William Tipton Lieutenant ( later Colonel ) William Dolley Tipton ( sometimes erroneously referred to as William Duncan Tipton ) began his military career as a World War I Sopwith Camel pilot . The U . S . Air Force officially credits him with four aerial victories during the war , although other sources claim he had five , and thus was a flying ace . He was one of the founding officers of what would become the Maryland Air National Guard . As a member of the Maryland National Guard , he was mobilized during World War II . He rose to the rank of colonel during the war . He died on December 12 , 1945 in an aircraft accident . Tipton Airport ( formerly Tipton Army Airfield ) in Anne Arundel County , Maryland , is named in his honor . World War I . Tipton joined the U . S . Army Air Service on June 5 , 1917 , as a flying cadet . He was commissioned on March 9 , 1918 , and was one of the American pilots forwarded to the Royal Flying Corps for advanced training and combat seasoning . According to some sources , he won his first two air battles in May 1918 , while attached to the British No . 3 Squadron . Rejoining the American 17th Aero Squadron on 21 June , he became a balloon buster on 22 August 1918 . Four days later , he destroyed two Fokker D . VII in a late afternoon dogfight , but was also wounded and shot down , most probably by Leutnant Hermann Frommherz . Tipton spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of the Germans . He was awarded the British Distinguished Flying Cross during the war The U . S . Air Force aerial victory credit register does not include the two alleged victories from May . Instead , it includes a single aerial victory on 7 June 1918 . The register does corroborate Tipton ' s last three victories . Tipton flew his first combat missions in May 1918 , so it is possible that he did indeed score the two victories the U . S . Air Force does not credit to him . It is also possible ( speculation ) that these victories were attributed to the wrong " William D . Tipton , " especially given that the sources that credit him with these victories frequently misidentify him as " William Duncan Tipton . " Interwar Years . Tipton was one of the founding members of the 104th Observation Squadron , the original unit of the Maryland Air National Guard ( MDANG ) . At the time the unit was organized in 1921 , Tipton was a captain and held the position of flight leader . From 1924 to 1929 , he served as the squadron commander . He later rose to the position of Division Air Officer for the 29th Infantry Division , of which the 104th was a part . During the interwar period , Tipton played an influential role in the development of aviation in Maryland . He worked as the " staff aviator " for the Baltimore Sun newspaper , where he not only wrote a column devoted to aviation , but used an aircraft to gather news . This is believed to be the first time a newspaper employed an aircraft for newsgathering purposes . In addition , he served on the state aviation commission from 1921 to 1928 , and leased and ran the Curtiss - Wright aviation facility northwest of Baltimore in the 1930s and 40s . World War II . By the time Maryland National Guard was mobilized for World War II , Tipton had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel . During the war , he was promoted to the rank of full colonel and commanded the 204th Army Air Force Base Unit . He was killed on December 12 , 1945 , when the P - 47N he was piloting crashed near Adena , Ohio , as he was flying home to be released from active duty . Honors . In 1962 , Tipton Army Air Field at Fort Meade , Maryland , was named in his honor at the suggestion of Major General Milton Reckord , then - Adjutant General of Maryland . The airfield was transferred to civilian control in 1995 and following a period of environmental remediation , became active as Tipton Airport in Anne Arundel County , Maryland .