 En route to the United States, Lt. Lahm toured aviation sites in Germany and England, where he met Griffith Brewer, a balloonist who later became a pilot for the Wrights.In December, Lahm arrived at Fort Myer, Virginia, where he and a detachment of Signal Corps troops constructed a hydrogen generating plant and practiced captive observation balloon work.Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone and an early aviation enthusiast, often invited Lahm to join visiting scientists in his Washington home for discussions on many subjects, especially aviation.