The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Selfridge Army Air Base-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.  I'd never heard of the base before the previous entry so went to good ol' Wili.

The base, now called Selfridge Air National Guard Base is located in Harrison Township Michigan near the town of Mount Clemmons, near Detroit.  It houses the 127th Wing of the Michigan Air National Guard.

The Selfridge Military Air Museum, where the chards of the 1941 plane are destined, is located there as well.

It has two connections with people I have written about in other blogs and of interest to me.  It is named for Lt. Thomas Selfridge, the first U.S. military officer to die in an aviation accident while flying with Orville Wright at Fort Myer, Virginia on September 17, 1908.  Selfridge was the grandson of Admiral Thomas O. Selfridge, who commanded the USS Cairo when it was sunk 150 years ago this month.

The U.S. Army leased 640 acres from Henry Bourne Joy, president of the Packard Motor Car Company, and Lincoln Highway pusher.  Joy also had Joy Aviation Field on the site where he tested Packard airplane engines.

The field opened for pilot training July 1, 1917 and closed down temporarily in March 1918, when the Clinton River flooded the base.

More to Come.  --GreGen

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