1908

JANUARY 21 Brigadier General James Allen, the chiefofthe Signals Corps, issues specifications for lighter-than-air dirigibles capable of carrying two passengers at 20 miles per hour for at least two hours.

JANUARY 28 Over Oil City, Pennsylvania, a balloon piloted by Lieutenants Frank P. Lahm, Henry W. Alden, and J. G. Obermeier covers the 100-mile trip from Canton, Ohio, in only two hours and 20 minutes.

FEBRUARY 8 Wilbur and Orville Wright win the nation’s first contract to build a military aircraft for the Army, at a cost of $25,000. The finished craft will be deliv­ered no later than August 1909, and carry two people at 40 miles per hour over a distance of 125 miles.

FEBRUARY 10 The first-ever Army con­tract to acquire a heavier-than-air machine from the Wright brothers is signed by Captain Charles S. Wallace of the Signal Corps.

FEBRUARY 24 Captain Thomas S. Baldwin contracts with the Army to construct an airship for the fixed price of $6,750.

MARCH 8 In Washington, D. C., the Sec­retary ofWar approves the Wright broth­ers’ bid to construct a viable military aircraft within 200 days.

MARCH 12 On Lake Keuka, Hammond – sport, New York, the Red Wing aircraft designed by Lieutenant Thomas E. Self­ridge successfully flies for the first time and reaches an altitude of 320 feet.

April 4 In Massachusetts, inventor Robert H. Goddard coins the expression “jet pro­pulsion” as a means of achieving space flight. He goes on to describe a primitive combustion chamber with a propulsion nozzle.

April 11 Lieutenant Frank P. Lahm assumes responsibility for the Aeronauti­cal Division, U. S. Army Signal Corps.

April 22 Over Delaware City, Dela­ware, a balloon piloted by Captain Charles DeForest Chandler, with Theo­dore Roosevelt, Jr., the president’s son, and Captain Fitzhugh Lee, the president’s military aide, remains aloft for four hours and thirty minutes.

April 30 Several enthusiasts in the 1st Company, Signals Corps, New York National Guard form an “aeronautical corps” to study ballooning. This is also the first documented instance of aviation in the National Guard.

May 6—14 In Dayton, Ohio, the Wright brothers modify their 1905 Flyer in order to accommodate a pilot and a pas­senger, pursuant to U. S. Army require­ments. A successful flight is then performed at Kill Devil Hill, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

May 19 At Hammondsport, New York, Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge becomes the first American army officer to fly solo while piloting a machine called the White Wing designed by F. W. Baldwin. This is also the first aircraft to dispense with so – called “wing-warping” for turning in favor of mechanical ailerons.

July 6 In Washington, D. C., the U. S. Army Signal Corps creates the Aero nautics Board to test and evaluate dirigibles, balloons, and airplanes as they are acquired.

AUGUST 28 At Fort Myer, Virginia, Cap­tain Thomas S. Baldwin concludes flight­testing Dirigible No. 1 for army officials, and it is accepted into service. The device can carry a crew of two and a 450-pound payload.

SEPTEMBER 9 Over Fort Myer, Virginia, Lieutenant Frank P. Lahm becomes the first military airplane passenger when he accompanies Orville Wright on a record flight of 57 minutes and 25 seconds in the Military Flyer. Lahm becomes one of the first 24 army aviators appointed by the Army.

September 12 Orville Wright pilots a biplane for 1 hour, 14 minutes and 20 sec­onds, a new world’s record.

SEPTEMBER 17 At Fort Myer, Virginia, the perils of airplane technology are underscored when Orville Wright crashes his machine, killing Army Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge. Wright sustains a broken hip and spends the next six months recuperating. The War Department sus­pends further flight-testing until 1909.