Ployer Peter Hill Ployer Peter Hill ( 1894 – 1935 ) was a pilot and an officer with a varied career , but is best known for his abilities as a test pilot . In an aviation career that spanned eighteen years , Hill piloted nearly 60 of the Army Air Corps ' newest aircraft , testing and evaluating their capabilities for service . Pete Hill was born in Newburyport , Massachusetts on October 24 , 1894 and attended grammar school and high school in his hometown . In 1916 , he graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering . The following year , he enlisted in the Aviation Section of the U . S . Army Signal Enlisted Reserve Corps . In 1918 , he received flight instruction at the School of Military Aeronautics at Cornell University , the Aviation Concentration Camp at Camp Dix in Dallas , Texas , and at Chanute Field in Rantoul , Illinois . Hill then accepted a commission as a 2nd lieutenant in the regular Army and served as a flying instructor before receiving instruction as a bombardment pilot . In 1919 , Hill served in the Office of the Chief of the Air Corps in Washington , D . C . , then in 1920 was ordered to duty with the American Army of Occupation in Germany , where he served as the Engineer Officer of the Air Service Flying Station in Weissenthurm . In 1922 , he was assigned to duty with the 12th Aero Squadron stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso , Texas , then transferred back to Chanute Field for instruction in aerial photography . After completing the course , he stayed on as a student instructor . In 1924 , he returned to duty in Washington , D . C . , in the Training and War Plans Division under the Chief of the Air Service . In 1925 , he was ordered to duty at Mitchel Field , New York , where he was appointed Commanding Officer of the 14th Photo Section , a job he held until 1929 . He then served as the Commanding Officer of the 6th Photo Section at Nichols Field in Manila . In 1932 , he returned to the United States and was assigned to Wright Field in Dayton , Ohio , where he served as a test pilot and Assistant Chief of Planes and Engines in the Maintenance Unit . In 1935 , he was assigned as the Chief of the Flying Branch of the Material Division at Wright Field , with the temporary rank of Major . His duties involved the flight testing and evaluation of numerous new military aircraft designs at various contractors ' plants , including the Consolidated P - 30 , the Martin B - 10 and B - 12 , and many others . On October 30 , 1935 , Ployer Peter Hill died as a result of injuries received from the crash of the Boeing experimental aircraft Model 299 at Wright Field . The crash occurred because the crew neglected to remove the devices intended to keep the control surfaces from moving when the plane was on the ground . This aircraft was the prototype of what would later become the famous B - 17 Flying Fortress of World War II . Major Hill was buried in Newburyport , Massachusetts , on November 3 , 1935 . In 1939 , the U . S . War Department named the site of the Ogden Air Depot " Hill Field " in honor of Major Ployer Peter Hill . In 1948 , Hill Field was renamed Hill Air Force Base . References . This biography has been copied ( for the most part word for word ) from the Hill Air Force Base factsheet for Major Hill , which is permissible , the website requesting only that credit is attributed to the source .