Page:Legislative History of the AAF and USAF.djvu/8



CHAPTER 1

The air arm of the United States originated as a minor activity of the Signal Corps of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, when the Aeronautical Division, consisting of one officer and two enlisted men, was established in the office of the Army's Chief Signal Officer.  The Aeronautical Division's first airplane was received Item the Wright brothers on 2 August 1909, the contract for the purchase of a plane having been signed on 10 February 1908.

Between 1910 and 1911 no funds were propriated by Congress for aviation purposes. Prior to 1911 the only statutory reference to aerial activity on the part of the U.S. Army was to be found in the appropriations for the Signal Corps under the heading "war balloons." The first direct statutory reference to aircraft contained in the Appropriations Act of March 3, 1911, which read as follows:


 * For Expenses of the Signal Service of the Army ... War balloons and airplanes, including their maintenance and repair; ... Provided, however, that no more than $100,000 of said amount shall be used for the purchase, maintenance and repair of airplanes and other aerial machines.

In 1913 Congress appropriated $125,000 for army aviation and provided for the detail of 30 officers to the aviation service of the Signal Corps. These officers were to receive a pay increase of 35 per cent.  This year also saw the first legislative attempt to change the status of the air service to one of greater autonomy. Congressman James Hay, chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives, introduced a bill proposing to replace the Aeronautical Division of the Signal Corps with an Aviation Corps, which would be a part of the line of the Army. This measure was too far ahead of its time, however, and never emerged from the Committee on Military Affairs.

Nevertheless, this, and other bills designed to give the Aeronautical Division the same status as the Signal Corps, resulted in an act of Congress, dated 18 July 1914, which established an Aviation Section within, and subordinate to, the Army Signal Corps. Also an appropriation of $600,000, an unprecedented sum at that time, was earmarked for aeronautical development—probably because of the threat of war in Europe.  The Aviation Section, as set up under this act, was given the function of operating or supervising the operation of all military aircraft and of training officers and enlisted men in military aviation. It was to consist of 60 officers and 260 enlisted men and a number of Signal Corps men assigned at large to administrative and technical duties. Provision was made for 60 aviation cadets to be selected from unmarried lieu- tenants of the line under 30 years of age. Qualifications for pilots were set up and special pay inducements were offered for flying personnel. All personnel engaging in frequent aerial flights were to receive a pay increase ranging from 25 to 75 per cent of their base pay. First and second lieutenants in the Aviation Section were to receive the pay of a grade higher than that of their regular rank. A death benefit totaling one year's pay was to be awarded to the designated beneficiary of any flyer killed in an aircraft accident. This act was the basic legislation for the operation of the air arm during the next several years.  It is interesting to note that the legislation of 1913 and 1914 set the precedent for future grants