Evening star., 1935-12-29
First Military Aviator
Closes COlOrful Career
Rejection by Navy in Spanish-American War
; Turned Retiring General to Unbroken
I Service of 38 Years in Army.

ike tribes IN the Pn1npplneS. fOr
two months he was on a special map
ping project on the Island Of Basilan.
IN THE Fall of 1905 Foulois was back
in the United States as student
officer in the Army Service School,
Fort Leavenworth, Kans. He was
graduated in June, 1906, from the
Army School of the Line and was
scheduled for duty as student officer
for the 1906-7 course at the Army Sig
nal School, Trouble was brewing in
Cuba, however, and Foulois missed the
Signal School course to go to Cuba
with the Army of Cuban Pacification.
During his Cuban service Foulois
went to work again as a mapmaker,
and was in charge Of the Ciego de Avila
Section of the Progressive Military
Map of Cuba, which involved the map
ping of about 1900 square miles Of
territory. He introduced several i'm
proved methods Of mapping and was
commended for the thoroughness and
accuracy of his work
In the Fall of 1907 Foulois was aDle
to begin his delayed course in the Sig
nal School, and here he actually began
his long and illustrious aviation career.
AS his graduation thesis. young Lieut..
Foulois produced the first recorded
military article to deal with the TAG
tical and Strategical Value of Aero
dynamical Flying Machines" This
thesis probably was the turning point
in Lieut.. Foulois' military career, for
it marked the beginning of his long
association with military aviation.
Following his graduation from the
Signal School Lieut.. [oulois was de-
tailed to the Signal Corps. in July,
1908. and was ordered to Washington
for aviation duty.
During his first year with the Signal
Corps F'oulois got his first taste of
flying, in balloons, and he operated the
first dirigible balloon purchased by the
United States Government. He person.
ally redesigned the first dirigible tent
hangar in use in the Army.
With his growing fund of aeronau-
tical knowledge he was selected as one
of the first three officers in the Army
detailed to operate the first military
airplane purchased by the Government
from the Wright brothers in 1909. This
was the famous Fort Myer airplane.
July 80, 1909, was memorable day
in the career of the future Air Corps
chief. It was a warm Summer day
and crowd ringed the parade ground
at Fort Myer, waiting expectantly.
There was chorus of murmurs as The
Wright machine was showed out on the
field and placed on the monoran.
There goes Orville Wright" some
of the better informed spectators re-
marked.
WITH Wright was a much smaller
man in Army uniform and wear
ing a first lieutenant's bars One of
the spectators asked a sentry for the
name Of the officer.
That's Lieut.. Foulois of the Signal
Corps" the sentry replied.
rs he going to fly with Mr.. Wright?"
Looks that way, sir" the sentry re-
piled.
Sure enough, as Orville Wright
climbed into the machine, sat down
and began testing the controls, Foulois
also climbed aboard and sat down be-
side him. The propellers were turning
over and Wright signaled for the start.
A detail Of enlisted men showed the
plane down the monorail and Foulois
was launched on his airplane career
amid the shouts Of the crowd.
With Foulois as observer Wright
few from Fort Myer to Shutters Hill,
Alexandria, on which the Masonic
Memorial to George Washington now
stands. 1t was the first cross-country
flight and 1t established three world
records, for speed, altitude and dura-
ton, an auspicious beginning for the
young observer.
In January, 1910, Foulois was ordered
to San Antonio, Tex, in charge Of the
first airplane owned and used in the
service of the Army. The two other
officers originally detailed with him to
operate this machine had been re.
neved, and F'oulois was alone, a one
man Army air service. He had less
than one hour of instruction in the
operation Of the airplane himself, and
he went to Texas to teach himself to
fly"
At San Antonio, with his Grabbed.
cranky aircraft and eight enlisted men.
Lieut.. Foulois established the humble
beginning Of the combat branch Of the
service, which many present-day mill
tary students consider to be the Ma
tions first line of defense.
Foulois' flight training was repeat
edly interrupted by accidents. One
day, as he was putting himself through
another lesson, something went wrong
as usual and the airplane came down
in a cloud Of dust.
Good Lord" groaned one of the
enlisted men. there it goes againl"
It looked like bad one this time
and, as the men started on the run,
one Of them muttered, "If the Looie
isn't goner this time it's q miracle"
The whole Air Corps enlisted person.
mel joined hands to pull the whole
flying personnel from the wreckage,
fear tugging at their hearts. They
needn't have feared. Foulois an
nounced his recovery by a string of
very blue language, directed at AIR
plane No. of the United States Army.
A brace wire had ripped his leg, but
both Fo,llois and No / were sueedily