How America’s first military aviator was an Air Force visionary

When it comes to aviation, aircraft are only as good as the pilots behind them, and in the beginning, one man was instrumental in getting military aviation off the ground.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin D. Foulois was one of the first in the military to assume the mantle of aviator as manned flight was still in its infancy, and according to Bob Barlow, U.S. Army Aviation Museum volunteer and former aviator, his efforts helped shape what aviation is today.

Foulois first enlisted in the Army to serve in the Spanish-American War in 1898, but only served for five months before being mustered out, said Barlow. He re-enlisted in 1899 at just 18 years old and quickly ascended through the ranks to become a second lieutenant by 1901.

He was sent to the Army Signal School in 1908 where he wrote the thesis, "The Tactical and Strategically Value of Dirigible Balloons and Aerodynamical Flying Machines," showcasing his foresight that the future of warfare would be in aviation.

A quote from Foulois' thesis read, "In all future warfare, we can expect to see engagements in the air between hostile aerial fleets. The struggle for supremacy in the air will undoubtedly take place while the opposing armies are maneuvering for position."

"He said the military dirigible and the airplane would be responsible for gaining the upper hand in the skies before the battle took place — nobody ever really talked about that before him," Barlow said.

Foulois was selected as one of three Signal Corps officers to receive flying instruction to become one of the first military aviators, and on July 13, 1912, he became the fifth Army officer to be rated as a military aviator.

"He was one of the first three selected, but he was the first military aviator to stay the course," said Barlow. "He was taken up by the Wright brothers and sent to Fort Sam Houston to complete his training on his own.

"Around this time, as aviation started taking off more and more, there were a lot of ground commanders who thought it was a lot of nonsense," he said. "But there were visionaries like Foulois who knew that it was the next big thing."

Throughout his testing of aircraft in 1911, which included the Wright Military Flyer, he was instrumental and innovating and providing ideas, even inventing the first seat belt, said the museum curator.

"(Later in life) when asked what his inspiration was for creating the seat belt, he said he was getting tired of being thrown out of the aircraft and hitting his head," said Barlow.

Foulois also could see that the Wright Military Flyer was incredibly outdated and wouldn't be able to compete on the battlefield.

"The airplane at the time was a push propeller aircraft that was basically a box kite," said Barlow. "At the same time, the French were way ahead of us with a tractor aircraft and central seating for the aircraft, which looks more like the proper airplane that we know today."

After a series of crashes and accidents, Foulois, along with other officers in aviation. condemned the pusher propeller aircraft and began to lean toward the tractor aircraft. In 1913 he joined the 1st Aero Squadron, and by 1914 he was appointed as its commander.

In March of 1916, he reported for duty with Pershing's Punitive Expedition, and along with Capt. Townsend Dodd performed the first U.S. aerial reconnaissance mission over enemy-held territory in Mexico.

"This was their first foray into getting their feet wet with military combat aviation," said Barlow, adding that by the time World War I came along, Foulois was probably the most experienced officer in the military in regards to aviation.

Because of his experience, he was tasked with the procurement, production, and development and operations of aircraft.

Initially, the Army wanted several thousand aircraft, 4,800 pilots and twice as many mechanics, all within a year, but with the resources at the time it wasn't possible.

"That didn't' happen," said Barlow. "We weren't ready for that. Our output was barely 40 aircraft a month on a good month, so, we had to borrow from the British and the French."

Foulois later deployed to France doing the same job, and in 1917 he become chief of air services in the zone of occupation for the Army Expeditionary Force. It was during his time in WWI that eventually the U.S. produced its own aircraft, the JN-4 Jenny.

Following the war, he was later appointed as the chief of the Air Corps in 1931, and in 1934 then-President Theodore Roosevelt tasked Foulois to head the Army Air Corps Mail Operation, which ended in the Air Mail scandal of 1934 because the Air Corps was ill equipped to take on the mission, said Barlow.

"They flew about 1.4 million miles carrying the mail and they lost a lot of people doing it," he said. As a result, Foulois ended up taking the brunt of the blame for the program's failure and was forced into retirement in 1935 with 36 years of service.

Despite the scandal, Barlow said Foulois was instrumental in bringing military aviation to the forefront.

"This is a man who came in the military at 18 … and became one of the first three pilots in the U.S. military. He was there through the birth of all the doctrine, the changes and the clashes with the ground force," he said. "What we're doing now we owe to him. He was the first military aviator to stay the course, and he was Army aviator No. 1 as far as I'm concerned."

This article originally appeared on the United States Army. Follow @usarmy on Twitter.