U.s. Army Signal Corps Essay

“Air defense artillery units have a proud heritage dating back to the dawn of this country 's history when the colonists erected fortifications and emplaced artillery pieces to defend against attack from the sea. Seacoast defense continued to be the primary mission of "foot" artillery units (as opposed to mounted field artillery units) until World War I, when a new dimension in warfare emerged-attack from the air. Through World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam, air defense artillery units served as an indispensable part of the armed forces of the United States.”

The Eighth bomber command was part of the Army Air Force and was re-designated as the 8th air force in February of 1944. The command took the headquarters to England in early 1942 once they were activated to conduct aerial bomb runs over Nazi-occupied Europe. During World War II the 8th AF became the greatest air armada in the history of the Army Air Force.1 It was commanded by great Generals such as Jimmy Doolitle and produced one of the most famous planes, The Memphis Belle.

     The name General Carl ‘Tooey’ Andrew Spaatz has become synonymous with the phrase air power and strategist. Air power has come along way since Wilbur and Orville launched the first airplane in 1902 in the city of Kitty Hawk. Famous engineers have taken the Wright-Brothers design and made great improvements to them while slowly integrating these new powerful means of transportation, weaponry and communication aids into the military. Since the onset of World War I there has been a debate on how to most effectively use these new airplanes in the Army’s collection. Most individuals believed that airplanes should be under control of the Army theater commander, while very

The first flight occurred in 1903 when the Wright brothers famously took their airplane for a final test flight in December. In the years after this historic flight many people start to see the potential for airplanes in war, transportation, and shipping. Other builders disregarded previous doubt about flying and began to replicate the ideas of the Wright brothers in creating planes with three axes. In addition, the approach of WWI prompted military personnel to pursue uses of airplanes as a war machine. The airplane influenced many aspects of American culture after it’s invention including civilian life, war technology, and individual possibility.

The First World War was monumental in history because of all the new technology that was introduced. One particular area that developed during the Great War was the use of airplanes by the German and Allied militaries. In comparison, they both had different mentalities towards an invention that was only made successful less than a decade before the outbreak of war in 1914 by the Wright Brothers in North Carolina, United States. The German Military welcomed the idea with open arms, investing in its potential for military uses, whereas the Allies remained reserved and hesitant, claiming that aircraft could not be used for anything more offensive than reconnaissance missions. These differences in opinions later affected the development of each air force. The German military kept making monthly improvements to their equipment whereas the allied pilots were slow in their respective air forces evolution. However, there was a common progression that both militaries had which was the slow phasing out of the cavalry on either side due to the effectiveness of the aircrafts reconnaissance capabilities. During the World War One, the German military took advantage of the new technology available to them, which gave significant results, whereas the Allies had a more traditional mindset for the beginning of the conflict.

June 12 1919 -Airplane just allowed to leave the ground at the American Aviation Field at  weissenthurm (Germany)

Brigadier General “Billy” Mitchell, the chief of the United States Army Air Service, gave naval aviation a boost after conducting several tactics for bombing ships. One of his major beliefs was that air power would one day shadow over the importance of gunships. In 1921 General

The United States Air Force is an aerial warfare military service that I served in for 5 years. I couldn’t have asked for better mentors, leaders, and supervisors while I was in. The Air Force was established on September 18th, 1947 and is still going strong today. It first started out as the United States Army Air Corp but broke off into their out branch of service back in September of 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947. I am still honored to be a veteran of the largest branch of service and the most technically advanced military that’s ever been around.

In 1918 military aviation was briefly placed under a Division of Military Aeronautics in the War Department before being transformed into the Army Air Service.

On July 1, 1891, congress established the U.S. Army Signal Corps (Layman and Mooney, 1944, p. 2). Understanding the use of balloons in prior wars, the Chief of the Signal Corps felt aviation was an activity that should fall in his corps realm and he petitioned for congressional concurrence. The only issue was congress would make no such acknowledgement. As early as 1892, the Signal Corps began purchasing balloons (Fredriksen, 2011, p. 1). BG Gully and his successor as the Chief of the Signal Corps, BG Allen, kept providing reports on the significance of aviation operations to the military. Initially the gentlemen envisioned a means to communicate being greatly enhanced. Two inventions at the turn of the century would contribute to these beliefs but also make it hard for them to plead their case. With telegraphy and airplanes both being invented,

It has always been the dream of mankind wanting to join the birds in the sky, many innovators created various contraptions to achieve flight. On December 17, 1903, two brothers by the name of Wilbur and Orville Wright decided to test their contraption and it was successful. This event changed the course of aviation as the contraption known as Flyer 1 became the first successful powered heavier-than-air flight.

Towards the end of the War the airplane becomes a practical device of war being able to carry weapons. Anthony Fokker and Louis Bleriot create the most successful of early modern biplanes known as the D-VII and D-VIII. Biplanes are eventually taken over by the monoplane, or one wing. This new design allowed for faster flight and better visibility for the pilot. Air-cooled engines lead the way for commercial aircraft, and Boeing introduces the first modern airliner the 247. Airplanes are effected the greatest by supply and demand of war. New styles of war begun to emerge so did new and improved types of aircraft. The population of the U.S. also begun to grow which leads to the modern most sophisticated commercial airliner the 777. Most aircraft improvements are found in the military and intelligence field. The most high tech aircraft known today for such things as spying are the SR-71 Blackbird, and the U-2 Spy plane. The most complicated and best aircraft performance is still held by the space shuttle and probably always will be. The last 200 years have seen incredible changes in aircraft from the man with wings to heavier than air flying machines that can travel at supersonic speeds.

Before the Federal Aviation Administration existed, there were the Wright brothers who created the first nonstop modern age powered flight in 1903. Their invention opened up considerable amounts of opportunity for the aerospace industry. In fact, it was the Wright brothers’

objections however to improving an existing government service. So it happened that organized air transport in the U.S. started with flying the mail. And the way the early airmail service developed provided the springboard that would enable American commercial aviation, by the late 1920s, to catch up with the Europeans and then to surpass them (Air Mail 158).

The FAA body was came in existence in 1958 by senator A.S. Mike by introducing a bill to create an independent agency to provide safety and