One Hundred Years of Flight USAF Chronology ... - The Air University
One Hundred Years of Flight USAF Chronology ... - The Air University
One Hundred Years of Flight USAF Chronology ... - The Air University
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1919<br />
Personnel <strong>of</strong> the 11th Aero Squadron Day Bombardment, Maulan, France, 1918<br />
1919<br />
January 2: Maj. Gen. Charles T. Menoher became director <strong>of</strong> the Army <strong>Air</strong><br />
Service.<br />
April 28: At McCook Field, Ohio, Leslie L. Irvin first tested a free-type backpack<br />
parachute designed by James F. Smith for the Army, jumping<br />
from a DeHavilland DH–9 at 1,500 feet. Although he broke an ankle<br />
on landing, Irvin survived the test. After further testing, the Army<br />
ordered 400 such parachutes later that year from Irvin’s company.<br />
May 19: MSgt. Ralph W. Bottriell became the first member <strong>of</strong> the Army to<br />
jump from an airplane with a backpack-type parachute, later receiving<br />
the Distinguished Flying Cross for this feat.<br />
May 27: Lt. Cmdr. Albert C. “Puffy” Read and his five-man crew in a Navy<br />
Curtiss NC–4 Flying Boat completed the first crossing <strong>of</strong> the Atlantic<br />
Ocean by air, traveling from Newfoundland to Portugal, stopping once<br />
in the Azores.<br />
June 15: Capt. John Alcock and Lt. Arthur W. Brown <strong>of</strong> Great Britain completed<br />
the first nonstop crossing <strong>of</strong> the Atlantic Ocean by air, flying<br />
from Saint Johns, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Ireland.<br />
July 13: <strong>The</strong> first airship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, the British R–34,<br />
landed at Roosevelt Field, Long Island, after leaving England on 2 July.<br />
October 27: A board led by Maj. Gen. Charles T. Menoher, director <strong>of</strong> the<br />
<strong>Air</strong> Service, released a report that rejected the proposals <strong>of</strong> Rep.<br />
Charles F. Curry <strong>of</strong> California and Sen. Harry S. New <strong>of</strong> Indiana for an<br />
air force department separate from the Army and Navy.<br />
20