More at http://scitech.quickfound.net/aviation_news_and_search.html
Official history of the United States Air Force, volume 1 chapter 1, from the beginning of aviation until the end of World War I.
USAF film SFP 263-1
Public domain film from the National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with clipping reduction and equalization.
v1c2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7cv8GsMbw8
playlist (in progress): http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL87B91BF8DAF07103
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeronautical_Division,_U.S._Signal_Corps
The Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps (1907--1914) was the world's first heavier-than-air military aviation organization and the progenitor of the United States Air Force. A component of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, the Aeronautical Division procured the first powered military aircraft in 1909, created schools to train its aviators, and initiated a rating system for pilot qualifications. It organized and deployed the first permanent American aviation unit, the 1st Aero Squadron, in 1913. The Aeronautical Division trained 51 officers and 2 enlisted men as pilots, and incurred 13 fatalities in air crashes. During this period, the Aeronautical Division had 29 factory-built aircraft in its inventory, built a 30th from spare parts, and leased a civilian airplane for a short period in 1911.
Following statutory authorization of an Aviation Section in the Signal Corps by the United States Congress in 1914, the Aeronautical Division continued as the primary organizational component of the section until April 1918, when its inefficiency in mobilizing for World War I caused the War Department to replace it with an entirely new organization that eventually became the foundation of the Army's Air Service.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_Section,_U.S._Signal_Corps
The Aviation Section, Signal Corps, was the military aviation service of the United States Army from 1914 to 1918, and a direct ancestor of the United States Air Force. It replaced and absorbed the Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps, and was succeeded briefly by the Division of Military Aeronautics, and then by the Air Service, United States Army. The Aviation Section organized the first squadrons of the aviation arm and conducted the first military operations by United States aviation on foreign soil.
The Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps was created by the 63rd Congress (Public Law 143) on July 18, 1914... From July 1914 until May 1918 the aviation section of the Signal Corps was usually known by the title of its administrative organizational component, named variously Aeronautical Division, Air Division, Division of Military Aeronautics, and others. For historic convenience, however, the air arm is commonly referred to during its existence as Aviation Section, Signal Corps...
The Aviation Section began in turbulence, first as an alternative to making aviation in the Army a corps independent of the Signal Corps, then with friction between its pilots, who were all young and on temporary detail from other branches, and its leadership, who were more established Signal Corps officers and non-pilots. After Lieutenant Colonel George O. Squier was brought in as chief to bring stability to Army aviation, it soon found itself wholly inadequate to the task of supporting the Army in combat after the United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917. It attempted to expand and organize a competent arm but its efforts were largely chaotic and in the spring of 1918 aviation was removed, first from the jurisdiction of the Office of the Chief of Signal where it had resided since its inception, and then from the Signal Corps altogether.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Army_Air_Service
The Air Service, United States Army was a forerunner of the United States Air Force during and after World War I. It was established as an independent but temporary wartime branch of the War Department by two executive orders of President Woodrow Wilson: on May 24, 1918, replacing the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps as the nation's air force; and March 19, 1919, establishing a military Director of Air Service to control all aviation activities...
In France, the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force began combat operations in the spring of 1918. By the end of the war, the Air Service used 45 squadrons to cover 137 kilometers of front from Pont-à-Mousson to Sedan. 71 pursuit pilots were credited with shooting down five or more German aircraft while in American service. Overall the Air Service destroyed 756 enemy aircraft and 76 balloons in combat. 17 balloon companies also operated at the front, making 1,642 combat ascensions. 289 airplanes and 48 balloons were lost in battle.
The Air Service was the first form of the air force to have its own organizational structure and identity.
Loading...
14:26
AIR FORCE STORY v1c6: "Prelude to War 1937-1939" USAF (1953)by webdev17180 views
Link to this comment:
All Comments (0)