DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells this one, and I'm just the voice bringin' it to you across the miles. Now, you might not think of Galveston as the birthplace of American air power, but the marker right here begs a word with you on that subject. See, back between 1913 and 1915, while revolution was churning through Mexico and trouble was spilling toward the U.S. border, the Army needed eyes in the sky.
And so they sent what they had. The First Aero Squadron — the first tactical air unit in the United States Army — touched down right here. Seven planes.
Five officers. Twenty-one enlisted men. That's the whole outfit, right there.
You could count the entire American airborne military on your fingers and toes and still have some left over. Now, they weren't sent into combat — the marker's clear on that — but don't go thinkin' they were just sittin' on the ground polishin' their goggles. Those pilots and their crew took to the skies over troubled country and made aerial maps.
Documented the land from above when most folks had never even seen the ground from that angle. And somewhere along the way, they set a long distance flight record. Just slipped that in there like it was nothing.
A record. The whole squadron, stationed here through those restless years, writing the first chapter of something this country would come to depend on for generations. Seven planes.
A handful of men. And the sky, wide open, daring them to go further than anyone had gone before. Turned out, they took that dare.
What the marker says
First tactical air unit, U. S. Army; was stationed here 1913-1915 during U. S. border troubles caused by revolution in Mexico. The 7 planes, 5 officers, and 21 enlisted men were not in combat, but made aerial maps and achieved a long distance flight record.