The first airplane crash which resulted in the death of two or more U.S. military personnel occurred at the Signal Corps flying field at College Park, Maryland, on September 28, 1912. Lt. Lewis C. Rockwell, with Corporal Frank S. Scott as his passenger, was gliding to a landing in Wright "B" Signal Corps Aeroplane No. 4 when the craft suddenly plunged to the ground.

Scott was killed instantly, thus becoming the first U.S. military enlisted man to die in an airplane crash. Rockwell succumbed to his injuries three hours later at Walter Reed Hospital.