1910

JANUARY 10 Near Los Angeles, California, the Aero Club of California hosts the first American air meet. Present in the audi­ence is James H. Doolittle, who is inspired to join the U. S. Army and become a pilot.

JANUARY 19 Over Los Angeles, California, Lieutenant Paul Beck conducts the first “bomb run” when he drops three sand­bags from his Farman biplane during a flying meet.

FEBRUARY 15 In an attempt to avoid wintry conditions, the U. S. Army Signal Corps transfers flight training operations from College Park, Maryland, to Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, further south. Gusty winds en­countered there, however, severely limit flying time.

MARCH 2 Over Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Lieutenant Benjamin D. Foulois is the first military aviator to fly west of the Mississippi River when he performs his solo flight. Foulois remains the only pilot assigned to the Aeronautical Divi­sion, Army Signal Corps.

MARCH 19 At Montgomery, Alabama, Orville Wright opens a flying school; years hence, this becomes the future Maxwell Field (and Air Force Base).

JUNE 30 On Keuka Lake, New York,

Glenn Curtiss conducts history’s first aer­ial bombing test by dropping several dummy weapons. His target is a series of buoyed flags laid out in the shape of a battleship and 15 of his 17 projectiles score “hits.” Several admirals observing the proceedings blithely dismiss any potential threat to capital vessels.

JULY 1 Captain Arthur S. Cowan gains appointment as head of the Aeronautical Division, Army Signal Corps.

AUGUST 18 At Fort Sam Houston, Texas, civilian mechanics add wheels to Signal Corps Airplane No. 1, therefore eliminat­ing the need for rails and catapults while launching.

AUGUST 20 Over Sheepshead Bay Race Track, New York, Lieutenant Jacob E. Fickel is the first man to fire a weapon from an airplane when he shoots a.30-caliber Springfield rifle at targets from a Curtiss biplane; four passes result in two hits.

OCTOBER 10 At College Park, Mary­land, Lieutenant Thomas DeWitt Milling takes his Wright Flyer aloft to test a bomb-sighting and -dropping device cre­ated by Riley E. Scott.

OCTOBER 11 Over St. Louis, Missouri, ebullient Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first former commander in chief to pilot an airplane.