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hangar was completed on January 3, 1914 and shortly afterward Lieutenant Geiger went on leave and returned to the mainland back to San Diego. In January 1914, the CSO approved an application for the training of two enlisted men as pilots. In February 1914 another application for flight training of an enlisted man was approved. In March, Lieutenant Geiger had returned to Hawaii and he sent a request that Privates Samuel P. Jones, Arnold Rueff and Wilfred G. Threader, be sent to San Diego for training as enlisted pilots. Each had expressed a desire to learn to fly, and Lieutenant Geiger felt that it would increase their value to the aeronautical service if they were allowed to do so. Captain Cowan verified the fact that the three men had received some flight instruction by Lieutenant Geiger in Hawaii and added the names of three additional enlisted men stationed in San Diego who had some flight instruction at North Island. Later in the year the training of enlisted pilots was temporarily discontinued and available records do not show whether or not these men became pilots; however, in 1915 both Rueff and Threader were given the rating of Aviation Mechanician. The 1913 season had been hard on S.C. No. 21. In early March 1914, parts were received from the mainland and it was repaired and put back in commission. Lieutenant Geiger, still the only pilot available, had returned sometime that month and was flying again by March 23, 1914, though the machine he used that day was not recorded. Operations continued into early summer 1914, though little seems to have been accomplished other than to continue taking officers on sight-seeing flights over the area. Earlier in the year, on February 24, 1914, all the pusher aircraft back at North Island were offically condemned by the Army and withdrawn from service because of the large number of accidents and deaths in planes of this type, but by late April in Hawaii S.C. No. 8, along with S.C. No. 21, was reassembled and seems to have still been in service during the spring. S.C. No. 21 made some short flights at the end of May. By this time it had become obvious to Lieutenant Geiger that the Signal Corps attempt to start an aviation school in Hawaii was a failure, due partly to the terrain and conditions of the site and possibly to the unsuitability of the two Curtiss machines on hand. In the face of so many unsatisfactory conditions he naturally felt that it was a waste of time for the school to remain open. Apparently the discouraging results of the past year, when nothing of significance had been accomplished in training other officers stationed in Hawaii was enough to bring Lieutenant Geiger to recommend that the Signal Corps Aviation School Fort Kamehameha be discontinued, and the impending rainy season cemented his decision. In mid-June a Signal Corps inspector came to inventory the planes and equipment for the purpose of declaring it obsolete and to sell it at auction. After the inspection S.C. No. 8 was immediately disassembled and stored in crates. In late June, Lieutenant Geiger attempted to fly S.C. No. 21 again but his record does not make it clear if the plane actually flew. By June 27, 1913 the plane had also been disassembled and crated for storage and sale. The engines for both planes were returned to San Diego. On July 18, 1914, the 63rd Congress officially approved the creation of the Aviation Section, Signal Corps (H.R. 5304), giving official sanction to Army military airmen. On July 23rd Lieutenant Geiger was promoted to captain. In August he and all |
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