U.S. Army Signal Corps
The Signal Corps, established in 1860, is a division of the U.S. Army primarily responsible for information and communication. Its original mandate included weather forecasting. In 1907 it created its Aeronautics Section, which was spun off in 1918 as the Army Air Service.
Also in 1907 the Signal Corps issued Signal Corps Specification Number 486, a request for bids to construct an airplane, with notoriously stringent requirements. The contract was awarded to the Wright Brothers who delivered the army's first airplane, the Wright Military Flyer (a.k.a. Type A, Model A, Signal Corps No. 1), to Fort Myer, Virginia. The Aeronautical Board created oversee trials of this airplane included Frank Lahm and Frederic Humphreys. In 1909, the army brought in Wilbur Wright to train Lahm and Humphreys as the first military aviators at a field in College Park, Maryland.[1]
On 3 March 1911, Congress made its first official appropriation for aviation: $125,000. The Signal Corps used these funds for training at San Antonio and in June 2011 to formalize the flying school at College Park. By the end of the year the American air force had five planes, three balloons, and six pilots.[2]
| Organization names | Army Signal Corps |
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| Country | US |
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| Scope | national |
| Started aero | 1907 |
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References
- ↑ Catherine Wallace Allen, "Wright Military Training at College Park, 1909", Air Power History, Winter 2002.
- ↑ Sweetser, 1919, The American Air Service, pp. 11–12.
