McCook Field, 1917-1927
By MAURER MAURER*
IT IS FITTING that Dayton, the birthplace of aviation, should be
the site of one of the great air fields
of the United States Air Force.
And it is appropriate that the field,
which for many years has played
a major role in the development of
aircraft and equipment for the
air force, should bear the name of
Wright. The history of that
air force activity in the Dayton area,
however, goes back to a
field that was not named for the Wright
brothers but for the
"Fighting McCooks" of Civil
War fame.1
McCook Field was established in 1917 to
meet a particular need
that developed after the United States
entered World War I. Ten
years earlier the army had set up an
aeronautical division in the
signal corps, and in 1909 it had
acquired its first plane, from the
Wright brothers. But military aviation
had made little progress in
America. In April 1917 the army had a
few planes, none of which
was suitable for combat. At the same
time, America's aircraft
industry was in its infancy and was not
prepared to produce large
numbers of planes. Nevertheless, by
June the United States Govern-
ment had developed a program which
called for the production by
July 1, 1918, of more than twenty-two
thousand airplanes--ten
thousand for training and twelve
thousand for combat.
It soon became evident that the United
States alone could not
carry out such an ambitious program.
The government decided,
therefore, to build training planes in
the United States and purchase
*Maurer Maurer, of the Air University,
Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, is
administrative assistant to the chief
historian of the United States Air Force. He was
formerly a historian for the Air
Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force
Base, Dayton, Ohio.
1 The present Wright-Patterson Air Force
Base, the logistic center for the air
force, was formed by combining Wright
and Patterson fields. The latter, originally
Wilbur Wright Field, at Fairfield, Ohio,
has a history, as a government installation,
that goes back to May 1917. The history
of the air force's materiel activities in the
Dayton area, however, does not trace
back to Wilbur Wright Field, but to Wright
Field, and thence back to McCook Field.
22
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
combat planes abroad. But the problem
was more than just one of
production, for planes and equipment
had to be designed and
tested before they could be put into
production in America. Con-
sequently, one of the first tasks was
to develop an adequate engi-
neering organization. That is where the
story of McCook Field starts.
At the beginning of the war the army
had a few engineers work-
ing on the aviation program, and it
expanded the organization
by drawing men from industry. In August
1917 these men became
part of an equipment division that was
established in the signal
corps to design and produce
aeronautical materiel. The chief of
the division was Edward A. Deeds, a
Dayton industrialist who had
been given a commission in the army.2
When Colonel Deeds became the head of
the equipment division,
the engineering work was being
conducted at several locations in
Washington and in such places as
Detroit, Chicago, and Buffalo.
The work needed to be centralized at
some place that provided
shops, laboratories, hangars, a flying
field, offices, and other appro-
priate facilities.3 In
Virginia the government was building such a
plant to be used for research by the
army, the navy, and the national
advisory committee for aeronautics. But
that station, which became
Langley Field, would not be ready for
operation for a considerable
time.4
By September 1917 little progress had
been made on the aviation
program. The situation was becoming critical.
The aircraft pro-
duction board, of which Deeds was a
member, found that "lack
of central engineering and experimental
facilities" was delaying
production. The engineers of the
equipment division, requesting
that "immediate steps be taken to
provide proper facilities," had
suggested to the aircraft production
board that Dayton would be
a desirable location because it was in
the center of the industrial
2 R. M. McFarland and others,
"History of the Bureau of Aircraft Production"
([ca. 1919]; reproduced from a copy of the original history,
with minor editorial
corrections, by the Historical Office,
Air Materiel Command, 1951), 23, 356. This
document and all the other unpublished
sources cited in this paper are located either
in the United States Air Force
Historical Archives at the Air University or in the
Historical Archives of the Air Materiel
Command.
3 Aircraft Production Board, Resolution,
September 25, 1917, in McFarland,
"History," 356.
4 USAF Historical Division, "Brief
History of Langley Air Force Base, 1917-
1956" (1957).
McCOOK FIELD, 1917-1927 23
region that could produce aeronautical
materiel for the army. The
engineers believed that South (or
Moraine) Field, which the Day-
ton-Wright Airplane Company was using
for experimental work
at Dayton, was suitable and could be
obtained by the army. On
September 25, 1917, the aircraft
production board recommended to
the chief signal officer that
"temporary facilities be provided to meet
emergency needs."5
After that, events moved rapidly. Deeds,
who owned most of the
property the engineers had mentioned,
made plans to convey the
land to Charles F. Kettering, who was
to lease it to the government.6
Then Deeds sent three officers to
Dayton, where, on September 28,
they talked to Kettering and to H. E.
Talbott, Sr., both of whom
were associated with the Dayton-Wright
Company. Since the com-
pany had a government contract for
experimental work, Kettering
and Talbott did not see how they could
give up South Field. They
suggested another site, North Field,
which the officers inspected
and found suitable. Deeds immediately
approved the change, and
the army allocated funds for the
improvement of North Field.7
Again there was the complicating factor
of title to the land, for
North Field was owned by Deeds and
Kettering, who at one time
had planned to use the site as a
training field for civilian pilots.
They had made some improvements, such
as leveling the land,
cutting down trees, and erecting a few
small buildings, but they
had never carried out their project.
Deeds conveyed his interest
to Kettering, who in turn conveyed the
property to the Dayton
Metal Products Company. That company
had been founded by
Deeds, Kettering, and the Talbotts in
1915, but Deeds had with-
drawn after he had gone to work for the
government.8
In Washington, Deeds worked out an
arrangement whereby
Dayton Metal Products was to lease two
hundred acres of land to
the government for $12,800 per year,
with an option so the govern-
ment could renew the lease from year to
year until June 30, 1921.
On October 3, Deeds informed Talbott
that this was "the best
5 Aircraft Production Board, Resolution,
September 25, 1917.
6 Deeds to H. E. Talbott, Sr., September
27, 1917, quoted in Charles E. Hughes,
Report of Investigation of the Aircraft
Industry, October 25, 1918 (published in
The Official U. S. Bulletin, November 6, 1918).
7 McFarland, "History," 357.
8 Hughes, Report.
24
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
thing that could be done under the
circumstances" and suggested
that the arrangement be accepted. The
lease, containing the terms
mentioned above, was dated October 4,
1917.9
In the meantime, on October 1, the
aircraft production board
had adopted a resolution naming the
temporary field at Dayton.
Since the property had for many years
been in the possession of
members of the McCook family that had
distinguished itself during
the Civil War, the board decided to
call the station "McCook
Field."10
On October 2, before the lease had been
signed, the government
gave the Dayton Lumber and
Manufacturing Company a contract
for constructing the station.11 Work
started on October 10 and for
some time continued day and night,
seven days a week. The land was
graded, rolled, and sodded. A runway
100 feet wide and 1,340 feet
long was macadamized. Among the first
structures erected were an
engineering and shop building, a
hangar, engine test stands, a
heating plant, a garage, barracks, and
a mess hall.12
Shortly after the contractor started
work, the engineering organi-
zation, which eventually became known
as the engineering divi-
sion, moved to Dayton and set up
headquarters in the Lindsey
Building.13 By December 5
construction at McCook had progressed
far enough for the division to move to
the new station.14 Some
additional land was leased, and
building continued in 1918. By the
end of the war the government had more
than $2,352,000 invested
in the field, its buildings, machinery,
and equipment. At that time
the engineering division had 58
officers, 267 enlisted men, and
1,915 civilians at Dayton.15
9 Deeds to Talbott, October 3, 1917,
quoted in Hughes, Report.
10 McFarland, "History," 359.
11 Hughes, Report.
12 McFarland, "History,"
359-360.
13 The organization established at
Dayton in October 1917 was called the airplane
engineering department. The following
year it was combined with the production
engineering department to form the
airplane engineering division. After the war it
became the engineering division, air service.
14 1st Lt. Reed L. Parker, Record of
Military Administration, Airplane Engineering
Division, December 16, 1918.
15 McFarland, "History," 360;
Martin P. Clausen, "Materiel Research and Develop-
ment in the Army Air Arm,
1914-1945," Army Air Forces Historical Studies No. 50
(AAF Historical Office, 1946), 16. The
people associated with experimental engineer-
ing were at McCook; those concerned with
production engineering were in Dayton
in the Air Service Building, where there
also was a "business and military" section.
McCOOK FIELD, 1917-1927 25
Much of the activity at McCook Field
during the war was con-
nected with redesigning British planes
for production in America.
In March 1918, for example, the men at
McCook began redesigning
the DH-9, and in June they started to
redesign the Bristol Fighter.
The magnitude of such tasks may be seen
from the fact that,
exclusive of engines and standardized
items such as machine guns
and instruments, approximately three
thousand drawings were re-
quired for the DH-9. The engineering
division also designed a
two-seater fighter plane with five
guns, and redesigned a Vought
training plane for production. It built
several experimental planes
in its shops at McCook. For testing
aircraft structures, the division
developed a "sand-loading"
method in which sand bags were piled
on a wing, or some other member, until
the weight caused the
structure to collapse. Using a wind
tunnel, the engineers tested
airplane models and conducted
experiments to determine the forces
acting on a tail surface or to
determine the advantages that would
result from different combinations of
wing structures on biplanes.
There was laboratory research to find
the best material, or com-
bination of materials, for propellers.
The flight test section of the
division tested the performance of
planes, engines, propellers,
carburetors, ignition systems,
instruments, and other materiel in
flight.16
The engineering division also
contracted for much engineering
work during the war. Numerous planes,
including a Lepere two-
seater fighter, Loening monoplane,
Martin bomber, and Vought
training plane were developed in this
manner. Contractors also
worked on engines, carburetors,
propellers, radiators, and many
other items.17 Thus, in one
way or another, the engineering division
was concerned with every type of
aeronautical item used by the army.
Although McCook Field had been
established as a temporary
facility to meet a wartime need, the
engineering division remained
there until 1927. With production for
the government sharply cur-
tailed after the war, the aircraft
industry wanted the army to
transfer some of the engineering
division's work to private enter-
prise. Industrialists became disturbed
when they thought the army
16 McFarland, "History," 313-335.
17 Ibid., 335-341.
26
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
air service was planning to build up a
large organization of
government employees at McCook Field.
That "brain trust," accord-
ing to reports, would do all the work
connected with designing
airplanes and aeronautical equipment;
private manufacturing plants
would produce materiel to army
specifications. Industry opposed
such a plan, not just because it wanted
contracts for experimental
work, but because it believed that the
army would claim all the
credit when things went well and would
blame the manufacturers
for all the mistakes.l8
If the air service did want to set up a
"brain trust" at McCook,
it did not have much chance of carrying
out such a plan with the
limited funds available in the post-war
period. Furthermore, many
young engineers may have preferred
taking a chance with private
industry to accepting government
positions that might provide
greater security but offered limited
opportunities for advancement.l9
Actually, the engineering organization
was somewhat smaller in the
post-war period than it had been during
the war. From 1920 to
1926 it usually had about 50 officers
and from 1,100 to 1,500
civilians.20
In the post-war years the air service
was concerned about the
state of the aircraft industry in
America. In order that the nation
might be prepared for future
emergencies, the air service seems to
have done everything possible to
encourage the growth of an
industrial structure capable of
manufacturing aeronautical materiel.
In 1919, for example, the head of the
engineering division, Colonel
T. H. Bane, recommended that the army
order fifty Martin bombers.
The air service needed the planes. But
there was another important
reason for buying the bombers. The
order for fifty military planes,
Bane said, would cover the cost of
tooling the factory and thus
would contribute toward the
"healthy development of commercial
aviation." The colonel believed
that the air service would gain a
18 Eugene E. Wilson, Slipstream: The
Autobiography of an Air Craftsman (New
York, 1950), 23, 34; Edward O. Purtee, "History of
the Army Air Service, 1907-
1926" (Historical Office, Air
Materiel Command, 1948), 117-118, citing Aviation,
November 15, 1919, p. 339.
19 Wilson, Slipstream, 23.
20 Engineering Division, Annual Reports
to the Chief of Air Service, for the years
1920-27, passim.
McCOOK FIELD, 1917-1927 27
"tremendous advantage" if it
encouraged industry by means of
such purchases.21
As another means of stimulating the
aircraft industry, the engi-
neering division tried to interest
private enterprise in developing
new and better planes and equipment for
the air service. The official
policy adopted by the air service in
the 1920's was to have com-
mercial firms design and build planes
and equipment under the
supervision of the engineering
division. The people at McCook
Field looked upon their division as a
"liaison agency or connecting
link between the aeronautical industry,
which develops the equip-
ment, and the Air Service personnel,
who use it."22 Industry, how-
ever, thought that the engineering
division sometimes attempted to
do work that should have been turned
over to private enterprise. But
the division always maintained that the
charge was false. As one of
the section chiefs at McCook said,
"Only in cases where we were
utterly unable to find anyone in
industry interested or competent
to undertake the work has development
been carried out exclusively
by this Section."23
The engineering division also assisted
the aviation industry by
making technical information available to
private enterprise. Many
of the results derived from the
division's research, experimentation,
and testing were as applicable to the
development of planes and
equipment for commercial aviation as
they were for the develop-
ment of materiel for military use. In
addition to its own research,
the engineering division collected
information about progress
other nations were making in the field
of aeronautical engineering.
This technical data, obtained from
research at McCook and from
foreign sources, was published in
bulletins and supplied to private
industry for use in developing and
producing both military and
commercial aircraft.24
The engineering division devoted a
considerable amount of effort
to designing and testing experimental
planes. As a result, it was
criticized by pilots of the air service
and by officers responsible
21 Bane to Maj. Gen. Wm.
J. Kenly, February 7, 1919.
22 Engineering Division, Staff Study on
McCook Field (ca. 1923).
23 E. T. Jones, Data on Power Plant
Development, January 13, 1925.
24 McFarland, "History,"
342-345; Engineering Division, Annual Report, 1924.
28 THE OHIO HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
for the training and operations of
aviation squadrons. Those men
wanted better equipment, and they
wanted it as soon as possible.
Consequently, they became impatient
when, as they thought, pro-
duction was delayed by prolonged
experimentation and testing.
And they could see no reason why the
engineers should do any
work not related directly to the
production of some specific item.25
The engineering division, however,
stressed the need for "research
of a fundamental character." The
results of this research, the divi-
sion said, "are ofttimes so
indefinite that the aircraft industry can-
not carry out such work due to
prohibitive costs." Therefore, in
order to keep "the United States
ahead in aeronautical develop-
ment," the division had to conduct
as much fundamental research
as possible.26
Although the engineering division did
spend time on experimental
work, much of its activity was directed
toward the development of
items to meet specific military
requirements. The air service needed
a "gliding target" for
gunnery practice: the engineering division
began work on one. The antenna used on
pursuit planes was unsatis-
factory: the division designed a new
one. Airplanes needed brakes
on their landing wheels; air fields
needed lights to mark boundaries
and obstructions; pilots needed
"an instrument for recording, auto-
matically, the direction, distance and
altitude of a flight"; aviators
needed better goggles--the engineers
went to work to develop new
items or improve those in use. Among
the many items that the
engineering division was concerned with
during the period 1919-26
were engines, superchargers,
propellers, leak-proof fuel tanks,
bomb racks, aerial torpedoes, gun
cameras and other photographic
equipment, radios, meteorological
instruments, parachutes, flying
suits and gloves, and barrage balloons.27
Despite the diversity of projects, the
activity at McCook naturally
centered around the airplane. The
engineers tried to make planes
safer and to give them more speed,
greater range, faster climb,
higher ceiling, more defensive weapons,
and greater striking power.
25 Clausen, "Materiel Research and
Development," 21-22, 186.
26 Engineering Division, Annual
Report, 1924.
27 Engineering Division, Report of
Action Taken on Recommendations Made by
General Mitchell, December, 1925.
McCOOK FIELD, 1917-1927 29
In 1919 major projects included work on
three new pursuit planes
and a new observation plane. The most
important project the follow-
ing year was perhaps the development of
an armored triplane,
armed with eight machine guns and a
37-mm. cannon, for ground
attack. In 1923 the division designed
and tested the first all-metal
plane. So the projects went, the list
for 1925, for example, including
three new fighters, two observation
planes, and a bomber.
In many instances the division itself
built experimental planes for
testing. All through the period
1919-27, however, it obtained and
tested planes and other equipment
designed by private individuals
or by aircraft manufacturers. The trend
during this period was
toward greater reliance on outside
sources for design, development,
and construction of experimental and
test items.28
Bombing planes received special
attention in the 1920's, when
Brigadier General William Mitchell and
other officers of the air
service were conducting a campaign to
obtain recognition of aerial
bombardment as a basic instrument of
warfare. During those years
the Martin Bomber was the standard
bombing plane of the army.
It had a span of 70 feet and 5 inches;
it was 46 feet long, and 15
feet and 7 inches high. Its two
twelve-cylinder Liberty motors gave
the plane a top speed of 118.5 miles
per hour with a full bomb
load of 1,500 pounds, and they developed
enough power for a
climb to 10,000 feet in fifteen
minutes. The plane had a service
ceiling of 16,000 to 17,000 feet and
carried enough gasoline for
six hours. The engineering division
worked with the Glenn L.
Martin Company to improve the bomber
and to adapt it for various
uses. Fitted with three machine guns
and loaded with 1,000 rounds
of ammunition and 1,500 pounds of
bombs, it served as a night
bomber. The bomb load was reduced to
1,000 pounds and two
machine guns were added to convert it
into a day bomber. By
omitting the bombs and adding two
cameras, the craft could be
turned into a photo plane. And the
plane was modified to make a
transport.29
The development of the Martin Bomber as
a transport is an
28 Engineering
Division, Annual Reports, 1920-27.
29 Frank
Cunningham, Sky Master: The Story of Donald Douglas (Philadelphia,
1943), 88-95.
30 THE OHIO HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
interesting example of the way the
engineering division was attempt-
ing to anticipate the needs of the air
service. Bane probably did
not foresee great airborne operations
such as those that took place
during World War II, but shortly after
World War I he thought
that someday there might be a need
"to transport troops by air-
plane." He could "remember
numerous occasions" during Pershing's
Mexican expedition when, "if ten
men armed with say two machine
guns could have been dispatched rapidly
to some portion of the
Mexican Border, a great amount of good
could have been accom-
plished." Bane suggested that the
air service have the Glenn L.
Martin Company build one of its bombers
"with seating accommo-
dations for ten soldiers."
Eventually the Martin Bomber was re-
designed as a transport that could
carry its two-man crew (pilot and
mechanic) and twelve passengers for 600
miles at a speed of 110
or 115 miles per hour.30
The Martin Bomber was a good machine in
its day, but Billy
Mitchell, the assistant chief of air
service, was seeking something
better. He wanted a big plane that had
long range and could
carry a heavy load of bombs. To meet
Mitchell's requirements, the
air service bought a bomber designed by
an Englishman by the
name of Barling. The Barling Bomber, a
triplane, was built in
New Jersey at a cost of nearly $500,000
to the air service. It had
a span of 120 feet and a length of 65
feet. Its six Liberty motors
(four tractors and two pushers) each
developed 420 horsepower.
Its weight empty was 27,312 pounds, and
its gross weight was
calculated at 42,569 pounds. In other
words, it was the largest plane
that had been built in America up to
that time, and it was so big
and heavy that it could not operate
from the flying field at McCook.
The engineering division had it
shipped, in sections, by rail to
Fairfield, Ohio, where the air service
had a flying field that the
division used for some of its work.
After having been assembled at
Fairfield, the Barling Bomber
was flown for the first time on August
22, 1923, by Lieutenant H.
R. Harris. The plane had a top speed of
95 miles per hour. Theoreti-
cally it could carry a bomb load of
10,000 pounds. But when
30 Bane to Kenly, February 7, 1919;
Cunningham, Sky Master, 95.
McCOOK FIELD, 1917-1927 31
loaded with gasoline for a flight from
Dayton to Washington, the
craft could not gain enough altitude to
cross the Appalachian
Mountains. Although the Barling Bomber,
like some other items
developed or sponsored by the
engineering division, was not a
success, it was studied carefully and
the findings were incorporated
in designs for other planes.31
Much technical data was obtained by
experiments and tests
conducted in the laboratories at McCook.
The engineering division
made important improvements in
propellers, and its propeller lab-
oratory and testing equipment, the
finest in the country, were used
by the navy and industry, as well as by
the air service. Airplane
models were tested in the wind tunnel,
and the engineers at McCook
were proud of the new tunnel they
obtained in 1922. It was 96 feet
long and 5 feet in diameter. In it,
models with spans up to 20 inches
could be tested at a maximum wind speed
of 275 miles per hour.
But by 1927 the division was attempting
to obtain an even larger
tunnel.32
Other important data was obtained in
the air, and the engineering
division always had a number of planes
of various types for experi-
ments. In March 1924, for example,
Lieutenant James H. Doolittle
risked his life in putting a pursuit
ship through loops, rolls, spirals,
tail spins, power dives, and other
maneuvers in order to determine
what stresses would be imposed on the
wings of a plane under
extreme conditions of combat.33
McCook Field frequently appeared in the
news as pilots set
aviation records at Dayton. On
September 24, 1919, Major R. W.
Schroeder, carrying a passenger, set an
altitude record of 30,900 feet.
The following February Schroeder set
another record by taking
an open-cockpit Lepere up to 33,113
feet. At that height, where the
temperature was 67 degrees below zero,
the major's oxygen supply
gave out. He lifted his frosted goggles
to check the supply, and
lost consciousness. Before he revived,
his plane had plunged to
31 H.
H. Arnold, Global Mission (New York, 1949), 110; James C. Fahey,
U. S. Army Aircraft
(Heavier-than-Air), 1908-1946 (New
York, 1946), 17.
32 Engineering
Division, Annual Report, 1923; Engineering Division, "A Little
Journey to the Home of the Engineering Division" (ca.
1926).
33 Carl
Mann, Lightning in the Sky: The Story of Jimmy Doolittle (New York,
1943), 88-89; Quentin Reynolds, The
Amazing Mr. Doolittle: A Biography of Lieu-
tenant General James H. Doolittle (New York, 1953), 66-69.
32
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
within a few thousand feet of the
ground. Although almost blind,
he miraculously made a safe landing.
But Schroeder's record did
not stand for long. On September 28,
1921, Lieutenant John A.
Macready went up 1,396.5 feet higher.
And in 1926 Macready
established a record of 38,704 feet.
Other flights at McCook resulted in new
speed and endurance
records. In 1922 Macready and
Lieutenant O. G. Kelly, flying a
closed course over Dayton, stayed in the
air for more than 36 hours,
as recorded by Orville Wright, the
official timekeeper for the flight.
The next year the two lieutenants made
the first non-stop transcon-
tinental flight from New York to San
Diego, in 26 hours and 50
minutes. The same year, 1923,
Lieutenant R. L. Maughan flew a
Curtiss-465 at 236.587 miles per hour
to set a speed record.
Other examples of significant flights
could be mentioned. In
1924, for instance, Lieutenant E. H.
Barksdale and a navigator
flew on instruments all the way from
McCook to Mitchel Field,
New York, a distance of 575 miles.34
Flights such as this, and the
ones mentioned above, were more than
publicity stunts. They served
to test planes and equipment. They
produced information that was
used in developing new airframes,
engines, accessories, and equip-
ment.
One other important activity at McCook
Field should be men-
tioned. Associated with the engineering
division was the air service
engineering school, where groups of
carefully chosen officers spent
nine months studying airplane design,
overhaul and maintenance
of engines, and other technical matters
relating to the development,
use, and servicing of aeronautical
materiel.35
To accommodate all this activity, some
new buildings were erected
and much new equipment was installed at
McCook after World War
I. By October 1923 the air service had
$4,464,000 invested in the
flying field, buildings, roads, power
lines, the sewage system, machin-
ery, tools, transportation equipment,
office furniture, and other
"permanent" facilities and
equipment at McCook. In addition, for
34 Engineering Division, Annual Reports,
1920-27; Materiel Division, "History of
the Air Corps Materiel Division" (ca.
1939); USAF Historical Division, "Chronology
of American Aviation, 1903-1953,"
Air Force Pamphlet 210-1-1.
35 Engineering Division, "A Little
Journey."
McCOOK FIELD, 1917-1927 33
its experimental work the engineering
division possessed airplanes,
engines, and other equipment valued at
more than $5,000,000. By
adding some other items, such as
supplies, technical records, and
the museum the division had started in
1922 to exhibit its work
and to demonstrate the progress being
made in military aviation,
the total value of McCook was more than
$13,761,000.36
The engineering division, however, was
not satisfied with its
facilities at Dayton. It thought that
the rent, which was $60,000 a
year after 1924, was too high. There
was no rail line to the field;
consequently, supplies and equipment
(284 carloads in 1923) had
to be hauled from the station, two
miles away. Since most of the
buildings were temporary structures,
they constituted a fire hazard
and their maintenance was costly. The
facilities had not been laid
out in a carefully planned pattern, and
new structures had en-
croached on the flying field. The
flying field was too small to
accommodate the larger planes that were
being developed. Since
the field was so close to Dayton,
planes taking off and landing at
McCook had to fly over the city; thus
the division's experimental
and test flights were dangerous to the
public.37
McCook had been created as a temporary
station, and the army
had planned to move the engineering
division after the war. The
logical location for the organization
was Langley Field, which, as
noted above, had been established to
provide research facilities for
joint use by the army, the navy, and
the national advisory com-
mittee for aeronautics. During the war
the NACA had established
laboratories at Langley, and the army
had used the field for some
aeronautical research. The navy,
however, had never used Langley.
After the war the air service
apparently wanted independent re-
search facilities. At any rate, it
decided to leave the engineering
division at McCook until a more
suitable location could be ob-
tained.38
The air service tried several times to
obtain funds for a new
engineering station, but congress did
not provide the money.
Nevertheless, by 1924 it was evident
that, sooner or later, the
36 Engineering Division, Valuation of Assets, October 31, 1923.
37 Engineering Division, Staff Study on
McCook Field.
38 Purtee, "History of the Army Air
Service," 115-116.
34
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
engineering division would have to have
better facilities. The people
of Dayton, however, did not want to
lose the air service engineering
organization. They raised money,
purchased land east of the city,
and gave the tract to the government
for a new base. Construction
started in 1926, and on October 12,
1927, the new field was dedi-
cated in honor of the Wright
brothers.39 With the opening of
Wright Field, the history of McCook
came to an end.
The achievements of the engineering
division had been significant.
The division had played an important
part in the Great War. It
had worked out a system whereby
government and industry cooper-
ated to develop and produce
aeronautical materiel for military
purposes. It had helped lay the
foundation for the aircraft industry
and had aided in the development of
civil aviation in the United
States. And it had contributed greatly
toward making military
aviation a more effective instrument of
national policy.
At Wright Field, the engineers became
part of a vast logistic
organization that, from 1927 to the
present, has been responsible
for designing, purchasing, storing,
distributing, and repairing the
materiel used by the air force. It was
at Wright Field that govern-
ment engineers, working with industry,
developed the P-51, the
B-17, the B-29, and the other planes
the air force used in World
War II. Later, they were working on the
B-36, on jet aircraft, and
on guided missiles. Today, behind the
fence that parallels Route 4
between Dayton and Fairborn, the
engineers at the air base are
concerned with planes that fly several
times faster than the speed
of sound, and with bombers that are
propelled by nuclear reactors.
Thus, developing weapons for tomorrow,
they continue the work
of the men who moved into McCook Field
in 1917.
39 Materiel Division, "History of
the Air Corps Materiel Division."
McCook Field, 1917-1927
By MAURER MAURER*
IT IS FITTING that Dayton, the birthplace of aviation, should be
the site of one of the great air fields
of the United States Air Force.
And it is appropriate that the field,
which for many years has played
a major role in the development of
aircraft and equipment for the
air force, should bear the name of
Wright. The history of that
air force activity in the Dayton area,
however, goes back to a
field that was not named for the Wright
brothers but for the
"Fighting McCooks" of Civil
War fame.1
McCook Field was established in 1917 to
meet a particular need
that developed after the United States
entered World War I. Ten
years earlier the army had set up an
aeronautical division in the
signal corps, and in 1909 it had
acquired its first plane, from the
Wright brothers. But military aviation
had made little progress in
America. In April 1917 the army had a
few planes, none of which
was suitable for combat. At the same
time, America's aircraft
industry was in its infancy and was not
prepared to produce large
numbers of planes. Nevertheless, by
June the United States Govern-
ment had developed a program which
called for the production by
July 1, 1918, of more than twenty-two
thousand airplanes--ten
thousand for training and twelve
thousand for combat.
It soon became evident that the United
States alone could not
carry out such an ambitious program.
The government decided,
therefore, to build training planes in
the United States and purchase
*Maurer Maurer, of the Air University,
Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, is
administrative assistant to the chief
historian of the United States Air Force. He was
formerly a historian for the Air
Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force
Base, Dayton, Ohio.
1 The present Wright-Patterson Air Force
Base, the logistic center for the air
force, was formed by combining Wright
and Patterson fields. The latter, originally
Wilbur Wright Field, at Fairfield, Ohio,
has a history, as a government installation,
that goes back to May 1917. The history
of the air force's materiel activities in the
Dayton area, however, does not trace
back to Wilbur Wright Field, but to Wright
Field, and thence back to McCook Field.