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MILLING, T. DEWITT, BRIG. GEN. USAF. - BIOG. FILE - FOLDER NO. 2 ITEM NO 5 A

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
NATIONAL AIR MUSEUM

Beginning with the year 1914, the school at North Island was running in a routine manner. In addition to the student flying training,which was considerable, there were the classes under Molineau (engines) and meteorology under Captain Culver and a series of lectures on electronics under Dr. Zahm and Dr. W. F. Durand who spoke on aerodynamics and structures and W. J. Humphreys of the US Weather Bureau on the physics of the air. It was still customary for flying to be done early in the morning, when the air was smooth and it usually started at daybreak and lasted until around 10 am.

In December 1913, a provisional organization for Aero students of the Signal Corps was prescribed by the War Department. There were to be 20 officers, 90 enlisted men, 8 airplanes and sufficient and there were to be sufficient tractors and motorcycles to make the squadron, and a mobile unit capable of taking the field. 

During early 1914 some very creditable cross-country flights were made [[strikethrough]]the lb[[/strikethrough]]by Lt Toliver in a Curtiss Speed Scout (90 h.p. engine. He was in the air 4 hours 31 minutes and flew beyond Los Angeles and Pasadena -  he stopped at Elsinore Field for the night and in taking off the next morning his motor stopped and he was forced to land. The machine was damag[[strikethrough]]w[[/strikethorugh]]ed to such an extent it had to be shipped back by rail. Lieut. Willis made another cross-country flight in which he [[strikethrough]]d[[/strikethrough]]covered 140 miles in 133 minutes. Lt. Carbury established (in February) with Lt. Toliver as passenger an altitude record of 8700 feet. On the 14 February, Lt. T. F. Do[[strikethrough]]s[[/strikethrough]]dd established a new [[blank]] and distance record, flying a Burgess tractor, 70 h.p. Renault, 244 Miles in 4 hours and 43 minutes. The passenger was his f[[strikethrough]]o[[/strikethrough]]light chief, Sgt Herbert Marcus.

We were constantly losing officer pilots -  either through being killed in accidents or relieved from duty. During 1911 there was only one officer killed, Lt. Kelly. In 1910, Lt. Hazelhurst & Lt. Rockwell were killed.[[strikethrough]]d[[/strikethrough]] In 1913 5 officers were killed., Lts. Park, Call, Ellington, Nash of the Philippine Scouts & Chandler.

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