Existing comment:
The Cradle of Aviation:
When Congress appropriated $125,000 for aeronautics in 1911, the military returned to College Park Airfield for the new Signal Corps Aviation School. The Quartermaster's Department leased 260 acres for $325 per month. The Department erected four hangars near the railroad tracks to house the five new aeros, as well as a small headquarters building. There was also a Red Cross tent and a mess tent. The following year, with the addition of several new planes, three more hangars were constructed.
In the lease, the Signal Corps was given full access to the huge field and allowed to remove any debris or other obstacles that would impede flying. The only area that was off limits to them was the large series of ponds just past the row of hangars. These ponds were owned by the Aquarium Fisheries Company and they were used to propagate goldfish!
The officers did not live at the school. They typically stayed at homes and boarding houses in College Park. The enlisted men, however, spent most of their time at the airfield, eating in the mess tent and sleeping in one of the hangars.
During the winter months of 1911 and 1912, the school moved to Augusta, Georgia. However, this seasonal moving was extremely disruptive and in 1913, the Army decided to permanently move the school to a more suitable climate. The Curtiss contingent of the school was invited to North Island, in San Diego, and the rest of the school went to Augusta, Georgia. Several months later, all the military aviators and aircraft were reunited and sent to Texas City, Texas.
In January of 1913, a bill was introduced by Congress to purchase the College Park Airfield and make it the "National Aviation Field," but the bill died in the Senate. In May of 1913, the Signal Corps Aviation School at College Park officially closed and all its remaining personnel left the field, ending one of the most exciting chapters in the airfield's history. |