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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1908<br />
1908<br />
January 21: <strong>The</strong> Signal Corps announced a specification for an Army airship.<br />
It called for an aircraft that could fly for two hours, carry two persons,<br />
and maintain a minimum speed <strong>of</strong> 20 miles per hour.<br />
February 10: <strong>The</strong> Wright brothers and Capt. Charles S. Wallace <strong>of</strong> the Signal<br />
Corps signed the first Army contract for an airplane.<br />
February 24: <strong>The</strong> Army signed a contract with Capt. Thomas S. Baldwin for<br />
a government airship at a price <strong>of</strong> $6,750.<br />
April 30: Aviation enthusiasts in the 1st Company, Signal Corps, New York<br />
National Guard, organized an “aeronautical corps” to learn ballooning—the<br />
earliest known involvement <strong>of</strong> guardsmen in aviation.<br />
May 14: Charles Furnas became the first airplane passenger when he rode<br />
aboard an aircraft flown by Wilbur Wright at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.<br />
May 19: Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge flew an airplane called the White Wing,<br />
designed by F. W. “Casey” Baldwin, thus becoming the first Army <strong>of</strong>ficer<br />
to solo in an airplane.<br />
August 28: After flight tests at Fort Myer, Virginia, the Army accepted Army<br />
Dirigible No. 1 from Capt. Thomas S. Baldwin.<br />
September 3: Orville Wright began flight tests <strong>of</strong> the Wright Flyer at Fort<br />
Myer, Virginia.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Wright Flyer. Its rear-mounted propeller pushed the biplane forward, and wing<br />
warping provided control.<br />
3
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