Frank P. Lahm
Frank Purdy Lahm | |
---|---|
Army Distinguished Service Medal | |
Relations | Samuel Lahm (grandfather) |
Frank Purdy Lahm (November 17, 1877 – July 7, 1963) was an American aviation pioneer, the "nation's first military aviator",[1] and a general officer in the United States Army Air Corps and Army Air Forces.
Lahm developed an interest in flying from his father, a balloonist, and received among the first civil qualification certificates issued. He met the
Lahm reached
Childhood and early career
SOURCE NOTE: All dates of rank and dates of
Lahm was born on November 17, 1877, in
Lahm's father made annual summer visits to a home he had purchased in 1877 in
There he attended Albert-le-Grand, a
He was commissioned
Lahm's father joined the Aéro-Club de France in 1902 (at the age of 56), purchased a balloon he named the Katherine Hamilton in honor of his daughter, and qualified for his balloon pilot's certificate in November 1904. The elder Lahm made frequent flights and initiated his son during a night ascension in stormy weather.[12] In the summer of 1905, 2nd Lt. Lahm completed the requirements of six ascensions, including one at night and one alone, to earn Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) certificate No. 4 as a balloon pilot. On July 15 of the same summer Lahm was promoted to first lieutenant.[11]
In 1906, while awaiting entrance to Saumur, Lahm won the first
Personality
Lahm's son Lawrence, himself a career officer, described his father's traits and characteristics in an essay he wrote in 1995:
He was five feet nine inches tall and was always very slender so that he appeared taller than he was actually…he had been a gymnast and the muscles of his arms and back stood out like ropes.
He was soft spoke and agreeable, yet, there was always a certain reserve. He was modest, honest, and true. He spoke well of others. As a boy he had gone to church twice on Sundays, once in the morning and once in the evening. He visited the sick and aged.
He loved games. He was an avid hunter and fisherman.
He was first a cavalryman before he became a flyer and he enjoyed riding and polo. In San Antonio, he had three polo ponies. I was never allowed to ride them, presumably because I would spoil them. He did, however, teach me to ride other horses, to swim, to golf, and to play baseball.
He enjoyed music and we sang on long automobile trips when he changed station from one Army post to another, my father and mother in the front seat and my sister, Barbara, and I in the back.
His posture was firmly erect and he possessed a cold courage that was remarkable. Beneath the calm exterior lay the competitiveness and combativeness fostered by the severe training at West Point.[15]
Aviation duties with the Signal Corps
Aeronautical Division
The Army detailed Lahm to the fledgling
En route to the United States, Lt. Lahm toured aviation sites in Germany and England, where he met
The Signal Corps advertised specifications for a powered airplane on December 23, 1907, and among the three bids found acceptable was one submitted by the Wrights to build a plane within 200 days for $25,000. The Signal Corps budget had insufficient funds to meet the three bids, and in early February 1908, Lahm accompanied Gen. Allen and chief of the Aeronautical Division Capt Charles DeF. Chandler to meet with President Theodore Roosevelt to obtain funds from a contingency account.[20]
On April 30, Lahm reported to New York City along with 1st Lt.
The Wright brothers brought an improved version of their 1908 plane to Fort Myer in 1909 for further War Department trials. After practice hops Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Lahm as a passenger, made the first official test flight on July 27. He and Lahm established a world's record for a two-man flight: one hour, 12 minutes and 40 seconds, to meet the Army's specification for the aircraft, designated Signal Corps (S.C.) Number 1, being the first airplane purchased by the U.S. Army.
Lahm and Humphreys crashed November 5, but both were uninjured, and the airplane was repaired. However the Signal Corps lost the service of both when they were returned to their regular assignments by their respective branches. In December 1909 Lahm joined the
In June 1910 Lahm attended Mounted Service School and graduated in June 1911. In October he married
On May 8, 1912, Lahm crash-landed S.C. No. 7 in mud on the
After S.C. No 7 became a total loss in August, Lahm's small detachment received a new aircraft, S.C. No. 13, a Wright C Speed Scout equipped with pontoons for water landings. On September 11, 1913, Lahm attempted a water takeoff for a flight test but the
Aviation Section
In October 1914 Lahm was assigned to the 6th Cavalry at Texas City and
In January 1917 Lahm was involved in a controversy that estranged him from Henry H. Arnold, future Chief of the Army Air Forces. Arnold was supply officer for the Aviation School, having returned to the Aviation Section from the Infantry the previous May. On January 6, Arnold was present in Lahm's office when the Officer In Charge of Training, Capt. Herbert A. Dargue, came in to protest an authorization for a flight. A student at the school's Field Officers course, Lt. Col. Harry G. Bishop of the Field Artillery, had asked for a plane and pilot to fly to an unspecified location, and Dargue protested that the flight interfered with scheduled training. According to Arnold's statement to investigators, Lahm told Dargue to "carry out his instructions" without further explanation. On January 10 the flight took place, despite a second protest from Dargue to the school commandant, Col. William A. Glassford, and became lost with its crew somewhere in Mexico. When Glassford called in Lahm, he denied authorizing the flight, and Glassford made a public announcement to that effect based on Lahm's denial. The plane, which apparently had been headed to Calexico, had drifted off course and come down in the Sonoran Desert, with Bishop and his pilot finally located and rescued nine days later. Dargue had shown Arnold the original authorization signed by Lahm, however, which Arnold verified to investigators on January 27.[33] On January 30, one day after the birth of his son, Arnold was transferred to Panama, which he attributed to retribution by Lahm and Glassford.[34][35][n 12]
After the United States entered World War I, Lahm became commanding officer of the Army Balloon School at Fort Omaha on May 24, 1917. At that time he was the Army's only airplane, balloon, and dirigible pilot.[36] On June 27, Lahm received promotion to major in the Aviation Section, Signal Corps. He suffered a severely broken leg early in June when his polo pony "Joe" slipped on a paved street in Omaha and fell on him.[37] As he was about to start sick leave, Lahm was offered a six-week inspection tour of balloon schools, equipment, and operations in both Britain and France.[1] He received confidential orders from Gen. Tasker H. Bliss on July 25, and another promotion to temporary lieutenant colonel, Signal Corps, on August 5. Lahm sailed from New York City on August 23 aboard the RMS Baltic and arrived in England on September 15, 1917, where he began keeping a war diary.[38][n 13]
Air Service, AEF
Lahm's assignment in England began with nine days of inspections of factories, depots, and training fields. On September 24 he flew the English Channel as an observer on a
Lahm's orders to return to the United States were rescinded and he was assigned to organize the balloon section of the Air Service headquarters in Paris. After doing so, he found himself ranked out of command on November 23, 1917, by now-Col. Charles DeF. Chandler, who had arrived in France as part of the massive staff of Brig. Gen. Benjamin Foulois. Lahm went instead to Chaumont as the section's liaison to GHQ AEF until February 23, 1918, when he was moved to Colombey-les-Belles in the same capacity to the Air Service, Advance Section, Services of Supply, where he supervised the tactical training of balloon companies before their assignment to the front as artillery spotters.[1]
On June 3, 1918,
On October 12, the AEF expanded to two field armies, and Lahm was named Chief of Air Service, Second Army at Toul. He chose Lt. Col. John F. Curry to be his chief of staff and began organizing it. He remained in France in command of the Second Army Air Service until it was dissolved on April 15, 1919.[1] His diary entry for that date states:
Starting with an Air Service of three observation squadrons in Oct., it grew to two pursuit groups with a total of 7 squadrons, seven observation squadrons, a bombing group of two squadrons, three park squadrons, eleven balloon companies, 5 photo sections, a total of 700 officers and 5300 men.[45]
Lahm remained on unassigned duty in France until July 30, 1919, when he sailed from
Postwar service
Advancement to general officer
Lahm reverted to his permanent establishment rank of captain on September 9, 1919, and began studies as a "special student" (because his rank had been reduced below that of field grade) at the General Staff College in Washington D.C., through June 1920. The Air Service was made a statutory part of the Army on June 4, 1920, and Lahm applied for transfer to the new branch. He was promoted to major on July 1 and
On July 2, 1926, the
Randolph Field
Almost immediately Lahm understood that because of the small size of his bases, their deteriorated condition (originally built as temporary in World War I), and the encroachment of San Antonio, his charge to "coordinate the training in the schools with a view of bringing them as close together as possible, and particularly with a view to making the transition easier for the students going from one school to the other" required expansion of the center by construction of a new facility.[48] After Chief of Air Corps Maj. Gen. Mason Patrick recommended the same in December 1926, Lahm appointed a board of five officers on April 18, 1927, to draw up plans for a model airfield. The next day, after reviewing unsolicited plans offered by 1st Lt. Harold L. Clark, an architect-trained former flying instructor now serving as a Kelly Field motor pool officer, it recommended a "revolutionary" four-quadrant circular layout that placed the structures between parallel runways aligned with the prevailing winds. Lahm then tasked the board to find a suitable location in May.[49][n 15]
Lahm originally dictated that the location be within 10 miles of San Antonio, but difficulties finding a site suited to the planned design, and the large size required, forced a resumption of the search in October 1927 out to an expanded distance of 30 miles.
While this took place, in April the new Chief of Air Corps, Maj. Gen.
Construction of Randolph Field[n 19] began on November 21, 1928. The site was cleared, the basic infrastructure completed, and somewhat less than half the buildings erected when the base was dedicated on June 20, 1930, as the "West Point of the Air",[n 20] but Lahm's four-year tour as an assistant chief of Air Corps ended in July well before construction was completed.[53][n 21] Nevertheless, Lahm's role in the creation of Randolph Field was characterized as "providing the administrative initiative and energy required to crystallize these ideas into definite plans and to press them to a successful conclusion,"[48] and he is noted by the USAF's Air Education and Training Command as "the father of Randolph Field."[4]
Air Officer and attaché duties
At the end of his tour he reverted to his permanent rank of lieutenant colonel, assigned again as Air Officer, Ninth Corps Area until July 1931, when his wife died of
In October 1935 Lahm returned to the United States as Air Officer, Second Corps Area, at Governors Island, New York, until December 14, 1940, when he became Chief of Aviation to the First Army. He received the Legion of Merit for his contribution to this command during its important formative period. President Franklin D. Roosevelt awarded Lahm an honorary promotion major general in September 1941.[56]
The extent of expanded pilot requirements immediately preceding World War II necessitated decentralization of Air Corps flight training, which had been the core element of the program after Lahm organized the Air Corps Training Center. The ACTC was broken up geographically, establishing three regional training centers. The ACTC, still headquartered at Randolph, was renamed the Gulf Coast Air Corps Training Center and became operational in February 1941.[57] Lahm served as its commander from October 21, 1941, to his mandatory retirement on November 20, 1941. He retired, after more than forty years of continuous military service, in the grade of brigadier general.[46] Three weeks later, in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, he offered to come off the retired list but was not accepted.[58][n 23]
Retirement and legacy
Lahm assisted with
On June 15, 1960, Lahm was recognized by the Air Force and the
Lahm died July 7, 1963, of a stroke at Good Samaritan Hospital in Sandusky, Ohio.[58] He was cremated and his ashes spread over Randolph Air Force Base.[56]
In 1943 Lahm completed and published How Our Army Grew Wings, begun in the 1930s in collaboration with Col. Chandler, who died in 1939. His war diary in World War I has been preserved since 1970 by the Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA) as USAF Historical Study No. 141. The United States Air Force Academy's first hot air balloon was named in his honor in 1973. Both Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport and the Administration Building of Mansfield Lahm Air National Guard Base are named for Lahm. In 2009, he was inducted in the First Flight Society along with Humphreys as the first military aviation trainees.[59][n 24]
In 1963, Lahm was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio.[60]
Awards and decorations
SOURCE: Biographical Data on Air Force General Officers, 1917–1952, Volume 2 – L through Z[6]
Distinguished Service Medal | |
Legion of Merit | |
Mexican Service Medal | |
World War I Victory Medal |
Notes
- Footnotes
- ^ Lahm was instructor in French to Cadet Henry H. Arnold.
- ^ Hersey, a graduate of Norwich University and a Rough Rider during the Spanish–American War, was in France to be an observer on a dirigible flight planned from Norway to the north pole.
- ^ Bell chaired a group called the "Aerial Experiment Association" whose members were himself, Glenn Curtiss, Frederick W. "Casey" Baldwin, John A.D. "Douglas" McCurdy, and Army Lt. Thomas Selfridge, all of whom except Curtiss were wealthy young men interested in flying.
- Punitive Expeditionin Mexico but did not complete its training before being returned to state control.
- ^ The Air Force has not given recognition to the assignment and lists Chandler as division chief until 1910.
- ^ Ironically, Lahm's father preceded him in that aerial feat too. Earlier in the summer Frank S. Lahm had gone up with Wilbur on a demonstration flight in France. (Kenney 2007, p. 28)
- ^ The second officer to fly was the acting Chief Signal Officer, Major George O. Squier, on September 12. Squier headed the Signal Corps' Aviation Section in 1916–1917. Selfridge was the first fatality in powered flight.
- ^ Lahm's flight training time was three hours, seven minutes, and 38 seconds. He received the second-ever FAI airplane certificate, behind Glenn Curtiss, but ahead of both Wrights, who received the 4th and 5th. On May 24, 1911, after the FAI recognized the American Aero Club as the "governing authority for the United States of America", the ACA licensed Lahm with Aviator License No. 2.
- ^ Burge was a mechanic who had accompanied S.C. No. 7 to the Philippines, and had been one of Lahm's original detail at Ft. Myer. He was approved after no other officers volunteered for training, and although higher authority later rescinded the authorization, he had already received his FAI certificate.
- ^ 2nd Lts Carleton G. Chapman, Herbert A. Dargue, and C. Perry Rich.
- ^ All those holding Military Aviator ratings were re-rated when a provision of the 1914 law mandated three years experience as a JMA as a prerequisite for MA rating.
- ^ Glassford had ordered that no immediate air search be conducted, infuriating the aviators including Arnold to the point of mutiny, only countermanding the order six days later when it became public in the newspapers. He was retired on April 11 as a result of the incident for failing to mount an effective search in a timely manner.
- ^ Lahm's diary noted that his father joined the Signal Corps as a balloon inspector just prior to his departure overseas.
- ^ ACTC's first day of administration was September 1, 1926. (War Department General Order 26)
- 52nd Troop Carrier Wing during four airborne operations, including the American airborne landings in Normandy and Operation Market Garden, before retiring in 1946.
- ^ The land had to be acquired with clear title by local entities and then donated to the government, per War Department policy, and also had to be free of all restrictions to use.
- ^ Clark's first formal design, submitted to Lahm on November 1, 1927, was revised in December and January and sent to the Chief of Air Corps. The Air Education and Training Command history of Randolph AFB places the date of the detail as December 5.
- ^ The actual architect of the base was George B. Ford, an architect and city planner retained by the Army between 1926 and 1930 to approve all site and development plans for Army installations.
- ^ Named for Capt. William M. Randolph, the adjutant of the Advanced Flying School and an Austin, Texas-native, killed in an air crash in February 1928.
- ^ The phrase is credited to San Antonio Mayor C.M. Chambers
- ^ Lahm was succeeded by Brig. Gen. Charles L. Danforth, a mustang who had come up through the ranks from private during the Spanish–American War, but who had not joined the Air Service until 1920.
- ^ After a year at Yale, Lawrence Lahm was a member of the West Point Class of 1942.
- ^ The role, if any, that Arnold played in denying Lahm service in World War II because of the 1917 Bishop incident and the fact that Lahm served in France while Arnold did not, is only speculative.
- ^ The First Flight Society incorrectly identifies Foulois as the "first United States military aviator". Foulois' training as an airship pilot pre-dated Lahm, but he was assigned to heavier-than-air pilot training specifically because Lahm was no longer detailed as a pilot.
- ^ Portraits of Lahm from late in his career show that he wore his Military Aviator badge in place of his pilot wings.
- Citations
- ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson 1970, p. xiv
- ^ a b Hennessy 1958, p. 236, Appendix 14
- ^ a b Hennessy 1958, p. 229, Appendix 10
- ^ a b "Tour of Historic Randolph" (PDF). Office of History and Research, HQ Air Education and Training Command. 1995. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
- ^ a b Walker & Wickam 1986, p. 320
- ^ a b Fogerty 1953, entry "Lahm, Frank Purdy"
- ^ Kenney 2007, p. 10
- ^ Kenney 2007, pp. 11–12
- ^ a b Kenney 2007, p. 13
- ^ a b Simpson 1970, p. ix
- ^ a b c d e f Simpson 1970, p. x
- ^ Kenney 2007, p. 14
- ^ Kenney 2007, pp. 15–16
- ^ Stekel, Peter. "Don Piccard 50 Years of Ballooning Memories" (PDF). www.FAI.org. FAI.org. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
- ^ Kenney 2007, pp. 37–38
- ^ Howard 1998, pp. 229–230
- ^ Kenney 2007, pp. 27–28
- ^ Howard 1998, p. 230
- ^ Howard 1998, p. 212
- ^ Hennessy 1958, p. 27
- ^ Craig 1973, p. 197
- ^ Hennessy 1958, p. 15
- ^ Hennessy 1958, pp. 28–33.
- ^ News Digest. // Aviation Week & Space Technology, July 15, 1963, v. 79, no. 3, p. 35.
- ^ Hennessy 1958, p. 34
- ^ Kenney 2007, p. 33, quoting from Lahm's memoir.
- ^ Hennessy 1958, p. 35.
- ^ Hennessy 1958, p. 39
- ^ Hennessy 1958, pp. 79–80.
- ^ a b Hennessy 1958, p. 80
- ^ Robinson 1920, p. 948
- ^ Hennessy 1958, pp. 157–158
- ^ "Starving Airmen Found; Wandered 10 Days in Mexico" (PDF). New York Times. January 20, 1917. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
- ^ Coffey 1982, pp. 85–86, 388, notes 20-21
- ^ Hennessy 1958, pp. 188–191
- ^ Hennessy 1958, pp. 162–163
- ^ Lahm 1970, pp. 3, 89
- ^ Lahm 1970, pp. 1–2
- ^ Lahm 1970, p. 10
- ^ Lahm 1970, p. 12
- ^ Lahm 1970, p. 16
- ^ Lahm 1970, p. 19
- ^ Lahm 1970, p. 87
- ^ Lahm 1970, p. 103
- ^ Lahm 1970, p. 181
- ^ a b c d Simpson 1970, p. xv
- ^ Cook & Sprinkle 2001, pp. 38–39
- ^ a b Cook & Sprinkle 2001, p. 39, quoting a local AAF-produced history of Randolph AFB.
- ^ Cook & Sprinkle 2001, pp. 39–40
- ^ Cook & Sprinkle 2001, p. 40
- ^ a b Cook & Sprinkle 2001, p. 50
- ^ Cook & Sprinkle 2001, pp. 40–41
- ^ Cook & Sprinkle 2001, p. 41
- ^ Kenney 2007, p. 39
- ^ Kenney 2007, p. 37
- ^ a b Kohan, James J. (1991). "Biographical Note, Frank Purdy Lahm Collection". National Air And Space Museum Archives. Retrieved December 24, 2010.
- ^ Cook & Sprinkle 2001, pp. 46–47
- ^ a b c Simpson 1970, p. xvi
- ^ "Frank Purdy Lahm". First Flight Society online. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
- ^ "Enshrinee Frank Lahm". nationalaviation.org. National Aviation Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
References
- Coffey, Thomas M. (1982). HAP: the story of the U.S. Air Force and the man who built it, General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 0-670-36069-4.
- Cook, Jody; Sprinkle, John H. Jr. (2001). "Significance of Property, Overview" (PDF). National Historic Landmark Nomination, Randolph Field Historic District. US Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
- Craig, Lt. Gen. Howard A. (Fall 1973). "Col. Charles DeForest Chandler, Air Service, U.S. Army". Journal of the American Aviation Historical Society. 18 (3): 197.
- Fogerty, Robert P. (1953). "LAHM, FRANK PURDY Biographical Data on Air Force General Officers, 1917–1952, Volume 2 – L thru Z" (PDF). USAF Historical Study No. 91. AFHRA (USAF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 5, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
- Hennessy, Juliette (1958). "The United States Army Air Arm, April 1861 to April 1917" (PDF). USAF Historical Study No. 98. AFHRA (USAF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 22, 2011. Retrieved December 4, 2010.
- Howard, Fred (1998). Wilbur and Orville: A Biography of the Wright Brothers. Dover. pp. 229–230. ISBN 0-486-40297-5.
- Kenney, Kimberly A. (2007). Canton's Pioneers in Flight. Arcadia. ISBN 978-0-7385-2522-8.
- Lahm, Frank P. (1970). "The World War I Diary of Colonel Frank P. Lahm, Air Service, AEF" (PDF). USAF Historical Study No. 141. AFHRA (USAF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 5, 2012. Retrieved December 6, 2010.
- Simpson, Alfred F. (1970). "Biographical Sketch of Frank P. Lahm". The World War I War Diary of Col. Frank P. Lahm, Air Service, AEF. Historical Research Division, Aerospace Studies Institute.
- Robinson, Col. Wirt (1920). "Volume VI-A 1910–1920". In George Washington Cullem (ed.). Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York Since Its Establishment in 1802. Saginaw, Michigan: Sermann and Peters.
- Walker, Lois F.; Wickam, Shelby Z. (1986). "Part 8: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base 1948–1982". From Huffman Prairie to the Moon: A History of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Office of History, 2750th Air Base Wing, WPAFB. ISBN 0-16-002204-5.
External links
- "Frank P. Lahm". Hall of Valor. Military Times. Retrieved December 24, 2010.
- National Aviation Hall of Fame enshrinement page