Minuteman Minute | Beckwith Havens: The First Guard Aviator

Well before the Air National Guard was established by law, members of New York’s First Company, Signal Corps formed an Aeronautical Corps. Beckwith Havens, a pilot with the Curtiss Aeroplane Company, became the Guard’s first aviator when he joined the unit.

Hi, I’m Will Roulett, director of the National Guard Memorial Museum here in D.C., and this is YOUR Minuteman Minute! This picture shows Beckwith Havens, the National Guard’s first aviator. Thirty-nine years before the Air National Guard was established by law, Guardsmen began experimenting with aircraft. In April 1908, several members of the 1st Company, Signal Corps, New York National Guard gathered to organize an Aeronautical Corps, the Guard’s first air unit. The group raised $500 for their first plane in 1910, which they crashed. Afterward, the Curtiss Aeroplane Company loaned them a plane and a pilot, Beckwith Havens. Havens later joined the unit and flew with the Army in joint maneuvers in August 1912, becoming the Guard’s first aviator. Fifty-four years later, Havens finally received his wings from then-Air Force secretary Harold Brown at the National Guard Association’s annual conference. Come see this – and a whole lot more – at the National Guard Memorial Museum. I’m Will Roulett, and that’s been your Minuteman Minute brought to you by the National Guard Educational Foundation.