Col. Leslie MacDill was an early pioneer of American military aviation, a decorated World War I combat training commander, and an aeronautical engineer who served on the War Department General Staff in Washington, D.C. A visionary advocate for military aviation, he served as a technical advisor to President Calvin Coolidge's 1925 Aircraft Board (the Morrow Board), where he successfully lobbied for the legislative creation of the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1926. In December 1939, the War Department honored his legacy by naming the newly constructed Southeast Air Base in Tampa, Fla., MacDill Field.
Col. MacDill was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Corps in April 1912, completing heavy artillery training at Fort Monroe, Va., before serving at Fort Hamilton, N.Y. In August 1914, he detailed to the Aviation Section of the U.S. Signal Corps, completing flight training at Glen L. Martin's aviation school at Rockwell Field on North Island in San Diego, Calif., where he earned Aero Club of America Aviator License No. 319. During World War I, he organized a select detachment of cadet aviators for deployment to Europe, later serving as an AEF materiel officer in France. From May 1918 to February 1919, Col. MacDill commanded the American Aerial Gunnery School at St. Jean de Monts, France, organizing combat training utilizing Nieuport 17 and Sopwith Camel fighters.
Following the war, Col. MacDill earned a Doctor of Science in aeronautical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He went on to serve as the Assistant to the Commanding Officer and later Chief of the Engineering Division at McCook Field, Ohio, where he supervised early aircraft, engine, and propeller development, and famously documented the foundational observations of industrial "learning curves" in manufacturing. He served in the War Plans Division and the Office of the Chief of the Air Corps throughout the 1930s. On Nov. 9, 1938, Col. MacDill was tragically killed in the crash of a BC-1 basic combat aircraft shortly after takeoff from Bolling Field, Washington, D.C.
EDUCATION
1909 Bachelor of Arts, Hanover College, Hanover, Ind.
1911 Master of Arts in Mathematics, Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.
1922 Doctor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
1934 Army War College, Fort Humphreys, Washington, D.C.
1935 Naval War College, Newport, R.I.
ASSIGNMENTS
1. April 1912–August 1914, Officer, 6th Company, Coast Artillery Corps, Fort Hamilton, N.Y.
2. August 1914–July 1915, Student Pilot, Signal Corps Aviation School, Rockwell Field, San Diego, Calif.
3. July 1915–November 1915, Pilot, 1st Aero Squadron, Fort Sill, Okla.
4. January 1916–May 1917, Pilot, 2nd Aero Squadron, Department of the Philippine Islands, Manila, Philippines
5. May 1917–August 1917, Staff Officer, Office of the Chief Signal Officer, Washington, D.C.
6. August 1917–October 1917, Commander, Cadet Aviator Detachment, various locations and transit to England
7. October 1917–May 1918, Materiel Officer, Headquarters American Expeditionary Forces, France
8. May 1918–February 1919, Commander, American Aerial Gunnery School, St. Jean de Monts, France
9. February 1919–June 1920, Member, Air Service Advisory Board, Office of the Director of Air Service, Washington, D.C.
10. June 1920–June 1922, Student, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
11. June 1922–August 1929, Assistant to the Commanding Officer and Chief, Engineering Division, McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio
12. August 1929–August 1933, Chief, Weapons Systems Support and War Plans Division, Office of the Chief of the Air Corps, Washington, D.C.
13. August 1933–June 1934, Student, Army War College, Fort Humphreys, Washington, D.C.
14. June 1934–August 1935, Student, Naval War College, Newport, R.I.
15. August 1935–November 1938, Member, War Department General Staff, Washington, D.C.
FLIGHT INFORMATION
Rating: military aviator (FAI/Aero Club of America License No. 319)
Flight hours: historical records unavailable
Aircraft flown: Wright Model C, Curtiss JN-4, Nieuport 17, Sopwith Camel and BC-1
MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS
World War I Victory Medal
EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION
Second Lieutenant April 13, 1912
First Lieutenant July 2, 1915
Captain May 15, 1917
Major July 1, 1920
Lieutenant Colonel Aug. 1, 1935
Colonel Aug. 26, 1936
(Current as of November 1938)
The Air Corps suffered a great loss and grieved to learn of the death of Colonel Leslie MacDill, as the result of an airplane crash on the morning of 9 November, 1938, in Washington D.C. The accident occurred several minutes after his take off from Bolling Field in a BC-1 aircraft.
Accounts pieced together from numerous eyewitnesses indicated that something went wrong with the motor. Colonel MacDill first tried to get back to Bolling Field, and then with death staring him in the face, aimed his plane for a narrow space between two houses. The descending plane cut down telephone and power wires, knocked down a pole, clipped off tree limbs, plunged to the ground and burst into flames. Colonel MacDill and his passenger Private Joseph G. Gloxner were killed instantly.
Colonel MacDill was one of aviation’s early pioneers, and those who knew him well realized his special ability, his highly analytical mind, as well as his professional attainments. His sound conclusions and helpful advice were constantly relied upon.
Colonel MacDill was born at Monmouth, Illinois on 18 February, 1889. Following his graduation in 1909 from Hanover College with an A.B. degree, and from the University of Indiana in 1911 with an A.M. degree, he was commissioned from civilian life as a Second Lieutenant, Coast Artillery Corps on 13 April, 1912. He served with the 6th Company, Coast Artillery Corps from 10 December, 1912, until his detail in 1914 in the Aviation Section, Signal Corps. Upon completion of his flying training at the Signal Corps Aviation School at San Diego, California, he was rated a Junior Military Aviator on 2 July 1915, which automatically advanced him to the rank of First Lieutenant. He was promoted to Captain on 15 May 1917; to Major 1 July 1920; to Lieutenant Colonel 1 August 1935; and to Colonel on 26 August, 1936.