October 1911. Pioneer aviator and California Guardsman Eugene Ely died in an aircraft accident on 19 October 1911 in Macon, Georgia while flying as a civilian pilot.
6 October 1918. 2nd Lt. Erwin R. Bleckley, a Kansas Guardsman flying as an aircraft observer in France with the 50th Aero Squadron of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), was killed while trying to locate and resupply the famous "lost battalion" of American infantry that had been cut off by the Germans in the Argonne Forrest. Both Bleckley and his pilot, 1st Lt. Harold E. Goettler, were awarded Medals of Honor posthumously. Bleckley was the first National Guard aviator to be a recipient of the nation's highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor.
22 October 1918. 1st Lt. Martinus Stenseth, a former Minnesota National Guardsman, was credited with 3.14 aerial victories bringing his total to 6.14. He ended World War I with 6.47 kills.
24 October 1925. The 154th Observation Squadron, Arkansas National Guard, received federal recognition as a Corps Aviation unit.4
25 October 1927. The War Department announced the first contract with the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company to purchase 35 new O-11 type observation planes. They would replace the antiquated and unfit JN type aircraft that had been withdrawn from National Guard service the previous month.
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