[3] In 1916 he became a career aviator, serving in the United States Army Air Service and its successors until his retirement in 1941 at the age of 64, rising to the rank of brigadier general.

His father had been in poor health for five years, and on the advice of doctors, undertook a trip to Southern France, Italy, and Switzerland in October to improve his condition.

[9] Lahm's father made annual summer visits to a home he had purchased in 1877 in Summit County, Ohio, crossing the Atlantic Ocean fifty times[9] to remain close to his children.

Katherine lived with their aunt, Helen Lahm Greenwood, in Canton, Ohio, studied in France and at Smith College, and married an Army officer, Frank Parker, who retired as a major general in 1936.

He held the rope climbing record at West Point, and his enthusiasm for horse riding led him into the cavalry on his graduation in 1901, ranked 23rd in merit in his class of 74 cadets.

He toured China, Korea, and Japan during his return to the United States in 1903, where he was assigned to West Point as an instructor in modern languages for three years.

[11] In 1906, while awaiting entrance to Saumur, Lahm won the first Gordon Bennett Cup international balloon race against competitors from seven nations, all of which had a military officer as a crew member.

His father had planned to pilot the balloon United States himself but desired to return to America for Katherine's wedding, and so recruited his son to fly in his place.

Accompanied by Major Henry Blanchard Hersey[n 2] of the United States Weather Bureau, who had studied the storm tracks and prevailing winds, Lahm started 12th in a field of 16 late in the afternoon of September 30.

[13][14] Lahm's son Lawrence, himself a career officer, described his father's traits and characteristics in an essay he wrote in 1995: He was five feet nine inches tall and was always very slender so that he appeared taller than he was actually…he had been a gymnast and the muscles of his arms and back stood out like ropes.

He enjoyed music and we sang on long automobile trips when he changed station from one Army post to another, my father and mother in the front seat and my sister, Barbara, and I in the back.

[18] En route to the United States, Lt. Lahm toured aviation sites in Germany and England, where he met Griffith Brewer, a balloonist who later became a pilot for the Wrights.

In December, Lahm arrived at Fort Myer, Virginia, where he and a detachment of Signal Corps troops constructed a hydrogen generating plant and practiced captive observation balloon work.

[11][19][n 3] The Signal Corps advertised specifications for a powered airplane on December 23, 1907, and among the three bids found acceptable was one submitted by the Wrights to build a plane within 200 days for $25,000.

The Signal Corps budget had insufficient funds to meet the three bids, and in early February 1908, Lahm accompanied Gen. Allen and chief of the Aeronautical Division Capt Charles DeF.

He and Lahm established a world's record for a two-man flight: one hour, 12 minutes and 40 seconds, to meet the Army's specification for the aircraft, designated Signal Corps (S.C.) Number 1, being the first airplane purchased by the U.S.

[24] The Wright Brothers set out to fulfill their Army contracts by teaching officers to operate the machine, with Lahm and 2nd Lt. Frederic E. Humphreys selected by Gen. Allen as candidates.

In October 1909 Wilbur Wright trained both at a field in College Park, Maryland recommended by Lahm after balloon observations and inspections on horseback.

[n 10] On June 17, 1913, before flying was shut down again because the airfield was too muddy, Lahm conducted a 21-mile reconnaissance from Ft. McKinley to Alabang, drawing accurate sketches of positions of the 7th and 8th Cavalry on maneuvers there.

[37] As he was about to start sick leave, Lahm was offered a six-week inspection tour of balloon schools, equipment, and operations in both Britain and France.

Lahm sailed from New York City on August 23 aboard the RMS Baltic and arrived in England on September 15, 1917, where he began keeping a war diary.

On September 24 he flew the English Channel as an observer on a Bristol Fighter,[39] landing at Saint-Omer and continuing on to Montrouge, where the 2nd Wing, 2nd Air Brigade[40] of the British Second Army was situated.

[1][42] Lahm's orders to return to the United States were rescinded and he was assigned to organize the balloon section of the Air Service headquarters in Paris.

[45]Lahm remained on unassigned duty in France until July 30, 1919, when he sailed from Brest on the converted troopship SS Leviathan, arriving at Hoboken, New Jersey, on August 7.

Lahm was advanced to brigadier general on July 17, 1926, for a four-year tour as an assistant chief, to be commander of the new Air Corps Training Center, established at San Antonio, Texas, on August 16, 1926.

[48] After Chief of Air Corps Maj. Gen. Mason Patrick recommended the same in December 1926, Lahm appointed a board of five officers on April 18, 1927, to draw up plans for a model airfield.

The next day, after reviewing unsolicited plans offered by 1st Lt. Harold L. Clark, an architect-trained former flying instructor now serving as a Kelly Field motor pool officer, it recommended a "revolutionary" four-quadrant circular layout that placed the structures between parallel runways aligned with the prevailing winds.

"[4] At the end of his tour he reverted to his permanent rank of lieutenant colonel, assigned again as Air Officer, Ninth Corps Area until July 1931, when his wife died of pneumonia, leaving him a widower with two young children, Lawrence, 12, and Barbara, 8.

[46] In October 1935 Lahm returned to the United States as Air Officer, Second Corps Area, at Governors Island, New York, until December 14, 1940, when he became Chief of Aviation to the First Army.

[5] In May 1962, the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, Gen. Curtis E. LeMay, honored Lahm with a special citation recognizing him as the nation's first military aviator.