on 7 April. Proponents of the site pointed out the advantages of the field's proximity to the auto capital of the nation and the availability of the lake for practice bombing. In May 1917, it was announced that Joy Aviation Field would be included as a training Camp as part of the expansion of the Air Service, becoming one of only nine military airfields in the country at the time. The United States Army leased the of land, and construction commenced immediately to provide the necessary road and rail access to the site. Within a month, the newspaper was reporting that 1,000 men were at work at the field constructing hangars, barracks, supply depots, machine shops and a school building. On 9 July, the first training aircraft, a Curtiss JN-4D arrived at the new airfield, and the base was gearing up to train men in flying, bombing, radio and photography for the war effort. The first pilots were members of the 8th and 9th Aero Squadrons, and Captain Byron Q. Jones was the first commander at Selfridge. Actual training of pilots began on 16 July 1917, three months after war was declared. Some of these students, a few of them from Mount Clemens area, were given a few flights and then, within two weeks, were whisked overseas for advanced training and to meet the enemy. During the summer of 1917, 72 men won aviator ratings and logged over 3,700 flying hours. From that time on, hundreds of young men passed through Selfridge Air Pilot School for the four weeks of training which qualified them for a commission. Then they were on their way as instructors to the front or to the other flying schools. being established throughout the country. Training units assigned to Selfridge Field were: Post Headquarters, Selfridge Field – October 1919 40th Aero Squadron, August 1917 Re-designated as Squadron "A", July–November 1918 380th Aero Squadron, January 1918 Re-designated as Squadron "B", July–November 1918 Squadron "C", August–November 1918 Squadron "D", August–November 1918 Squadron "E", August–November 1918 Flying School Detachment (Consolidation of Squadrons A-E), November 1918 – November 1919 Flying was considered impractical in Michigan during the winter months, so the student pilots were sent to Gerstner Field at Lake Charles, Louisiana, and to Chapman Field at Miami, Florida, and Selfridge was transformed into a mechanics school for the winter months. From this school, which lasted until the end of