Looking Back, October 2024
By Mark Albertson
Remembering the Air Observation Post Fliers
October 1978, Air Observation Post fliers held a reunion at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. During World War II, it was the Air OPs who planted that seed for what would later become Army Aviation.
Commander was Colonel (later brigadier general) William Wallace Ford. An artilleryman who became a flier, Ford was the first Director of Air Training and formed the Army’s first Air Observation Post for the Field Artillery. He will be inducted into the Army Aviation Hall of Fame in 1975, as being representative of the Pre-1942 Period. He will be followed into the Hall of Fame by other members of the Air Observation Post.
Resurrected from the May 31, 1979 issue of Army Aviation, is a roster of photos of the Air OPs, at Fort Sill, 1942. Such is a living record of the origins of Army Aviation. Click on a photo to enlarge.
Sources:
- Pages 25, 27, 29, 30, 31 & 33, Army Aviation, Vol. 28, No. 5, May 31, 1979.
- Army Aviation Hall of Fame, “Inductees,” William Wallace Ford.
