Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps

Following statutory authorization of an Aviation Section in the Signal Corps by the United States Congress in 1914, the Aeronautical Division continued as the primary organizational component of the section until April 1918, when its inefficiency in mobilizing for World War I caused the War Department to replace it with an organization independent of the Signal Corps that eventually became the foundation of the Army's Air Service.

The United States Army Signal Corps became associated with aeronautics during the American Civil War, when Thaddeus S. C. Lowe was named chief of the Union Army Balloon Corps. In 1892, Major General Adolphus Greely, Chief Signal officer of the Army, formulated plans for a War Balloon detachment for the Signal Corps and authorized the purchase of a balloon from France, dubbed the General Myer, based at Fort Riley in 1893 and Fort Logan in 1894. When the General Myer deteriorated, a second balloon, the Santiago, was manufactured by members of the Signal Corps in 1897 using the General Myer as a model, and served in combat in Cuba in 1898. In 1898–99, the War Department accepted the report of an aeronautically minded investigating committee that included Alexander Graham Bell and invested $50,000 for the rights to a heavier than air flying machine being developed by Samuel Pierpont Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Although Langley's "Aerodrome" failed embarrassingly, the Army later resumed its interest in aviation as a result of the success of the Wright Brothers and entered into protracted negotiations for an airplane. All balloon school activities of the U. S. Army Signal Corps were transferred to Fort Omaha, Nebraska, in 1905. In 1906, the commandant of the Signal School in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Major George O. Squier, studied aeronautical theory and lectured on the Wright flying machine. One of his instructors—Captain Billy Mitchell—was also a student of aviation and taught the use of reconnaissance balloons. Squier became executive officer to the Chief Signal Officer, Brigadier General James Allen, in July 1907, and immediately convinced Allen to create an aviation entity within the Signal Corps. 1st Lt. Frank P. Lahm, a cavalry officer, was also detailed to the division and joined it September 17, 1907. Both Chandler and Lahm were balloonists. Lahm had earned renown the year before when he won the inaugural Gordon Bennett Cup, an international balloon event, while Chandler was already a member of the Aero Club of America. He remained head of the division until 1908, then again from 1911 to 1913. During the interim, he was relieved by Lahm and from May 1910 to June 1911 (while Chandler attended the Signal School Course at Fort Leavenworth) by Capt. Arthur S. Cowan, a former infantry officer and non aviator assigned to the Signal School. On December 23, 1907, the Signal Corps issued Specification No. 486 for a heavier than air flying machine and requested bids. A copy of the specification was sent to the Wrights on January 3, 1908. The following April 30 Lahm and 1st Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge reported to New York City along with civilian balloonist Leo Stevens to familiarize 25 members of the First Company, Signal Corps, a unit of the 71st New York Infantry, in the use of hydrogen filled kite balloons. The company was organized to provide the New York National Guard with an "aeronautical corps" for balloon observation, commanded by Major Oscar Erlandean.

The Army accepted the Wright A Military Flyer on August 2, 1909, designating it "Signal Corps (S. C.) No. 1". On August 25, the Army leased of land along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at College Park, Maryland, for use as a training field. The newly purchased airplane was delivered to College Park on October 7, assembled by Wilbur Wright, and flown for the first time the next day. Wright began instruction of Lahm and 2nd Lt Frederic E. Humphreys, detailed from the Corps of Engineers, flying constantly in front of often large crowds of curiosity seekers, newspaper reporters, and dignitaries. Both soloed on October 26, Humphreys going ahead of Lahm (the detachment commander) because it was his turn to fly. Although both flights were of less than 15 minutes in duration and 30 feet (9 m) of altitude, late in the day Lahm remained aloft for 40 minutes, telling Wright he landed only because it was suppertime. Later that day, Lahm took Lieut. Sweet up as a passenger and he became the first naval officer to fly.

The dirigible service proved short lived, as the corrosive effects of weather and the hydrogen gas used to lift the ship caused the gasbag to leak with increasing severity. The dirigible was condemned and sold at auction. Foulois had been a vocal critic of the dirigible, recommending that it be abandoned, and although one of the two candidates selected to be trained as an airplane pilot, he was sent to Nancy, France instead as a delegate to the International Congress of Aeronautics. disassembled the still damaged S. C. No. 1, shipped it to Texas in 17 crates, and reassembled it on February 23, 1910, after building a shed to house it on the Arthur MacArthur Field used for cavalry drill. On 2 March 1910, after training himself, Foulois logged his first solo from 9:30am to 9:37am He achieved a maximum altitude of 200 feet (61 m) and a speed of in logging 59 minutes and 30 seconds of flight time. Until 1911, Foulois remained as the Army's sole aviator and innovator. He stated in annotating the aircraft's flight log that he installed a 4 feet (1 m) leather cinch strap from the Cavalry saddlery as a safety belt on the S. C. No. 1 on March 12, 1910, then on August 8 he and Oliver Simmons bolted wheels from a cultivator S. C. No. 1 made its last flight, and the 66th on it by Foulois, on February 8, 1911. In early 1911, the United States gathered much of the Regular Army in south Texas as a show of force to Mexican revolutionaries, forming the "Maneuver Division". In March 1911 near Fort McIntosh at Laredo, Texas, Foulois and Wright instructor Philip Orin Parmelee demonstrated the use of airplanes in support of ground maneuvers for the first time. The S. C. No. 1 was not sufficiently airworthy for the reconnaissance and messaging missions it performed, and for a nominal fee of one dollar, Foulois rented the Wright B Flyer privately owned by Robert J. Collier, owner of Collier's Weekly, on February 21. Foulois and Parmalee landed the rented airplane in the Rio Grande during their second flight, on March 5. Squier, now Chief Signal Officer of the Maneuver Division, formed a provisional aero company on April 5, 1911, the first aviation unit in American history, in anticipation of training 18 additional pilots. Five new airplanes were authorized for purchase, and two were received at Fort Sam on April 20, a Curtiss 1911 "Type IV military aeroplane" (Curtiss Model D) designated Signal Corps No. 2, and a new Wright Model B that became S. C. No. 3. Both came equipped with wheels rather than skids, and the Curtiss aircraft was powered by an 8 cylinder, engine in sharp contrast to the 4 cylinder training engines the student pilots were accustomed to. Two civilian pilots, Frank Trenholm Coffyn of the Wright Company and Eugene Ely from Curtiss, arrived with the aircraft to assist in instruction. All three of the Army's aircraft took to the air at the same time on April 22, 1911, during a parade and review of troops of the Maneuver Division at Fort Sam Houston, captured in a panoramic photograph linked below. After Army acceptance of the aircraft on April 27, Foulois and Ely then undertook training a small group pilot candidates on the Curtiss machine, including three (Capt. Paul W. Beck, 2nd Lt. George E. M. Kelly, and 2nd Lt. John C. Walker, Jr.) who had been partially trained as prospective Curtiss instructors by Glen Curtiss at North Island, San Diego, California, before being ordered to Texas. Student pilots were divided into separate sections because the flight controls on the two types were markedly different and the single seat Curtiss machines did not allow for dual instruction. S. C. No. 1, judged no longer airworthy due to many rebuilds, was retired from service on May 4 and sent to the Smithsonian Institution in October. Foulois, who was a mustang officer and a combat veteran of the Spanish–American War, blamed the crash on improper repairs to the Curtiss D, and indirectly, on Beck. Foulois also refused to serve under Beck, who took over as instructor and moved the school back to College Park with S. C. No. 3 in June. Foulois remained behind with the Maneuver Division and was removed from aviation in July by assignment to the Militia Bureau in Washington, D. C. Beck served as the Curtiss instructor at College Park until May 1, 1912, when he was returned to the Infantry by enforcement of the so called "Manchu Law".

While stationed in the Philippines in 1908, 2nd Lieutenant Henry H. Arnold assisted Capt. Arthur S. Cowan (then in the Infantry) in a military mapping detail. Cowan returned to the United States, transferred to the Signal Corps, and was assigned to recruit two lieutenants to become pilots. Cowan contacted Arnold, who cabled his interest in also transferring to the Signal Corps but heard nothing in reply for two years. In 1911, relocated to Fort Jay, New York, Arnold sent a request to transfer to the Signal Corps, and on April 21, 1911, received orders detailing him and 2nd Lt. Thomas D. Milling to Dayton, Ohio, for flight instruction at the Wright brothers' aviation school. Beginning instruction on May 3, Milling had soloed on May 8 after two hours of flight time while Arnold made his first solo flight May 13 after three hours and forty eight minutes of flying lessons. In June, he and Milling completed their instruction and were sent to College Park, Maryland, as the Army's first flight instructors, on June 14. Two Wright B airplanes were available for use in instruction when S. C. No. 4 was delivered five days later and joined S. C. No. 3, newly arrived from Texas. The school officially opened on July 3, 1911, and taught ten students, including two members of the National Guard and Chandler, who had been assigned to command the school and division again after graduation from the Signal School. S. C. No. 2, repaired and returned to service, was joined at the end of July by S. C. No. 6, a new Curtiss E "scout", and Milling became the only aviator able to master the significantly different flight controls of each type. A split developed between the "Wright pilots" and the "Curtiss pilots" that was not resolved until the Wright machines were phased out in 1914 for safety reasons. Milling won the Tri State Biplane Race in a Wright B against a field of experienced fliers, flying a course from Boston, Massachusetts, to Nashua, New Hampshire, to Worcester, Massachusetts, to Providence, Rhode Island and back to Boston, a total of 175 miles, without the use of a compass. It was also his first night flight, with several large bonfires providing guidance to the landing field. Arnold set an altitude record of 3260 feet (994 m) on July 7, 1911, and twice broke it. In August, he experienced his first crash, trying to take off from a farm field after getting lost. At the end of the November the school disassembled its four aircraft and moved to Augusta, Georgia, for the winter, flying from a leased farm. One of its students, Lt. Col. Charles B. Winder of Ohio, was the first National Guard officer to complete flying training and receive an F. A. I. certificate in the spring of 1912. Arnold accepted delivery of the Army's first tractor plane (with a propeller and engine mounted on the front) on June 26, 1912, but crashed into the bay at Plymouth, Massachusetts, during takeoff. Arnold began to develop a phobia about flying, intensified by the fatal crashes of the Wright Company instructor who taught him, Arthur L. Welsh on June 12, and an academy classmate of Arnold's, 2d Lt. Lewis Rockwell, on September 18, 1912, both in the new Wright C "speed scouts". In October 1912, Arnold and Milling were sent to Fort Riley, Kansas, to experiment with spotting for the field artillery. On November 5, Arnold's Wright C stalled, went into a spin, and he narrowly avoided a fatal crash. He immediately and voluntarily grounded himself, then returned to the Infantry in 1913 after closing down the school at College Park, which was discontinued in favor of one with favorable flying conditions year round on North Island at San Diego, California, later named Rockwell Field in 1917 in memory of Arnold's classmate.

In 1911, the Aeronautical Division received its first direct appropriation from Congress for aviation ($125,000 for Fiscal Year 1912, half of what was proposed), and added five airplanes to its inventory. In addition to S. C. s 2, 3, 4, and 6, a Wright B was ordered to be built under license by Burgess Company and Curtis as its "Model F" (S. C. No. 5). A sixth aircraft, a Wright B Flyer designated S. C. No. 7, was assembled at Fort McKinley in the Philippines and used by Lahm to make the first flight of an American military airplane outside the continental United States on March 21, 1912. Rules of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) were adopted, including standards for the certification of pilots, and Arnold and Milling became the first two Army pilots to be FAI certified. On February 23, 1912, the U. S. Army established its own military aviator rating and issued the first five (of 24) to Arnold, Chandler, Milling, Beck, and Foulois in July 1912. In February 1912, recognizing a need for specialized aircraft in field service, the Aeronautical Division drew up its first new specifications for aircraft since 1907, creating a "Scout" classification for a two man, slow speed, tactical reconnaissance airplane; and "Speed Scout", for a lighter, faster, one man airplane for strategic (longer ranged) reconnaissance. In May 1912, the division purchased its first Speed Scout, a Wright C. The aircraft crashed during its acceptance trials on June 11 at College Park, killing 2nd Lt. Leighton W. Hazelhurst, who had been among the first class of student pilots, and Arthur L. Welsh, the Wright Company instructor who had taught Arnold to fly. Arnold himself was flying a Wright C (S. C. No. 10) in November 1912 at Fort Riley, Kansas, when he was nearly killed. In total the division purchased six Wright Cs (not including the one flown by Welsh and Hazelhurst) and a Burgess Model J (a Wright C made under license), six of which crashed. This led to the grounding on February 24, 1914, of all "pusher" aircraft, including the sole Wright C survivor and a Burgess model rebuilt to Wright C standard. In anticipation of a possible war with Mexico, Chandler, four pilots, 21 enlisted men and a detachment of Curtiss JN 3 airplanes were sent from the Aviation School's winter location at Augusta, Georgia, to Texas City, Texas, on February 28, 1913. Ultimately, eight pilots and nine airplanes trained with the 2nd Division on the Gulf Coast and San Antonio. Organized as a provisional unit on March 5, the 1st Aero Squadron became the first permanent unit of the air force on December 8, 1913. While at Texas City, the junior pilots complained directly about safety concerns to new Chief Signal Officer Brig. Gen. George P. Scriven, who had come to Texas on an inspection trip after reading adverse newspaper reports on the squadron, in effect delivering an ultimatum to Scriven that either Chandler be replaced or they would withdraw from aviation. Despite calling the incident an "incipient mutiny", Scriven relieved Chandler on April 1 and transferred him to Fort McKinley in the Philippines, replaced on an interim basis by Cowan, who was already in Texas City as the signal officer of the mobilizing 2d Division. In September, Lt. Col. Samuel Reber—a former balloonist and influential member of the Aero Club of America—became the new head of the Aeronautical Division. Both Cowan and Reber were non aviators, causing further friction with the pilots and creating a permanent consensus among them that only an aviator was qualified to command flying units. When the 1st Aero Squadron joined the Curtiss airplanes at North Island in June, Reber made Cowan commandant of the Aviation School at North Island, deepening the divisions. The United States landed Marines and armed Bluejackets in the Mexican city of Veracruz on April 21, 1914. By April 24 they had completely occupied the city after severe fighting and were provided reconnaissance support by five Navy seaplanes assigned to the United States Atlantic Fleet. Two days later, to reinforce the Navy's aviation detachment, Foulois and four pilots of the 1st Aero Squadron, soon designated the squadron's 1st Company, crated their three Burgess H tractors and shipped them by rail to Fort Crockett at Galveston, leaving only two aircraft and five pilots in San Diego. 1st Company was itself reinforced by six new pilots but never uncrated their airplanes and left Texas on July 13, 1914.

Beck was possibly the first advocate of an air service separate from the Army ground forces. In 1912 Beck authored an article for the Infantry Journal entitled, "Military Aviation in America: Its Needs", promoting the concept of an independent air force with its own missions. After he returned to the Infantry, he continued to lobby friends in Congress to return to aviation. In February 1913, Representative James Hay (Democrat Virginia) introduced a bill intended to transfer aviation from the Signal Corps to the line of the Army as a semi autonomous "Air Corps". The bill was considered too radical and died in committee, but when the 1913 appropriations bill included many of its provisions, Hay offered a revised bill in May, HR5304 "An Act to Increase the Efficiency in the Aviation Service". Hearings were held on the new bill in August 1913. Beck appeared to testify on behalf of the bill, the only officer to do so, and was opposed by Major Billy Mitchell, representing the General Staff, and Foulois, Arnold, and Milling representing the Signal Corps. That bill had its original language expunged and was written to become the enabling legislation for the Aviation Section, Signal Corps on 18 July 1914. Appropriations for aviation fell to $100,000, in part because the Signal Corps had spent only $40,000 of the Fiscal Year 1912 funding. However, as a result of the high number of fatalities, flight pay (35% increase above base pay) and accelerated promotion for pilots were approved by Congress on March 3, 1913, in the appropriations legislation and the Aeronautical Division grew from 14 to 18 pilots. The Army Air Forces Statistical Digest (World War II) listed the strength of the division at 51 officers and men on November 1, 1912, and 114 on September 30, 1913. Statistics compiled for the HR5304 hearings showed that United States ranked 14th in expenditures among the nations with air services. In the following year, Congress increased the size and prestige of Signal Corps aviation when it established the Aviation Section, with the Aeronautical Division continued as its headquarters component issuing orders in the name of the Chief Signal Officer. Reber became chief of the section and was promoted to lieutenant colonel, delegating the duties of head of the Aeronautical Division to another non aviator, Major Edgar Russel, senior instructor and assistant commandant of the Signal School. In February 1917 the Aeronautical Division was one of three divisions in the Office of the Chief Signal Officer (OCSO) comprising the Aviation Section, the others being the Administrative Division and Engineering Division. On October 1, 1917, during World War I, the Aeronautical Division was renamed the Air Division and was abolished altogether by the War Department on April 24, 1918. Between August 1, 1908, and June 30, 1914, the Signal Corps spent $430,000 on aeronautics, funding the purchase of 30 aircraft and the building of a 31st (S. C. No. 23) from spare parts. By 1914, only nine of the surviving 23 remained in service, and two of those that were retired never flew operationally.

SOURCES: Hennessy, The United States Army Air Arm, April 1861 to April 1917, Chapters 2–6, pp. 28–102; Warnock, "From Infant Technology to Obsolescence: the Wright Brothers' Airplane in the U. S. Army Signal Corps, 1905–1915"

S. C. No. Date acquired Aircraft type Date disposed How disposed Notesnonenot acquiredWright A 17 Sep 1908destroyeddelivered 1 Sep 1908, fatal crash during acceptance trials (Selfridge)12 Aug 1909Wright A 4 May 1911 retireddonated to Smithsonian Institutionnone21 Feb 1911 Wright B 21 Jun 1911returned to ownerleased from Robert J. Collier227 Apr 1911 Curtiss D 24 Feb 1914grounded as unsafe2 fatal crashes (G. Kelly and Park)restored and displayed at NASM327 Apr 1911Wright B 24 Feb 1914grounded as unsafe41 Jul 1911 Wright B 28 Sep 1912 destroyedfatal crash (Rockwell, Scott)5Oct 1911Burgess F 24 Feb 1914grounded as unsafe627 Jul 1911Curtiss E 24 Feb 1914grounded as unsafetrainer with 40 hp engine, swapped engines with S. C. No. 2721 Mar 1912Wright B28 Aug 1913wreckedPhilippines819 Mar 1912 Curtiss E 12 Nov 1914 soldHawaii912 Aug 1912Burgess H27 May 1914wrecked10 (1) not acquiredWright C 11 Jun 1912destroyedfatal crash during acceptance trials (Welsh, Hazelhurst)10 (2)by 26 Oct 1912Wright C9 Feb 1914destroyedfatal crash (Post)113 Oct 1912Wright C 8 Jul 1913destroyedfatal crash (Call)12by Nov 1912Wright C 14 Nov 1913destroyedfatal crash Philippines (Rich)1321 May 1913Wright C 17 Sep 1913destroyedPhilippines14by 26 Oct 1912Wright C 24 Nov 1913 destroyedfatal crash (Ellington, H. Kelly)1527 Nov 1912Curtiss F8 Apr 1913condemnedfatal crash (R. Chandler)1622 Nov 1912Wright C24 Feb 1914grounded as unsafe17Jan 1913Burgess I 12 Jan 1915destroyed Philippines18Jan 1913Burgess J 4 Sep 1913destroyed fatal crash (Love)193 May 1913Wright D24 Feb 1914grounded as unsafeexperimental206 Jun 1913 Wright D 2 Jun 1914 retiredexperimental2128 Aug 1913Curtiss G12 Nov 1914soldHawaii221 Dec 1913Curtiss Gunk dateunk2321 Oct 1913Curtiss E 24 Feb 1914 grounded as unsafebuilt in San Diego from spare parts24Nov 1913Burgess Hunk dateunk25Nov 1913Burgess Hunk dateunk26Jan 1914Burgess H20 Aug 1915condemnedsold 19162715 May 1914Burgess H25 Aug 1915condemnedsold 19162825 May 1914Burgess H25 Aug 1915condemned2924 Jun 1914Curtiss J21 Dec 1914destroyedfatal crash (Gerstner)312 Jul 1914Martin TOct 1916condemnedDamaged beyond repair in a ground accident on 20 April 1915

1st Lt. Henry H. Arnold, 29th Infantry – second rated Military Aviator (July 5, 1912)
Capt. Paul W. Beck, Signal Corps – first nominal head of an operational aviation unit in 1911–12, first advocate of a separate air service
2d Lt. Lewis H. Brereton, Coast Artillery Corps – only member to retire (1948) as part of USAF
Cpl. Vernon L. Burge, Signal Corps – first FAI certified enlisted pilot (June 14, 1912)
Capt. Charles deF. Chandler, Signal Corps – balloonist, twice head of the Aeronautical Division, and third rated pilot (July 5, 1912)
1st Lt. Benjamin D. Foulois, Signal Corps – third solo pilot, first Army instructor pilot
2d Lt Leighton W. Hazelhurst, 17th Infantry – second student pilot fatality (June 11, 1912)
2d Lt. Frederick E. Humphreys, Corps of Engineers – first to solo in a military aircraft (October 26, 1909)
2d Lt. George E. M. Kelly, 30th infantry – first student and pilot fatality (May 10, 1911)
1st Lt. Frank P. Lahm, 6th Cavalry – second solo pilot, first licensed military pilot, and first Army aviator overseas
2d Lt. Moss L. Love, Signal Corps – first pilot trained overseas (killed September 4, 1913)
Sgt. Herbert L. Marcus, US Signal Corps, circa 1911 1914. aircraft mechanic, flew with Lt. Townsend Dodd in Burgess H tractor biplane, setting American distance (245 miles) and duration (2hr,43 min.) record on Feb.14,1914. 1st Lt. Thomas DeW. Milling, 15th Cavalry – first rated Military Aviator (July 5, 1912)
2d Lt. C. Perry Rich, Philippine Scouts – first overseas fatality (November 14, 1913)
2d Lt. Lewis C. Rockwell, 10th Infantry – first licensed pilot fatality (September 18, 1912)
Corp. Frank S. Scott, Signal Corps – first enlisted and second passenger fatality (September 18, 1912)
1st Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge, Jr., 1st Field Artillery – first Army officer to learn to fly, first airplane fatality (September 17, 1908)