World War I's Ellington Field-- Part 2: Training the Pilots

In December 1917, the first  planes from Ellington Field took off and flew over Houston for a Red Cross benefit.  It was quite a sight and many people turned out for it.

During the war, the field served as an advanced training base.  By 1918, it had its own gunnery and bombing range.

For the first months of operations, Ellington Field had no pilot fatalities, but within a year that changed drastically.  By August 1918, it had the most pilot fatalities of any training base.  It also had many firsts, including:

First camp newspaper
First American aerial gunnery and bombing range
First "canteen girls"
First aerial  ambulance in American history

Before the end of the war, around 5,000 men and 250 aircraft had been assigned to the base

After the war, it was inactivated in 1920 with only a small caretaker unit remaining.  It was reopened in World War II.

--Cooter

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

In the Army Aviation Now in 1919

From the January 2, 2019, MidWeek  (DeKalb County, Illinois)  "Looking Back."

1919, 100 Years Ago.

"Ralph R. Roberts of Waterman, one of the U.S. army birds,  had a holiday furlough of ten days.  The time was divided between Sycamore and Waterman relatives.

"It was in the early summer that Ralph was inducted into the aviation service, training at first at Rantoul, but now at Ellington field, Houston, Tex.  His progress has been rapid and he takes to wings fine, making air trips most every day, is enthusiastic over the work, and only regrets that he was not over there."

--Cooter