Evening star., 1938-12-18

After Famous First
Test, Planes Made
Rapid Gains

Wrights gave him some instruction,
which did not include a solo hop.
The Wrights then went on about
their business, and Immediately the
"Manchu' law claimed our only two
pilots. 1t. Humphries was ordered
back to duty with the engineers and
became so disguised that he re-
signed shortly after. He came back
during the war, commanding an en-
gineer regiment in France. Today
he commands regiment of Ma
tional Guard engineers in New
York.
1t. Lahm was sent back to duty
with the Cavalry, being trans
ferred to the Philippines. In 1912
plane was sent to Fort Mckinley,
and he resumed his flying, instruct
ing 1t. Love Qater killed while
flying, and Sergt. Burge, who was
commissioned during the war and
Is now colonel in the Air Corps
The Army's only airplane was
then packed of to San Antonio,
Tex, in the care of Lieut.. Foulois,
who couldn't fly it. But Foulois pro-
ceded to teach himself. He became
our fourth Army pilot. On his own
initiative. Foulois proceeded to place
wheeled landing gear on our only
airplane.
On March 3. 1911, Congress voted
Army aeronautics $125,O00, with
$25,000 being made available i'm
mediately. A call was then made for
volunteers to receive flying instruc-
ton. About Is offered themselves,
and Its. Milling and Arnold were
selected and transferred to Dayton,
Ohio, to receive instructions at the
Wright School.
These two officers soloed on the
same day, to become pilots. They,
with the self-instructed Foulois, who
retired as chief of the Air Corps,
remained on an active flight status
throughout their service, with never
serious accident. Milling retired
few years ago as colonel, while
Arnold, our West Point plebe when
the first flight was made, is now
chief Of the Air Corps.
Arnold and Milling were the first
Army. flying instructors. They
opened their school at College Park
on June Is, 1911, with one Wright
biplane-a new one. Later that
summer a Burgess-Wright and two
Curtiss planes were received, and
four students arrived-Capt. Charles
De Forest Chandler, who was a
dirigible pilot associated with Fou-
lois and Lahm and on the board
which accepted the first Wright
plane, and Its. Kirkland, Graham,
Sherman and Kennedy. Chandler,
instructed by Arnold, and Kirkland,
taught by Milling, soloed the same
day to become pilots. Capt. Chand-
Ter, now a retired colonel, was chief
of the balloon section in France dur
ing the war and remained chief of
the balloon and airship division
until he retired few years ago. He
still lives in Washington. Kirkland
was colonel in the Air Corps when
he retired recently.
The Army had by now definitely
sprouted wings. BY the end of 1911
six officers held airplane pilot Ger
tificates (Humphries had resigned,
Selfridge had been killed.. The
Signal Corps, which then handled
things aeronautical, owned five air.
planes, a dirigible and three small
balloons. But the wings took long
time to grow, for when we declared
war in 1917 we had only IS pilots
and IS planes.
But look at us now. President
Roosevelt's defense program calls for
1000 military planes for that former
West Point plebe to boss. Orville
and Wilbur Wright started some
thing at Kitty Hawk IS years ago