Evening star., 1936-11-15
College Park Was Scene
Of First Training Flight
Service Has Grown Nightly Since It's Weak
Wings Were Spread Near Capital;
First Airmen Still Are Active.

"headless" Wright ship. the front ele-
vators having been moved to the rear
with the rudder. The first Army
Wright airplane, the famous ship of
the 1909 flights at Fort Myer, at this
time was turned over to the Smith
sonian Institution as relic.
BY the end of June, 1911, the four
Army hangers had been completed.
They were at the north end of College
Park Airport, along the railroad en-
bankment. Next to them, at the
south, was the large double hangar
shared by Baldwin and Christmas.
Next door was tent housing the old
Rex Smith machine and then came
the largest building on the field. the
new Smith factory. At the south end
Of the line was another tent housing
Curtiss airplane which was being
assembled by c. A. Dorian.
BY this time Capt. Chandler had
arrived and taken over command Of
the Army detachment. Kirkland be-
gan his aviation training on June 26,
with Lieut.. Arnold as his instructor.
They made several circuits of the field
and on the last two laps Kirkland
was at the controls. Chandler also
began training about this time. The
Army officers at this time wore
leather foot ball helmets while flying.
ON JULY 6 Lieut.. Milling, trying
~ for pilots license, landed five
feet from designated mark. The
next day Lieut.. Arnold climbed to an
altitude of $3.50 feet and on the same
day. with Kirkland as a passenger,
Milling made a notable flight from
College Park to Washington Bar
racks. landing on the parade ground.
Arnolds altitude flight was the high
est made up to that time at College
Park and also resulted in new field
duration record of 80 minutes.
Because of his aptitude it was de-
cided that Kirkland was to have
charge of new Wright Burgess air.
plane which had been delivered Harry
N. Atwood. famous civilian pilot, was
called to check out" the young Off
Ger on the new ship.
Three days later, Arnold, with
Kirkland as passenger. flew to Wash
ington and returned without an inter-
mediate landing. being in the air 40
minutes On July 18. Lieut.. Arnold
established new altitude record of
4,l67 feet. No less than 1877 flights
were made by the Army pilots up to
July 20 and Sc passengers we're car
ried.
Such a recital of flying accomplish
mentS is prosaic enough in these days
when duration flights are measured in
weeks, distance in thousands of miles
and speed in hundreds of miles, but
in those days, just quarter century
ago. they were thrilling events and
thousands of WaShingtonians visited
College Park during the Summer to
witness the birth and early develop
ment of military flying.
During August the Army Aviation
Squad at College Park settled down
more or less to matter of routine
routine which paved the way for much
that was to prove of vital importance
to the Army and aviation generally.
Capt. Chandler and Lieut.. Kirkland
were checked out as pilots and Lieut..
Frank NJ Kennedy of the 10th Infan-
try, was added to the squad
An outstanding event of the month
was the visit of President Taft to Col
lege Park on August 18. He was fol-
lowed two days later by Maj. Gen.
Leonard w. Wood and his staff. These
two important visits came on the eve
of momentous event.
On August 81 Lieut.. Arnold, with
Capt. Chandler beside him, took off