U.S. Army

The U.S. Army administered by the U.S. War Department conducted aero activities from 1861. Many of these fell under the auspices of the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

This chart printed in the 26 July 1917 Air Service Journal might clarify how aviation in the Army was organized. Practically, aviation falls under the auspices of the Signal Corps, led by Chief Signal Officer George O. Squier. Relavant advisory boards including the Aircraft Production Board are listed at the top.

A more visual organization chart from the same magazine; shows the independence of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and Aircraft Production Board.

This activities received a funding boost with the passage of the 1917 Army Aviation Bill.

The diagrams at right show the organization and chief officers (and board members) concerned with army aeronautics & aviation in 1917. The article which accompanies them in the Air Service Journal, "U.S. Army Air Service", describes the purpose of the divisions and sections.

(Notice that the Signal Corps retained a balloon division, which, it was reported, in 1917 was focusing on captive balloons, with its main training school at Fort Omaha, Nebraska. The Missouri Aeronautical Society was also training pilots at a civilian facility in St. Louis "in accordance with special regulations No. 50, War Department".)

Links

• w:United States Department of War
• List: w:United States Secretary of War#Secretary of War (1789–1947)

Organization names	U.S. Army; United States Army; U.S. War Department; U.S. Department of War
Entity type
Country	US
City
Affiliated with	U.S. War Department, U.S. Army Signal Corps, Union Army Balloon Corps
Scope	national
Started aero	1861
Ended aero
Keywords	military
Key people	George O. Squier
Wikidata id