48 Facts About Benjamin Foulois

Benjamin Delahauf Foulois was a United States Army general who learned to fly the first military planes purchased from the Wright brothers.

Benjamin Foulois became the first military aviator as an airship pilot, and achieved numerous other military aviation "firsts".

Benjamin Foulois led strategic development of the Air Force in the United States.

Benjamin "Benny" Delahauf Foulois was born on December 9,1879, in Washington, Connecticut, to a Franco-American pipe-fitter and a Boston-born nurse.

On June 17,1899, Foulois enlisted again, using his own name, as a private in the Regular Army and was assigned to the 19th Infantry, where he ultimately achieved the rank of first sergeant, with service in the Philippines on Luzon, Panay, and Cebu.

Benjamin Foulois was commissioned as a second lieutenant on July 9,1901.

Benjamin Foulois returned to the United States in 1902 and transferred to the 17th Infantry.

Benjamin Foulois attended the Infantry and Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, from September 1905 to August 1906.

Benjamin Foulois was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Signal Corps on April 30,1908, assigned to the office of the Army's chief signal officer, Brig.

In expressing this opinion to the Army General Staff, Benjamin Foulois recommended no more purchases of dirigibles, the first of his many disagreements with the military establishment.

Benjamin Foulois totaled 3 hours and 2 minutes at the controls, virtually equaling the flight time of Humphreys and Lahm, but did not make any landings, nor did he solo.

Beck, like Benjamin Foulois, was dual-commissioned in the Signal Corps and being senior, took command of the company, an action that Benjamin Foulois resented.

Benjamin Foulois blamed Beck for improper repairs to the craft, and questioned his ability to command, but the investigating board, of which both Benjamin Foulois and Beck were members, ruled that Kelly's death resulted from landing at too high a speed and striking the ground with a wingtip when he attempted a turn.

Benjamin Foulois was assigned as Officer In Charge, Signal Corps and Corps of Engineers Units in the Organized Militia.

In October 1912, Benjamin Foulois was returned to infantry troop duty under requirements of the "Manchu Law", otheriwse known as the congressionally-mandated "Detached Service Law," and assigned to Fort Leavenworth with the 7th Infantry.

Benjamin Foulois was returned to aviation duty in November 1913, and detailed the next month to the Signal Corps Aviation School at North Island, San Diego, California, where the 1st Aero Squadron was officially constituted as a unit of the Signal Corps.

In January 1914, the organization of the squadron was approved by the CSO and Benjamin Foulois became commanding officer of its 1st Company, comprising three Burgess aircraft and 26 enlisted men.

On November 19,1915, Benjamin Foulois led the 1st Aero Squadron cross-country flight of six Curtiss JN3s from Post Field, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to Ft Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, intended as the site for the first permanent base of the Aviation Section, the San Antonio Air Center.

John J Pershing was directed to pursue Villa into Mexico, and Foulois was ordered to take eight airplanes to provide reconnaissance and communication.

Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell and Benjamin Foulois clashed bitterly over the years.

Benjamin Foulois came from a middle-class family, and impressed his peers with his willingness to roll up his sleeves and work with the mechanics.

From March to September 1917, General Benjamin Foulois was charged with the responsibility for the production, maintenance, organization, and operations of all American aeronautical material and personnel in the United States.

Creation and deployment of tactical squadrons lagged badly behind the schedule Benjamin Foulois had promised Pershing, and the supply situation for the Air Service was not improving.

Benjamin Foulois was appointed Chief of Air Service, First Army, with Mitchell still his subordinate, made chief of Air Service I Corps.

Benjamin Foulois asserted in his memoirs that while he felt Mitchell was openly insubordinate, disloyal to his superiors, and constantly deviating from the military chain of command in giving orders, Mitchell possessed the ability and experience to supervise air battles and create a high fighting spirit, exemplified by the battle of Chateau-Thierry.

Three months later, when a major loss of coordination between offensive units and replacement units occurred at Toul, Benjamin Foulois again requested relief from his position, this time to again be in charge of Air Service logistics, to straighten out the snarled lines of communication before the major offensives in the fall.

Benjamin Foulois recommended that Mitchell replace him as Chief of Air Service, First Army.

Benjamin Foulois briefly became Assistant Chief of Air Service, Zone of Advance, but that position was eliminated when the Service of Supply created a forward headquarters near the front in addition to its main headquarters in Tours, and Benjamin Foulois became the Assistant Chief of Air Service, Service of Supply.

Benjamin Foulois received promotion to major on July 1,1920, when the Army Reorganization Act took effect, and transferred in grade to the Air Service, which the act had made a combat arm, on August 11.

Benjamin Foulois testified with stinging accusations toward the Army General Staff and Franklin D Roosevelt, the assistant Secretary of the Navy.

Benjamin Foulois was sent in April 1920 to The Hague as assistant air attache, with observer duties in Berlin.

Benjamin Foulois found that the Adlon Hotel bar in Berlin was frequented by many aviation cognoscenti.

Benjamin Foulois gathered the equivalent of a railroad boxcar full of valuable documents, drawings, technical bulletins, magazines, books, blueprints and reports.

In December 1927, when James E Fechet was promoted to Air Corps Chief, Foulois began a four-year tour as one of the three Assistant Chiefs of the Air Corps, which carried with it a temporary rank of brigadier general, including a year as Chief of the Materiel Division at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, from June 1929 to July 1930.

Benjamin Foulois had already appeared before Congress on 75 occasions to testify on military matters.

Benjamin Foulois served as Chief of the Air Corps during the Air Mail scandal of 1934.

Under pressure from President Roosevelt, Benjamin Foulois committed the service to delivering the mail without consulting Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur, while knowing that the Air Corps was ill-equipped and untrained to fly in winter conditions.

Benjamin Foulois became the middleman in a political battle between the commercial aviation owners, Congress, and the military.

Benjamin Foulois later wrote that the "fiasco" was just as historically significant as the first flight or the first air combat mission.

Benjamin Foulois argued that its lasting effect helped identify the needs of the peacetime Air Corps and the Baker Board's recommendation for a GHQ Air Force, which was implemented in March 1935.

Chairman William N Rogers called for the resignation of Foulois and threatened to hold up Air Corps appropriations.

Benjamin Foulois officially left active duty December 31,1935, after 36 years of service.

Benjamin Foulois accurately warned of the buildup of German air power, and the need to build a strong air force and to take defensive measures to protect the East Coast.

In 1941, Foulois ran as a Republican for, losing to four-term Democratic incumbent Elmer H Wene.

Benjamin Foulois continued to write and speak for 17 years from his home in Ventnor City, New Jersey.

In 1963, Benjamin Foulois appeared on the television quiz show I've Got a Secret, where his secret was that he had once been the entire US Air Force.

General Benjamin Foulois died on April 25,1967, following a stroke at age 87, and was buried in his hometown of Washington, Connecticut.

Benjamin Foulois remains one of the most significant figures in the development of US air power.