It was in 1917 when Captain Harmon enlisted in the aviation section of the signal corps reserve, from there he was sent  to Austin, Texas. After receiving flight training he became a Second Lieutenant on April 5, 1918. He was then appointed as a Second Lieutenant in the regular army on July 1, 1920. 

Following assignments in several locations, Ernest Harmon earned a living as a test pilot for the United States Patent Office. He was chosen to fly the Martin Bomber in the "Round the Rim" flight of 1919. He won the Detroit News Trophy at the International Air Races when he flew the Huff Daland light bomber at an average speed of 119.19 miles per hour.

While making a test flight from Maryland to Mitchel Field on August 27, 1933, Captain Harmon lost his life when the aircraft ran out of fuel near Stamford, Connecticut. He attempted to parachute to safety, but he was too low for the chute to open.

Captain Harmon was on his course and in no trouble when he passed overCamden, officials of the field learned. After reaching there, however, he ran into haze and fog.

Captain Harmon was well known in Army aviation circles.  He piloted a Martin bombing plane on June 30, 1919 on a non-stop flight from Dayton, Ohio, to Washington, in which he covered 390 milesin 825 minutes, a feat at that time.

In November of that year, he piloted Lieutenant Colonel R. L. Hartz on the first "around-the-rim flight in American aviation, crossing every border state.  He won the bombers race in the air races at Mitchel Field in 1925.

His wive was the first woman to make the air journey from Washington to New York, travling in a plane he piloted in 1919.

He was born in Texas thirty-nine years ago and was graduated from Bethany College, West Virginia, in 1913.  He entered the Aviation Section of the Reserve Corps October 15, 1917, was on active duty as a Second Lieutenant from May 1918 until September 1920 when he was transferred to the Air Service.  He was raised to Captain on November 1, 1932.

Acting as a test pilot for the United States patent office, Captain Harmon was selected to pilot the Martin Bomber in the "round the rim" flight of 1919, which circled the  boundaries of the United States for the first time. While making a test flight from Maryland to Mitchell Field, New York, on 27 August 1933, Captain Harmon lost his life when his aircraft ran out of fuel near Stamford, Connecticut. On 1 July 1948 Harmon Field was renamed Ernest Harmon Air Force Base. Approximately 2,000 military oersonnel were stationed there during that year.

In its desire to test the long-range capabilities of its airplane, the Air Service decided to fly a Glenn Martin bomber (GMB) completely around the periphery of the U.S. The flight, which began at Bolling Field, Washington, D.C. on July 24, 1919, was made in a counterclockwise direction. Since time and speed were not factors, the flight proceeded leisurely westward across the northern states, down the Pacific Coast, and eastward along the Mexican border and across the southern states, arriving back at Bolling on Nov. 9, 1919. The total distance of approximately 10,000 miles was flown in 114 hours, 45 minutes. This was a tremendous achievement for such an early period in the development of the multi-engine bomber.
 

Glenn Martin Bomber (GMB)

The four flyers of the "Round-the-Rim Flight", Lieutenant Colonel R.S. Hartz, Sergeant Jerry Dobias, Sergeant Jack Harding, and Lieutenant Ernest E. Harmon.

The GMB at Chaplin Field, Los Angeles on Oct. 17, 1919. Standing in the nose are 
Harding, Harmon, the famous movie actor Douglas Fairbanks, and Dobias.

I am making a trip with my 5th grade son's school class to DC. One of the sites we will visit is the Arlington National Cemetery. I wanted to show him where my grandfather Ernest Emery Harmon and grandmother Harriett Harmon and their daughter Betty were buried. Ernest Emery (E.E.) Harmon was an early pilot for the Army Air Corps and first pilot to fly around the rim of the United States. His plane crashed when he was returning from a trip to Boling Field where he took a General. He was en route to Mitchell field, the weather got bad plane ran out of gas and he was found with parachute in a tree I think around 1931. Thanks. Margaret E. Harmon Brady.

HARMON, HARRIETTE ALEXANDER WID/O ERNEST E
DATE OF BIRTH: 06/19/1895
DATE OF DEATH: 02/19/1969
BURIED AT: SECTION 4  SITE 2788WH
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

HARMON, HELEN ELIZABETH D/O ERNEST E
DATE OF DEATH: 04/01/1924
BURIED AT: SECTION 4  SITE 2788
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY