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Heroes of their Time...
After being accepted into the Signal Corps for pilot training, Thomas Dewitt Milling, known as "Tommy" to his fellow aviators was sent to the Wright Factory where he met the Wrights and fellow officer "Hap" Arnold. Milling received his initial pilot's instruction from Al Welsh but made such a favorable impression on Orville that he offered to give him some lessons as well. Milling participated in many firsts in flight at the College Park Airfield. When the "Military Aviator" rating was introduced in 1917, it upgraded the status of all pilots that passed its requirements. Milling was one of the first to do so, thereby earning him his "Military Aviator" badge.
Henry "Hap" Arnold's career paralleled the growth of aviation from its earliest beginning with the Wright Brothers, to the days when the Air Force became an independent branch of the military. In 1911 and 1912, Arnold was frequent face on the front page of the news for setting and breaking one altitude record after another. Arnold was also the first winner of the famed Mackay trophy while at College park, which he won again in 1934 following a spectacular round trip flight to Alaska. Arnold retired as the Air Force's only five-star general. CJ MacCartee took this photo of "Hap" Arnold in a Wright B at the airfield to use for his pilot's license, 1911. |