The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the "Air Service", "U.S. Air Service" and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the "Air Service, United States Army") was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1918 and 1926 and a forerunner of the United States Air Force. It was established as an independent but temporary branch of the U.S. War Department during World War I by two executive orders of President Woodrow Wilson: on May 24, 1918, replacing the Aviation Section, Signal Corps as the nation's air force; and March 19, 1919, establishing a military Director of Air Service to control all aviation activities., p. 149, Appendix 2 Redesignations of the Army Air Arm, 1907–1942. Its life was extended for another year in July 1919, during which time Congress passed the legislation necessary to make it a permanent establishment. The National Defense Act of 1920 assigned the Air Service the status of "combatant arm of the line" of the United States Army with a major general in command.Finney, Robert T. (1955). USAF Historical Studies No. 100: History of the Air Corps Tactical School, Center for Air Force History, March 1955 edition, pp. 4–5.
In France, the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force, a separate entity under commanding General John J. Pershing that conducted the combat operations of U.S. military aviation, began field service in the spring of 1918. By the end of the war, the Air Service used 45 squadrons to cover 137 kilometers (85 miles) of front from Pont-à-Mousson to Sedan. 71 pursuit pilots were credited with shooting down five or more German aircraft while in American service. Overall the Air Service destroyed 756 enemy aircraft and 76 balloons in combat. 17 balloon companies also operated at the front, making 1,642 combat ascensions. 289 airplanes and 48 balloons were lost in battle.
The Air Service was the first form of the air force to have an independent organizational structure and identity. Although officers concurrently held rank in various branches, after May 1918 their branch designation in official correspondence while on aviation assignment changed from "ASSC" (Aviation Section, Signal Corps) to "AS, USA" (Air Service, United States Army).Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1978). The U.S. Air Service in World War I, "Volume II: Early Concepts of Military Aviation", Diane Publishing, , pp. 105 and 240. After July 1, 1920, its personnel became members of the Air Service branch, receiving new commissions. During the war its responsibilities and functions were split between two coordinate agencies, the Division of Military Aeronautics (DMA) and the Bureau of Aircraft Production (BAP), each reporting directly to the Secretary of War, creating a dual authority over military aviation that caused unity of command difficulties.
The seven-year history of the post-war Air Service was marked by a prolonged debate between adherents of airpower and the supporters of the traditional military services about the value of an independent Air Force. Airmen such as Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell supported the independent air concept. The Army's senior leadership from World War I, the United States Navy, and the majority of the nation's political leadership favored integration of all military aviation into the Army and Navy. Aided by a wave of pacifism following the war that drastically cut military budgets, opponents of an independent air force prevailed. The Air Service was renamed the Army Air Corps in 1926 as a compromise in the continuing struggle.
Creation of the Air Service
Background of the wartime Air Service Although war in Europe prompted Congress to vastly increase the appropriations for the Aviation Section in 1916, it nevertheless tabled a bill proposing an aviation department incorporating all aspects of military aviation. The declaration of war against Germany on April 6, 1917, putting the United States in World War I, came too quickly (less than eight months after its use in Mexico chasing Pancho Villa) to solve emerging engineering and production problems. The reorganization of the Aviation Section had been inadequate in resolving problems in training, leaving the United States totally unprepared to fight an air war in Europe. The Aviation Section consisted of 131 officers, 1087 enlisted men, and approximately 280 airplanes.Hennessy, Juliette A. (1958). USAF Historical Study No. 98: The United States Army Air Arm, April 1861 to April 1917, USAF Historical Division, p. 196The airplane figure is variously given as 250 (A History of the United States Air Force, 1907–1957, Alfred Goldberg, editor; USAF Historical Study 138) to 280 by Hennessy. In any case, the Aviation Section had more than twice as many aircraft as pilots to fly them.
The administration of President Woodrow Wilson created an advisory Aircraft Production Board in May 1917, consisting of members of the Army, Navy and industry, to study the Europeans' experience in aircraft production and the standardization of aircraft parts. The Board dispatched Major Raynal C. Bolling, a lawyer and military aviation pioneer, together with a commission of over 100 members, to Europe in the summer of 1917 to determine American aircraft needs, recommend priorities for acquisition and production, and negotiate prices and royalties.Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p.8 Congress passed a series of legislation in the next three months that appropriated huge sums for development of military aviation, including the largest single appropriation for a single purpose to that time, $640 millionApproximately $14 billion in 2015 dollars. US Inflation Calculator in the Aviation Act (40 Stat. 243), passed July 24, 1917., p. 28The overwhelming bulk of the appropriation, $525M, was allotted for equipment including 22,600 aircraft, with the next highest amount, $41M, for construction. Training received only $1M. The figures had been hastily assembled as a response to a telegram to President Wilson from French premier Alexandre Ribot at the end of May urging the U.S. to contribute 4,500 aircraft; 5,000 pilots; and 50,000 mechanics to the war effort. By the time the bill passed, the term Air Service was in widespread if unofficial usage to collectively describe all aspects of Army aviation.Air Service Journal, July 12, 1917, Vol. 1, No. 1, p. 1; July 26, 1917, Vol. I, No. 3, p. 84-85.
Although it considered creation of a separate aviation department to act as the centralized authority for decision-making, both the War and the Navy Departments opposed it, and on October 1, 1917, Congress instead legalized the existence of the APB and changed its name to the "Aircraft Board", transferring its functions from the Council of National Defense to the secretaries of War and the Navy.Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 7 Even so, the Aircraft Board in practice had little control over procurement contracts and functioned mostly as an information provider between industrial, governmental, and military entities. Nor did the "Equipment Division" of the Signal Corps exercise such control. Established by the Office of the Chief Signal Officer (OCSO) as one of the operating components of the Aviation Section, its task was to unify and coordinate the various agencies involved but its head was a commissioned former member of the APB who did nothing to create any effective coordination. Moreover, the largely wood and fabric airframe designs of World War I did not lend themselves to being made with the mass production methods of the automotive industry, which used considerable amounts of metallic materials instead, and the priority of mass-producing spare parts was neglected. Though individual areas within the aviation industry responded well, the industry as a whole failed. Efforts to mass-produce European aircraft under license largely failed because the aircraft, made by hand, were not amenable to the more precise American manufacturing methods. At the same time the Aeronautical Division of the OCSO was renamed the Air Division with continued responsibility for training and operations but with no influence on acquisition or doctrine. In the end the decision-making process in aircraft procurement was badly fragmented and production on a large scale proved impossible.Holley (1997), p. 68
Airfield construction The Army also adopted infrastructure plans to create airfields known as flying fields, to train officers and men around aircraft and to set up permanent military installations. These installations were designed by architect Albert Kahn, who was famous for his neoclassical architecture in the United States. He applied the classical revival style to major American cities, notably Detroit. This uniqueness of architecture was also seen in the hangars which were all identical; some are still extant at American airbases.Smith, Micheal (October 27, 2023). "Kahn's Hangars, Part One: World War One Training Fields". albertkahnlegacy.org. Retrieved 10/22/25.
Aircraft production failures The Aircraft Board came under severe criticism for failure to meet goals or its own claims of aircraft production, followed by a highly publicized personal investigation by Gutzon Borglum, a harshly vocal critic of the board. Borglum had exchanged letters with President Wilson, a personal friend, from which he assumed an appointment to investigate had been authorized, which the administration soon denied.Sweetser, Arthur (1919). The American Air Service: A Record of its Problems, Its Difficulties, Its Failures, and Its Final Achievements, Appleton and Company, pp. 215–219; and Bassett, John Spencer (1919). Our War With Germany, Alfred A. knopf, pp. 181–184. Both the U.S. Senate and the Department of Justice began investigations into possible fraudulent dealings. President Wilson also acted by appointing a Director of Aircraft Production on April 28, 1918, and abolished the Air Division of the OCSO, creating a Division of Military Aeronautics (DMA) with Brigadier General William L. Kenly brought back from France to be its head, to separate supervision of aviation from the duties of the Chief Signal Officer. Less than a month later, Wilson used a war powers provision of the Overman Act of May 20, 1918, to issue Executive Order No. 2862 that suspended for the duration of the war plus six months the statutory responsibilities of the Aviation Section and removed the DMA entirely from the Signal Corps (reporting directly to the Secretary of War). The DMA was assigned the function of procuring and training a combat force. In addition, the executive order created a Bureau of Aircraft Production (BAP), a military organization with a civilian director, as a separate executive bureau to provide the aircraft needed.Futrell, Robert Frank (1971, 1991). Ideas, Concepts, and Doctrines: Basic Thinking in the United States Air Force 1907–1960, Air University Press, p. 21.