February 18, 1918. The first American fighter unit proper, the
 95th Aero Squadron, arrives in France.
     February 28, 1918. Using a radiotelephone, human voice is trans-
 mitted from an aircraft to the ground for the first time. The flight
 took place in San Diego, Calif.
     February 28, 1918. Regulation of the airways begins with an order
 by President Woodrow Wilson requiring licenses for civilian pilots or
 owners. More than 800 licenses are issued.
     March 11, 1918. Lt. Paul Baer becomes the first AEF Air Service
 member awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
     March 19, 1918. The 94th Aero Squadron makes the first US opera-
 tional flights across the front lines in France.
     April 11, 1918. The first US patrol over enemy lines by an
 observation squadron in World War I is made by I Corps Observation
 Squadron, 1st Observation Group, equipped with biplace Spads.
     April 14, 1918. Lts. Alan Winslow and Douglas Campbell, flying
 Nieuport 28s of the 94th Aero Squadron, down two German fighters in
 a ten-minute battle. Lieutenant Winslow is the first pilot in the
 American sector of the front to down an airplane; Lieutenant Campbell
 is the first US-trained pilot to score a victory.
     April 21, 1918. Rittmeister Manfred von Richthofen, the Red
 Baron, is shot down in action over France by Capt. A. Roy Brown, a
 Canadian. The German ace, killed in the battle, had eighty aerial
 victories.
     May 15, 1918. The Aviation Section of the Signal Corps begins
 regular airmail service from Washington, D.C., to New York, N.Y.
     May 7, 1918. Flying a Nieuport 28, lst Lt. Edward V. Ricken-
 backer, who would go on to be the leading American ace of World War
 I, records his first solo victory, downing a German Pfalz. Flying
 with the 94th Aero Squadron, he had recorded a half victory, his
 first, on April 29.
     May 20, 1918. The Division of Military Aeronautics is estab-
 lished, with Maj. Gen. William L. Kenly as director.
     May 24, 1918. US Army Air Service is organized.
     June 12, 1918. The 96th Aero Squadron bombs the Dommary-
 Baroncourt railway yards in France in the first daylight bombing
 raid carried out by the AEF.
     August 2, 1918. The 135th Corps Observation Squadron makes its
 first wartime patrol in US-assembled DH-4s powered by American-made
 Liberty engines.
     September 7, 1918. The first US demonstration of troop transport
 by air occurs when several planes carry eighteen enlisted men from
 Chanute Field to Champaign, Ill.
     September 12, 1918. Lt. Frank Luke shoots down his first enemy
 observation balloon. By the time he is killed seventeen days later,
 he has shot down nearly sixteen balloons and airplanes. In his last
 mission, near Murvaux, France, he shoots down three observation
 balloons but comes under attack by eight German pilots and from
 ground batteries. Severely wounded, he makes a strafing pass on
 some enemy ground troops before making a forced landing. Surrounded,
 he defends himself with his automatic pistol until he is killed by
 enemy troops. He is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his
 actions.
     September 24, 1918. Lt. (jg.) David S. Ingalls, USN, shoots down
 his fifth enemy plane to become the Navy's first ace.
     September 25, 1918. Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker of the 94th Aero
 Squadron attacks seven enemy aircraft, shooting down two of them near
 Billy, France. For this, he later receives the first Medal of Honor
 given for air activity.
     October 6, 1918. 2d Lts. Harold E. Goettler (pilot) and Erwin R.
 Bleckley (observer) are killed by ground fire while attempting to
 drop supplies to a battalion of the Army's 77th Division, which has
 been cut off in the Argonne Forest near Binarville, France. Having
 been subjected to heavy ground fire on their first attempt, they fly
 at a lower altitude on the second trip in order to get the packages
 more precisely on the designated spot. The duo is posthumously
 awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions.
     October 12, 1918. The first night air pursuit operations by
 American pilots is flown by members of the 185th Pursuit Squadron
 in France.
     October 30, 1918. Flying a SPAD VII, Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker,
 America's Ace of Aces, records his last two aerial victories, an
 observation balloon and a Fokker D.7, over France. Captain Ricken-
 backer, who finishes the war with 24.33 victories, records 12.83
 confirmed victories in the month of October alone.
     November 7, 1918. Dr. Robert H. Goddard demonstrates tube-
 launched solid-propellant rockets at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.
     November 10, 1918. The Air Service records its last two aerial
 victories of World War I, as Maj. Maxwell Kirby of the 94th Aero
 Squadron tallies the last solo (and his only) "kill," and two crews
 from the 104th Observation Squadron team up for the other victory.
     December 4-22, 1918. Under the command of Maj. Albert D. Smith,
 four JN-4s fly from San Diego, Calif., to Jacksonville, Fla., to
 complete the Army's first transcontinental flight. Only Major
 Smith's plane manages to make the entire trip.
     January 24, 1919. Army Air Service pilot 1st Lt. Temple M. Joyce
 makes 300 consecutive loops in a Morane fighter at Issoudun, France.
     May 16-27, 1919. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Albert C. "Putty" Read and a
 crew of five fly from Trepassey Bay, Newfoundland, to Lisbon, Port-
 ugal, via the Azores, in the Curtiss NC-4 flying boat, spending
 fifty-three hours, fifty-eight minutes aloft. This is the first
 crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by air. Two other NCs start the trip
 but do not complete it.
     June 1, 1919. In response to a request from the District Forester,
 San Francisco, Calif., the first organized and sustained aerial
 forest fire patrol is initiated at Rockwell Field, Calif., using
 Curtiss JN-4D and JN-6H planes.
 End of Part 4
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