MANAGEMENT IN AVIATION HISTORY BENCH MARKS
THE ARMY AND THE WRIGHTS For weeks following their victory, the American team was headline news, feted and honored wherever they went. However, Lahm was soon ordered back to the U.S. where he demonstrated balloons for the military. It is likely that Lahm’s father had introduced him to Orville and Wilbur Wright while in France. Although he piloted the Army’s fi rst dirigible in 1908, Lt. Lahm knew that aeroplanes were the future of military aviation. Lahm was instrumental in convincing the Army to purchase Wright fl yers and hire the Wright brothers to train offi cers as aviators. Lahm spent three hours of fl ight training with Orville, while Lt. Frederick Humphreys [1883-1941] received the same amount of instruction time with Wilbur. In 1909, Lahm and Humphreys became the U.S. Army’s fi rst licensed aviators. In the years that followed, Lahm was assigned
foreign and domestic posts in command of either balloon or aeroplane instructions. In 1917, Lahm was promoted to captain, serving in the aviation section of the Signal Corps. He was the secretary of the army’s fl ying school at Rockwell Field, North Island, San Diego, during 1917, at the same time as (then) Captain H.H. “Hap” Arnold was the fi eld’s supply offi cer. Captain Lahm was chosen to head the balloon
Lt. Frank Purdy Lahm and Major Henry B. Hersey are pictured in the basket of their balloon, aptly named the “United States,” that won the fi rst Gordon Bennett International Balloon race of 1906. Photo courtesy of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
The Americans fl ew low over France, then paused at the edge of the English Channel before deciding to gamble on northwesterly winds to carry them across. Unknown to them at the time, Santos-Dumont had already dropped out of the competition due to mechanical problems, leaving Lahm’s ship the only hope for the U.S. Several teams ditched in France rather than chance a channel crossing that evening. Flying low over England, Lahm and Hersey used a trumpet to shout to people below for directions. They fi nally landed in Fyling Dales on the east coast of England and dashed to the nearest town to report their distance. The U.S. team’s balloon had traveled 410 miles and won the fi rst Gordon Bennett International Balloon race.
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division of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe where he remained throughout WWI. He promoted aviation at every opportunity upon his return to the U.S. In 1926, he oversaw the construction of Randolph Field near San Antonio, Texas, and subsequently held various important assignments in Europe and the U.S. Unfortunately, Lt. Humphrey’s career was cut short by illness, but Lahm retired as a brigadier general of the U.S. Air Force in 1941. Frank Purdy Lahm enjoyed a long and busy
retirement, eventually returning to his home state of Ohio where he died in 1963. The Gordon Bennett International Balloon races are an annual event organized by the FAI.
Giacinta Bradley Koontz is an aviation historian, magazine columnist and author who has received the DAR History Medal and honorable mention from the New York Book Festival. She has appeared on the History Channel
and in PBS documentaries. For more information, visit
www.GiaBKoontz.com.
DOMmagazine
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