Townsend F . Dodd Townsend Foster Dodd ( 6 March 1886 – 5 October 1919 ) was the first commissioned US Army aviator . As a University of Illinois graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering , he joined the Coast Artillery Corps and shortly thereafter became an aviator in the US Army Air Service . Dodd sat on many boards of review during the service ' s infancy and was one of the members who condemned pusher planes in favor of tractors . He served with General John Pershing on the Mexican Border where he set records for endurance flying . During World War I he was first assigned as the Aviation Officer of the American Expeditionary Force in 1917 . He was later replaced by Colonel Billy Mitchell and was reassigned to the Bolling Mission . He was the first US pilot to receive the Distinguished Service Medal during World War I . Dodd was promoted to colonel on 14 August 1918 and at the end of the war he was appointed the Chief of Staff , Material under Mitchell . Dodd was then posted to Fort Sam Houston at San Antonio . With the completion of the war he reverted to his pre - war rank of captain and became the commander of Langley Field , Hampton , Virginia . After returning home from the war he competed in endurance flight competitions and during one such contest he crashed and died . Nine years after his death Dodd Army Airfield was named in his honor . Biography . Dodd was born on 6 March 1886 to Zachary Taylor Dodd and Ruth Anna Dodd ( née McLean ) in Illinois . Dodd attended the University of Illinois , from where he graduated in 1907 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degree . Ruth Dodd was one of the Charter Members of the Order of the Eastern Star of Illinois . He was married to St Clair Dodd with whom he had no children . In 1914 Dodd won the Mackay Trophy . He died in 1919 in an air crash . Military career . Pre - World War I . On 25 September 1909 , Dodd was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Corps . He was transferred to the Aviation Section , Signal Corps in 1912 . While there he became a fully qualified military aviator . In the War Department General Order # 39 , dated 27 May 1913 , Dodd was listed as one of the " original military aviators " . On 13 February 1913 , he established a non - stop duration of flight record , by flying 244 . 18 miles in 4 hours , 43 minutes in aircraft SC 26 ( a Burgess Model H ) . Promoted to the rank of first lieutenant , Dodd was ordered to join the 1st Aero Squadron at Texas City , Texas , on 9 March 1913 . In June Dodd , along with his squadron , transferred to the San Diego Signal Corps Aviation School ( now known as Rockwell Field ) . There he participated in various flight experiments and sat on boards to establish training requirements and aircraft specifications . Dodd qualified as a military aviator on 30 December 1913 . The Aeronautical Department experienced a spate of fatal accidents between 1912 and 1913 , most involving the Wright Model C airplane . A board of aviators , including Dodd , was convened to investigate safety concerns and make recommendations . Dodd , along with Captain Benjamin Foulois and Lieutenants Walter R . Taliaferro , Carleton G . Chapman , and Joseph E . Carberry , condemned not just the Wright C but all " pusher " aircraft as unsafe on 16 February 1914 , and those remaining in the Army inventory were ordered to be immediately grounded . The following month , the board drew up specifications for a tractor - configured training airplane . Dodd was involved in the aftermath of a major incident in 1914 , which became known as the Goodier Court Martial . The commanding officer of the 1st Aero Squadron ' s 2nd Company at San Diego , Capt . Lewis E . Goodier , was seriously injured in a demonstration accident on 5 November 1914 . Goodier was flying with Glenn L . Martin in a new aircraft when they stalled during a required competitive slow speed test and , when Martin over corrected with too much throttle , went into what was described as the first tailspin . Goodier suffered a nearly severed nose , two broken legs , a re - opened skull fracture , and a severe puncture of his knee from the drive shaft . After a cursory review of the crashes , school commandant Capt . Arthur S . Cowan , dismissed the pilots as " nothing but amateurs " . While recuperating , Goodier assisted Dodd and 1st Lt . Walter Taliaferro in an attempt to prefer charges against Cowan for fraudulently collecting flight pay when he was neither certified to fly nor on flying duty . These charges were dismissed as being laid out of malice . Dodd went with the 1st Aero to Galveston during the Vera Cruz incident in 1914 , then to Fort Sill . Following a promotion to captain , Dodd and his observer , Lieutenant S . W . Fitzgerald , won the third annual contest for the Mackay aviation trophy when he descended at North Island after a trip of three hours and three minutes . The contest for the Mackay trophy involved serial reconnaissance of troops maneuvering in the vicinity of San Diego and reports of their numbers and disposition . Accidents eliminated all machines but theirs and the trophy would not have been awarded that year if Fitzgerald had not provided a comprehensive and accurate report of the composition and location of the troops . On 12 March 1916 , Dodd was appointed as a pilot to the 1st Aero Squadron , under General John Pershing ' s 8th Brigade , which was positioned on the Mexican border . As the pilot of Airplane # 44 , he and his observer , Captain Foulois , made the first reconnaissance flight into Mexico on 15 March 1916 . Throughout the rest of March and early April they would fly deep into Mexico to observe troop movements and fly dispatches to other bases . Upon the completion of his work in Mexico he remained with the 1st Aero Squadron and was promoted to major in May 1917 . World War I . While serving under Pershing , Dodd gained experience and was appointed to a staff position as the Aviation Officer within the American Expeditionary Force ( AEF ) , when it was raised for overseas service during World War I . Before sailing to France , on 27 May 1917 , Dodd sent his assistant , Lt . Birdseye B . Lewis , to New York with instructions to round - up qualified candidates for the aviation staff . Among the applicants was auto race car driver , Edward V . Rickenbacker , who was promptly enlisted as a sergeant first class , chauffer . Upon his arrival in Europe in late 1917 , Dodd was appointed lieutenant colonel in the Signal Corps . As an Aviation Officer it was Dodd ' s job to liaise with , and understand , the Allies ' needs , requirements , and recommendations . To do so he spent several days in London where he spoke to the US Military Attaché , Colonel William Lassiter , and various British officials . Dodd submitted his report to the AEF on 20 June 1917 with a recommendation on what needed to be done . Dodd first used the term " Air Service " in a memo to the chief of staff of the AEF on 20 June 1917 . The term also appeared on 5 July 1917 , in AEF General Order No . 8 , in tables detailing staff organization and duties . The " Air Service , American Expeditionary Forces " was formally created on 3 September 1917 when General Order 31 was published , and remained in being until demobilized in 1919 . Dodd , however , had been superseded as Aviation Officer by Colonel William Mitchell , who outranked him . Mitchell replaced Dodd on 30 June 1917 , with the position renamed " Chief of Air Service " and its duties changed and rewritten . The Bolling Commission ( also known as the Bolling Mission and named after Colonel Raynal Bolling , the head of the mission ) was an aeronautical commission sent to Europe on behalf of the Aircraft Production Board of the Council of National Defense . Dodd was assigned to the mission , after being replaced as Aviation Officer . His assignment was to evaluate aircraft for use by the AEF , specifically for reconnaissance purposes . Dodd evaluated French aircraft and favored adopting the Salmson two - seater for reconnaissance work . Eventually 705 Salmsons were purchased for the Air Service ; of these 557 saw front - line service . Along with several other graduates of the Aviation Section ' s winter 1916 " Field Officers Course " , Dodd was given a temporary wartime promotion to colonel and under the command of General William L . Kenly , Dodd was named Director of Air Service Instruction ( DAI ) . An artillery officer , Kenly had been the Executive Officer of the Aviation School in San Diego before the outbreak of war and instructed Dodd , Bolling and Mitchell . Bolling and Mitchell were also promoted , with Bolling being appointed to the role of Director of Air Service Supply ( DASS ) to administer the " Zone of the Line of Communications " ( sic ) , later called the Service of Supply . Kenly proved to be only an interim commander , though , and on 27 November 1917 he was replaced by Brig . Gen . Benjamin Foulois who arrived in France with a large but untrained staff of non - aviators . This resulted in considerable resentment from Mitchell ' s smaller , established , staff , many of whom , including Bolling and Dodd , were immediately displaced . Dodd , Bolling , and Mitchell resented their being replaced by non - aviators and after leaving the theater of operations all continued to further the Air Service in their own ways . Distinguished Service Medal . During Dodd ' s service in World War I he was the first US pilot to receive the Distinguished Service Medal . His citation reads : Post - war service . Having been promoted to the rank of colonel on 14 August 1918 , by the end of the war Dodd was appointed Chief of Staff , Material under Brigadier General Billy Mitchell . Dodd was then posted to Fort Sam Houston at San Antonio where he served as Chief of Materiel and Assistant Chief of Supply , Air Service , and then as G - 2 , Air Service , First Army . With the completion of the war he reverted to his pre - war rank of captain and became the commander of Langley Field , Hampton , Virginia . Death and legacy . While Dodd was the commander of Langley Field he was killed in an air crash . The crash occurred on 5 October 1919 at Bustleton Field , Philadelphia , during the New York to Los Angeles transcontinental air race . On 1 May 1928 Remount Station # 1 was named Dodd Army Airfield , the nation ' s first dedicated military airfield . Dodd Army Airfield was an airfield located within the current boundaries of Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio , Texas . Dodd Field includes the area bounded on the north by Rittiman Road , on the west by Harry Wurzbach Memorial Highway , on the south by Winans ( formerly Dashiell ) Road and on the east by the Fort Sam Houston Reservation boundary . Dodd Field was designated in War Department General Order Number 5 . Prior to deployment to Europe for World War I Dodd had served at the remount station and had been Commander of the Aviation Post when the 3rd Aero Squadron was stationed there . He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with a simple gravestone located at Plot : Section 3 , Site Lot 4062 . Active flight operations were terminated in October 1931 , although the official date of closure of Dodd Field as an aviation facility has not been determined .