HMX-1 was commissioned on December 1, 1947 and based in MCAS Quantico, Virginia because of its relative proximity to the Sikorsky and Piasecki plants in Connecticut, and to the Marine Corps schools where most of the original personnel would come.
Kibben’s Marine Corps assignments have included Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, where she served with Headquarters and Service Battalion, Security Battalion, the Brig, Marine Corps Air Facility and the president’s Helicopter Squadron, HMX-1.
HMX compositions with teflon-based binders were developed in 1960s and 1970s for gun shells and for lunar seismic experiments.
Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1) was created in 1957 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower was vacationing in Newport, Rhode Island, and had to return to the White House on short notice.