At College Park Airport, notable aviation milestones included early aeronautical experiments by Rex Smith and others in 1907; on Oct. 8, 1908, Wilbur Wright instructed the first flying officers of the Signal Corps, U.S. Army; on Oct. 29, 1909, Mrs. Ralph H. Van Demon became the first woman passenger in America; on July 3, 1911, the first army flying school was established; in 1912, Lt. John P. Kelly became the first flight surgeon, the first group cross country flight originated there, the first long distance flight of 42 miles went to Chevy Chase, MD., the first bombs were dropped from an aircraft utilizing a bombsight, the first machine guns were fired from an aircraft, early experimentation sent radio signals from an aircraft, and Lt. “Hap” Arnold set altitude records of 6450 feet; on Aug. 12, 1918, it became the Washington terminus of the first regular airmail service; in 1920 Emile Berliner conducted early helicopter experiments; in 1922 Henry Berliner made the first successful flight of a helicopter; and in 1933 James Kinney and Harry Diamond made the first “blind flying” cross country flight.
