Aviator, born in Mansfield, Ohio, USA. The son of a balloonist, he trained at West Point, served in the cavalry, and transferred to the signal corps in 1907. A pioneer aviator, he trained with Wilbur Wright, and in 1909 became one of the army's first two certified pilots. Lahm organized the US Expeditionary Force in France in 1917, and in the 1930s served as attaché for air in France, Spain, and Belgium. He retired from the service in 1941.
Lahm then spent two years at Michigan Military Academy preparing for West Point, where he entered in June 1897. Upon his return to the United States in 1903, Lieutenant Lahm was stationed at West Point as an instructor in French.Aviator
Lahm's father had joined the Aero Club of France and owned the balloon the "Katherine Hamilton," named in honor of his daughter. In the summer of 1905 young Lahm completed the requirements of six ascensions, including one at night and one alone, to win his Federation Aeronautique Internationale license as a balloon pilot. In July of the same summer Lahm became a first lieutenant. In 1906 young Lahm won the International Balloon Race, flying across the Channel from Paris, France to Yorkshire, England. It was in the home's garden that Lahm's father introduced Frank to Wilbur and Orville Wright.
In August 1907, Lieutenant Lahm was assigned to the Aeronautical Division of the 0ffice of the Chief Signal Office in Washington. At Fort Myer, Virginia, Lahm and a detachment of Signal Corps soldiers constructed a hydrogen generating plant and practiced captive observation balloon work. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone and an early aviation enthusiast, often invited Lahm and young scientists to his Washington home for discussions on many subjects, especially aviation. After practice hops Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Lahm as a passenger, made the first official test flight on July 27. He and Lahm established a world's record for a two-man flight - one hour, 12 minutes and 40 seconds. In October 1909 Wilbur Wright trained Lieutenants Lahm and Frederic E. With little more than three hours apiece flying time, Lahm and Humphreys were pronounced pilots on Oct 26. When Lahm and Humphreys crashed November 5, the Army lost its entire air force, one plane.
In 1911 Lahm attended Mounted Service School and at the end of the year he was transferred to the Philippines. Lahm trained several pilots in the next two years using one Wright Type B plane.
World War I
Lahm was then assigned to the 6th Cavalry and served at Texas City and Harlingen, Texas until April 1916. In May of 1917 Captain Lahm became commanding officer of the Army Balloon School at Fort Omaha, Nebraska, and in June he was promoted to major. Major Lahm went to Britain with the American Expeditionary Forces in August 1917. Lahm was inspector of the British and French balloon services and chief of staff, Air Service, 1st and 2d armies in France. In February 1918 Lahm became a lieutenant colonel and in September he was appointed full colonel.
Colonel Lahm returned home in August 1919 and studied at the General Staff College in Washington D.C., until August 1920. Lahm commanded the school which included primary and advanced flying school and the School of Aviation Medicine. Lahm was appointed assistant to the chief of the Air Corps with the rank of brigadier general in July 1930.
In 1931 Lahm went to France as assistant military attache for air. Lahm served on duty at the Gulf Coast Air Corps Training Center at Randolph Field, Texas where he retired Nov. 20, 1941 in the grade of brigadier general.
In addition to the Legion of Merit, Lahm received the Distinguished Service Medal, the French Legion of Honor and the Portuguese Order of Avis. Lahm was co-author with Colonel Charles deForest Chandler of How Our Army Grew Wings. 1908 - U.S. Army decided to buy a plane - among specifications to be met - must carry two persons. Three Army lieutenants assigned as a nucleus air force - Lahm, Foulois and Selfridge - one was to be passenger on test flight. 1909 - Orville Wright and Lahm made first two-man endurance record of one hour, 12 minutes, 40 seconds, fulfilling the conditions of one hour's flight with a passenger, in the first official test flight of airplane built for Army acceptance. Lahm believed to be first rated pilot in the U.S. Military Service. 1912 - Opened a flying school at Fort William McKinley near Manila -March 1912 - at request of Signal Corps - using one Wright Type B plane trained several pilots during the next two years. World War I - Went to England in August 1917 - as captain commanded balloon units in American Expeditionary Force. 1926 - Became assistant chief of Air Corps - brigadier general in July - Organized and commanded the Corps Training Center at San Antonio, Texas, in August 1926, which in October 1931 became Gulf Coast Air Corps Training Center and moved to Randolph Field, Texas - now location of Headquarters Air Training Command. 1941 - Returned to Gulf Coast Air Corps Training Center at Randolph Field, Texas, where he retired November 30.
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