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Department Bulletin No. 2. This first badge was a realistic eagle with wings outspread, the Signal Corps flags beneath each wing, and all suspended from two points from a rectangular metal piece bearing the name, "Military Aviator." The whole thing was gold-plated. When compared to the modern wings, this one was the most radically different. In 1918 and 1921 other changes were made giving it more streamlined features. Capt. Chandler, Lt. Arnold, and Lt. Milling were the first to quality as "Military Aviators."

One of the very first foreign Flying Schools was opened by the United States in the Philippines. This school was opened under the guidance of Lt. Frank P. Lahm at Fort McKinley, near Manila, on 11 March, 1912. Lt. Lahm had two volunteer students at the time, Lt. Moss L. Love and Cpl. Vernon L. Burge, who was the first enlisted man taught to fly in the service, and who later became a commissioned officer in the Air Corps.

The length of duration that an aircraft could stay aloft grew longer and longer with each succeeding model. On 24 May, Lt. Paul W. Beck set a new unofficial American duration record of 4 hours, 23 minutes, and 15 seconds in his airplane, Miss Columbia, at Mineola, Long Island, New York.

It was about this time that military aviators began having illusions of grandeur about the importance of the airplane in future wars. Encouraged by reporters who almost daily covered the Flying Schools of the time, (because any event on flying was newsworthy then), some flyers even invisioned [[envisioned]] entire battles being fought in the air. On 7 June, 1912, Capt. Charles deForrest Chandler with Lt. T. DeWitt Milling, fired from a Wright B Airplane a machine gun, of the ground type, designed by and tested by Col. Isaac N. Lewis. However, the young fledglings had their sprouting wings cropped pretty close in short order when they were tactfully reminded by War Department spokesmen that Army airplanes were intended for reconnaissance only!

On 21 June, 1912, Tiny Broadwick made herself a bit of history by becoming the first woman ever to make a parachute jump from an airplane. She jumped from Glenn L. Martin's airplane near Los Angeles, California. (Glenn L. Martin at that time was in the process of designing and building aircraft.)

On 10 August, 1912, Lts. B. D. Foulois and T. D. Milling each piloted a Wright plane in taking part in the Army maneuvers. This marked the first time in the history of the Signal Corps that planes participated in Army maneuvers.

The early history of aviation was not without its share of grief and hardships. On 28 September, 1912, Frank S. Scott, then a Corporal in the U.S. Army, received the dubious honor of being the first enlisted man to be killed in an airplane accident in the Army. He was riding with Lt. L. C. Rockwell (also killed) at College Park, Maryland.

If you "mosquito" pilots of the Korean War thought you had a novel job doing Artillery spotting, reflect on history for a moment. Lts. Henry H. Arnold and Follett Bradley became known as the first Artillery spotters from airplanes when, on 5 November, 1912, at Fort Riley, Kansas, they helped adjust artillery fire from their airplane.

Even in those days a few people tried to vision through foresight. President Howard Taft appointed a commission on 19 December, 1912, to report to Congress on a national aerodynamic laboratory. But the bill to legalize the commission was not passed by Congress.

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