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Howdy, Jim...
Yeah...it's been awhile since my last letter but I've been real busy, strange as that might seem comin' from the lazy ol' Geezer Pilot. My last project was buryin' my mother-in-law Esther Ortenzi at Arlington National Cemetery. Esther was interred with her husband Col. Tony. That's tradition at Arlington--military couples stay together, even in death.
What has this got to do with aviation? Well, way back while Wilbur Wright was over in France demonstrating the Wright Flyer, Orville was tryin' to sell one to the army. His demonstration flights took place at Fort Myer, VA, adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery, in 1908, exactly a century ago. The Wright's historic first flight at Kitty Hawk, NC, had been only five years before.
Not many folks know that the first military aviation fatality--in fact the first-ever death from powered flight--took place September 17, 1908 at Fort Myer, not far from what is today the entrance to the cemetery. Orville and Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge were cruising along at about 75 feet when a propeller suddenly shattered. Orville lost control and Flyer-A dived into the ground, fatally injuring Selfridge and severely injuring Orville. Selfridge was 26. 
"It was on the very first slow turn that the trouble began," Orville explained later. "...two big thumps... gave the machine a terrible shaking. Lt. Selfridge up to this time had not uttered a word, but when the machine turned head first for the ground, he exclaimed 'Oh! Oh!' in an almost inaudible voice." Upon impact the young officer's head hit one of Flyer-A's wooden uprights, fracturing his skull. He died later that same day.
 Talk about your unsung heroes! How many people today know that this young man was the first soldier ever to solo an airplane? Earlier in his career Selfridge had helped design the Aerial Experiment Association's "Red Wing" (this design greatly influenced Glenn Curtiss' design of the WWI Jenny). A year before his death, Selfridge, a West Pointer and classmate of Douglas MacArthur, was named by none other than President Teddy Roosevelt to assist Alexander Graham Bell at AEA with his flight experiments. He helped design the AEA's "June Bug" and flew its successor, "White Wing," becoming the first soldier ever to pilot an aircraft. Selfridge left the AEA to get some advanced -- and ill-fated -- flight instruction from Orville Wright at Fort Myer.
Selfridge AFB in Michigan was named for this near unknown aviation pioneer. It trained many Army airmen during WWII and had been the U.S. home to Eddie Rickenbacher's "Hat in the Ring" squadron after WWI.
Orville's flight demonstration program at Fort Myer ended after only two weeks with that fatal crash, but resumed in July 1909. The Army bought its Right: The First US Military Aircraft.
You know, Jim, I didn't even have to research that information. Don't know if I ever told you but aside from my civilian career the ol' Geezer Pilot is a retired Infantry Sergeant Major. In 1952 I was honored to be assigned to the 3rd Infantry Regiment--the honor guard at Arlington--upon my return from the Korean War. I wallowed in the history of that historic old fort and its adjoining Garden of Stones. Of course I knew about Orville and Wilbur, and certainly all us Old Guard guys knew about the army's very first aviator who had taught himself to fly while working with Alexander Graham Bell.
At least twice a year Regina and I go down to Arlington to salute the graves of too many people we knew and loved--her dad, of course, and my brother Clarence... wartime buddies, astronauts, JFK, heroes from as far back as the Civil War when Arlington took our first dead into her bosom. It's a deeply moving experience just to walk that hallowed ground.
While down there for Regina's mother's funeral, I was talkin' to a sergeant major at the cemetery:
"Could I get buried here?"
"Sure," he said... "That Purple Heart guarantees you a spot in the ground at Arlington--but you better hurry up, friend, 'cause we're running out of space." Turns out they average 28 funerals a day at Arlington, about 6,000 a year. Today more than 300,000 people are interred or inurned at this beautiful resting place across the Potomac from our Nation's Capitol.
 You can learn lots more at: www.arlingtoncemetery.org
Bob Button.
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first aircraft from the Wrights in September, exactly a year after Selfridge was killed.
Next time..