Langley Field: Creating An Air Force

WY-96

In Dec. 1916, the U.S. Army purchased land four miles north of here to build an airfield to use jointly with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. During World War I, the Army trained aircrews and tested aircraft there. In 1921, Brig. Gen. William "Billy" Mitchell led bombing trials from Langley to demonstrate that air power could destroy battleships. On 1 March 1935, Air Corps combat units were realigned nationwide under the GHQ Air Force. Led from Langley by Maj. Gen. Frank Andrews, that combat air command was the forerunner of the Army Air Forces of World War II and marked the first real step toward the U.S. Air Force.

Department of Historic Resources, 2005

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Sources Consulted Include: Jody Cook, “A Place Called Langley,” in CRM: Cultural Resource Management 23, no. 2 (2000): 27-31; Robert I. Curtis, John Mitchell, DeWitt S. Copp, Frank M. Andrews: Marshall’s Airman (Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program, 2003), 10-16; Martin Copp, Langley Field, The Early Years (Langley AFB, Va.: Office of History, 1977); Exploring NASA’s Roots: The History of Langley Research Center, http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/factsheets/LaRC_History.html , 28 December 2004; Langley AFB Historic District (Proposed), VDHR Archives File (114-0165), Richmond, Virginia; James R. Hansen, Engineer in Charge: A History of Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, 1917-1958 (Washington, D.C.: Scientific and Technical Information Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration: For sale by the Sup. Of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., 1987); James R. Hansen, Spaceflight Revolution: NASA Langley Research Center from Sputnik to Apollo (Washington, D.C.: Scientific and Technical Information Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration: For sale by the Sup. Of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., 1995); Alfred F. Hurley, Billy Mitchell: Crusader for Air Power (New York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1964), 56-72;Calder Loth, ed., The Virginia Landmarks Register, 4th. ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 210, 211, 212, 213; Man in Space Thematic, National Historic Landmark Archives File (114-139/143), Richmond, Virginia; Vera A. Foster Rollo and Norman L. Crabill, Virginia Airports: A Historical Survey of Airports and Aviation From The Earliest Days (Richmond, Va.: Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society, 2003), 3-18; James Schultz, Winds of Change: Expanding the Frontier of Flight: Langley Research Center’s 75 Years of Accomplishment 1917-1992 (Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration: For sale by the U.S.G.P.O., Sup. of Docs, [1992?]).