Byron Quinby Jones was a pioneer aviator. In 1915 he set two flight duration records, one for aviator alone with a flight time of eight hours and fifty-three minutes on January 15th, and one for aviator and two passengers with a flight time of seven hours and five minutes on March 12th, both in San Diego. He was Selfridge Air National Guard Base's first base commander

Base commander

The base commander is the officer assigned to command a military base. In the United States armed forces, a base commander is generally an O-6 grade officer, meaning Colonel or Captain . A base commander may be a higher or lower rank, however, depending on the installation. In the US Army, a base...

. He was also the first army pilot to stall and loop an aircraft without crashing and, with Thomas D. Milling

Thomas D. Milling

Thomas DeWitt Milling was a pioneer of military aviation and a brigadier general in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He was the first rated pilot in the history of the United States Air Force....

, participated in the first army combat aerial reconnaissance mission.