Division of Military Aeronautics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The Division of Military Aeronautics, also termed the Division of Military Aeronautics and Bureau of Aircraft Production (as both were created as "coordinate components" of the air arm by the same executive order), 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, by Executive Order 2862, issued under authority of the Overman Act signed into law that date, the Aviation Section was discontinued and military aviation was removed from the Signal Corps and made the responsibility of the Division of Military Aeronautics (DMA). The DMA was headed by the Director of Military Aeronautics, reporting directly to the Secretary of War, Newton Baker. The Aircraft Production Board was replaced at the same time by a Bureau of Aircraft Production (BAP), headed by a civilian director, John D. Ryan, formerly president of Anaconda Copper.

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.

Although the BAP and DMA were recognized by the War Department on May 24, 1918, as together forming the Army's Air Service, no Director of Air Service was appointed until August 28, and both operated independently of and without coordination with each other. When President Wilson made Ryan a Second Assistant Secretary of War and civilian Director of Air Service, the separate status of both the Division of Military Aeronautics and the Bureau of Aircraft Production ended, and they were officially terminated by executive order on March 19, 1919.

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.

  • 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
Preceded by
Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps
Division of Military Aeronautics, Secretary of War
1918
Succeeded by
United States Army Air Service
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.