 It was named after 1st Lieutenant Joseph D. Park, who was killed on 9 May 1913 when a military biplane, which he was flying plunged its nose into a gulley, turned a somersault and crashed against a tree, at Olive, California, thirty-nine miles southeast of Los Angeles.The aviator fell only fifteen feet, but the radiator crushed his head, and then fell upon his body.This site was originally established by the Army Signal Corps which managed Army aviation in its early days in May, 1917 after the United States entered World War I.