What America did

The United States had to create for itself, after entering the war, not only the new arm of air warfare almost from its very foundation, but also the industry for its development and support. Much controversy raged over the Government’s air program and its progress during almost the entire year and a half and many and loud and long-continued were the charges of inefficiency, incompetence and failure. Mistakes there were, since human beings have not yet ceased the making of them, but when America’s achievement in air warfare is considered in all its phases and as a whole the frank and fair judgment can not fail to be that her development of the air section of her fighting forces deserves to rank among the most notable of all her wartime achievements.

In April, 1917, this country had in the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps two small and poorly equipped flying fields, sixty-five officers, 1,120 men and less than 300 second rate planes, most of them for training, and there were ready for its use comparatively few of the many and varied manufacturing industries and the trained workmen necessary for the development of an extensive war aviation program. Nor was there any one who had more than a vague appreciation of the complicated technique that would be required for such a development.

Although aviation had been born in the United States it had not received here the interest and commercial encouragement necessary for its growth and had had to betake itself to Europe to find the means and the opportunity for development. This lack of commercial interest had been reflected in the army and a conservative General Staff had given only the slightest consideration to the military possibilities of aircraft. Not until the summer of 1914 had an aviation section been incorporated in the army and there had been very little increase or betterment in its facilities during the following two and a half years. Even after our declaration of war an important aircraft participation was not contemplated by the General Staff until it was asked for by our war associates.

At the outbreak of the war each of the great belligerents was better equipped for air warfare than was the United States, just as they were better prepared for war in every way—war having been for centuries almost the normal condition of Europe, while wars had been few in America’s short history. But even their planes were comparatively few in number, poorly equipped and of uncertain military value. Aircraft had quickly proved their importance and under the stress and competition of actual warfare there had been already wonderful developments in the size, horse-power, equipment and usefulness of the planes and in the skill of the pilots and the methods of training. But, because the needs at the front were ever changing and it was often necessary to discard one week the successful achievement of the week before and constantly to reach out for new means and new methods, all this development was of less value to the United States than it would have been under more stable conditions. Any of it might have to be scrapped any day because of the developments of the day before. Moreover, so urgent was the need of England, France and Italy for every flier and every plane they possessed that, in justice to their own hard pressed battle lines, they could not offer as much assistance as they would have liked to give to the development of our rapidly planned air program.

That program was instituted in accordance with the urgent representations of the British and French war missions which came to this country soon after our declaration of war. The plans of the Allied forces, formed under the immediate and the clearly foreseen conditions of battle, called for great numbers of planes, pilots and mechanicians at the earliest possible moment they could be sent overseas. Therefore, the Government began at once to provide the industries and institute the training facilities necessary for the creation of this new branch of warfare. The development had to be from the foundation on both the side of production and the side of training. From the cutting of spruce trees in northwestern forests and the weaving of wing fabric to the making of the engines and the oil for their lubrication, the industry of airplane production had to be developed and speeded to the point where it would meet the desires of our war associates. This country had never trained an aviator sufficiently for participation in aerial warfare and it had neither schools, nor flying fields, nor fliers trained for teaching, nor a scheme of instruction. Neither had it the mechanics necessary for the upkeep of training planes nor schools in which to train them. It had to begin at the beginning in all these things, and it had to develop industries and establish schools and prepare fields and train fliers all at the same time. One could not wait upon another phase lest the final result be delayed.

Nineteen months later, when the armistice was signed, the two small and poorly equipped flying fields had increased to thirty-six in the United States and seventeen in France, preparing students for all of the demands of aerial warfare. The sixty-five officers had multiplied to 10,300 flying men and there were 5,460 cadets in training and almost ready to be added to the number of those in the air, while there were nearly 8,000 officers in the non-flying divisions of the service, which contained also 133,600 enlisted men, trained for their specialized work. Within a year and a half the Air Service had been expanded from a beginning of little consequence to a size greater than that of the army in the years before the war and all of it had been trained in the technique of a new branch of warfare. In the production of aircraft and accessories 200,000 men and women were engaged, nearly all of whom had been trained for this skill-demanding work. There had been produced over 12,000 air and sea planes, more than 1,000 balloons and 31,800 aviation engines. During the last month of the war production, which had then reached a quantity basis, had mounted to the rate of 1,500 planes and 5,000 engines per month.