Growing Pains: Army Air Service Patrols of National Forests, 1919-1920

Today’s post is written by Richard Elsom, an Archivist at the National Archives at Denver. Since the early years of the twentieth century, the US Forest Service has been occupied by fire. What began with hastily formed crews of locals, usually with no firefighting experience, later developed into a trained and organized firefighting force that … Continue reading Growing Pains: Army Air Service Patrols of National Forests, 1919-1920

The First Aeroplane Take Off from a Ship, November 14, 1910, Part II

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. This is the second of two blog posts about John Barry Ryan, Capt. Washington I. Chambers, USN, Eugene B. Ely, and the USS Birmingham, November 14, 1910. While arrangements were being made for the flight off the … Continue reading The First Aeroplane Take Off from a Ship, November 14, 1910, Part II

The First Aeroplane Take Off from a Ship, November 14, 1910, Part I

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. This is the first of two blog posts about John Barry Ryan, Capt. Washington I. Chambers, USN, Eugene B. Ely, and the USS Birmingham, November 14, 1910. At the beginning of 1909 the number of airplanes in … Continue reading The First Aeroplane Take Off from a Ship, November 14, 1910, Part I

Painting of the events of July 30, 1909.

The First Woman to Fly in an Aeroplane in the United States, October 27, 1909

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. The periodical Aeronautics in its issue of December 1909 reproduced the official log of all the aeroplane flights undertaken at the United States Army Signal Corps aviation field at College Park, Maryland between October 8 and November … Continue reading The First Woman to Fly in an Aeroplane in the United States, October 27, 1909

Image of Plane in the sky

The United States Army Buys Its First Aeroplane, 1909

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. The United States Army wanting an aeroplane, in early 1908, signed a contract with Orville and Wilbur Wright to a acquire one. The contract prescribed certain tests that the aeroplane would have to accomplish before the Army … Continue reading The United States Army Buys Its First Aeroplane, 1909