Early Work in Aviation 



45 



someone released a parachute flare and didn't abide by the rules on where he 

 was to drop. He was supposed to drop them off this wide part of the river here. 

 He went up the river a little farther, and one of the flares drifted over an 

 abandoned sawmill. It went down while it was still burning and set the mill on 

 fire, as well as a lot of timberland around there. Of course from then on, they 

 had to comply with the orders. They had to be over water and we had to know 

 what the wind was before we dropped so that the flares would burn out before 

 they could reach the shoreline, but we never hit anybody. I've heard stories that 

 folks were nearly hit by falling bombs or a bomb would fall in somebody's yard 

 from a premature release or a hangup, but I never heard of anybody getting hit 

 or hurt. 



Dahlgren has an exceptional record in that regard. In earlier days when Indian Head was 

 testing its weapons, it had a pretty bad record. 



I do remember as a kid I read an article in Popular Mechanics, which I always 

 enjoyed reading, where Indian Head had fired a 12-inch gun down the river, 

 and the projectile landed over in the town of Quantico. That was one of the 

 things that led to this Station here. This Station had 30,000 yards down the river 



MK VII smoke screen tank at Dahlgren, December 26, 1934. 



