The Original First US Military Aviators - Reference Thread

[CliffP]

Portrait of Colonel Charles DeForest Chandler by Joseph Cummings Chase.

Shown wearing his embroidered WW1 Balloon pilot wings and 1913 Military Aviator badge.

 

Now in the UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ART COLLECTION: 

 

 

 

[aerialbridge]

On 6/10/2019 at 4:50 PM, 5thwingmarty said:

I believe this photo includes a young Hap Arnold as well. He looks a great deal like the man shown earlier identified as a young Hap Arnold. I have no idea who else is in the photo or where it was taken. It is in an album from another WWI pilot I just picked up.

 

 

 

 

I believe the RADM is William A. Moffett.  In July 1921, Moffett was promoted to Rear Admiral and became the first Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, qualifying as a Naval Aviation Observer a year later.  He held that billet until his death in the crash of the airship USS Akron (ZRS-4) on April 4, 1933 off the NJ coast in a storm, killing 73 out of 76 aboard. NAS Moffett Field, at Sunnyvale, CA in Santa Clara County, where sister-ship USS Macon (ZRS-5) was based from 1933 until her crash two years later in the Pacific Ocean off Point Sur, CA on February 12, 1935,  was named for him.  Macon first flew on April 21, 1933, less than 3 weeks after the crash of Akron and Moffett's death. Lessons learned from the Akron disaster, notably inflatable life rafts and life vests for all Macon's crew, plus unusually warm water conditions for the winter, contributed to all but two of Macon's 83 men aboard surviving.

 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

From Air Heraldry, Jan 1, 1944 by Carl Mann. I feel like the information written in this thread specifically and on the section in general updates a lot of what was written in 1944. Mr. Mann documents the original order that authorized the 14 awards to be made with only two authorized to be issued, and that the order was enlarged to 25, thinking this would be sufficient for years to come. 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

Another neat piece from the Don Chalif files, and probably from Duncan Campbell's files, is the original Rock Island arsenal blueprint for the Military Aviator badge (along with other badges). As noted, the original blueprint dates from 16 November 1915, demonstrating that the process of approving, designing, manufacturing, authorizing and awarding these badges took years. 

[Basic Rifleman]

 

The grave of US Naval Aviator #1, Theodore Gordon Ellyson, at the USNA cemetery. 

[aerialbridge]

First photo is Lieutenant Theodore  G. Ellyson,  US Naval Aviator #1,  with Captain Washington Irving Chambers, USN (1856-1934) (First Officer in Charge, Naval Aviation), who was  the "Father of US Naval Aviation" as a passenger in a Curtiss Navy trial of the A-2 at Hammondsport, New York, in September 1911.   Wm. Moffett (1869-1933) was not the Father of Naval Aviation.  U.S. Naval Aviation was born 8 May 1911, with a purchase request made by Captain Washington Chambers for the Navy's first aircraft.  Chambers also organized the first aircraft take off (1/18/1911) and landings (11/14/1910) from a US Navy ship with civilian aviator Eugene Ely, designed the first catapult system to launch an aircraft from a ship, set up the first naval aviator training (at North Island, San Diego) and established the first naval air station at Pensacola, FL.

 

Second photo is the First Navy seaplane built by Glenn Curtiss, June 1911. Left to right: unidentified Curtiss mechanic, Dr. A.F. Zahm, Lieutenant Junior Grade J.W. McClaskay USMC ret., Mr. Witmer Curtiss pilot, Glenn H. Curtiss, Captain Washington I. Chambers  "Father of (US) Naval Aviation", Lieutenant John H. Towers (Naval Aviator #3), Lieutenant Theodore G. Ellyson (Naval Aviator #1), and Mr. Pickens of Curtiss Exhibition Company.at Hammondsport, NY,  on 1 July 1911.          Photos from the vast paper and photo collection of Capt W.I. Chambers, USN donated to the Navy by his only son,  Capt.  Irving Reynolds Chambers, USN (1893-1979).

 

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1986/april-supplement/first-year

 

 

[FlyNavy02]

Another image of a young "Hap" Arnold. Seller had documentation that it was taken at an air show at Crissy Field, San Francisco, California. The two infantry officers are unidentified.

 

Arnold requested that the unnamed field at the Presidio be named for his friend Major Dana H, Crissy, killed on 8 October 1919 while participating in the Transcontinental Reliability and Endurance Test,

 

[Niemannnnn]

Listing of first 24 Officer 1913  {reference only]

Back Matter on JSTOR

 

By the way the picture of the 1st three astronauts to be on the moon ...they also sold a large souvinor book  .....Had one but dont have it Now  [sigh]😟 {had to move and gave it way............................]

[Niemannnnn]

The apparent reason Humphreys is not on the 1913 24 Aviation list is because he resigned in 1910!

Frederick E. Humphreys

However he served in the NYNG 1915-1939  1920-1939 USAR [Engineers]

 

 

"Two levels of qualification were specified in War Department Bulletin No. 35 on 4 May 1914, with aviators below the rank of captain to be rated as Junior Military Aviator and those captain and above to be rated as Military Aviator. Similar ratings were created for the lighter-than-air branch of aviation, termed Military Aeronaut. On 18 July 1914, Congress established the Aviation Section, Signal Corps, incorporating, expanding and superseding the Aeronautical Division, and established in law both flight pay ( called the "aviation increase") and the awarding of ratings. The Act of 1914 authorized an aviation increase of 25% in pay to student pilots, 50% to those rated JMA, and 75% to those rated MA. Rated lieutenants who flew "regularly and frequently" were given the temporary rank, pay, and allowances of the next higher grade.[11]

Because a provision also required three years' experience as a JMA in order to become eligible to be rated MA, all remaining Military Aviators had their ratings changed to JMA. None re-acquired the rating (and its "aviation increase") before July 1917.[12][n 7] The National Defense Act of 1916 eliminated pilot age and rank eligibility restrictions and allowed captains to also draw the temporary rank, pay, and allowances of the next higher grade if required to participate in regular and frequent flights"

 

Thus while he was certainly the First Army Man to Pilot an airplane  however he never aparently qualified  as JMA or MA

 

Thus he is among those early Military Aviatiors  flew but could not be awarded JMA or MA  [example student pilots killed Flying accidents]

[Niemannnnn]

Winder did take Pilot training  

https://earlyaviators.com/ewinder.htm

Col Charles Blish Winder Jr. (1874-1921) - Find a Grave Memorial

his rating  Reserve Military Aviator  could explain it...he wasnt Regular but  a National Guardsman   who could only come up for duty in the Regular Army  when the President of the united States mobilized for war

 

Likewise the NYNG Begain Aviaiton training in 1908!  However.....................

On 30 April 1908,[3] 1st Lt. Frank P. Lahm reported to New York City along with 1st Lt. Thomas Selfridge and civilian balloonist Leo Stevens to familiarize 25 members of the First Company, Signal Corps, a unit of the 71st New York Infantry, in the use of hydrogen-filled observation balloon. The company was organized to provide the New York National Guard with an "aeronautical corps" for balloon observation, commanded by Major Oscar Erlandean.[4] By 1910 it had acquired a home-made aircraft using private funds and transported it to summer maneuvers, but it was not flown. The aircraft was destroyed in a crash but an airplane owned by Glenn Curtiss was flown during the 1912 summer maneuvers in Connecticut by Private Beckworth "Becky" Havens, a salesman for Curtiss Aeroplane Company. This group sometimes referred to itself as the "1st Aero Company" but was never authorized or officially recognized by either the State of New York nor the U.S. Arm

 

 

The New York Air National Guard origins date to 28 August 1917 with the establishment of the 102d Aero Squadron as part of the World War I American Expeditionary Force. Its origins begin however, on 30 April 1908 as the 1st Aero Company, a pre-World War I independent unit of the New York National Guard. The 1st Aero Company was provisionally recognized by the federal government in June 1916 and called to active duty between July 13, 1916, and November 15, 1916, to continue training with the purpose of joining the 1st Aero Squadron, a Regular Army unit deployed to Mexico with the Punitive Expedition. The 1st Aero Company, however, never left Long Island and was disbanded on May 23, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I, when the Army decided not to use national guard aviation units in the war effort. Its history and lineage were bestowed on the 102d Observation Squadron. The 102d Aero Squadron was demobilized 1918 Armistice with Germany in 1919.

102nd Rescue Squadron - Wikipedia

 

Beckwith Havens, 1895-1969   First enlisted man

 

 

[Niemannnnn]

24 orgianl aviatiors 1913

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44513982

[Niemannnnn]

in picture of Brereton message # 32 he is wearing 1913 Aviator badge!

[Niemannnnn]

Carleton George Chapman (1896-1971) - Find a Grave Memorial

[Salvage Sailor]

Captain Joseph E. Carberry, March 20th, 1917

 

Press Photograph

American Aviators Start for France to Take Post Graduate Course in Flying - Three of America's cleverest military airmen,

Captains Joseph E. Carberry, Millard F. Harmon and Davenport Johnson, departed from New York Today March 20th, for France.

[Salvage Sailor]

 

Harold Geiger, Walter Taliaferro, Reasoner, Joseph Park, Lewis Brereton, Joseph Carberry

May, 1913

 

Source:  Reasoner collection, SDASM's Naval Aviation in San Diego and North Island Collection

[Salvage Sailor]

More from the 1913 "Reasoner Collection", all public access photographs

 

 

 

 

 

 

And who is 'Reasoner' and were did this treasure trove come from?  He was their flight surgeon in 1913.

 

 

Captain Matthew A Reasoner, US Army Medical Corps, Surgeon, 1913

 

Lost Records – Found- 12-6-16 A.B. Reynolds, HFA #003 I got a call this morning from a manager at the Litchfield (Illinois) Bank & Trust. Bank employees had being going through the vault and found an old box of records. The manager had seen the box before over the years but only peeked inside and never really had time to investigate further. But this time, he decided to check it out. In the box were the following documents for one person, Matthew Aaron Reasoner. Included were high school, college-1896, and medical school diplomas-1899, U.S. Army commissions - 1906 1909, 1916, certificates of merit and appreciation for his service and contributions as an Army medical doctor and researcher....

 

...What is so terrific about this is that The U.S. Records Office in St. Louis had a fire in the 1960s and all records regarding Matthew A. Reasoner were destroyed. We had very few official documents. For us, this is a treasure trove.

 

 

Army Personnel at North Island Aviation Field about March 1913. Reasoner is seated, first on the left and was the first flight surgeon.

 

There ya go...

[5thwingmarty]

I just picked up a book that has this photo in it.  I didn't find any other photos in this thread of Frank P. Lahm from when he was a Brigadier General.