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Show Air Show 10 Souvenir Program Base manned for pilot In 1939, the War Department selected "Hill Field" as the name for the Ogden Air Depot, honoring the late Maj. Ployer P. Hill. "Pete" Hill was born Oct. 24, 1894, in Newburyport, Mass. After he earned an engineering degree from Brown University, Hill joined the Aviation Section, Signal Corps, in 1917. He earned his pilot wings in 1918 as one of the nation's early Reserve military aviators. From 1918 to 1935, Hill piloted nearly every aircraft imaginable, starting with the Curtiss "Jenny," a single-engin- e wood and wire biplane. From 1920 to 1922, he served with the American Army of Occupation in Germany. In 1923, he moved to Fort Bliss, Texas, to par- ticipate in aerial circus activities, then to Chanute Field, 111., to be an instructor with the Air Service Technical School's photography department. Hill subsequently commanded the 14th Photo Squadron at Mitchell Field, N.Y., then transferred to the Philippines to lead the 6th Photo Squadron at Nichols Field. While there, he toured Japan and China with his wife and son. His last assignment, as a test pilot and chief of planes and engines at Wright Held, Ohio, began in 1932. Hill made frequent stateside flights between Wright Field and contractors' plants to test and evaluate new aircraft. On Oct. 30, 1935, while serving as chief of the Materiel Division Flying Branch and holding the temporary rank of major, Hill died while piloting the Boeing 299 prototype of the e 7 Flying Fortress An heavy bomber. B-1- long-rang- investigation showed that Hill and two other pilots unknowingly tried to take off with the gust locks still engaged on the elevators and rudder. hi HTfV Hill was praised for his military record, and officials said he died "while executing the hazardous duty of testing an experimental airplane. The sacrifice was as great as though he had been lost on the field of battle." The crash took place shortly after President Franklin Roosevelt had signed the Wilcox-Wilso- n - Bill into law, which first spelled out the need for a permanent Rocky Mountain air depot. After the War Department named the field in Hill's honor, Army Air Corps leader Gen. Hap Arnold, in a letter to the Ogden Chamber of Commerce, wrote "he was one of our best and richly deserved this honor." A display and monument honor him at the Hill Aerospace Museum. ' I Major Ployer P. Hill j |