Aeronautical Division , U . S . Signal Corps The Aeronautical Division , Signal Corps ( 1907 – 1914 ) was the first heavier - than - air military aviation organization in history and the progenitor of the United States Air Force . A component of the U . S . Army Signal Corps , the Aeronautical Division procured the first powered military aircraft in 1909 , created schools to train its aviators , and initiated a rating system for pilot qualifications . It organized and deployed the first permanent American aviation unit , the 1st Aero Squadron , in 1913 . The Aeronautical Division trained 51 officers and 2 enlisted men as pilots , and incurred 13 fatalities in air crashes . During this period , the Aeronautical Division had 29 factory - built aircraft in its inventory , built a 30th from spare parts , and leased a civilian airplane for a short period in 1911 . 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 . Birth of an air arm . 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 . The Aeronautical Division , Signal Corps , consisting at its inception of one officer and two enlisted men , began operation on August 1 , 1907 . Captain Charles deForest Chandler was named to head the new division , with Corporal Edward Ward and Private First Class Joseph E . Barrett as his assistants . 1st Lt . Frank P . Lahm , a cavalry officer , was also detailed to the division and joined it September 17 , 1907 . Both officers were balloonist s . 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 Wright Brothers on January 3 , 1908 . Acquisition of aircraft . In 1908 , the Aeronautical Division , at the intercession of President Theodore Roosevelt in the acquisition process , purchased a nonrigid dirigible from Thomas Scott Baldwin for $ 6 , 750 , and an airplane from the Wright Brothers for $ 25 , 000 . Specification No . 486 required both types of airships be able to carry two persons . The dirigible had to be able to carry a load of and reach a speed of ; the airplane ' s requirements were a load of , a speed of , and a flying distance of at least . The dirigible was delivered first , in July 1908 , after Baldwin submitted an extremely low bid to ensure receiving the contract ( $ 25 , 000 had been budgeted ) . Baldwin and Glenn Curtiss flew the test trials over Fort Myer and met all specifications except speed , which was just under the requirement . It was designated Signal Corps Dirigible No . 1 . During August , Baldwin trained three officer candidates to fly the dirigible : Lahm , 1st Lt . Thomas E . Selfridge , Field Artillery ; and 1st Lt . Benjamin D . Foulois , Infantry . Foulois was trained as the first dirigible pilot and prepared to move the ship from Fort Omaha to St . Joseph , Missouri for a state fair exhibition . However , the first solo ascent in the dirigible , and the first flight solely by army pilots , did not occur until May 26 , 1909 . The Wright Brothers , who had been asking $ 100 , 000 for their airplane , then agreed to sell an airplane satisfying the requirements for $ 25 , 000 ( they also received a $ 5 , 000 bonus for exceeding the speed requirement ) . The airplane was delivered to Fort Myer , Virginia , on September 1 , 1908 , for trials . The first acceptance flight of the airplane was made on September 3 at Fort Myer , with Orville at the controls . Selfridge and Lahm were named official observers of the trials of the Wright aeroplane for September 1908 . Both Lahm and Major Squier made acceptance flights as observers , and on September 13 , Wright kept the airplane aloft for an hour and ten minutes . On September 17 , 1908 , because he was under orders to travel to St . Joseph for the dirigible exhibition , Selfridge asked to take the place of a United States Navy observer , Lieutenant George Sweet , scheduled for a test flight . During the flight , flying at , a propeller split and shattered , severing a wire to the rudder , and caused the airplane to crash . Wright was hospitalized , and Selfridge — the Army ' s only officer experienced in heavier - than - air flight — was killed in the first fatal crash of an airplane . Orville Wright , along with Wilbur this time , returned to Fort Myer in June 1909 with a new though smaller and faster airplane , powered by the engine from the wrecked 1908 Flyer . The brothers spent the better part of July fine tuning the airplane and warming up for the final tests while bad flying weather hampered much of the month . For 1909 ' s acceptance trials both Lahm and Foulois were named as official observers . Lahm flew with Wright on July 27 , and on July 30 , with President William H . Taft as a spectator , Foulois and Wright in the final acceptance trial made a cross country flight of 10 mi ( 16 km ) around Shuter ' s ( or Shooters ) Hill between Fort Myer and Alexandria , Virginia . This flight broke all of the existing records for speed , duration with a passenger and altitude with a passenger . Pleased with the performance of this airplane the Army purchased it awarding the Wrights $ 25 , 000 plus an added bonus of $ 5 , 000 ( $ 1 , 000 for each mile achieved over 40 mph ( 64 km / h ) ) . The plane ' s best speed had been 45 mph ( 72 km / h ) bringing the total sale price to $ 30 , 000 . Airplane operations . First solo flights . 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 of altitude , late in the day Lahm remained aloft for 40 minutes , telling Wright he landed only because it was suppertime . The Army ' s contract with the Wright Brothers ended with the completion of training of the two student pilots , and Wilbur Wright made his last public flight on November 2 . Later that day , Lahm took Lt . Sweet up as a passenger and he became the first naval officer to fly . On November 5 , both pilots were aboard the airplane , with Lahm at the controls , when it crashed in a low altitude turn . Although neither pilot was injured , and the Wrights bore the expense of repairs , the crash ended flights until 1910 . Both Lahm and Humphreys returned to duty with their respective branches . Foulois and Beck . 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 . Foulois arrived back from France on October 23 and was given some preliminary flight time with Wilbur Wright , even though Wright was not contractually obligated to do so , with the intent that Humphreys would complete Foulois ' training . In November 1909 , Foulois became the only officer detailed to the Aeronautical Division . He accrued three hours and two minutes total flying time at College Park but did not solo . Because of inclement winter weather at College Park , Foulois was assigned to move the flying program to Fort Sam Houston , an Army post near San Antonio , Texas . Foulois and eight enlisted men 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 and four flights in total , crashing the S . C . No . 1 on its final landing . He achieved a maximum altitude of and a speed of in logging 59 minutes and 30 seconds of flight time . He flew the repaired craft five times on March 12 , and received written instruction by mail from the Wright Brothers . 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 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 onto the landing skids to provide the first landing gear . 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 US $ , 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 . Major Squier , as 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 . The most proficient new pilot was Beck , who by seniority was made commander of the provisional aero company , causing a permanent rift between himself and Foulois , by far the more experienced pilot . The Curtiss machine , S . C . No . 2 , nearly crashed on May 2 with Walker at the controls , nose - diving when Walker attempted a turn . The plane cartwheeled and although Walker miraculously regained control , he was so badly shaken that he voluntarily withdrew from flying . The next day Beck crash - landed S . C . No . 2 when its engine failed while he was at , severely damaging it . On May 10 , Kelly , the least experienced pilot , was killed flying the same airplane on his qualification flight when he crashed while landing in gusty wind conditions . The division commander , Major General William H . Carter , immediately withdrew permission to fly at Fort Sam . 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 . Foulois was again removed from the aviation by assignment to the Division of Militia Affairs in the War Department . Beck took over from Foulois as instructor , and moved the school back to College Park with S . C . No . 3 . 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 " . Arnold and Milling . 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 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 . Appropriations , growth , and " incipient mutiny " . 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 Lt . 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 Lts . Henry H . Arnold and Thomas D . 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 Lt . Arnold , Capt . Chandler , Lt . Milling , Capt . Beck , and Lt . 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 , Captain 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 . Expansion of the aviation service . Capt . 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 , U . S . 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 an Aviation Section , which continued the Aeronautical Division 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 . Heads of the Aeronautical Division . The executive head of the Aeronautical Division had no official title between 1907 and 1914 but was usually referred to as the Officer in Charge ( OIC ) . The four recognized by the USAF as the OICs of the Division during this period , and thus as " head " of its progenitor arm , are denoted by a bullet point . All others are on lists in official studies published by the Office of Air Force History or its successor AFHRA . After July 18 , 1914 , the division was a part of an aviation section authorized by statute , with a Chief of Division who also exercised control of the section . August 1 , 1907 to July 18 , 1914 : < nowiki > * < / nowiki > The Air Force does not acknowledge Lahm as OIC of the Aeronautical Division between 1908 and 1910 . However , Chandler ' s biography and Hennessy ' s history ( page 14 ) indicate that from May 1908 to July 1910 Chandler was commander of the Signal Corps Balloon Station at Fort Omaha , Nebraska . Also , Lahm was mandatorily returned to the Cavalry in late 1909 , and no replacement is given , although if one was assigned , it was likely Foulois . < nowiki > * * < / nowiki > Chandler was also Chief of the Aviation School and commander of the 1st Provisional Aero Squadron when those organizations were active . He was relieved of duty on April 1 , 1913 , and transferred to the Philippines . Capt . Cowan replaced him in command of the 1st Aero Squadron and as acting OIC of the Aeronautical Division .