Remembering World War I: Ramping Up American Military Aviation at the Start of the War

When the United States entered World War I, an independent U.S. Air Force did not exist. Aviation was in its infancy. The U.S. Army and Navy had pursued peacetime American military aviation with no need to support the fledging technology on a massive scale. In the Army, aviation development and operations fell under the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps. Prior to America entering the war, this office had been receiving small but steady increases in funding and authorizations for more personnel.

American Army aircraft had been used with mixed results during the incursion in Northern Mexico in 1916 and 1917.  Marine and Navy aircraft had also been used in the American incursion at Vera Cruz, Mexico in 1914, in Haiti and Santo Domingo. The Navy and Marines had only 235 officers and men dedicated to work on aviation, and the Army just over 1,150. [i]&[ii] These numbers reflected the realities of a military and country at peace. Everything changed after April 6, 1917.

In response to the declaration of war, the Aviation Act (40 Stat. 243), approved July 24, 1917, provided an unprecedented 640 million dollars to “purchase, manufacture, maintain, repair, and operate airships.”[iii] (In today’s money, it amounts to well over 12 billion dollars.) In a single stroke, the American government established an entire air service. This was  a dramatic amount of funding for a service that had barely existed the year before.

This great buildup required combat aircraft that American industry could not produce in quantity in a quick manner. The U.S. government focused on a practical solution. An agreement with France on August 30, 1917 called for the French to provide the United States with 5,000 aircraft and 8,500 aero motors by June 1918.  In exchange the United States would provide France with industrial tools, raw materials, and mechanics from the Army to support their aviation industry. [iv]  The Joint Army and Navy Technical Aircraft Board estimated a total need of 12,000 aircraft and 24,000 engines.[v] While the agreement with France would not supply all aircraft needs, it was a critical part of the solution.

Aircraft production needed to increase in the United States to fill these wartime needs. On July 27, 1917 the U.S. Navy authorized one million dollars to build an aircraft factory in the Philadelphia Naval yard.  Ground was broken August 10 and by March 27, 1918 the first H-16, a multi-engine flying boat, flew from the factory. A week later two of the aircraft were being shipped to England for antisubmarine duty. Later in the war the factory expanded, and produced an improved British aircraft design at the rate of one a day.[vi] Despite successes like this, American aviation depended on foreign aircraft production throughout the war. Thousands of new aircraft required dozens of U.S. airfields and other facilities for training pilots and mechanics, who would complete training in Europe.

The First Aeronautic Detachment, U.S. Navy arrived in France on June 7 and 8, 1917, answering a French request, and soon the aircrews and mechanics began training in French aeronautic schools. Eventually more than 20 American naval air stations were established on the coast of France with American naval aviation patrols beginning on November 13, 1917.[vii]

Presented with the challenge of building and acquiring new aircraft, and training thousands of men to crew and maintain them, the U.S. Army and Navy adapted rapidly to this new form of warfare.  The effort and organization created out of World War I laid the groundwork for American aviation success in the 1920s and 1930s, and in World War II.