Bureau of Aeronautics The Bureau of Aeronautics ( BuAer ) was the U . S . Navy ' s material - support organization for Naval Aviation from 1921 to 1959 . The bureau had " cognizance " ( " i . e . " , responsibility ) for the design , procurement , and support of Naval aircraft and related systems . Aerial weapons , however , were under the cognizance of the Navy ' s Bureau of Ordnance ( BuOrd ) . Origins : 1920s and 1930s . Congress established BuAer in 1921 in order to create a single organizational home for Naval Aviation . Prior to 1921 , cognizance for aviation had been divided among various Navy bureaus and other organizations . The first Chief of BuAer was Rear Admiral William A . Moffett ( 1869 – 1933 ) , a Medal of Honor recipient and battleship commander who had long supported the development of Naval Aviation . He served as bureau chief from 1921 until his death in 1933 , in the crash of the airship " USS Akron " ( ZRS - 4 ) . A talented administrator , Moffett ensured the continued independence of Naval Aviation during the 1920s , when Army Brig . Gen . Billy Mitchell and others sought to merge all U . S . military aviation into a single , independent air force . Upon Moffett ' s death , he was succeeded as Chief , BuAer , by Rear Admiral Ernest J . King — a future Fleet Admiral and Chief of Naval Operations during World War II . Other important bureau chiefs included Rear Admiral John S . McCain , Sr . , the grandfather of U . S . Senator John S . McCain III ( R - Ariz . ) . During the 1930s , BuAer presided over rapid technological change in Naval aircraft . The bureau ' s policy was to limit its own production , in order to support the civilian aircraft industry . BuAer used the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , as a facility for building small numbers of prototype aircraft . World War II and the postwar period . World War II brought immense changes as well . BuAer was forced to expand rapidly in order to comply with the nation ' s defense needs . By the war ' s end , the bureau had developed an administrative structure that oversaw thousands of personnel , and the procurement and maintenance of tens of thousands of aircraft . In 1943 , the Navy established the position of Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Air , or DCNO ( Air ) , a move which relieved some of BuAer ' s responsibility for Fleet operations . RADM McCain , now promoted to Vice Admiral , was the first to fill the position . BuAer downsized after the war , but continued its focus on aeronautical research and development . But as Naval technology became increasingly complex , it became clear that the Navy ' s material organization was insufficient . In particular , the Navy needed better integration of aerial weapons with Naval aircraft . There was also the question of " pilotless aircraft " ( the ancestors of the late 20th century ' s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle s ) — BuAer considered these to be aircraft , while BuOrd saw them as guided missiles . To fix the problem , in 1959 the Navy merged BuAer and BuOrd to create the Bureau of Naval Weapons ( BuWeps ) . This was only a temporary solution , however , and in 1966 the Navy undertook a wholesale revision of its material organization . The bureau system , which had existed since the 1840s , was replaced with the " Systems Commands " ( SYSCOMs ) . BuWeps was replaced with the current Naval Air Systems Command ( NAVAIR ) .