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
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
1925<br />
April 13: Henry Ford established the first regularly scheduled commercial<br />
airfreight line in the United States between Detroit and Chicago.<br />
September 3: <strong>The</strong> Navy dirigible Shenandoah broke apart and crashed during<br />
a violent storm over Ava, Ohio, killing 14 <strong>of</strong> 43 persons aboard.<br />
September 5: Col. William “Billy” Mitchell charged that the loss <strong>of</strong> a Navy<br />
airplane on a flight from California to Hawaii and the loss <strong>of</strong> the Navy<br />
dirigible Shenandoah in Ohio resulted from “incompetency,” “criminal<br />
negligence,” and “almost treasonable administration” by the Navy and<br />
War Departments. As a result, President Calvin Coolidge ordered<br />
Mitchell’s court-martial.<br />
November 30: A board appointed by President Calvin Coolidge and headed<br />
by Dwight W. Morrow released a report recommending conservative<br />
reorganization <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Air</strong> Service and its redesignation as the <strong>Air</strong><br />
Corps, rather than establishment <strong>of</strong> an independent air force coequal<br />
with the Army and Navy. <strong>The</strong> Morrow Board Report also recommended<br />
a five-year expansion plan for Army aviation.<br />
December 17: After a seven-week trial, the Army convicted Col. William “Billy”<br />
Mitchell <strong>of</strong> violating the 96th article <strong>of</strong> war by having made “insubordinate”<br />
statements. Sentenced to five years’ suspension <strong>of</strong> rank, pay, and<br />
command, he resigned from the Army shortly thereafter.<br />
1926<br />
1925–26<br />
March 16: At Auburn, Massachusetts, Dr. Robert H. Goddard successfully<br />
launched the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket.<br />
May 9: In a Fokker C–2 Trimotor monoplane, Lt. Cmdr. Richard E. Byrd <strong>of</strong><br />
the Navy and civilian pilot Floyd Bennett completed the first flight<br />
over the North Pole, taking <strong>of</strong>f and landing at the Norwegian island <strong>of</strong><br />
Spitzbergen.<br />
May 20: President Calvin Coolidge signed the <strong>Air</strong> Commerce Act, the first<br />
federal legislation to regulate civil aeronautics.<br />
July 2: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Air</strong> Corps Act redesignated the Army <strong>Air</strong> Service as the Army <strong>Air</strong><br />
Corps and created an assistant secretary <strong>of</strong> war for air, as recommended<br />
by the Morrow Board in November 1925. On the same day,<br />
Maj. Gen. Mason M. Patrick, chief <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Air</strong> Service, became chief <strong>of</strong><br />
the <strong>Air</strong> Corps. Congress also established the Distinguished Flying<br />
Cross, directing that it be awarded to individuals for outstanding flying<br />
achievements since April 6, 1917.<br />
25