On this field, the U.S. Army Signal Corps opened America’s first official military flight school in 1911. Congress supported the fledgling aviation industry by approving funds for new heavier-than-air machines, or aeroplanes, and the money paid for two Wright B aeroplanes, two Curtiss D aeroplanes, and one Burgess-Wright aeroplane. The Army Quartermaster Department leased the 200-acre field, 40 acres more than in 1909, for $325 per month and built four temporary wooden hangars along the railroad tracks. Because housing in College Park was scarce, enlisted mechanics stayed in one of the hangars and also guarded the planes, while officers lived in Washington, DC and commuted by car or train. As civilian aviation flourished at the airport, additional hangars and buildings were constructed beside the Army hangars.