Major General Benjamin D. Foulois

US Air Force Military Biographies, Annual, 2004

MAJOR GENERAL BENJAMIN D. FOULOIS

Retired Dec. 31, 1935. Died April 25, 1967.

Benjamin Delahauf Foulois was born in Washington, Conn., in 1879. Enlisting as a private in the First United States Volunteer Engineers July 7, 1898, he served in Puerto Rico until January 1899, when he was mustered out as a sergeant. On June 17, 1899, he enlisted as a private in the Regular Army and served with the 19th Infantry, rising to the grade of first sergeant. Going to the Philippine Islands in August 1899, he participated in campaigns on Luzon, Panay and Cebu. He was commissioned a second lieutenant of Infantry February 2, 1901.

Shortly thereafter he joined the 17th Infantry in the Philippines, serving in Manila on the island of Luzon, at Cottabota and Malabang on the island of Mindanao, and participating in engagements against the Lake Lanao Moros in Mindanao during April, May and June 1902. He returned to the United States with the 17th, and was stationed at Vancouver Barracks, Washington, until July 1903, when the 17th was ordered back to the Philippines. During this tour in the Philippines General Foulois worked on mapping and exploring various parts of the island of Mindanao, as well as participating in engagements against the Moros on the islands of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago.

Entering the Infantry-Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., in August 1905, General Foulois graduated a year later and was assigned to the Signal School there. He was then ordered to Cuba where he joined the Army of Cuban Pacification with headquarters at Ciego de Avila, and assisted in developing a military map of Cuba. He returned to the United States and Fort Leavenworth in 1907 to complete the Signal School, graduating in July 1908.

Upon graduation he was assigned to the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, Washington, D.C. During this tour General Foulois operated the first dirigible balloon purchased by the U.S. Government. He was also one of the first three officers in the Army to operate the first military airplane purchased by the Government from the Wright Brothers in 1909. He accompanied Orville Wright on the final trial flight from Fort Myer to Alexandria, Va., breaking three world's records-speed, altitude and duration cross-country. During September and October 1909, he was the American Delegate to the International Congress of Aeronautics held in France.

Transferring to Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, in January 1910, General Foulois was in charge of the first airplane owned and used in the service of the U.S. Army. He was the only pilot, navigator, instructor, observer and commander in the heavier-than-air division of the U.S. Army from November 1909 to April 1911, and made many mechanical improvements, later incorporated in subsequent models of airplanes. From May to July 1911 he was detailed with the Maneuver Division at San Antonio, and while there he designed and used the first radio receiving set ever used in an airplane in the U.S. Army. During this period he also broke the world cross-country record with a passenger, and carried out the first radio/air reconnaissance problems ever conducted with troops.

Transferred to the Militia Bureau, Washington, D.C., in July 1911, General Foulois was in charge of all Signal Corps and engineering units of the National Guard. In October 1912 he was assigned to the 7th Infantry, Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and in February 1913 was transferred to Galveston, Texas. In December 1913 he was assigned to the Signal Corps Aviation School at San Diego, Calif., with aviation duty at Galveston, Texas, from April to July 1914. He then returned to San Diego to organize and assume command of the First Aero Squadron at the Signal Corps Aviation School in 1914. The squadron moved by rail to Fort Sill, Okla., in the fall of 1915. The First Aero Squadron then moved to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, by air, marking the first unit cross-country flight.

Under the command of General Foulois, the squadron then participated in the Mexican Punitive Expedition (March to August 1916) with General John J. Pershing, the supreme command of the expedition. In September 1916 he was named Department Aeronautical Officer, Southern Department Fort Sam Houston, Texas. During this assignment he initiated steps for the establishment of the present day Kelly Air Force Base.

In March 1917 he was assigned to the Aviation Section, Signal Corps, Washington, D.C., with duty as chairman of the Joint Army and Navy Technical Aircraft Committee of the War and Navy Departments. This committee had sole responsibility for implementing the Army War Plans in World War I (1917), incident to the initial phases of our air requirements at home and overseas. This required the drafting of adequate legislation to meet our initial financial needs in the amount of $640,000,000, a sum which received the approval of Congress and became law on July 24, 1917.

During the period from March to September 1917, General Foulois was charged with the responsibility for the production, maintenance, organization and operations of all American aeronautical materiel and personnel in the United States. Embarking for France in October 1917, he was charged with the same responsibilities in France, the British Isles and Italy.