Army and Navy Review 1915 Panama-California Edition - Balboa Park

Aggregation Equipped W ith Swift, Efficient Machines and
Built for Long Flights; 90 Mechanicians W ill
Make Trip to Fort Sill
For the first time in the history of United States army aeronautics, a
squadron of highly trained military aviators, equipped with the most powerful
and latest type of aeroplanes constructed by American manufacturers,
has been organized from the officers and students attending the signal
corps aviation school at the military aerodrome at North Island on July 16.
The commissioned personnel of the First aero squadron, all of whom
have qualified for the rank of junior military aviator, includes: Captain
Benjamin Foulois, commanding officer of the squadron, and Lieutenants
Arthur R. Christie, Shepler W. Fitzgerald, Joseph C. Morrow, Jr., Leslie
McDill, Charleton G. Chapman, Ira A. Rader, Joseph Carberry, Robert H.
Willis, Jr., Thomas DeWitt Milling, Henry W Harns, Harry Gantz, Byron
Q. Jones, Redondo B. Sutton and Thomas Bowen.
Captain Benjamin Foulois is one of the pioneers in the world of aviation.
He shares with Orville Wright the distinction of being the only birdman
to shatter three world’s records in one day. He accomplished this
achievement at College Park, Washington, July 30, 1908, when, with Orville
Wright as a passenger, he piloted a Wright biplane in a sensational
flight which broke all existing records for speed, altitude and cross-country
distance. In March, 1911, Captain Foulois again established a new world’s
record for sustained flight by flying from Laredo, Texas, to Eagle Pass, a
distance of 116 miles.
Lieutenant Byron Q. Jones, the youngest military aviator in the army,
is the only birdman either in Europe or America to loop the loop four consecutive
times in a standard military biplane. He achieved this remarkable
feat at the North Island military aerodrome three weeks ago. Last
March Lieutenant Jones broke the American record for sustained flight
with two passengers by remaining aloft eight hours and fifteen minutes.
Lieutenant Thomas DeWitt Milling is regarded as the most skilled
operator of all types of biplanes in the United States today. Prior to
the outbreak of the European war Lieutenant Milling made a tour of the
military aerodromes of England, France, Germany, Italy and Austria and
won high praise from European aviators for the masterly manner in which
he piloted the various types of aeroplanes. At the military aerodrome at
Hendon, England, Milling was shown a new type of biplane, a V-shaped
Dunn, invented by Lieutenant Dunn of the British Royal Flying Corps.
Owing to its construction the Dunn plane is difficult to handle properly but
Lieutenant Milling piloted the air craft in a manner which brought forth
enthusiastic comment from the group of English aviators who watched his
flight.