The One-Man, One-Airplane National Guard

In September 1913, the dusty and colorful town of Durango, CO, lured attendees and boosted ticket sales to the Colorado-New Mexico Fair with the promise of daily aeroplane flights made by Captain Ralph McMillen [1889–1916] of the Nebraska National Guard.

McMillen arrived in Durango with his Curtiss Model “D” biplane carefully disassembled and boxed in crates on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (D&RG). The Midwest flier would have to adjust quickly to the thin air at an elevation of 6,500 feet. He probably stayed at the luxurious Strater or General Palmer hotel on Main Street, which had been built when Durango “boomed” into existence during its early gold and silver mining years. With local help, McMillen trucked his machine to the nearby fair grounds where the pieces were soon assembled into the first aeroplane seen in Durango. Durango historian Duane Smith described the Curtiss as “fragile in appearance,” but as something that “foretold great changes.” The organizers of the 1913 fair proudly bragged that they were “working like beavers” to contract McMillen to guarantee flights that lasted 30 minutes each day over their city. On the second day of the fair, McMillen took off easily from the fair grounds where 3,000 people watched him soar over Main Street and drop a message to Durango’s Mayor Seaton. A local resident found this note:

“Esteemed Sir: Greetings to the people of the fair City of Durango through its executive officer – From the first licensed aviator (No. 111) to make an ascension from the altitude of Durango or higher.”

McMillen’s flights were all safely flown, despite engine trouble during one return trip that forced him to land in a pasture. Repairs were made quickly and McMillen fulfilled his contract.

The Organized Militia

In her first volume of Iowa Takes to the Air, author Ann Pellegreno describes McMillen living in Perry, IA, during 1912, when he first became interested in flying. By then, McMillen, age 23, had been married at least three years. He must have been well endowed financially at the time in order to purchase a Curtiss Model “D” aircraft for $6,000. (This would be like $150,000 today.) Between 1912 and 1916, McMillen earned his Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) license No. 111 and made exhibition flights at county fairs and other events, sometimes associated with the Young Aviation Company of Texas. He appeared in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, Colorado, Texas and Oklahoma. He was also known to have flown in Virginia and perhaps in California. Exhibition flying was lucrative but McMillen was less driven by fame and fortune than he was by patriotism.

Before WWI, the U.S. lagged behind European countries in building a useful branch of the military utilizing aircraft. The army placed its first balloons and aircraft into the Signal Corps, although government funding was scarce. Similar difficulties were simultaneously stunting the development of an aviation branch of the U.S. National Guard, formerly known as the Organized Militia, independently formed within each state.

   

The Cornhuskers

By the time McMillen joined the Nebraska National Guard as a captain in 1913, he owned an aircraft and, although not yet required by law, he also had an aviator’s license.

During 1914, without funding to purchase aircraft, the U.S. Army organized the National Guard of the states into 12 divisions. At Lincoln in 1915, aviator Castle W. Schaffer was appointed the Nebraska National Guard’s chief of aviation. Schaffer grounded himself after unnerving accidents in his aircraft. McMillen became the unit’s sole aviator. To raise funds for more aircraft, Nebraska’s governor “requested” that McMillen donate his exhibition earnings to the National Guard’s new Aviation Corps. While not on tour, McMillen was often aloft taking the first aerial photographs of several Nebraska cities and experimenting with bomb drops (using one hand to light the dynamite while at the controls). He made night flights, adorning his aircraft with electric lights — this impressed his senior officers.

During this time, aviator Lt. Edgar W. Bagnell [1890-1958] joined McMillen in the Nebraska National Guard. Military troops were then being deployed along the U.S.-Mexico border to disperse bandits led by Francisco “Pancho” Villa. Instead of border patrol, both Bagnell and McMillen were given the opportunity to attend the Curtiss school in Virginia to obtain the reserve military aviator (RMA) certification required of an officer in the Aviation Corps. Because government funding was not available, the Aero Club of America stepped in and paid Bagnell’s and McMillen’s flight instruction fees. McMillen earned his RMA within a month and returned to exhibition flying in Nebraska. Bagnell took further lessons at the Curtiss school in Mineola, NY, and remained on the east coast between 1916 and 1917 to assist in fundraising for the National Guard. Nicknamed “Happy” by his pals in the National Guard, Bagnell was described as a humorist due to his spontaneous comedic “pantomime and mimicry.” Twelve more volunteers applied for flying instructions and joined the Nebraska Aviation Corps, briefly renamed the Aero Company.

When U.S. participation in the European conflict seemed imminent, McMillen was eager to join the army and trade his Curtiss pusher for a Curtiss JN-4 (“Jenny”). Unfortunately, he had sustained two broken legs, a broken shoulder bone and numerous other injuries in a near-fatal crash during an exhibition flight in Iowa. These injuries rendered him physically unacceptable for federal service. McMillen often professed his disappointment to friends and fellow aviators that he could not take active military duty. He continued to serve as a member of the Nebraska National Guard, earning income as an exhibition flier. McMillen died in a crash of his Curtiss aircraft on Sept. 2, 1916, at an event in St. Francis, KS.

A Slow Take-Off

Nebraska historian Robert Casari traced Bagnell’s attempts to remain a military airman after the Mexican border conflict subsided. Bagnell was assigned to the 3rd Aero Squadron at San Antonio, TX, as a member of the Signal Officers Reserves Corps in 1917. Twenty-one guardsmen were trained by the Army prior to the U.S. entering WWI, which Casari points out was, “a miniscule number considering that the country was in a serious international crisis. Only New York had a complete Aero Squadron organized, yet it was equipped with just four trainers at its peak.” WWI ended before Bagnell’s squadron saw service in Europe, and he began civilian life as a test pilot for Glenn Curtiss. He later worked as crew for an airline in Mexico, and held various jobs in the U.S. unrelated to aviation until he found his niche as a machinist in California. He died of an illness there at age 68.

The U.S. National Guard did not receive adequate government funding to be organized effectively until the 1920s. Much of its legacy is due to the dedication of men like Nebraska’s McMillen, Schaffer and Bagnell. “While the experiences during WWI were unfortunate,” summarizes Casari. “The Air National Guard in the next decade was finally able to take its place in supporting federal military aviation.”

Giacinta Bradley Koontz is an aviation historian, magazine columnist and author who has received the DAR History Medal and honorable mention from the NewYork Book Festival. She has appeared on the History Channel and in PBS documentaries. For more information, visit www.GiaBKoontz.com. 

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