The first Army Aviation School set up operations at the airfield in 1911, with 5 new aeroplanes (2 Wrights, 2 Curtiss, 1 Burgess-Wright) and 4 hangars adjacent to the road.
Several of the civilian hangars had to be relocated to be in line with the Army hangars. Instructors included Captain Charles deForest Chandler, Captain Paul Beck, and Lieutenants Henry "Hap" Arnold, Thomas Milling, Roy Kirkland, Leighton Hazelhurst and Lewis Rockwell.
Several important achievements in aviation occurred in 1911 and 1912
· Army altitude record for Hap Arnold (6,540 feet)
· Development and testing of a bomb sight (Riley Scott)
· Early aerial photography testing from a military plane
· First machine gun fired from a plane
· First enlisted man to die in an aviation accident (Cpl. Frank Scott)
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