Jacob Earl Fickel
Encyclopedia
Major General
Jacob Earl "Jake" Fickel (31 January 1883 – 7 August 1956) had a prominent career in the United States Air Force
usually associated with being an instructor of aviation. He is credited with firing the first recorded gunshot ever from an airplane showing that a plane would not break up due to the gun's recoil.
, Fort Sheridan
and Fort Leavenworth
. In 1907 Fickel was commissioned as a second lieutenant of Infantry. He then joined the 29th Infantry at Fort Douglas
. In August of that year he went with that regiment for the Philippine Islands and served at Fort William McKinley
with 2d Lt. Henry H. Arnold
. In 1909 Fickel returned to the United States for station at Fort Jay
. He was there through 1911. He then went to Fort Niagara
until November 1913.
Fickel then went for a second tour of duty in the Philippine Islands with the 13th Infantry. He served at Fort William McKinley again and at Camp McGrath until March 1917. He was then assigned to duty as an instructor at the Officers Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison
. There he remained until November of that year. Fickel was then ordered to Washington, D.C., for duty with the Headquarters of the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps. He served in that capacity until May 1918.
Fickel was next ordered to Rockwell Field
in California as a student officer at the flying school. Upon completion of his course in November 1918 he assumed command of Carruthers Field
in Texas where he remained until January 1919. Fickel was then ordered back to Washington, D.C. There he served in the Office of the Chief of Air Service until March 1921. His next duty was with the Spruce Production Corporation
Portland, Oregon. There he served until the summer of 1922. He then returned to Washington for a two-year tour of duty as Chief of the Supply Division of the Air Service.
In June 1925 Fickel graduated from the Air Corps Technical School at Langley Field. In June 1926 he also graduated from the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth
. His next tour of duty was to serve as Executive of the Materiel Division at McCook Field
until April 1927. He then attended the Air Corps Advanced Flying School at Kelly Field in Texas for three months. Fickel then returned to McCook Field where he reassumed the duties of Executive Officer, Materiel Division, for a period of three years.
Fickel then attended the Army War College in Washington, D.C. He graduated in June 1931. His next duty was as Chief of the Buildings and Grounds Division in the Office of the Chief of Air Corps, Washington, D.C. He was there until January 1935. From February 1935 to June 1936, Fickel was Commandant of the Air Corps Advanced Flying School at Kelly Field. His next tour of duty was as Air Officer of the Ninth Corps Area, with Headquarters at the Presidio of San Francisco, California. He was there until March 1939. He was then assigned to command the 1st Wing, General Headquarters Air Force
at March Field in California.
In February 1940, he was appointed Assistant Chief of Air Corps in Washington, D.C. He was later assigned to Riverside, California, in 1940, as Air District Commander, becoming the first Commanding General of the Fourth Air Force
on December 18, 1940. After an inordinately high rate of accidents involving Lockheed P-38 Lightnings in his command, he was relieved of command on April 2, 1942, on the orders of his friend Hap Arnold, now commanding the Army Air Forces
, and reassigned to command the District No. 3 (Western) Technical Training Command, Oklahoma, on March 5, 1942. Fickel retired in 1946.
Fickel is credited with firing the first recorded gunshot ever from an airplane on August 20, 1910. From his passenger seat he fired a rifle twice at a target from an altitude of 100 feet with Glenn H. Curtiss flying the airplane. It was done at Sheepshead Bay Race Track
near New York City. This proved that a gun could be fired from an airplane without the plane breaking up into pieces due to the gun’s recoil.
He repeated the feat at an air show in the summer of 1911 at Nassau Boulevard airfield
on Long Island
with Arnold at the controls. Competing against a team of Britons, Thomas Sopwith
and Malcolm Campbell
, the Americans won easily when Fickel displayed a skill that enabled him to put six bullets through a dinner plate from an aircraft flying 200 feet (61 m) off the ground.
Fickel became the first aerial gunner in America. These experiments led to low recoil machine guns. Soon thereafter machine guns were added to planes for air-to-ground attack or air-to-air fighting. The first airplane machine guns were patented by Samuel Neal McClean. He sold his rights to the Automatic Arms Company in late 1910. Issac N. Lewis working for the company later improved the technology on this airplane machine gun system.
The first use of an airplane machine gun in combat was in August 1914 with the first recorded airplane shot down in air-to-air fighting in October of that year. By 1915 air combat was an integral part of World War I fighting.
Gen. Fickel was the brother-in-law of glider pioneer, Lawrence Malcolm Allison
, of Lawrence, Kansas.
Major general (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general...
Jacob Earl "Jake" Fickel (31 January 1883 – 7 August 1956) had a prominent career in the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
usually associated with being an instructor of aviation. He is credited with firing the first recorded gunshot ever from an airplane showing that a plane would not break up due to the gun's recoil.
Biography
Fickel enlisted in the Regular Army when he was twenty one years of age. He served as a private, corporal, sergeant, and first sergeant of Company K, 27th Infantry. He was stationed at Fort HayesFort Hayes
Fort Hayes, a military post in Columbus, Ohio, United States, was created by an act of the United States Congress in 1877. As of 2007, the property is primarily used for the Columbus School District's Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center and bus depot. Currently, the 391st Military Police...
, Fort Sheridan
Fort Sheridan, Illinois
Fort Sheridan is a residential neighborhood spread among Lake Forest, Highwood, and Highland Park in Lake County, Illinois, United States. It was originally established as a United States Army Post named after Civil War Cavalry General Philip Sheridan, to honor his services to Chicago...
and Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, immediately north of the city of Leavenworth in the upper northeast portion of the state. It is the oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C. and has been in operation for over 180 years...
. In 1907 Fickel was commissioned as a second lieutenant of Infantry. He then joined the 29th Infantry at Fort Douglas
Fort Douglas, Utah
Camp Douglas was established in October 1862 as a small military garrison about three miles east of Salt Lake City, Utah, for the purpose of protecting the overland mail route and telegraph lines along the Central Overland Route. In 1878, the post was renamed Fort Douglas. The fort was officially...
. In August of that year he went with that regiment for the Philippine Islands and served at Fort William McKinley
Fort William McKinley
Fort William McKinley, was established in the Philippines during the Philippine–American War in 1901 when the whole land south of Pasig River down to Alabang was declared a U.S. Military Reservation. During the World War II era, it was where USAFFE had its headquarters for the Philippine Department...
with 2d Lt. Henry H. Arnold
Henry H. Arnold
Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold was an American general officer holding the grades of General of the Army and later General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps , Commanding General of the U.S...
. In 1909 Fickel returned to the United States for station at Fort Jay
Fort Jay
Fort Jay is a harbor fortification and the name of the former Army post located on Governors Island in New York Harbor. Fort Jay is the oldest defensive structure on the island, built to defend Upper New York Bay, but has served other purposes...
. He was there through 1911. He then went to Fort Niagara
Fort Niagara
Fort Niagara is a fortification originally built to protect the interests of New France in North America. It is located near Youngstown, New York, on the eastern bank of the Niagara River at its mouth, on Lake Ontario.-Origin:...
until November 1913.
Fickel then went for a second tour of duty in the Philippine Islands with the 13th Infantry. He served at Fort William McKinley again and at Camp McGrath until March 1917. He was then assigned to duty as an instructor at the Officers Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison
Fort Benjamin Harrison
Fort Benjamin Harrison was a U.S. Army post located in suburban Lawrence, Indiana, northeast of Indianapolis. It is named for the 23rd United States President, Benjamin Harrison. Land was purchased in 1903, with the post being officially named for President Harrison in honor of Indianapolis being...
. There he remained until November of that year. Fickel was then ordered to Washington, D.C., for duty with the Headquarters of the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps. He served in that capacity until May 1918.
Fickel was next ordered to Rockwell Field
Rockwell Field
Rockwell Field was an Army air base located in Coronado, California, near San Diego. It shared the area known as North Island with Naval Air Station North Island from 1912 to 1935. Its functions were eventually moved to March Field so that the naval air station could take over the whole area...
in California as a student officer at the flying school. Upon completion of his course in November 1918 he assumed command of Carruthers Field
Carruthers Field
Carruthers Field was a military airfield located at Benbrook, Texas, near Fort Worth, during World War I. It was one of three fields associated with Camp Taliaferro....
in Texas where he remained until January 1919. Fickel was then ordered back to Washington, D.C. There he served in the Office of the Chief of Air Service until March 1921. His next duty was with the Spruce Production Corporation
Spruce Production Division
The Spruce Production Division was a unit of the United States Army established in 1917 to supply the army with high quality spruce and other wood products needed for the production of aircraft for the United States war effort in World War I. The division was part of the Army Signal Corps's...
Portland, Oregon. There he served until the summer of 1922. He then returned to Washington for a two-year tour of duty as Chief of the Supply Division of the Air Service.
In June 1925 Fickel graduated from the Air Corps Technical School at Langley Field. In June 1926 he also graduated from the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, immediately north of the city of Leavenworth in the upper northeast portion of the state. It is the oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C. and has been in operation for over 180 years...
. His next tour of duty was to serve as Executive of the Materiel Division at McCook Field
McCook Field
McCook Field was an airfield and aviation experimentation station operated by the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps and its successor the United States Army Air Service from 1917-1927...
until April 1927. He then attended the Air Corps Advanced Flying School at Kelly Field in Texas for three months. Fickel then returned to McCook Field where he reassumed the duties of Executive Officer, Materiel Division, for a period of three years.
Fickel then attended the Army War College in Washington, D.C. He graduated in June 1931. His next duty was as Chief of the Buildings and Grounds Division in the Office of the Chief of Air Corps, Washington, D.C. He was there until January 1935. From February 1935 to June 1936, Fickel was Commandant of the Air Corps Advanced Flying School at Kelly Field. His next tour of duty was as Air Officer of the Ninth Corps Area, with Headquarters at the Presidio of San Francisco, California. He was there until March 1939. He was then assigned to command the 1st Wing, General Headquarters Air Force
1st Bombardment Wing (World War II)
The 1st Bombardment Wing is an inactive United States Army Air Force unit. It was the first wing formed in the reorganized United States Army Air Service, created in August 1919 to control three groups patrolling the border with Mexico after revolution broke out there. Its last assignment was with...
at March Field in California.
In February 1940, he was appointed Assistant Chief of Air Corps in Washington, D.C. He was later assigned to Riverside, California, in 1940, as Air District Commander, becoming the first Commanding General of the Fourth Air Force
Fourth Air Force
The Fourth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Reserve . It is headquartered at March Air Reserve Base, California....
on December 18, 1940. After an inordinately high rate of accidents involving Lockheed P-38 Lightnings in his command, he was relieved of command on April 2, 1942, on the orders of his friend Hap Arnold, now commanding the Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
, and reassigned to command the District No. 3 (Western) Technical Training Command, Oklahoma, on March 5, 1942. Fickel retired in 1946.
Notability
Sheepshead Bay Race Track
Sheepshead Bay Race Track was an American Thoroughbred horse racing facility built on the site of the Coney Island Jockey Club at Sheepshead Bay, New York...
near New York City. This proved that a gun could be fired from an airplane without the plane breaking up into pieces due to the gun’s recoil.
He repeated the feat at an air show in the summer of 1911 at Nassau Boulevard airfield
Nassau Boulevard (LIRR station)
The Nassau Boulevard is a station on the west side of Nassau Boulevard in Garden City, New York. It is one of five Long Island Rail Road stations in the village. Originally it was a station for "Stewart's Central Rail Road," a railroad envisioned to serve the village of Garden City by its founder,...
on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
with Arnold at the controls. Competing against a team of Britons, Thomas Sopwith
Thomas Sopwith
Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, CBE, Hon FRAeS was an English aviation pioneer and yachtsman.-Early life:...
and Malcolm Campbell
Malcolm Campbell
Sir Malcolm Campbell was an English racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times during the 1920s and 1930s using vehicles called Blue Bird...
, the Americans won easily when Fickel displayed a skill that enabled him to put six bullets through a dinner plate from an aircraft flying 200 feet (61 m) off the ground.
Fickel became the first aerial gunner in America. These experiments led to low recoil machine guns. Soon thereafter machine guns were added to planes for air-to-ground attack or air-to-air fighting. The first airplane machine guns were patented by Samuel Neal McClean. He sold his rights to the Automatic Arms Company in late 1910. Issac N. Lewis working for the company later improved the technology on this airplane machine gun system.
The first use of an airplane machine gun in combat was in August 1914 with the first recorded airplane shot down in air-to-air fighting in October of that year. By 1915 air combat was an integral part of World War I fighting.
Gen. Fickel was the brother-in-law of glider pioneer, Lawrence Malcolm Allison
Lawrence Malcolm Allison
Lawrence Malcolm Allison was a maker of gliders and was a pioneer aviator.-References:...
, of Lawrence, Kansas.