Mather Air Force Base - Carl Spencer Mather

Carl Spencer Mather

The Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps of the United States Army activated Mills Field on February 21, 1918 as a pilot training base that was surrounded by ranch land and vineyards. Mills Field was renamed Mather Field for Second Lieutenant Carl Spencer Mather, a 25-year-old army pilot killed in a mid-air collision while training at Ellington Field, Texas on January 30, 1918. Mather learned to fly in 1914 at the Curtiss Flying School in Hammondsport, New York, and became an instructor there at the age of 20. He enlisted as an aviation cadet in August 1917 and as a licensed pilot was commissioned with part of his class as a second lieutenant on January 20, 1918. He continued training to earn a Reserve Military Aviator rating and promotion to first lieutenant but was killed ten days later. The remainder of his class was requested that Mills Field be renamed in Mather's honor. On May 2, 1918, the name was changed to Mather Field, the precursor to Mather Air Force Base and today's Sacramento Mather Airport.