Editing Raynal Bolling (section)

===National guard aviation pioneer===
In the summer of 1915 Bolling, along with his brother-in-law and seven New York businessmen, all members of the [[American Aero Club]], began taking flying lessons on property owned by the [[Wright Company]] near [[Garden City, New York]]. They contracted with an aviation school operated by [[Edson Fessenden Gallaudet|Edson and Herbert Gallaudet]] for the use of their Gallaudet C-2 dual-controls trainer, which had a [[Gnome et Rhône#Gnome|50-horsepower Gnome motor]], and the services of 20-year-old Peter Carl "Tex" Millman as an instructor.<ref name="jh133">{{harvnb|Hennessy|1958|p=133}}</ref> By the end of July, Millman reported several of his students including Bolling were ready to try for their American Aero Club license.<ref>''Aerial Age Weekly'', Vol. I No. 19, July 26, 1915, p. 454.</ref>

Bolling was in sympathy with the objectives of the [[American entry into World War I#Preparedness movement|Preparedness Movement]], a group of influential Americans advocating military preparedness for involvement in World War I and drawn primarily from wealthy lawyers, bankers, academics, and politicians of the Northeast. Starting August 10, he was a participant in the first "[[Citizen's Military Training Camp|Business Men's Camp]]", a volunteer summer military training camp organized and funded by the Preparedness Movement in [[Plattsburgh, New York]], with the encouragement of Major General [[Leonard Wood]], commanding the Army's Eastern Department.  There he organized a "motor machine gun troop" and arranged for Millman to fly Gallaudet's C-2, re-engined with a 100-horsepower Gnome and termed the "Military Tractor," from the camp to demonstrate its military usefulness.<ref name="jh133"/>  Despite a long delay caused by lack of a safe landing ground nearby, Millman made 20 flights over a three-day period. Bolling also arranged for use of the American Aero Club's six-person balloon, the ''America III'', to make a demonstration for the trainees.<ref>''Aerial Age Weekly'', Vol. I No. 22, August 23, 1915, p. 591.</ref>

In September, after the Plattsburgh encampment was over, Bolling began preparations for organizing an aero company for the guard. He secured the services of three additional flying instructors<ref group=n>One of the instructors was a fellow guardsman, Lieutenant Alexander Blair Thaw II, whose brother [[William Thaw II|William Thaw]] was then flying with the [[Lafayette Escadrille]].</ref> and began recruiting personnel.  He received $12,500 in funding from the Aero Club of America (ACA)<ref group=n>The American Aero Club had instituted a subscription fund, called the "National Aeroplane Fund," in May 1915 to "develop aviation corps for the militia" after the apparent success of similar efforts in Europe. The earmarks for the 1st Aero Company eventually grew to $59,000.</ref><ref name="nytobit"/><ref name="jh133"/> The funds provided Bolling were donated anonymously by two wealthy New Yorkers, including [[William Kissam Vanderbilt II|William K. Vanderbilt]], specifically to establish a unit for the NY Guard.<ref>''Aerial Age Weekly'', Vol. II No. 5, October 18, 1915, p. 101.</ref> and rented both the "Military Tractor"  and Gallaudet's earlier prototype, the C-1. Authorization to form an aviation section in the Signal Corps of the Guard was announced by New York Governor [[Charles S. Whitman]] in October,<ref>''Aerial Age Weekly'', Vol. II No. 4, October 11, 1915, p. 79.</ref> and Bolling, who had just completed his flying instruction, was then appointed to the ACA's special committee to support its implementation.<ref>''Aerial Age Weekly'', Vol. II No. 6, October 25, 1915, p. 125.</ref>

In November 1915, Bolling was appointed as a [[first lieutenant]] in the New York National Guard and organized the "Aviation Detachment, [[101st Signal Battalion (United States)|First Battalion Signal Corps]], National Guard, New York." During the winter of 1915-1916, when it reached its authorized strength of four officers and 40 enlisted men, the detachment was designated the "1st Aero Company" and was the first national guard aviation unit in the United States.<ref name="jh133"/><ref group=n>Although several naval militia units had announced themselves as "organized," none had aircraft and only one had pilots, whereas the 1st Aero Company had both.</ref> The pilots of the company were prominent young New Yorkers, many of whom had already had some flight instruction over the summer. Within a month, half of the 48 states had applied to the ACA for financial assistance in purchasing aircraft and equipment.<ref name="aawII14">''Aerial Age Weekly'', Vol. II No.14, December 20, 1915, p. 326.</ref>

[[File:Gallaudet Tractor biplane New York ANG 1915.jpg|thumb|The Gallaudet "Military Tractor" used by the Aviation Detachment at Garden City]]
Flying instruction began immediately at [[Roosevelt Field, New York|Garden City Aerodrome]], with 56 flights in November alone.<ref name="aawII14"/> Throughout the winter of 1915-1916 the 1st Aero Company conducted flying operations, but by April continuing bad weather and engine problems slowed progress in training. The company returned its rented trainers to Gallaudet and acquired five more of disparate manufacture and age, including purchase of a [[Curtiss JN-4|Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny"]].  In addition, the company attended weekly classes in aircraft engines and the theory of aviation at the [[Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science|Columbia School Of Engineering]].<ref name="jh133"/>

The company, commanded by now-Captain Bolling, was mustered into federal service on July 13, 1916, and began a five-week encampment. The Army opened the "Signal Corps Aviation Station, [[Mineola, New York|Mineola]]" at the Garden City Aerodrome on July 22<ref name="jh177">{{harvnb|Hennessy|1958|p=177}}</ref> and the 1st Aero Company received regulation training from two [[Regular Army (United States)|regulars]], 1st Lieutenants [[Joseph E. Carberry]] and [[Walter G. Kilner]],<ref name=afhrastudy91pdf134>{{cite web |url=https://www.afhra.af.mil/Portals/16/documents/Studies/51-100/AFD-090601-134.pdf |title=Biographical Data on Air Force General Officers, 1917-1952, Volume 1 – A thru L |year=1953 |last=Fogerty |first=Robert P. |page=992 |publisher=[[Air Force Historical Research Agency]] |id= USAF historical studies: no. 91 |access-date=November 9, 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831192543/https://www.afhra.af.mil/Portals/16/documents/Studies/51-100/AFD-090601-134.pdf |archive-date=August 31, 2021}}</ref> both veterans of the [[Pancho Villa Expedition|Punitive expedition]] in Mexico with the [[1st Reconnaissance Squadron|1st Aero Squadron]]. On August 1 the aviation school received the first of forty new aircraft to be delivered over the next eight months, most of them Curtiss Jennies, authorization to buy fuel, and to hire three civilian instructors and seven mechanics as staff.  In addition to the 1st Aero Company, the newly formed 2nd Aero Company NYNG also arrived for training (but was not federalized or subject to Carberry's orders), as did 14 officers from the guards of other states, all of which enabled the company to train as a unit.<ref name="jh178">{{harvnb|Hennessy|1958|p=178}}</ref>  Bolling passed a flying test for an expert pilot's license on October 25, receiving [[Fédération Aéronautique Internationale]] certificate No. 536, and passed the [[U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Ratings|Reserve Military Aviator (RMA)]] qualification test.<ref>{{harvnb|Hennessy|1958|p=247}}</ref>

Intended for service in Mexico, the 1st Aero Company never left Long Island but did train 25 of its own members as pilots before mustering out of federal service in November 1916.<ref name="jh134">{{harvnb|Hennessy|1958|p=134}}</ref> It is recognized as the [[Air National Guard]]'s oldest unit and its lineage is carried by the [[102d Rescue Squadron]], New York ANG.<ref>{{cite web| year =2012| url =http://firstaero.org/proudtradition.htm| title =The Early Years - A Proud Tradition| work =First Aero Company New York National Guard| publisher =Northern Lights Associates| access-date =27 October 2012| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20120219002905/http://firstaero.org/proudtradition.htm| archive-date =2012-02-19}}</ref> The increasing numbers of Army aircraft at Mineola enabled the company to continue flying even after it returned to the jurisdiction of the national guard.

At the same time as these events involving Bolling's unit, a parallel private pilot training program was underway.  After American troops under General [[John J. Pershing]] entered Mexico in March 1916, a group of wealthy New Yorkers underwrote another school at nearby [[Fort Jay]] in New York City. The organizer was attorney Phillip A. Carroll, who had been one of the nine men trained by Millman the previous summer. Called the Governors Island Training Corps, the small group of candidates began instruction on May 2. They trained daily under the authority of and in conformance with regulations set down by General Wood with the goal of passing the RMA test and being commissioned in the new aviation section of the Signal Reserve Corps.<ref group=n>Passed June 3, 1916, the National Defense Act provided for an additional 296 officers and 2,000 men in the Signal Corps specifically for the aviation section.</ref> Ultimately 17 men participated, ten completed the course, and seven including Carroll received ratings and commissions by May 1917.<ref>{{harvnb|Hennessy|1958|p=183}}</ref>

In its second winter of operations but no longer under federal control, the 1st Aero Company continued training flights in conjunction with the small force of reserve candidates flying from Governors Island. On November 18, 1916, Bolling led a flight of seven Jennies from Mineola to New York harbor, where they were joined by a pair of JN-4s from the Governors Island school.<ref group=n>One Jennie was flown by Carroll and the other by Yale graduate Cord Meyer, who had noted former Princeton football player and fellow trainee [[Hobey Baker]] along as an observer. Both were among the seven later commissioned, and served together in France with the [[103rd Aero Squadron]].</ref> One of Carroll's instructors in his own plane accompanied the group as the ten airplanes flew cross country together to [[Princeton, New Jersey]], to attend the [[Yale University|Yale]]-[[Princeton University|Princeton]] [[American football|football]] game, the largest such formation of airplanes to date.<ref>{{harvnb|Hennessy|1958|p=179}}</ref> In one of its final tactical maneuvers, led by Bolling on March 8, 1917, the 1st Aero Company participated in an exercise that involved 25 aircraft and half of the company's 44 personnel, simulating battlefield reconnaissance of camouflaged equipment and fortifications, and smoke from a simulated artillery battery.<ref>''Flying'', Vol. VI No. 3, April 1917, p. 200</ref><ref group=n>Although not a member of the national guard, Tex Millman was one of the company's pilots during the maneuvers.  The 22-year-old Millman contracted [[pneumonia]] and died on March 21st. Six pilots of the company were his pallbearers, and another 12 flew a formation in the shape of a cross over his burial service. (''New York Times'', March 22, 1917)</ref> Despite their achievements, Bolling's report to the Chief of the Militia Bureau concluded that the development of national guard aviation was not practical at that time because of difficulties in attracting skilled mechanics into the guard to maintain the aircraft. As a result, and because of a curtailment of federal funding for the project, the War Department decided not to use national guard aero squadrons for service in the war. The 1st Aero Company was disbanded on May 23, 1917.<ref>{{cite web| last =Crotty| first =Capt. Phillip A. Jr., Project Officer, HQ, NYANG| year =1970| url =http://firstaero.org/chaptertwo.htm| title =Official History – Chapter Two| publisher =Northern Lights Associates| access-date =26 October 2012| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20120211151137/http://firstaero.org/chaptertwo.htm| archive-date =11 February 2012}}</ref>

By that time the United States was [[Declaration of war by the United States|at war]] with [[Germany]]. Bolling was called to active duty as a major in the [[Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps]] on April 27, 1917, "for duty in connection with the organization of the 1st Reserve Aero Squadron," pursuant to authorization of the [[National Defense Act of 1916]].<ref>''Flying'', Vol. VI No. 5, June 1917, p. 391.</ref> On May 26, 1917, shortly after the national guard company was disbanded, he organized the new 154-man squadron, the first [[Air Force Reserve Command|air reserve unit]] in the United States. The squadron became the [[26th Space Aggressor Squadron|26th Aero Squadron]] after it deployed to France and had as its cadre the former guardsmen of the 1st Aero Company and the reserve military aviators with whom Bolling had trained in 1916-17.<ref>{{harvnb|Hennessy|1958|pp=183–184}}</ref><ref group=n>The 2nd Aero Company NYNG, from Buffalo, New York, provided men for the 2nd Reserve Aero Squadron, organized at the Chandler Field Aviation Station at [[Hog Island, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Essington, Pennsylvania]], on July 12, 1917. Its state of training was far less than its predecessor. After its induction, the Army ordered that no other reserve squadrons  be formed. The 2nd RAS was redesignated the 45th Aero Squadron, a part of the [[National Army (USA)|National Army]], and transferred to [[Holmwood, Louisiana|Gerstner Field]], Louisiana, for the remainder of the war.</ref>