JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. –
On August
22, 1834, history was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, that would change the
thoughts of flight in the United States of America.
At that
time, Samuel P. Langley, for whom Langley Air Force Base would be named after,
served as the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and studied the
possibility of heavier-than-air flight.
Although
Langley’s steam powered Aerodrome number 5 was the first non-manned heavier-than-air
flight, at just over one half mile in 90 seconds, the flight was ridiculed by
spectators for the aircraft going nose up and into landing the river.
“His sense of failure was
heightened on 17 December, when, in Kitty Hawk,
North Carolina, the Wright Brothers
accomplished the first manned flight,” said William Butler, Air Combat Command deputy
command historian. “Although this success proved his theories about manned
flight, Langley never resumed his experiments and he died from a stroke on Feb.
17, 1906.”
The base
was later named after Langley by Lt. Colonel George O. Squier.
Brig. Gen.
George Scriven established a board of officers and appointed Squier to the head
of aviation for locating a suitable site to base an Army aviation field and
conduct aeronautical experiments as Langley once did. The airfield would hold
the official name of “Langley Field” until August 7, 1917.
Once the
location for the airfield was selected, the infrastructure was next in line.
Albert Kahn, a German immigrant, signed on to be the architect for the airfield
structures.
According
to Mark Stanley, ACC historian functional area manager, Kahn’s use of
decorative brickwork surrounds us here at Langley AFB and it is easy to take
the architecture for granted when it is seen every day.
“Visitors
often remind us with remarks about Langley’s striking appearance. For that, we
must take a moment to thank Kahn for his vision to create buildings that have
stood the test of time,” said Stanley. “Today, those buildings remain useful, relevant
and easy to admire.”
Langley,
Squier and Khan are the beginnings of what Joint Base Langley-Eustis is today
and it is fitting that the installation is joint with the U.S. Army, since this
base began as an Army endeavor 100 years ago.
“These
forefathers established the foundations for Langley Air Field, not knowing it
would lead to an extraordinary 100-year history,” said Stanley. “Their work to construct Langley Air Field
should never be forgotten and neither should the services rendered over the
past century. The United States Air
Force and Hampton, Virginia made significant contributions to aviation history
and each day brings something new to expand upon the history our forefathers
set in motion in 1917.”