Tag Archives: Thomas DeWitt Milling

9 October 1912

Arnold and Milling at College Park, Maryland, 1912. (U.S. Air Force)
Lieutenants Arnold and Milling at College Park, Maryland, 1912. (U.S. Air Force)

9 October 1912: In October, Lieutenants Henry H. Arnold and Thomas DeWitt Milling, both assigned to the Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps, United States Army, were ordered to enter the competition for the first Mackay Trophy for “the most outstanding military flight of the year.” Milling withdrew because of illness shortly after the competition started.

Clarence Hungerford Mackay. (Brittanica)
Clarence Hungerford Mackay

“Hap” Arnold won when he flew a 40-horsepower Wright Model B biplane over a triangular course from College Park to Washington Barracks at Washington D.C., on to Fort Myers, Virginia, and back to College Park.

The Mackay Trophy was established on 27 January 1911 by Clarence Hungerford Mackay, who was then head of the Postal Telegraph-Cable Company and the Commercial Cable Company. Originally, aviators could compete for the trophy annually under rules made each year, or the War Department could award the trophy for the most meritorious flight of the year.

“The silver Art Noveau trophy, crafted by Tiffany and Company, features four depictions of Nike, the winged Greek goddess of victory, holding the Wright Military Flyer. The achievements inscribed on the mahogany base symbolize the growth of American military aviation from its beginnings to the present day.” —from NASM description

The Mackay Trophy (NASM)

The Model B was powered by a single water-cooled, fuel-injected, 240.528 cubic-inch-displacement (3.942 liter) Wright vertical overhead-valve inline four-cylinder gasoline engine with 2 valves per cylinder and a compression ratio of 4.165:1. It produced 32 horsepower at 1,310 r.p.m. During three years of production (1908–1911) Wright “4-40” engines were built that operated from 1,325 to 1,500 r.p.m. Power output ranged from 28 to 40 horsepower. These engines weighed from 160 to 180 pounds (72.6–81.6 kilograms).

Two 8½ foot (2.591 meters) diameter, two-bladed, counter-rotating propellers, driven by a chain drive, are mounted behind the wings in pusher configuration. They turned 445 r.p.m.

The Wright Model B had a maximum speed of approximately 40 miles per hour (64 kilometers per hour) and its range was 110 miles (177 kilometers).

Approximately 100 Model B aeroplanes were built by the Wrights and under license by Burgess from 1910 to 1914. Three are known to exist.

Arnold won the Mackay Trophy again in 1934 when he commanded a flight of ten Martin B-10 bombers from Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., to Fairbanks, Alaska, and back.

Lieutenant Arnold went on to have a successful career in military aviation.

General of the Army Henry Harley Arnold, United States Army Air Forces. (U.S. Air Force)

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes

26 September 1911

Lieutenant Thomas Dewitt Milling at the controls of a Wright Model B, 1911. (Library of Congress)
Lieutenant Thomas DeWitt Milling at the controls of a Wright Model B, 1911. (Library of Congress)

At  the Aero Club of America Meet on 26 September 1911, at the Nassau Boulevard Aerodrome on Long Island, New York, Lieutenant Thomas DeWitt Milling set a world endurance record of 1 hour, 54 minutes, 42.6 seconds with two passengers, for which he was awarded the Rodman Wanamaker Endurance Trophy.

Burgess-Wright biplane taking off at the Harvard-Boston Aero Meet, August-September 1911. (Anthony Philpott/Wright State University Libraries, Special Collections and Archives, Item Identifier Number ms338_02_02)

The Daily Local News reported:

     Lieut. Milling was the hero of the day when he alighted with his Burgess Wright biplane and passenge½rs, Paul Revere and William Ecke, both of Company L, Twenty-ninth Infantry. The three men had been in the air 1 hour 54 minutes 4 2 seconds, which beats by 16 minutes 2 seconds the world’s duration record with two passengers established by M. Mamet at Rheims, France.

     George W. Beatty was the only other aviator who started in the weight carrying duration contest. His crank case broke after he had been in the air 29 minutes an 18 seconds and he had to descend.

ARMY OFFICER GETS $1,000 PRIZE

     The weight of the two privates with Lieut. Milling was 252½ pounds. They circled around the pylons in a high wind between 4 and 6 p.m. Lieut. Milling won the $1,000 prize and the applause of 8,200 spectators. The army aviator won the tri-State aeroplane race and $7,500 several week sago in Boston. It was only two months ago that he learned to fly an aeroplane.

Daily Local News, West Chester, Pennsylvania, Vol. XXXIX, No, 267, Wednesday, 27 September 1911, Page 1, Column 1

A Burgess-Wright biplane flying at the Harvard-Boston Aero Meet, August 26–September 4, 1911. (Anthony Philpott/Wright State University Libraries, Special Collections and Archives, Item Identifier Number ms338_08_07)

The trophy is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

The Rodman Wanamaker Endurance Trophy on display in the Early Years Gallery of the National Museum of the United States Air Force. (U.S. Air Force)
The Rodman Wanamaker Endurance Trophy on display in the Early Years Gallery of the National Museum of the United States Air Force. (U.S. Air Force)

© 2024, Bryan R. Swopes

28 March 1913

Thomas DeWitt Milling and William C. Sherman, with Burgess Model H biplane, 28 March 1913. (Photograph by Higby Photo)
Lieutenant Thomas DeWitt Milling and Lieutenant William C. Sherman, with the Burgess Model H biplane, 28 March 1913. (Higby Photo)

28 March 1913: Lieutenants Thomas DeWitt Milling and William C. Sherman, Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps, United States Army, set two American Cross-Country Nonstop Records for Distance and Duration by flying a single-engine Burgess Model H Military Tractor (also known as the Burgess-Wright Model H) biplane from Texas City to San Antonio, Texas, a distance of 220 miles (354 kilometers), in 4 hours, 22 minutes.

During the flight Lieutenant Sherman drew a map of the terrain.

Aero and Hydro reported:

American Cross-Country Nonstop Records.—The Aero Club of America, on recommendation of its Contest Commitee, has adopted the following, relative to cross-country flying, nonstop records: Duration—Aviator With Passenger.—Lieutenant T. DeWitt Milling, Texas City, Tex., to San Antonio, Tex., March 28, 1913, Burgess-Wright tractor biplane, 70-horsepower Renault motor; time, four hours, 22 minutes.

Distance—Aviator With Passenger.—Lieut. T. DeWitt Milling, Texas City, Tex., to San Antonio, Tex., Burgess-Wright tractor biplane, 70-horsepower Renault motor; distance covered, 220 miles.

AERO AND HYDRO, Noel & Company, Publishers, Chicago, Illinois, Volume VI, No. 10, 7 June 1913, at Page 190, Column 1

The U.S. Army Signal Corps purchased six Model H biplanes for $7,500, each. They were assigned serial numbers S.C. 9 and S.C. 24–S.C. 28.

The Burgess Model H was a two-place, single-engine biplane which could be ordered with either wheeled landing gear or floats. It was built by the Burgess Company and the Curtiss Aeroplane and Engine Company, under license from Wright.

The biplane was 27 feet, 9 inches (8.458 meters) long with a wingspan of 34 feet, 6 inches (10.516 meters), and weighed 2,300 pounds (1,043 kilograms)

The airplane was powered by a normally-aspirated, air-cooled, 6.949 liter (424.036 cubic inch displacement) Renault Limited left-hand tractor 90° V-8 engine with a compression ratio of 4.12:1. The engine produced 70 horsepower at 1,750 r.p.m., burning 50-octane gasoline. The V-8 drove a two-bladed propeller at one-half of crankshaft speed. (The propeller was driven by the camshaft.) This engine, also known as the Type WB, was manufactured by three British companies: Renault Limited, Rolls-Royce Limited, and Wolseley Motors Limited.

The airplane had a maximum speed of 72 miles per hour (116 kilometers per hour).

Thomas Milling was issued the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale‘s pilot certificate number 30, and the Army’s Military Aviator Certificate No. 1. He was the first U.S. military officer authorized to wear a military aviator badge as part of his uniform.

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes