New York, the new Douglas B-18 Bolo bomber (adapted from the DC-3 transport) per­forms a transcontinental flight and arrives from Hamilton Field, California, in 15 hours and 18 minutes of flying time.

AUGUST 29 Major Alexander P. de Sev­ersky sets a new east-to-west transconti­nental speed record by covering 2,457 miles in 10 hours, 2 minutes, and 55.7 seconds.

SEPTEMBER 15 This year’s Mackay Tro­phy is awarded to the Army Air Corps for its development of the XC-35 and its pressurized cabin.

SEPTEMBER 21 Over Burbank, Califor­nia, Major General Oscar Westover, chief
of the U. S. Army Air Corps, is killed when his Douglas A-17AS staff aircraft suddenly crashes. An accident inquiry concludes that unpredictable, gusty winds coupled with intense heat currents rising off the ground caused the mishap.

SEPTEMBER 29 Brigadier General Henry H. Arnold gains appointment as chief of the Air Corps to replace the recently deceased Major General Oscar Westover; he also becomes a major general.

OCTOBER 14 Over Buffalo, New York, the Curtiss XP-40 prototype fighter begins flight-testing. It enters Army ser­vice as the P-40 Tomahawk and during World War II 14,000 are built for the United States and its allies before con­struction ceases in 1944.

OCTOBER 26 At El Segundo, California, the Douglas Model 7B begins flight­testing. It enters service as the A-20 Havoc and, during World War II, it becomes the most-produced Army sur­face attack aircraft. A-20s are also widely exported to Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union.

November 14 In Washington, D. C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the mission of the Army Air Corps expanded and pushes for a 20,000-plane force. Major General Henry H. Arnold subsequently equates this secret conference to the “Magna Carta” as far as American air power is concerned.

January 18 In light of their success, the Wright brothers contact the government over possible sales to the U. S. Army, but no action is taken.

February 11 At West Point, New York, the 25-foot balloon L’Alouette rises from the siege battery there under Charles Levee; among those observing
is Cadet Henry H. Arnold, Class of 1907.

OCTOBER 5 Wilbur and Orville Wright solve a difficult equilibrium (balance) problem in their nascent airplane, the Wright Flyer III. This is the first airplane capable of taking off, turning, flying for 30 minutes in a circular flight ranging 24 miles, then landing safely.

OCTOBER 27 In Washington, D. C., the War Department is again contacted by Wilbur and Orville Wright, who feel their new flying device has potential mili­tary applications. The Board of Ord­nance, however, mistaking their letter as a request for funding, again turns them down.

JANUARY 10 At McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, engineers test an experimental, 700-horsepower engine, which boasts three banks of six cylinders.

February 21—24 At Rockwell Field, California, Lieutenant William D. Conley stages a solo transcontinental flight to Jacksonville, Florida, covering 2,180 miles in 22 hours and 27 minutes of flying time.

MARCH 23 At Chanute Field, Illinois, Lieutenant A. G. Hamilton parachutes from 23,700 feet and survives.

June 8 At McCook Field, Ohio, a DH-9 bomber flown by Lieutenant Harold R. Harris conducts the first experiments with a pressurized cabin.

July 13—21 Off Hampton Roads,

Virginia, aerial avatar General William “Billy” Mitchell, Army Air Service, effec­tively displays air power by sinking the cap­tured German battleship Ostfriesland with

Martin MB-2 bombers. He also proclaims, somewhat prematurely, that the eclipse of capital ships is at hand and the supremacy ofair power beckons.

July 29 General William Mitchell leads a

dozen Martin MB-2 bombers over New York City to demonstrate its vulnerability to air attack. He hopes to convince politi­cal authorities that the Navy can no longer defend America’s coastline, and that that mission is best entrusted to the Air Service.

AUGUST In Ohio, the Orenco D-1, the first U. S.-designed American fighter craft, is jointly manufactured by the Ordnance Engineering Corporation and Curtiss. The D-1 achieves production status but is only manufactured in small quantities.

AUGUST 1 The Bureau of Ordnance tests a gyroscopic-stabilized, World War I-type high-level bombsight designed by Carl L. Norden; this is a precursor to the famous Norden bombsight of World War II.

AUGUST 3—4 At Troy, Ohio, a modified JN-6 Jenny flown by Lieutenant John A. Macready performs the first crop-dusting mission against caterpillar-infested trees.

September 13 A private report written by Brigadier General William “Billy” Mitchell for Chief of the Air Service Major General Charles T. Menoher, which unequivocally calls for an aviation branch within the Department of National Defense, some­how leaks its way to the press.

SEPTEMBER 23 In Chesapeake Bay, Vir­ginia, Air Service bombers send the obso­lete battleship Alabama to the bottom with a 2,000-pound bomb.

September 28 At McCook Field, Day­ton, Ohio, a Packard-LePere fighter flown by Lieutenant J. A. Macready reaches a record altitude of 34,508 feet and he wins a Mackay Trophy. He assumes a circular flight path while
climbing, the circumference of which reached 70 miles at the very top.

OCTOBER 5 In Washington, D. C., com­mand of the Air Service passes to Major General Mason M. Patrick.

OCTOBER 18 At Mount Clemens, Michigan, Brigadier General William Mitchell pilots a Curtiss R-6 racer to a world speed record of233 miles per hour.

NOVEMBER 12 At Long Beach, Califor­nia, two JN-4 Jennies conduct the first in-flight refueling when Lieutenant Wes­ley May crawls along the wing of one air­craft to the other with a five-gallon can of gasoline strapped to his back, then emp­ties it into the gas tank.

NOVEMBER 15 At Langley Field, Virginia, the Roma, the world’s largest semirigid air­ship to that date, makes its initial flight with Captain Dale Mabry at the controls.

January 12 In Washington, D. C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt requests higher priority for the development and acquisition ofmodern military aircraft.

January 27 At March Field, California, the Lockheed XP-38 twin-boomed, twin-engined fighter performs its maiden flight. It enters service as the P-38 Light­ning and serves throughout World War II with distinction.

FEBRUARY 10 Over Los Angeles, Cali­fornia, the North American NA-40 twin – engine bomber makes its initial flight. It enters service as the B-25 Mitchell and, during World War II, it becomes the most numerous medium bomber on the Allied side.

FEBRUARY 14 At Langley Field, Vir­ginia, Major Caleb V. Haynes pilots the giant Boeing XB-15 prototype bomber during a mercy flight to assist earthquake victims in Chile. He arrives with 3,000 pounds of badly needed medical supplies in 29 hours and 53 minutes, winning a Mackay Trophy.

MARCH 1 At Langley Field, Virginia, Major General Delos C. Emmons is appointed commander of the General Headquarters force.

MARCH 21 A board of officers consisting of Colonel Hugo E. Pitz, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph T. McNarney, and Major George Kenney is assigned the task of evaluating permanent and auxiliary air­fields in Puerto Rico.

MARCH 24 At Palm Springs, California, aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran sets another woman’s altitude record of 30,052 feet in her Beechcraft.

APRIL 3 In Washington, D. C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the National Defense Act into law, which gives the Army Air Corps $300 million and authorizes its expansion to 48,000 per­sonnel and 6,000 aircraft. Significantly, it also allows African Americans to receive flight training for the first time.

APRIL 18 Major General Henry H. Arnold recalls Colonel Charles A. Lind­bergh of the Missouri National Guard back to active duty; he is tasked with evaluating and uncovering weaknesses in American air power.

APRIL 27 In Washington, D. C., the Army Air Corps places an order for the first production batch of Lockheed P-38 Lightnings.

JUNE 1 Major General Henry H. Arnold, chief of the Army Air Corps, seeks to acquire as large a pool of trained pilots as possible, so he authorizes civilian flying schools to accept flying cadets as pupils.

July 1 In Washington, D. C., President

Franklin D. Roosevelt issues an executive order mandating that the Aeronautical Board, the Joint Board (eventually Joint Chiefs of Staff), the Joint Economy Board, and the Munitions Board all func­tion under the direction of the com­mander in chief.

JULY 15 The Army Air Corps acquires performance rights to the song “Wild Blue Yonder” by composer Robert Crawford; it subsequently becomes the theme song of the U. S. Air Force.

July 26 A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress sets a new speed record of 204 miles per hour while carrying a 1,123-pound bomb
load over a closed triangular course of 1,000 kilometers.

JULY 30 Over Wright Field, Ohio, the sole Boeing XB-15, piloted by Major Caleb V. Haynes and Captain W. D. Olds, reaches 8,200 feet while carrying a 15.5 payload and establishes a new payload-to-altitude record.

AUGUST 1 A Boeing YB-17A flown by Majors Charles M. Cunnings and Stanley Umstead carries a 11,023-pound payload to a new record of 34,016 feet.

AUGUST 26 Majors Charles M. Cunnings and Stanley Umstead pilot a B-17A from Miami, Florida, to the Panama Canal Zone. It reaches its objective in only six hours and underscores American ability to reinforce that strategic point by air.

September 14 In Connecticut, the VS – 300 helicopter, designed and flown by

Igor Sikorsky, reaches a height of three feet for 10 seconds during a tethered test.

SEPTEMBER 15 Over Burbank, Califor­nia, a Seversky AP-9 piloted by aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran sets a new speed record of 309.5 miles per hour over a 1,000-kilometer course.

November 7 The 2nd Bomb Group receives the Mackay Trophy for its B-17 flight from Miami, Florida, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then home to Lang­ley Field, Virginia.

December 16 At Langley Field, Vir­ginia, Major General Delos C. Emmons gains appointment as chief of the General Headquarters Air Force (GHQ).

December 29 Over San Diego, Califor­nia, the Consolidated XB-24 prototype performs its maiden flight. It enters ser­vice as the B-24 Liberator and becomes the most numerous American warplane, with over 18,000 constructed.

MARCH 2 Scientist Robert H. Goddard, jotting down thoughts in his Green Notebook, speculates that atomic energy might one day power spaceships during interplanetary flight.

May 22 Aeronautical pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright finally, after three tries, win their first government – issued patent for their so-called flying machine.

September 30 Over Scarborough, England, an army balloon piloted by Major Henry B. Hersey and Lieutenant Frank P. Lahm wins the first Gordon Bennett Balloon Race by traveling 402 miles from Paris, France.

FEBRUARY 21 Ner Hampton Roads Army Air Base, Virginia, the balloon Roma, purchased from the Italian government, strikes a high-tension wire; 34 of its 45-man crew are killed.

June 12 At McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, Captain A. W. Stevens pilots a supercharged Martin MB-2 bomber to

24,0 feet, a record altitude for that type of aircraft.

June 16 At Bolling Field, D. C., Lieuten­ant Clayton L. Bissell commences a series of night flights to demonstrate that noc­turnal flying is as safe as daylight flying. He concludes his experiment by touching down safely at Langley Field, Virginia.

June 29 At Mitchel Field, New York, Lawrence Sperry’s radio-controlled “aer­ial torpedo” covers 90 miles while being guided by a mothership. The concept is way ahead of its time, and neither the Army nor Navy expresses any interest in the technology.

AUGUST 2 At Dayton, Ohio, Lieutenant Leigh Wade, Captain Albert W. Stevens, and Sergeant Roy Langham reach an unofficial three-man altitude of 23,230 feet flying a supercharged bomber over McCook Field.

AUGUST 16 At McCook Airfield, Day­ton, Ohio, the Sperry lighting system is demonstrated to assist aircraft landing at night.

SEPTEMBER 4 At San Diego, California, Lieutenant James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle arrives from Pablo Beach, Florida, in a modified DH-4B after covering 2,163 miles in 21 hours and 20 minutes.

This is also the first transcontinental flight completed in a single day.

September 14-23 At Langley Field, Virginia, the non-rigid airship C-2, piloted by Major H. A. Strauss, flies cross-country to Foss Field, Arcadia, Cal­ifornia, completing the first such flight for this type ofairship.

September 29 Dr. Robert H. Goddard compiles his report to the Smithsonian Institution relative to developments in multiple-charge rockets. However, Sec­retary Charles G. Abbot is less than impressed and cuts Goddard’s funding.

OCTOBER 5 Over Rockwell Field, Cali­fornia, Lieutenants J. A. Macready and O. G. Kelly set an airborne endurance record of 35 hours, 18 minutes, and 35 seconds; they receive the Mackay Trophy.

OCTOBER 13 At Selfridge Field, Michi­gan, Lieutenant T. J. Koenig flies a LePere-Liberty airplane in the 257-mile – long National Air Race; he wins the Lib­erty Engine Builders Trophy with a speed of 129 miles per hour.

OCTOBER 14 At Detroit, Michigan, Lieutenant Harold R. Brown pilots a Curtiss R-6 racer, powered by a D-12 Conqueror engine, to an average speed of 193 miles per hour. Brown takes this year’s Pulitzer Race Trophy and, signifi­cantly, Curtiss aircraft occupy the top four places.

October 14-November 29 At San

Diego, California, a pair of De Havilland DH-4Bs flown by Lieutenants Ben H. Wyatt and George T. Owen complete a round trip transcontinental flight, cover­ing 7,000 miles in 90 hours of flight time.

OCTOBER 18 At Selfridge Field, Michi­gan, Brigadier General William G. Mitchell pilots a Curtiss R-6 racer to a new airspeed record of 222.96 miles per hour. This is also the first aerial record certified outside of France.

OCTOBER 20 Over McCook Field, Day­ton, Ohio, Lieutenant Harold R. Harris is the first aviator saved by a parachute when his Loening PW-2A aircraft loses a wing in flight and he bails out.

OCTOBER 23 At Bolling Field, Washing­ton, D. C., the American Propeller Com­pany demonstrates its reversible propeller to the Army and Navy.

NOVEMBER 3—4 Lieutenants John A. Macready and Oakley G. Kelly pilot a Fokker T-2 aircraft to a record distance of2,060 miles between San Diego, Cali­fornia, and Benjamin Harrison, Indiana; engine problems stopped them 800 miles of their destination at New York.

NOVEMBER 8 The new School of Avia­tion Medicine arises when the Air Service Medical Research Laboratory and School for Flight Surgeons are combined.

December 18 At McCook Field, Day­ton, Ohio, a de Bothezat helicopter rises vertically and flies 300 feet of ground; Major Thurmond H. Bane becomes the Army’s first helicopter pilot.

January 18 At Selfridge Field, Michi­gan, the 94th Pursuit Squadron wins the Luke Trophy Award for the highest gun­nery average of the year. This is the lineal successor to Captain Eddie Rickenback – er’s 94 th Aero Squadron of World War I.

JANUARY 19 Major James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle is elected president of the Insti­tute of Aeronautical Sciences.

January 23 At Hamilton Field, Califor­nia, a force of 38 bombers from the 7th Bomber Group loads a battalion of the 65th Coast Artillery and flies them to a point 500 miles distant. This is a pioneer­ing attempt at mass troop transport.

FEBRUARY 26 At Mitchel Field, New York, the Air Defense Command is established to coordinate defensive tactics and strategy by the U. S. Army Air Corps to thwart any possible air attack on the continental United States.

MARCH 15 At Mitchel Field, New York, Brigadier General James E. Chaney assumes command of the new Air Defense Command.

MARCH 25 In Washington, D. C., a lib­eralized release and export policy allows the Army Air Corps to sell modern air­craft to anti-Axis nations. This has the effect of boosting aircraft production domestically, broadening the production base for the Air Corps.

MARCH 26 At St. Louis, Missouri, the Curtiss CW-20T prototype flies for the first time. It enters service as the C-46 Commando and performs yeoman work as transport during World War II.

APRIL 1 In Oslo, Norway, 31-year old Captain Robert M. Losey, Army Air Corps Attache, is killed in a German air raid. He becomes the first American offi­cer casualty of World War II.

APRIL 8 An Army Air Forces Douglas B – 18 Bolo bomber flies nonstop for the first time between Denver, Colorado, and Miami, Florida.

April 14 At Fairbanks, Alaska, the first detachment of Army Air Corps personnel and aircraft deploy.

April 15 In Washington, D. C., the War Department issues Field Manual 1-5 rela­tive to the tactical employment of air power, and imposes centralized control over all aerial assets.

May 16 President Franklin D. Roose­velt, having conferred closely with Major General Henry H. Arnold, appeals to Congress for a $1.18 billion defense appropriation. He seeks an increase in military aircraft production to 50,000 per year.

May 23—25 Near Barksdale, Louisiana, 300 Air Corps aircraft participate in large-scale wargames staged by the Third Army.

May 28 Major General Henry H. Arnold and Dr. Robert H. Goddard confer as to the possible military application of his rockets. Nothing material results, but Dr. Theodore von Karman is directed to pursue the possibility of rocket-powered assists for heavily laden bombers.

June 11 Dr. Robert H. Goddard test fires a rocket engine that burns for 43.5 sec­onds, the longest duration yet achieved.

June 27 In Washington, D. C., the Council of National Defense establishes the National Defense Research Commit­tee to work on scientific projects with potential military applications. Among them is the Azon (azimuth only) guided bomb.

June 29 In Washington, D. C., Congress approves a plan to procure 12,000 modern warplanes for the Army Air Corps by

April 1, 1942. The Army will handle the training, organization, and procurement.

July 3 At El Segundo, California, the Northrop N-1M Flying Wing, a twin – engined pusher type aircraft that lacks a fuselage, is flight-tested.

July 8 Additional training facilities at Randolph Field, Texas; Maxwell Field, Alabama; and Moffett Fields, California, are established by the Army Air Corps.

July 16 At Lowry Field, Colorado, the Air Corps opens its first formal bombar­dier training school, whose initial cadre will serve as the instructors for subsequent classes.

August 17 Over Sussex, England, Pilot Officer William L. M. Fiske III is killed in an air battle while fighting with the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain. He is the first American pilot to die in World War II.

AUGUST 19 Over Inglewood, California, the North American NA-62, a highly modified NA-40 prototype, is success­fully flight-tested; this version enters pro­duction as the famous B-25 Mitchell.

September 16 In Washington, D. C., the War Department announces that the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) will assist the Army to recruit and train Afri­can American aviation units.

OCTOBER 8 In Great Britain, the first Eagle Squadron forms from American volunteers serving with the Royal Air Force; it subsequently forms the basis of the 4th Fighter Group.

OCTOBER 12 Off the coast of Virginia, Curtiss P-40 Warhawks under Major Reuben Moffat, 33rd Pursuit Group, take off from the carrier Wasp to see how well land aircraft operate at sea.

OCTOBER 26 Over Inglewood, Los Angeles, the North American A-36 Apache, precursor to the famous P-51 Mustang fighter, flies for the first time. Built to British specifications, it is pow­ered by the low-altitude Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled engine. It performs so impressively that the Army Air Corps decides to adopt it.

OCTOBER 30 In England, the first Eagle Squadron, composed primarily of American military personnel, is declared operational.

NOVEMBER 1 At Fort Shafter, Hawaii, the Hawaiian Air Force (later Seventh Air Force) is activated.

November 19 The General Head­quarters Air Force (GHQ) is taken from the chief of the Air Corps and assigned to the general commanding the field forces. This proves something ofa setback for independent air power.

NOVEMBER 25 In Baltimore, Maryland, the Martin XB-26 makes its flying debut at the Martin Middle River plant. It enters service as the B-26 Marauder, and garners the reputation as a “hot” aircraft from its high performance.

In Washington, D. C., the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) declares it is building a $6.4 mil­lion engine research laboratory at the Cleveland Municipal Airport, Ohio.

December 18 The Army Air Corps establishes new commands within its existing structure: Northeast Air District, Northwest Air District, Southeast Air District, and Southwest Air District.

June 4 Corporal Edward Ward becomes the military’s first noncommissioned offi­cer in the new balloon division, and he is ordered to learn balloon-manufacturing techniques.

AUGUST 1 In Washington, D. C., Army

aviation is born once the Office of the Chief of the Signal Corps authorizes an “Aeronautical Division” to study and acquire balloons, heavier-than-air machines, and matters pertaining to mili­tary applications of manned flight. Cap­tain Charles DeForest Chandler is appointed head of the new organization, but two more years lapse before the first military aircraft is acquired.

OCTOBER 17 Signal Corps Balloon No. 10 under Captain Charles DeForest Chandler flies 475 miles in 20 hours, moving between St. Louis, Missouri, and Walton, West Virginia. He wins the Lahm Cup for ballooning.

NOVEMBER 7 In Washington, D. C., the War Department awards the Army Signal Corps $25,000 to obtain an airship through the Board of Ordnance and Fortification.

NOVEMBER 30 At Hammondsport, New York, aeronautical pioneer Glenn H. Curtiss opens the nation’s first airplane company.

December 5 Wilbur Wright, in a letter to the Board of Ordnance and Fortifica­tion, proposes to build a military aircraft for $25,000. The board subsequently asks the Signal Corps for the desired specifications such a craft should include.

December 6 Over Bras d’Or Lake, Nova Scotia, Lieutenant Thomas E. Self­ridge rides the Cygnet I kite aloft as it is towed by a motorboat piloted by its inventor, Alexander Graham Bell.

December 16 In Washington, D. C., Brigadier General James Allen, the chief signal officer, issues a call for bids to pro­cure a lighter-than-air vessel, or airship.

December 23 Brigadier General James Allen, the Army’s chief signal officer, issues Specification No. 486, which out­lines requirements for acquiring a military airplane. The new machine must be capable of carrying two passengers aloft for one hour at 40 miles per hour in any direction, and land safely.