ÿþ<HTML> <head> <title> World War I: United States American aviation </title> <META NAME="Description" CONTENT="The first heavier than air flight was conducted by the Wright brothers in at Kitty Hawk, North Carolinaa (1903). The Wrights were Ohio bicycle mechanics without formal engineering training. The Wrights after their success, dismatled their flyer and kept their design a scret. This did preent Europeans from copying their desisn. It also impaired their efforts to sell their flyers. Europeans who were working on aviation were shocked that two American bicycle mechanics had achieved the first flight. The Wrights managed to figure out how to conttrol a plane in flight. This put them several years ahead of other designers. The American military gave little attention to aviation. Europeans were involved in an arms race. Thus the Wrights turned to Europe to sell their planes. Military spending in Europe meant that after the Wrights, most early aviation advances occurred in Europe. Thus when American entered World War I (1917), American aviators flying in the United States Air Service had to use French planes. Several American aviators are well known, including Eddie Rickenbacker, Raoul Lufbery, Quentin Roosevelt, Frank Luke, Joe Werner, Carl Spaatz, Everett Cook, Billy Mitchell and others. The United States Air Service deployed 45 fighter, bomber and observation squadrons. They participated in seven campaigns and shot down 781 enemy planes and 73 balloons. They dropped 140 tons of bombs in 150 bombing runs. They lost 289 planes and 48 balloons and 237 men. With photos and text. "> <META NAME="KeyWords" CONTENT="United States, American, World War I, First SWorld War, boy, boys, children, school uniform, garments, caps, military, tunics, sailor suits, shirts, history, historical, fashion, "> </head> <BODY BGCOLOR="#000066" TEXT="#FFFF00" LINK="#FF0000" ALINK="#FFFF00" VLINK="#99CCFF"> <br> <br> <img src="/HBCgold.gif"> <br> <br> <HR> <br> <br> <br> <br> <center><h1>World War I: American Aviation </h1></center> <table border=0 cellpadding=20 width=35% align=right> <tr> <td><table border=5 width=95% align=right bgcolor=##7f00ff"> <tr> <td> <IMG SRC="/imagef/date/2009/08/plsne01s.jpg"> <hr> <i>Figure 1.-- Here is a World War I fighter brought back to America after the War. These planrs criss-crossed America in barn-storming exhibitions. This raised enormous interest in aviation. While this was entertaiment, it played aole in ther develoment of the Ameriucan aircraft industry. </i> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> The first heavier than air flight was conducted by the Wright brothers in at Kitty Hawk, North Carolinaa (1903). The Wrights were Ohio bicycle mechanics without formal engineering training. The Wrights after their success, dismatled their flyer and kept their design a scret. This did preent Europeans from copying their desisn. It also impaired their efforts to sell their flyers. Europeans who were working on aviation were shocked that two American bicycle mechanics had achieved the first flight. The Wrights managed to figure out how to conttrol a plane in flight. This put them several years ahead of other designers. The American military gave little attention to aviation. Europeans were involved in an arms race. Thus the Wrights turned to Europe to sell their planes. Military spending in Europe meant that after the Wrights, most early aviation advances occurred in Europe. Thus when American entered World War I the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy air components were hopelessly outdated (1917). American pilots had to use British and French aircraft. American aces are well known, including Eddie Rickenbacker, Raoul Lufbery, Quentin Roosevelt, Frank Luke, Joe Werner, Carl Spaatz, Everett Cook, Billy Mitchell and others. The United States Air Service deployed 45 fighter, bomber and observation squadrons. They participated in seven campaigns and shot down 781 enemy planes and 73 balloons. They dropped 140 tons of bombs in 150 bombing runs. They lost 289 planes and 48 balloons and 237 men. The War ended before America could begin to mass produce aircraft. <! They produced 71 aces of whom five had more than 10 victories each. > They dropped 140 tons of bombs in 150 bombing runs. They lost 289 planes and 48 balloons and 237 men. The United States Navy also had one ace. <! American fighter pilot Quentin Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt's youngest son, was shot down and killed 90 years ago on Bastille Day, July 14th, 1918, becoming the most famous American casualty of World War I. The American 1st Pursuit Group were based in the villages of Touquin, Saints and Mauperthuis.> <br> <h2>American Aviation Industy</h2> <p> The first heavier than air flight was conducted by the Wright brothers in at Kitty Hawk, North Carolinaa (1903). The Wrights were Ohio bicycle mechanics without formal engineering training. The Wrights after their success, dismatled their flyer and kept their design a scret. This did preent Europeans from copying their desisn. It also impaired their efforts to sell their flyers. Europeans who were working on aviation were shocked that two American bicycle mechanics had achieved the first flight. The Wrights managed to figure out how to conttrol a plane in flight. This put them several years ahead of other designers. <br> <h2>American Military Aviation</h2> <p> The American military gave little attention to aviation. The Army had the Signal Corps take responsibility for aviation. Europeans were involved in an arms race. Thus the Wrights turned to Europe to sell their planes. Military spending in Europe meant that after the Wrights, most early aviation advances occurred in Europe. Thus when American entered World War I (1917), American aviators flying in the United States Air Service did not have any American-built modrern aircraft types. They had to use French planes. <br> <h2>Lafayette Escadrille and Lafayette Flying Corps (1916-17)</h2> <p> The Escadrille Americaine went into action (April 1916). This was about thetime that the critica Battle of Verdsdun began. America at the time was neutral and the American flyers attracted considerable attention, especially in the American press. Other Americans expressed a desire to fly for France and the Allied cause. A committee known as the Franco-American Flying Corps (later called the Lafayette Aviation Corps and Lafayette Flying Corps) was formed. The committee was made up of American and French business and professional men. They sought to help young Americans to enlist in the French Aviation Service. More than 200 Americans volunteered and were trained by the French. Most were assigned individually, or in small groups (twos or threes) to front-line French Aviation units. Thus the Escadrille Lafayette is a misnomer. The Americans were all members of the Lafayette Flying Corps. This was agely fictitionsl organization that never actually served as an entity on the Front. Even so, the Americans in the French Aviation Service proved to be of significant importance. This was primarily in 1918 after most of the men had transferred to the U.S. Army Air Service. The planes and equipment of the Escadrille Lafayette along with most of its pilots, were taken over by the United States (February 1918). The French ground personnel were replaced by the 103rd Aero Squadron, Air Service, American Expeditionary Force. While serving with the French Aviation Service, the Escadrille Lafayette had fought virtually every battle front in France. They had shot down 57 enemy aircraft and had lost of their own pilots. By the time, the Escadrille pilots joined the American Air Service, quite a few Americans had received flight training and were preparing for combat. The Escadrille pilots were the only American with combat experience. They were assigned to American units. They thus were able to pass on their knowledge to the American pilots about to enter combat. The green American pilots thus benrfitted greatly from their combat experience. <! One can only conjecture as to the number of fledgling pilots of the U.S. Air Service who survived their initial patrols over the Front under the protective guidance of the handful of their countrymen who previously had flown combat under the French Flag. > <br> <h2>U.S. Air Service (USAS)</h2> <p> The U.S. after the Germans had resumed unrestricted submarine warfare declared war on Germany (April 6, 1917). Although the War had been raging in Wirope for nearly 3 years, the United States was totally unprepsared for War. The main American interest had been to stay out of the War, not prepsare to enter the War. The U.S. Army virtually did not exist and the same was true of the U.S Air Service which was part of the Army. The U.S. Army Air Service had about 1,400 officers and men. The U.S. Navy had about 300 men involved with avition. From that embryonic core, The United States Air Service deployed 45 fighter, bomber and observation squadrons. <br> <h2>Deployment</h2> <p> The German Navy had guaranteed the Reichstag that the United States would never be able to deploy a substantial army n France. In fact, German U-boats had little success in intercepoting American troop transports. Most of the American flyers were deployed in France. A smaller force was deployed in Italy. <br> <h3>Naval aviation</h3> <p> The first American flyers to reach Europe was a naval air detachment. They began flying seaplane escort for French coastal convoys (September 1917). The Navy eventually deployed some 900 seaplanes for convoy duties, 400 of which were stationed abroad at 27 U.S. naval air stations from Ireland to Italy. A few naval aviators flew bombers from Calais and Dunkirk. <br> <h3>Army: France</h3> <p> The Army did not ship flyers to France. There were no modern aircraft types in America for training. So the Army shipped flight candidates. The first group reached France (June 1917). The leadership of the U.S. Army Air Service was not clearly defined as the different sqadroins began to form. Eventually frontline commander Col. William  Billy Mitchell emerged as the dominant leader. Mitchell combat docus was to launch a tactical aerial offensive on the Western Front with a force made up of both newly trained pilots and veterans from the Lafayette Escadrille and Lafayette Flying Corps. <br> <h3>Army: Italy</h3> <p> Army aviator candidates reached Italy (fall 1917). Among them was New York congressman Fiorello La Guardia. Army aviators flew bombers from Italian bases. <br> <h2>American Industry</h2> <p> American companies delivered Curtiss flying boats. Thedy also produced the standardized Liberty engine. Comoanies delivered copies of the British DH4 bomber to American combat units. American companies when the United States declared war were not significantly involved in aircraft production. As a result, American flyers had to depend on British and French planes, especually French. <br> <h2>Aircraft</h2> <p>The first Americans flyers were given largely obsolete aircraft, such as the Nieuport 28. As American arrived in larger numbers, advanced fighters becae available. American squadeonswere equippes with the SPAD S.XIII. This Frenc-built fighter was ne of the most effective of the War. <br> <h2>Combat (1918)</h2> <p> American flyers got their first taste of combat in a relatively quiet sector around Toul (spring 1918). This saw all-American squadrons patrolling the skies above the trenches foir the first time. This was about the time that the Germans launched what they thought would be their war winning Spring offensive. They failed, although by a very narrow margin. The AEF was deployed for the first time inforce with the fight for Chateau Thierry during the Aisne-Marne offensive. The USAS deployed 13 squadrons to support the ground forces (early June). When the Germans stopped, the Allied lsaunched the 100 Day Offensive thst would win the War. The First Army with the AEF attacked the St. Mihiel salient (September 12-16). Billy Mitchell commanded 1,481 airplanes. This was the largest concentration of Allied air power during the entire War. Almost half the force was Americans. Air operations were hampered by poor weather. Even so, the massive air force seized control of the air over the battlefield. German ballos were shot down and German airfield straffed. Bombers hit targets at the front as well as rear areas. THe USAS supported ground forces in what proved to be the war-winning Meuse-Argonne Offensive (September 26 - October). Mitchell continued his tactic of massed air power. The pitched battles and supply problems reduce the USAS to 45 squadrons with 457 serviceable aircraft. This was almost 200 fewer planes than at the beginning of the campign. Even so, the German Army finalled asked for an Armidstice ending the War. American flyers dropped 140 tons of bombs in 150 bombing runs. They participated in seven campaigns and shot down 781 enemy planes and 73 balloons. They lost 289 planes and 48 balloons and 237 men. <br> <h2>Significance</h2> <p> The USAS was primarily used to support ground forces. It was involved in reconnaissance as well as attacks on enemy troops and supplies both at te front and in rear areas. USAS fighters was also used to protected observation and bomber craft. <br> <h2>American Aviators</h2> <p> The United States produced 71 aces durig the War. Five had more than 10 victories each. Several American aviators are well known, including Eddie Rickenbacker, Raoul Lufbery, Quentin Roosevelt, Frank Luke, Joe Werner, Carl Spaatz, Everett Cook, Billy Mitchell and others. <! St. Mihiel also marked the meteoric ascent of balloon busting ace Frank Luke, who shot down 18 Germans in 17 days before meeting his death. The impetuous Luke won the Medal of Honor, as would American ace of aces Eddie Rickenbacker, who ultimately gained 26 victories and survived the war. > <br> <h2>American Air Power</h2> <p> The United States had begun the War virtually without an airforce. By the time of the Armistice the USAS had grown to 195,024 officers and men. More than 2,000 American flight personnel had reached the front. A total of 681 aviators had died. Only about 25 percent had been killed in combat The rest had been killed in accidents. <br> <h2>Post-War Period</h2> <p> The very limited military spending and the propensity of the WrightBrothers tosue oithers in the industry impaired the debelopment of an Americam aviation industry before World War I. The War stimulated the development of anew American industry. Technical advances during the War meant that planes were much more caoable. In addition, large numbers of Americans were involved both in flying and in mantaining aircraft. Many returning to America wanted to make a living in aviation. And at the end of the War there were llarge numbers of war-surplus planes which could be purchased at low price. This lead to barnstorming which further peacked the public interest. Government mail contracts provided support for the new industry. And with the Wrights gone, investors began to take an interest in the industry. And technical advances made air travel feasible. The <a href="/essay/war/ww2/air/air-ind.html">Ford Tri-Motor</a> was the first rel commercial arliner. The development of a commercially viable industry was a critical development. It would be the foundation on which the huge American World War II air forces woukld be built. <! The United States Navy also had one ace. American fighter pilot Quentin Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt's youngest son, was shot down and killed 90 years ago on Bastille Day, July 14th, 1918, becoming the most famous American casualty of World War I. The American 1st Pursuit Group were based in the villages of Touquin, Saints and Mauperthuis.> <br> <h2>Sources</h2> <p> Hudson, James J. <i>Hostile Skies: A Combat History of the American Air Service in World War I</i> (1968). <p> Johnson, Herbert A. <i>Wingless Eagle: U.S. Army Aviation through World War I</i>. <p> Van Wyen, Adrian O. <i>Naval Aviation in World War I</i> (1969). <! At the start of the twentieth century the United States led the world in advances in aviation, with the first successful engine-powered flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and Dayton, Ohio, beginning in 1903. Fifteen years later, however, American airmen flew European-designed aircraft because American planes were woefully inadequate for service on the Western Front. Why was the United States so poorly prepared to engage in aerial combat in World War I? Much of the advancement of the science of aviation resulted from efforts to develop the airplane as a weapon of war but aside from the memoirs of some early "bird men" and biographies of a handful of other pioneer aviators little has been written about American aviation in the years before World War One. Considering the almost pathetic "state of the art" in this country prior to 1917-18 it is perhaps no surprise that the subject has received scant attention from historians, but virtually no attempts have been made to explain why the U.S was unable to exploit the technological breakthrough made by the Wright brothers. Wingless Eagle explores some of the social and political factors that affected American aviation in general and Army aviation in particular before the Great War. Realistically, the government was the only potential buyer of those primitive flying machines in any sort of quantity, but neither Congress nor the General Staff was easily convinced that the benefits would be worth the cost. The young military and naval fliers who thought otherwise constantly struggled to demonstrate the value of aviation to the voting public but more often than not the hardware simply was not up to the task. As the author (a law professor himself) discuses in some detail, one of the biggest obstacles was the Wrights themselves. Their bitterly contested-and expensive-patent infringement suits against Glenn Curtiss and others stunted the growth of the U.S. aircraft industry during its formative years. The author maintains that the Army overtly supported the Wright's position. Investors were justifiably leery, and without capital aircraft development stagnated. Another legal episode, the 1915 court martial of Lt. Col. Lewis Goodier, is used to point out flaws in the Signal Corps management of the fledgling Air Service as well as to illustrate how personal jealousy among the flying fraternity and internal service rivalries also contributed to the sorry state of affairs in Army aviation. The author also makes an interesting assessment of what he terms the "aeronaut constituency", the various clubs and associations formed by enthusiastic-and often wealthy and influential-aviation boosters. Many other factors that aided or impeded the development of Army aviation are explored as well. This is not a book about airplanes. (The caption on page 65 has the aviator at the controls of a "Wright Flyer", although he is grasping the steering wheel of what is clearly a Curtiss pusher.) Likewise, not much new light is shed on the operational aspects of Army aviation in those early years. The serious student of aviation history, however, will come away with a much better understanding of the complex military, political and personal interactions that determined the course of U.S. Army aviation through the end of the First World War. > <br> <br> <br> <HR> <br> <br> <br> <CENTER> <H1>HBC</H1> <P> <A HREF="/email.html"><img src="/imagef/mail1.gif"></A><BR> </CENTER><br> <br> <br> <center> <br> <p><i>Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:<br> [Return to <a href="/essay/war/ww1/air/ww1-ea.html">Main early aviation page</a>]<br> [Return to <a href="/essay/war/ww1/ww1-air.html">Main World War I Air War page</a>]<br> [Return to <a href="/essay/war/ww1/ww1-war.html">Main World War I conduct page</a>]<br> <b>[<a href="/intro.html">Introduction</a>] [<a href="/act/act.html">Activities</a>] [<a href="/bio/bio.html">Biographies</a>] [<a href="/chron/chron.html">Chronology</a>] [<a href="/style/style.html">Clothing styles</a>] [<a href="/country/country.html">Countries</a>]<br> [<a href="/bib.html">Bibliographies</a>] [<a href="/cont/contm.html">Contributions</a>] [<a href="/faq.html">FAQs</a>] [<a href="/var/gloss.html">Glossaries</a>] [<a href="/cont/image.html">Images</a>] [<a href="/cont/contr.html">Registration</a>] [<a href="/index2at.html">Tools</a>] <br> [<a href="/index2.html">Boys' Clothing Home</a>]</b> </center> <br> <br> <br> Created: 2:31 AM 8/17/2009<br> Last updated: 2:31 AM 8/17/2009 <br> <br> <br> <img src="/HBCgold.gif" align=right> <br> <br> </body> </HTML>