The Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot is a former

Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps The Aviation Section, Signal Corps, was the aerial warfare service of the United States from 1914 to 1918, and a direct statutory ancestor of the United States Air Force. It absorbed and replaced the Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps, and con ...

military facility, located adjacent to

Wilbur Wright Field Wilbur Wright Field was a military installation and an airfield used as a World War I pilot, mechanic, and armorer training facility and, under different designations, conducted United States Army Air Corps and Air Forces flight testing. Loca ...

Riverside, Ohio Riverside is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. A suburb of Dayton, The population was 25,201 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Riverside is located at (39.778858, -84.123094 ...

History

The Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot was constructed on 40 acres (160,000 m2) in 1917 on land purchased by the Army from the Miami Conservancy District. The land bordered

. Adjacent to it in order to provide support, the Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot provided logistics support to Wilbur Wright Field and three other Signal Corps aviation schools located in the Midwest. Each day the depot received, stored, and issued equipment and supplies to Signal Corps aviation schools in the region. In 1924, additional land was purchased and the deeds presented to President

Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...

for the construction of a new aviation engineering center. The entire acreage including the Fairfield Air Depot was designated Wright Field in honor of both Wright brothers. Between 1925 and 1927, modern new facilities were built. Orville Wright raised the flag over the new engineering center at the official dedication ceremony on 12 October 1927. The merged facilities were renamed

Wright Field Wilbur Wright Field was a military installation and an airfield used as a World War I pilot, mechanic, and armorer training facility and, under different designations, conducted United States Army Air Corps and Air Forces flight testing. Loca ...

in honor of the Wright brothers and became headquarters for the Material Division of the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

. Wright Field retained its flying facilities, with the Fairfield Air Depot supporting its operations as well as the Air Corps engineering center. Wright Field 1920

The Material Division was responsible for developing advanced aircraft, equipment, and accessories. The Division also procured and provided maintenance for all of these systems and was charged with managing the extensive Air Corps depot system. The functions of the Division were ultimately broken into two separate commands, the Materiel Command and the Air Service Command. The Materiel Command, headquartered at Wright Field, was responsible for the procurement of airplanes and equipment in production quantities and for sustaining an accelerated program of testing and development. The Air Service Command, located on

Patterson Field Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wri ...

, northeast of Wright Field, assumed responsibility for all logistics functions, including maintenance and supply. The Fairfield Air Depot on Wright Field remained active until 1946 when its facilities were moved to Patterson Field as part of Air Service Command. The location of the Fairfield Air Depot is now the

National Museum of the United States Air Force The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is the ...

References

Abandoned Airfields, Southwest Ohio
World War I airfields in the United States Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Military installations in Ohio {{WWI-stub