Ellington Field, Texas, in World War I-- Part 1

In the last post, Ralph R. Roberts was home on leave from Ellington Field in Texas where he was training with the Army Air Corps for action in World War I.

From Wikipedia.

It still exists as Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base near Houston, Texas.  It is shared by active and reserve units as well as NASA which is nearby at Johnson Space Center.  It opened in 1917 and was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the U.S. entered World War I.

It is named for Lt.  Eric Ellington who was killed in a plane crash in San Diego, California, in 1913.

In 1917, the U.S. government bought 1,280 acres of land to establish an air base in Houston.  It was completed in a few months.  By the end of 1917 it was ready to receive its first squadron of planes, the 120th Aero Squadron which transferred from Kelly Field in San Antonio, along with its Curtiss JN4 Jenny biplanes.

--DaCoot