George E. M. Kelly

George Edward Maurice Kelly (11 December 1878 – 10 May 1911) was the 12th pilot of the U.S. Army's Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps and the first member of the U.S. military killed in the crash of an airplane he was piloting. He was the second U.S. Army aviation fatality, preceded by Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, who was killed while flying as an observer in a Wright Flyer piloted by Orville Wright on 17 September 1908.

Biography Kelly was born on 11 December 1878 in London, England, and educated at Bedford Modern School. He emigrated, gained U.S. citizenship, and joined the U.S. Army in 1904. He was buried in San Antonio National Cemetery.

Legacy A new airfield built in 1917, just southwest of San Antonio, was named Camp Kelly on 11 June 1917, then Kelly Field on 30 July 1917, and finally Kelly Air Force Base on 29 January 1948.