Existing comment:
College Park Airport: "Oldest Continually Operated in the World"
-- First Military Airfield in the United States --
The following notable events occurred on this airfield:
• 1907 – Early aeronautical experiments by Rex Smith and others
• 1908 – Oct. 8, Wilbur Wright instructed first flying officers of the Signal Corps, U.S. Army
• 1909 – Oct. 29, Mrs. Ralph H. Van Demon first woman passenger in America
• 1911 – July 3, First army flying school established
• 1912 – First flight surgeon, Lt. John P. Kelly
• 1912 – First group cross country flight originated here, first long distance flight – 42 miles, destination, Chevy Chase, MD.
- First bombs dropped from an aircraft utilizing a bombsight
- First machine guns fired from an aircraft
- Early experimentation with radio signals sent from an aircraft
- Altitude records set by Lt. "Hap" Arnold, 6450 feet.
• 1918 - Aug. 12, Washington terminus, first regular airmail service
• 1920 – Early helicopter experiments by Emile Berliner
• 1922 – First successful flight of a helicopter by Henry Berliner
• 1933 – First "blind flying" cross country flight by James Kinney and Harry Diamond |