Lt. Frank Patterson was a test pilot for the United States Army Air Corps who was killed in the crash of his DH.4M, AS-32098, at Wilbur Wright Field near Dayton, Ohio on June 19, 1918. He was piloting a flight test of a new mechanism for synchronizing twin machine guns and the propeller when a tie rod broke during a dive from 15,000 feet, causing the wings to separate from the aircraft.