Signal Corps Aviation School

On the Barnes farm, south and east of this site, one of the first military aviation training centers in the U.S. was established in 1911. After successful test flights of the second Wright airplane in 1909, the Wright brothers agreed to the establishment of an Army Aviation School at College Park, Md. Because the latitude of College Park was unsuitable for winter flying, the War Department chose Augusta for a winter school. The College Park School arrived in Augusta on November 29, 1911, and was welcomed by Mayor Thomas Barrett, Jr. In January, Wilbur Wright visited the school, which returned to Maryland in April 1912. The school reopened at the Barnes farm on November 19, 1912. Because of strained relations with Mexico, all men and equipment were moved to Texas on February 28, 1913, to become part of the Second Division. The two previous days in Augusta were spent preparing for what would have been the first military use of airplanes by the U.S. had military operations developed. The evacuation in 1913 marked the end of the Augusta school. Aviators trained there included Col. T.D. Milling, later Chief of Staff to Brig. Gen. William Billy Mitchell in World War I, and Gen. Harley Hap Arnold, later Commander of the U.S. Air Forces in World War II.

Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government (balance), Georgia · United States