Division of Military Aeronautics, Secretary of War
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The Division of Military Aeronautics, Secretary of War was the name of the Army's aviation organization for a brief period during World War I, and therefore also an antecedent of the United States Air Force.
The failure of the Aircraft Production Board and the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps to meet aircraft production goals for the establishment of an adequate air combat force in France by the summer of 1918 forced the administration of President Woodrow Wilson to overhaul the bureaucratic structure of military aviation. On May 20, 1918, the Aviation Section was discontinued and military aviation made the responsibility of the Director of Military Aeronautics, reporting directly to the Secretary of War, Newton Baker. However, after just four days a new U.S. Army Air Service was created and took over responsibility for administration, training, aircraft requirements, personnel, and facilities from the Division of Military Aeronautics and absorbed it into its structure.
From May 24, 1918, to August 28, 1918, the Division of Military Aeronautics continued as a part of the Air Service, concerned with aircraft production. The Director of Military Aeronautics also acted as titular head of the Air Service. The Aircraft Production Board had been replaced at the same time by the Bureau of Aircraft Production, headed by a civilian director, John D. Ryan, formerly president of Anaconda Copper.
Although the bureau and division were recognized by the War Department on May 24, 1918, as forming the Army's Air Service, no Director of Air Service was appointed until August 28, when President Wilson made Ryan a Second Assistant Secretary of War and civilian Director of Air Service, ending both the Division of Military Aeronautics and the Bureau of Aircraft Production.
The only Director of Military Aeronautics was Maj.Gen. William L. Kenly, and his executive officer was Colonel Henry H. Arnold, who had also held the same position in the old Aviation Section.
Sources:
- Mortenson, Daniel R., "The Air Service in the Great War," Winged Shield, Winged Sword: A History of the United States Air Force Vol. I (1997), ISBN 0-16-049009-X
- "2005 Almanac," Air Force Magazine, May 2005, Vol. 88, No. 5, the Air Force Association, Arlington, Virginia
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