When the first Army Aviation unit, the 1st Aero Squadron, arrived at Fort Sill on July 29, 1915, there wasn’t an airfield. In fact, nothing was prepared for their arrival.
The group of 15 officers, 85 enlisted men, and eight Curtiss JN-2 biplanes, known as Jennys had been transferred to the Southwest Oklahoma army base to take part in fire control operations with the Field Artillery. They spent the next three weeks gathering up supplies and building their own camp.
Under command of Capt. Benjamin “Benny” Foulois, the flying squadron pitched tents for housing and hangar tents to provide some protection for the airplanes. With supplies Capt. Foulois was able to procure from the quartermaster, the men also built a temporary kitchen, a garage, a temporary water pipeline and storehouses. Lack of an airfield didn’t stop the pilots from flying. After unpacking and assembling the fabric covered bi-planes from crates which had arrived on 27 railcars from Fort Omaha, Neb., the airmen pushed the Jennys downhill to the Polo Field and on Aug. 10, 1915, they were in the air.
The U.S. Department of War was interested in using fixed-wing planes for reconnaissance missions. Unfortunately, the first fatality occurred only two days after the squadron was able to get in the air. According to a United Press report, the accident happened about one fourth of a mile south of the fort on the military reservation.
“The machine rose to a height of about 200 feet and then, beating against the wind, became unmanageable, making a swift descent to the ground,” the United Press article reported. The pilot, Lt. Redondo B. Sutton, had made a successful flight the day before, rising to the height of 3,000 feet and remained in the air 20 minutes. The next day’s fatal accident, however, killed Captain George H. Knox, the first passenger to go up with the Army’s Aero Squadron. Capt. Knox was paymaster in the quartermaster department.
After another plane was lost in a crash about three weeks later, Capt. Foulois grounded the airplanes out of safety concerns. New equipment was ordered and operations resumed with the field artillery in October. Pilots and observers flew training missions over the nearby farmland and Wichita Mountains, using Brock aerial cameras. One accomplishment included creating the first aerial photo mosaic, compiled by aligning 42 vertical photos.
Two years after the 1st Aero Squadron located at Fort Sill, Capt. H.R. Eyrich surveyed a small plateau about a mile south of the main post and established Henry Post Army Airfield in August of 1917. Wooden hangars, offices, officer housing and a mess hall were built. More than 50 buildings were constructed to support airfield operations. The U.S. had entered World War I about four months prior, in April of that year. The airfield, encompassing over 700 acres, continued to be used to train aerial observers for the field artillery. As a result of the war, Fort Sill was selected as a primary pilot school.
The name of the airfield was chosen to honor 2nd Lt. Henry Burnet Post, 25th Infantry Regiment, an aviation pioneer of the 1st Aero Corps who died in a crash in San Diego, Calif., in February 1914. Lt. Post died after establishing an American altitude record of 12,120 feet, according to the recovered barograph. The right wing of his hydro-aeroplane had crumpled and Lt. Post fell 600 feet into shallow water. His death was the 14th aviation fatality to occur in the United States Army and Navy service.
Henry Post Army Airfield is credited with the creation of numerous aviation units. By 1922, it was considered the busiest airport in the United States.
Sources for this article include “Images of America: Fort Sill” by Mark K. Megehee, Chapter 4: Cradle of Army Aviation, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, S.C., ©2018; “Fort Sill and the Birth of US Combat Aviation” by Thomas A. Wilke, Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. 97, No. 1, Spring 2019; “Henry Post Army Airfield,” en.wikipedia.org; “Fort Sill, OK History,” fortsillhousing.com/history; “A Preliminary to War: The First Aero Squadron and the Mexican Punitive Expedition of 1916” by Roger G. Miller, Air Force History and Museums Program, Washington, D.C., ©2003; “Fall From Air At Ft. Sill Is Fatal to Army Officer” by United Press, printed in Chickasha Daily Express, August 12, 1915; “Fort Sill,” military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Fort_Sill; “Henry Post Army Airfield,” thisdayinaviation.com.