| Only one airport can claim the title of the "world's | | | | and Belmont Park in Long Island, New York. Operated |
| oldest, continuously-operating" one. That title belongs to | | | | by a Curtiss JN-4H Jenny on August 12, and flown by |
| College Park Airport, located in Maryland, some 25 | | | | Max Miller, it had successfully carried the mail to New |
| miles from the state's major facility, | | | | York. |
| Baltimore-Washington International Airport. | | | | The Jenny, the workhorse of the US airmail fleet, had |
| College Park's own origins can be directly traced to | | | | a 27.4-foot overall length and a 43.8-foot wingspan. |
| the Wright Brothers. Although their sustained, controlled, | | | | The two-place biplane, powered by an OX-5, |
| and powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, as | | | | liquid-cooled engine, had a 1,430-pound empty weight, |
| well documented, had occurred in 1903, it had not been | | | | but could carry a useful load of 490 pounds, comprised |
| until 1908, when their attempt to interest the Europeans | | | | of the pilot in the rear seat and the mail itself in the |
| in their design had generated sufficient interest in it in | | | | front. Maximum speed had been 75 mph. |
| their own country. The Wright Model A Military Flyer, | | | | An airmail hangar and compass rose had been |
| one of three aircraft submitted to fulfill the US Army | | | | constructed in 1919 and 12 aircraft had formed the |
| Aeronautical Division's requirements for "a motorized, | | | | airmail fleet before the service had been transferred |
| heavier-than-air flying machine and the training of two | | | | to the transcontinental route from New York in 1921. |
| pilots," had first flown from nearby Ft. Myer, Virginia, | | | | Another chapter in College Park's history had been |
| later that year, but its perilous fate had led to the injury | | | | written in 1924 when the father-and-son team of Emile |
| of Orville Wright and the death of its passenger. | | | | and Henry Berliner, sponsors of the already-established |
| The reconstructed aircraft, demonstrating its | | | | Washington Aeroplane Company, had conducted the |
| capabilities during a one-hour flight, had met all | | | | world's first controlled vertical helicopter flight on |
| specifications: a capacity of two, a 40-mph airspeed, | | | | February 24 before media and US Navy officials. The |
| and a 125-mile range, and the design had been handed | | | | Berliner helicopter, employing an 18-foot-long Nieuport |
| over to the Army on August 2, 1909. What remained, | | | | 23 fuselage, had featured a 38-foot wingspan in |
| however, had been the yet-unfilled requirement to train | | | | triplane configuration from whose leading and trailing |
| two officers to fly it. | | | | edges shutter-like vanes had horizontally protruded and |
| The Ft. Myer site, hitherto location of all test flights, had | | | | atop which two 13-foot diameter counter-rotating |
| proven too constrained and had often been | | | | rotors driven by a 220-hp BR-2 Bentley engine had |
| surrounded by curious onlookers, and a larger area | | | | been installed. The single-seat, 641-pound design rested |
| had clearly been needed. Its replacement, 160 acres of | | | | on a quad-wheeled undercarriage. |
| flat land in nearby Maryland, had subsequently been | | | | Rising to 15 feet, the helicopter had maintained a |
| chartered as an airfield after Army Signal Corps | | | | 40-mph airspeed and a 150-foot maneuvering radius, |
| Lieutenant Frank Lahm had spotted it from a balloon. | | | | traveling some 200 yards, although the experimental |
| The parcel, located near the new Maryland Agricultural | | | | flight had revealed a power deficiency and inadequate |
| College, had been train- and trolley-accessible, yet | | | | lateral control. Nevertheless, it had led to |
| remote enough to discourage significant numbers of | | | | advancements which had been later incorporated in |
| public viewers. It became College Park Airport. | | | | Igor Sikorsky's own vertical design of 1940. |
| After having been cleared of several trees in October, | | | | College Park Airport had not only been instrumental in |
| a small hangar and a launching track to facilitate the | | | | vertical flight, but also in blind flight. Between 1927 and |
| wheel-devoid Military Flyer had been constructed, while | | | | 1934, the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) had |
| the actual aircraft had been transported, in a | | | | tested and developed radio navigation aids to facilitate |
| disassembled state, to the new location. | | | | zero-visibility flying with hooded biplanes. Jimmy |
| Flight training of Lieutenants Frank P. Lahm and | | | | Doolittle, making the first blind landing at Mitchell Field, |
| Frederick Humphreys, which began on October 8, | | | | Long Island, on September 24, 1929, had paved the |
| resulted in both successfully soloing in little more than | | | | way for the first such operation at College Park on |
| three hours, but the latter, achieving the feat first, | | | | September 5, 1931, while the first instrument flight, from |
| became both the world's first military officer to | | | | origin to destination, had been conducted in 1934 |
| become a pilot and the first to fly a government | | | | between College Park and Newark. The Washington |
| aircraft in the process. Both were subsequently | | | | Institute of Technology, taking over the development |
| reassigned within the Army. | | | | program, had been able to lay the foundation for |
| Two other "firsts" occurred that year: Mrs. Ralph H. | | | | today's instrument landing system (ILS). |
| Van Daman became the first woman in the US to fly | | | | Also in 1927, management of the airfield had been |
| as a passenger and Lieutenant George Sweet | | | | handed off to George Brinckerhoff, who had been |
| became the first naval officer to fly when he did so | | | | instrumental in taking it into the Golden Age of Aviation |
| with Lahm on November 3. | | | | by conducting extensive pilot training and staging |
| A hangar, housing the Wright Brothers and ten enlisted | | | | frequent air shows, the latter of which, particularly, had |
| men, had served as living quarters during fight | | | | introduced the public to aerial flight. |
| instruction. | | | | One of the most frequently featured aircraft during |
| Rex Smith, an inventor and patent attorney, can be | | | | these shows had been the Monocoupe 110. Powered |
| credited with sparking civilian aviation at College Park | | | | by a 145-hp Super Scarab piston engine, the high-wing, |
| when he had established the Rex Smith Aeroplane | | | | 1,611-pound aircraft, with a 20.8-foot overall length and |
| Company and the National Aviation and Washington | | | | 32-foot wingspan, had been fast, efficient, and |
| Aviation Companies had later provided aircraft | | | | aerodynamically sleek for its day and could attain 120- |
| services and support. | | | | to 148-mph speeds. It had often won speed records at |
| The Wright Model B, succeeding the initial "A" version in | | | | College Park races and air meets. |
| 1910 and integral to this operation, had been a | | | | The two-place, tandem-arranged Taylor J-2 Cub, |
| two-person, open-cockpit design constructed of West | | | | introduced four years later in 1936, had also been |
| Virginia white spruce whose aluminum powder coating | | | | instrumental during this period. The docile, high-wing |
| had given it a metallic look. Its dual wings, like those of | | | | trainer, with a 22.5-foot overall length and 35.2-foot |
| the original 1903 Wright Flyer of Kitty Hawk fame, had | | | | span, had had a 970-pound gross weight and could |
| been fabric-covered and bank-induced not by the | | | | attain 87-mph speeds with its single, 40-hp Continental |
| later-standard ailerons, but instead by the | | | | A-40 engine. Used by Brinckerhoff for flight training |
| Wright-designed wing-warping method. Powered by a | | | | during a 30-year period, the type had become the |
| 30-35 hp, four-cylinder, water-cooled Wright engine | | | | quintessential private pilot trainer at general aviation |
| which drove twin, 8.6-foot, counter-rotating propellers | | | | airports throughout the country. |
| at 428 rpm, the 950-pound aircraft could become | | | | Another prevalent trainer, introduced three years later |
| airborne at an almost stationary 27 mph and could | | | | and featuring improved capability, had been the |
| attain a maximum speed of 40 mph with its long, | | | | Taylorcraft CL-65. Unlike the tandem seating |
| 38.6-foot wingspan. A dual rudder and equally warped | | | | configuration of the J-2, the side-by-side arrangement |
| elevator comprised its tail. | | | | had facilitated dual instruction. The high-wing, tail wheel |
| An initial deficiency of providing only a single, | | | | aircraft, with a 22-foot overall length and 36-foot, |
| wing-warping and rudder control lever between the | | | | fabric-covered wingspan, had been powered by a |
| pilots, yet two elevator actuators, had been remedied | | | | 65-hp Lycoming O-145 piston engine and, with a |
| two years later with the installation of a second | | | | 1,150-pound gross weight, could achieve 102-mph |
| wing-warping and rudder control, thus ending the right- | | | | maximum speeds. |
| and left-seat pilot phenomenon. The type conducted | | | | Another College Park-indicative design, the Aeronica |
| both training and experimental flights. Along with a | | | | 65LA "Chief," had plied Maryland skies during the |
| Wright-Burgess and two Curtiss Pushers, it had | | | | 1940s. Equaling the Taylorcraft's speed, it had been |
| formed the aviation school's initial flight training fleet. | | | | powered by a 65-hp Continental C-65 engine and had |
| In all, Wilbur Wright had made 55 flights from College | | | | featured a 1,250-pound maximum weight. Only 87 of |
| Park in 1909, the fastest of which had been at a | | | | the type, however, had been produced. |
| record-setting 46 mph. | | | | During World War II, the Women's Air Services Pilots, |
| Although the Wrights had left College Park in | | | | or WASPs, had trained at College Park under |
| November of 1909 after their contract had been | | | | Maryland's Civilian Pilot Training Program, enabling them |
| fulfilled and they had relocated their training school to | | | | to assume non-combat aerial duties. |
| Ft. Sam in Houston, the seeds planted by the first two | | | | The Boeing PT-17 Stearman, a two-place, |
| Signal Corps pilots had blossomed into a full-fledged | | | | open-cockpit biplane instrumental in the training of pilots, |
| military aviation training facility in 1911 when the Army, | | | | had often performed stunts and competed in air races |
| receiving a Congressional appropriation for Army | | | | during the Brinckerhoff period from 1927 to 1964. The |
| Aeronautics, had leased 100 more acres of land, | | | | aircraft, with a 24.10-foot overall length and a 32.2-foot |
| constructed additional hangars, and ordered more | | | | wingspan, had been powered by a 220-hp Continental |
| aircraft, establishing the first Army Aviation School. | | | | R-670 radial engine and, at a maximum gross weight |
| Indeed, the initial Wright hangar had multiplied into | | | | of 2,717 pounds, could achieve 124-mph speeds. More |
| seven, along with a headquarters building and a | | | | than 8,500 in 11 different versions had been produced |
| medical and a mess tent at this time. | | | | for the Army, the Navy, and several countries. |
| Aviation's foundation continued to be laid that year. | | | | One aircraft, registered N8NP and piloted by Gus |
| The first test of an aircraft bombsight, for instance, had | | | | McLeod, had become the first open-cockpit biplane to |
| occurred, while College Park had become both the | | | | have flown over the North Pole. Departing |
| origin of the first cross-country flight and the first | | | | Gaithersburg, Maryland, in April of 2000, it had |
| military cross country, a 42-mile sector to Frederick, | | | | penetrated zero-visibility and below-zero temperature |
| Maryland, in a Burgess-Wright airplane. The first | | | | conditions on its intended 13-day expedition, finally |
| member of Congress had been flown by the US | | | | circling the pole on April 17, but mechanical difficulties |
| Army and the first aerial photographs had been taken | | | | had forced it to land. The pilot, returning the following |
| of the airfield at 600-, 1,500-, and 2,000-foot altitudes. | | | | month with the needed replacement battery, had |
| The Bleriot XI, a single-engine, fabric-covered | | | | discovered that the ice floe on which it had been |
| monoplane designed and built in France and named | | | | located had drifted some 80 miles toward Norway. |
| after designer Louis Bleriot, had joined the Curtiss and | | | | After repairs, the Stearman had flown as far as |
| Wright aircraft at College Park's National Aeroplane | | | | Nunavut in Canada before weather impeded further |
| Company in 1911. Powered by a 70-hp Gnome rotary | | | | continuation. |
| engine, the 661-pound, pilot-only design, with a 25.7-foot | | | | The Ercoupe 415D, designed by the Engineering and |
| "twistable" wingspan, had been the first heavier-than-air | | | | Research Corporation (ERCO) which Henry Berliner |
| airplane to cross the English Channel from Calais to | | | | himself had founded in 1932, had been a low-wing |
| Dover more than a century previously on July 25, 1909 | | | | monoplane employing a tricycle undercarriage and twin |
| and had served as the basic configuration upon which | | | | vertical fins which had been tested at College Park. |
| all current-day aircraft had been based. Its (then) novel, | | | | Powered by an 85-hp Continental A-85 engine, the |
| single-wing arrangement, however, had been the | | | | two-place, 1,400-pound general aviation aircraft, with a |
| reason for the Army's rejection of the type over the | | | | 30-foot wingspan, could attain 117-mph speeds and had |
| standard biplane configuration after pilots from New | | | | uniquely offered a coordinated control system by |
| York's Moisant School had demonstrated it to them in | | | | linking the ailerons and rudders by means of the control |
| Maryland at College Park. Nevertheless, the National | | | | column. Devoid of rudder pedals, it had facilitated pilot |
| Aeroplane Company became the type's authorized | | | | training, and had been considered slip-, stall-, and |
| agent for sales in the Washington area. | | | | spin-proof. |
| Aviation "firsts" continued to be notched up in 1912. A | | | | In 1973, the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning |
| "Military Aviator" pilot rating, for example, had been | | | | Commission purchased College Park Airport and four |
| introduced; the first aircraft-installed machine gun had | | | | years later it had been added to the National Register |
| been tested; Lieutenant Hap Arnold had made the first | | | | of Historic Places. |
| mile-high flight; and, sadly, the first death of a military | | | | Today, "the world's oldest continuously-operating |
| enlisted man, Corporal Frank S. Scott of the US Army, | | | | airport," occupying 40 acres, is a non-towered, general |
| had occurred. | | | | aviation facility with 80 based aircraft and a single, |
| Civil aviation had increasingly usurped its military | | | | lighted, 2,600-foot runway (15/33). The original airmail |
| counterpart until it had altogether replaced it in 1913 | | | | hangar and compass rose of 1919 are located at the |
| when the Army had relocated to North Island in San | | | | end of the field below the railroad tracks, while the |
| Diego as a result of its lease expiration in June. The | | | | 27,000-square-foot College Park Aviation Museum, a |
| Rex Smith Aeroplane Company, which had already | | | | glass-and-brick, curved roof building inspired by early |
| established its presence there, had designed its own | | | | Wright Brothers designs and an affiliate of the |
| aircraft, and the National Aviation Company had | | | | Smithsonian Institution, is located on the side and |
| repaired and provided flight instruction in Bleriot, Curtiss, | | | | showcases many historic, airport-related aircraft. |
| and Wright designs. The Washington Aeroplane | | | | Countless, modern-day turboprop and pure-jet airliners |
| Company had built the Columbia Mono- and Bi-Planes | | | | regularly ply the corridor to and from Maryland's |
| during this time. | | | | Baltimore-Washington International Airport, perhaps |
| College Park Airport entered a new chapter in 1918 | | | | oblivious to the tiny parcel of land called "College Park |
| when the US Post Office had selected it as the | | | | Airport" below them. But at least a nod of recognition |
| location of its first airmail service after a three-month | | | | and appreciation should occasionally be extended. This, |
| trial from Potomac Park in Washington to Philadelphia | | | | after all, is where it all began. |