Missouri National Guard
Established by the Militia Bureau on on 23 June 1923, which authorized the immediate organization of the 110th Observation Squadron, 35th Division of Aviation, Missouri National Guard. First Headquarters was located in a filling station on Manchester Avenue. From there it was moved to a small room over a grocery store on Olive Street Road In St Louis County. Meetings were held at the Airport, then little more than a pasture, there were no airplanes and no uniforms for the enlisted men.
The First flying Equipment was a Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" which was purchased by the officers of the squadron and used for flight training until early 1924 when three surplus wartime JN-4's were received. The planes were housed in a corrugated sheet metal hanger erected on the field during the National Air Races in 1923 and later turned over to the squadron. Additional aircraft and equipment were received throughout 1924 and by the years end a well received training program was in effect. Only eighteen months had elapsed since the unit was formally organized.
During the next few years the JN-4's were replaced by the PT-1, TW-3, O-11, and O-2H aircraft and the unit assumed a mission of observation and reconnaissance. Their chief pilot on the "St. Louis to Chicago" airmail run was a lanky young man named Charles Lindbergh. Lindbergh soon became a member of the 110th and was a captain in 1927 when he made his historic Trans-Atlantic solo flight.
Men, equipment and unit headquarters consolidated in new hanger at Lambert Field in 1931. Summer field training conducted in the 1930s allowed 110th members to hone their skills on the K-17 Aerial Camera. The Douglas O-38 aircraft was received in 1933 and replaced in 1938 by the North American O-47A, an all metal mid-wing observation aircraft.
The units first summer encampments were held in 1924 and 1925 at Camp Clark Nevada, Missouri. Subsequent encampments were at Fort Riley Kansas; Lambert Field St Louis; Eglin Field Florida; Fort Sill, Oklahoma; and St Cloud Minnesota.
Read more about this topic: 110th Bomb Squadron, History
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