Vernon Burge Vernon Lee Burge ( November 29 , 1888 – September 6 , 1971 ) was an aviation pioneer . He was the first American enlisted man to be certified as a military pilot . After ten years as an enlisted man , Burge was commissioned during World War I and served the next 25 years as an officer . Biography . He was born on November 29 , 1888 . In the autumn of 1907 , Private First Class Vernon Burge was assigned to Fort Myer , Virginia , to join the newly formed Aeronautical Division , U . S . Signal Corps under Captain Charles deForest Chandler . At that time , the Aeronautical Division was composed of only three officers , ten enlisted men and one female civilian clerk . There was to have been an eleventh enlisted man , but he deserted after learning of his assignment . At first , the unit trained in the military use of balloons . While Burge was stationed there in August 1909 , the Wright Brothers brought to Fort Myer the first fixed - wing aircraft purchased by the U . S . Army , a variant of the Wright Model A termed the Wright Military Flyer and designated by the Signal Corps as " Signal Corps ( S . C . ) No . 1 " . Burge worked as a member of the ground crew for the aircraft , and trained in its technology . On December 16 , 1909 , Burge transferred to Company H , Signal Corps , traveling in February 1910 to Fort Sam Houston , Texas to serve under Lieutenant Benjamin Foulois as one of ten enlisted mechanics repairing the frequently damaged S . C . No . 1 . Along with Glenn Madole and a civilian mechanic in August 1910 , Burge contrived a way to fasten three wheels to the aircraft so that its skids would not be damaged as much upon landing . Crude as it was , this was the first tricycle landing gear on an aircraft . Foulois ' initial reaction was negative : " One of the unpleasant features of landing on wheels is the difficulty experienced in stopping the machine . " However , the wheels saved the aircraft from more frequent repair , and subsequent aircraft models incorporated wheels . On December 11 , 1911 , the Army shipped S . C . No . 7 , a Wright Model B , and spare parts to enable six months of operations to Fort William McKinley in the Philippines . Corporal Burge and Private Kenneth L . Kintzel accompanied the aeroplane as mechanician s and were joined by five Army mechanics already in Manila . S . C . No . 7 , equipped with floats as a seaplane , was assembled and flown for the first time on March 21 , 1912 . 1st Lt . Frank P . Lahm , who had been the Army ' s first passenger on the Wright Military Flyer in 1909 , rejoined the 7th Cavalry in the Philippines in November 1911 and was detailed to open the Philippine Air School in March 1912 by Chief Signal officer of the Philippine Department , Lt . Col . William A . Glassford . Although two officers were to be instructed , only one ( 1st Lt . Moss L . Love ) volunteered for the dangerous duty , and Glassford approved Burge ' s request for pilot training without waiting for approval from the Chief of Signal in Washington , D . C . Burge met the requirements of the " Fédération Aéronautique Internationale " ( FAI ) on June 14 , 1912 and received FAI aviation certificate No . 154 ( Love received No . 155 on June 28 ) . The Chief of Signal later disapproved the training of enlisted men as pilots , but Burge ' s certification as a pilot was already a fact . He reversed himself and accepted Burge ' s certification on August 14 , 1912 and promoted him to sergeant . He was also rated a master signal electrician . Officer . On June 26 , 1917 , Burge was first commissioned a second lieutenant from a vacancy in the 53rd Infantry , and a first lieutenant of the 40th Infantry , both of the Regular Army , with the service number O - 5511 . On August 5 , 1917 , as part of a large influx of mid - career officers detailed to the Aviation Section , U . S . Signal Corps in its wartime expansion , Burge received temporary promotion to captain , Signal Corps . In April 1919 he was assigned to the 24th Infantry and promoted in the permanent establishment to captain and sent back to the 1st Aero Squadron where , as tensions rose in the U . S . near the end of the Mexican Revolution , he took part in patrol flights along the Mexico – United States border in 1919 . Burge took photographs of the men and aircraft of 1st Aero Squadron . On July 1 , 1920 , when the Army Reorganization Act established the Air Service as a combat arm of the Army , Burge transferred in grade to the new branch . In the spring of 1922 , Burge served in Oklahoma City on an Army Board whose purpose was to investigate the shooting death of Lieutenant Colonel Paul W . Beck . The board raised serious questions about the actions of Judge Jean P . Day who said he had only intended to strike Beck with his pistol , not shoot him . The board determined that Beck had " died in the line of duty . " During the school year 1934 – 1935 , Burge attended the Air Corps Tactical School at the rank of major . Burge commanded the 2nd Observation Squadron in the Philippines from June 1923 to April 1925 . He also held a number of service squadron commands , including the 68th S . S . in 1922 - 23 , the 61st S . S . from 1925 to 1929 , and again 1935 - 36 , and the 66th S . S . from 1930 to 1932 . For two months beginning in June 1939 , Lt . Col . Burge served in the Panama Canal Zone at France Field as commander of the 6th Bombardment Group , and the base Headquarters and 16th Air Base Squadron . Burge retired as a colonel on January 31 , 1942 , and lived in San Antonio , Texas . He died on September 6 , 1971 at age 82 . He was buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery .