Fort Sill - Early Aviation at Fort Sill

Early Aviation At Fort Sill

Fort Sill also contains the birthplace of military combat aviation, located at the parade field at the Old Post Quadrangle at Fort Sill.

Here, the 1st Aero Squadron, under Captain Benjamin D. Foulois, uncrated their new, unassembled airplanes and put them together in 1915. They then pushed their Curtiss JN-2 planes down hill to the Polo field. On August 10, they made their first flights.

Unfortunately, the first airplane accident came just two days later, on August 12, 1915. Lt. Rondondo B. Sutton, the pilot, was hospitalized, but his passenger, Captain George H. Knox, the paymaster of Fort Sill, was killed. According to the Lawton Constitution newspaper article, there was a large crowd of civilians at the field to see the aircraft in flight – and were, consequently, there to see the results of the accident. The large crowd of men, women and children were horrified, according to the paper. Soon after, on September 5, another plane was lost in a second crash, after which Foulois grounded the remaining planes out of concern for safety.

Undaunted, the squadron began trials with the field artillery to see if they could perform reconnaissance of field positions, but the results were disappointing, mostly due to inadequate equipment. New equipment was ordered and by October 14, operations with the field artillery were resumed. On October 22, Lt. T.D. Milling made the first two flights to test aerial photography using a Brock camera. On November 6, the squadron successfully made a photo mosaic of 42 plates.

The squadron left Fort Sill on November 19 on a cross-country trip from which they would not return. They flew six planes to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, a total of 439 miles in a historic cross-country distance flight. The aviators were supported by a trail of supply-laden heavy trucks and their mechanics on motorcycles. The flight arrived on November 26, without any major incidents delaying them.

The squadron was kept in Texas because of tension along the U.S.-Mexico border. Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa felt betrayed that the U.S. government recognized Venustiano Carranza's Mexican government. Villa began to attack Americans in northern Mexico. On March 9, 1916, Villa's troops attacked Columbus, N.M. and a detachment of the 13th Cavalry. The town was burned and the Americans suffered eighteen soldiers and civilians killed and eight wounded. President Woodrow Wilson ordered Gen. John J. Pershing to lead 4,800 men into Mexico to capture Villa. Villa was never killed but did receive a wound from being shot by one of his own men while being chased by troops under General Pershing. (see: Pershing's diary of the expedition.)

The 1st Aero Squadron was part of that army. They transferred to Casas Grandes in Mexico and began duties flying reconnaissance, delivering mail and dispatches and transporting senior officers. These simple tasks were more than their airplanes (designed for training, not combat) could handle. They didn't have enough power to fly over the mountains of northern Mexico. One rain storm dumped nearly a foot of water into the cockpit of Foulois' craft and flooded out his engine. He successfully managed to land his plane without power. Additionally, every landing in Mexico was carried out in hostile territory. Many pilots found themselves cut off from friendly lines with little more than their wits to rescue them from hostile Mexicans and Mexican officials.

The squadron flew 540 missions in Mexico - averaging 36 miles per mission. After six weeks, they were done. Their airplanes were worn out, and two had crashed. Four others needed parts and were grounded. For weeks afterward, crew members and pilots had blisters from carving new propellers out of logs. On April 20, 1916, the Army ordered the squadron back to Columbus, N.M. Their only real military success was finding a lost and thirsty cavalry column.

The 1st Aero Squadron received new airplanes, but these were hurriedly packed by the factory, were all missing parts and required significant modifications. The squadron did not again take to the field until they deployed to France as part of the American Expeditionary Force in World War I. Today, the 3rd Reconnaissance Squadron of the U.S. Air Forces traces their unit heritage to the 1st Aero Squadron.