The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1909-11-26

Army officers already conpra+,,.+no +,,so,vo
@ Tue ne" aeropiane squad organized at the very
OF the armys experiments in this most
oranch OF aeronautcs. The outcome ia cnro ~ ho =.
contrast to the history of American military ha,onin
~ne,en tnere were innumerable disappointmens Par
'lc"lary was this the during the Snanish
war; wDen the war department sought tn cot ros,+ LII
war balloons in the hands of men who had had m M
TO specialize in this unusual line of work. The
r0",S'oisah1zeo aeroplane detachment on the other
hand, will grow up In our military aeron,ano u, t
s inception What more these caretakers Of tho slv
, .Iies nave acquired experience the most valuable
AnG IN establishing Uncle Sans first aviation fold r
IS not meant of course the soldiers had 1uch ha
IN the field blasting out stumps or erecting
shed that shelters the 100000 craft but
+h;a u ALMOST everything else connected with setting
nss III ORDER not forgetting the transportation of army
aeroplane No. by from its previous resting Mace
f. rolt Myer Va dozen miles away. The insight thus
gained into the how of things will be well nieh IT,
valuable since will make it possible tn send th;s eod
around the country to lay out aviation fields wherever
needed by the army
While as has been explained, the aeroplane de-
achment is entirely separate and distinct from the hal
loon squad its brief history linked at many points
with that of the older branch aeronautica divi
sion Some OF the star members Of the original balloon
squad have laerly been transferred the aeroplane
detachment and indeed the organization will have
sort of dual existence regular aeroplane corps
and emergency balloon squad, since the
have charge of flights that may be made from the
capital In signal balloons the regular squad
having been transferred meanwhile Fort Omaha and
Fort The present membership of the
plane detachment alike to that of the balloon squad
expected to be merely the nucleus for much more
numerous body later On-when Uncle Sam shall have
gone in more extensively for military aeronautics
The aeronautica division signal CORPS of which
both the new aeroplane detachment and the balloon
squad are branches, established result of the
pride and interest by Lahms victory in
the first great international balloon race Europe
in 1896 The young American army officer then barely
28 of who, unknown and unheraded defeated
the most experienced aeronauts of Europe self
Lahm who is qualifying at College Park as our
premier army aeroplanist and who is in general CON-
mand of the aeroplane detachment had made about
40 balloon flights he assembled for the first time in
aeroplane and he has the complete confidence of his
men-an important requisite in and untried realm
such military aerOnautfcs.
The order formally creating aeronautical division
of the signal corps issued August l., 1907 and
the new organization launched with membership
of sole individual, Sergeant Edward Ward who has
since graduated to the position of head chauffeur
the chief of the general staff Gradually the membership
grew to a dozen At first the work of the new
organization merely with the old balloons foreign
make which had been purchased by the United States
during the Spanish and had been in storage ever
since Then army dirigible No. t. which the war
department purchased from Capt. Thomas Baldwin, and
finally the initial Wright aeropane, which is COL
lege Park At the outset the headquarters
nautical division were at Fort Myer. Va and the
commissioned officers and enlisted of the
teal division displayed their versatility by handling
discriminatory spherical balloons dgibe and aeroplane
When the signal corps completed it's fine, plant
tor generating hydrogen at Fort Omaha it de-
cded to make the western post the headquarters for all
army balloon work and the drigible transferred
when the Wright aeropane accepted by the
ment and preparations undertaken for establishing
government school for aeroplanists necessary
20 organize an aeroplane detachment adjunct
AS has been explained some of the most capable men
were transferred from the balloon squad and others
selected from the ranks of the signal