The U.S. Air Force Story | The Beginning to 1918 | Aviation History Part 1

Air Force History Part 1
On September 18, 1947, the Department of the Air Force was created under the National Security Act of 1947. However, the signs of a future "Air Force" started some 40 years before. In 1907, the U.S. Army Signal Corps formed an Aeronautical Division. Originally focused on balloons and dirigibles, the Signal Corps purchased their first heavier-than-air flying machine from the Wright Brothers in 1909. This came six years after the Wright Brothers had gained fame and interest from the nation about flight and what it possibly held for the future. Under the leadership of brave men like Capt. Benjamin D. Foulois, a small group of early Army Airmen tested various aircraft and formed the first operational unit for aerial defense - the 1st Aero Squadron - in December 1913. Despite the efforts of the men in the Signal Corps, by the time the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917, the European countries involved in the conflict had already developed superior aircraft industries. As a result, President Woodrow Wilson created the Army Air Service on May 24, 1918. At its peak before the war ended, the service had more than 19,000 officers and 178,000 enlisted men; but soon after the armistice ended World War I, the Air Service saw rapid demobilization.

Department of the Air Force Logo
Despite some powerful unbelievers in influential government positions, the course was set for airpower and its important role in the wars of the future. Great Britain recognized this importance by creating the Royal Air Force in April 1918. While men like Brigadier General Billy Mitchell fought for an American force equivalent to the RAF, the United States would take several more years before coming into agreement about the importance of having a separate Air Force. The Army Reorganization Act of 1920 kept the Air Service a combat arm of the Army for a long time after. Years later, in June 1941, the Army Air Forces were created and made an equal counterpart to the ground forces of the Army.

During World War II under the command of General Henry "Hap" Arnold, the Army Air Forces grew to become the largest air armada of all time. With over 80,000 aircraft and 2.4 million personnel organized into major commands and numbered air forces, the AAF drew heavily upon America's great industrial strength and human resources. By the end of the war, the Army Air Force was an international and world-renowned powerhouse that could be found over the skies of both Europe and the Pacific, especially in 1945 when two B-29s ended the war by dropping atomic bombs on Japan. Immediately following the creation of the separate Air Force in September 1947, Chuck Yeager flew the XS-1 faster than the speed of sound, pushing the new Air Force into the supersonic age.

The Cold War saw a rapid growth of airpower in a different way in comparison to the buildup of World War II. The central focus was long-range bombers that could deliver nuclear weapons to the Soviet Union. The Soviet-backed invasion of South Korea by communist North Korea pulled the Air Force into a tough three-year conflict. Along with the action in Korea, the Armed Forces began to place airpower in multiple theaters of the world to help deter the expansion of communism while helping to defend the United States. U.S. Air Bases in Europe began as the cornerstone of the political and geographical power of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO was created as a counter to the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact of Eastern European countries. This use of U.S. airpower would continue to facilitate peaceful relations during the Cold War for the next 40 years.

Throughout the 1950s under the bold command of General Curtis Lemay, the Air Force moved toward a vast array of defense networks. From the inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBM) on the ground to the B-52 Stratofortress in the air, to the new orbital satellites and launch vehicles in space, the Air Force's role was expanding to better defend the nation. The many threats and challenges around diplomacy with parts of Southeast Asia culminated in U.S. military action in Vietnam on the side of the South Vietnamese against the North Vietnamese communist government. Many tactical platforms were brought to bear against the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and daunting insurgency efforts by the Vietcong. Aircraft such as the F-4 Phantom II, F-105 Thunderchief, and B-52 Stratofortress were utilized heavily in the air campaigns on the communist North Vietnamese.

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