American Aircraft - Pre WWI Entry

[Bruno Stachel]

It's well known that the U.S. entered the WWI air war using mainly French and English built aircraft. I'm curious as to what was happening before America became involved in the war. As American aircraft development lagged behind the Europeans, were there any individuals in the U.S. trying to get aircraft development caught up? Were there any Billy Mitchell types trying to champion the role of aircraft in warfare, and warn of how lacking the U.S. was in its inventory?

[Varese2002]

Originally Posted by Bruno Stachel

It's well known that the U.S. entered the WWI air war using mainly French and English built aircraft. I'm curious as to what was happening before America became involved in the war. As American aircraft development lagged behind the Europeans, were there any individuals in the U.S. trying to get aircraft development caught up? Were there any Billy Mitchell types trying to champion the role of aircraft in warfare, and warn of how lacking the U.S. was in its inventory?

Historians have written many books / magazine articles about the reason why the USA lagged behind on aviation development and went to war on April 6, 1917 with an almost unprepared air corps and a small and scattered aviation industry.

One of the many interesting books, which is a good read is this one

Johnson, Herbert Alan. 2001. Wingless eagle: U.S. Army aviation through World War I. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807826270

When you search around you will find quite a lot more on this subject.

Cheers

Kees

[Bruno Stachel]

Thanks Kees. I'll give it a go.

Frank

[Jim]

The manufacturers were trying, but they were not being given much in the way of financial support from the military. The first combat US aircraft in the war were Curtiss R-6s, which were not exactly state of the art aircraft of the day for example.

[Colin A Owers]

Actually the first US built aircraft that were used in combat in WWI were the Curtiss H-8/H-12 flying boats in British service. These were the best that the Allies had at that time.

Colin A Owers

[Varese2002]

Originally Posted by Bruno Stachel

Thanks Kees. I'll give it a go.

Frank

Hi Frank,

In this time of 'information-overflow' I remembered the study of Juliette A. Hennessy of the Office of Air Force History of 1958 (260 pages). The title is 'The United States Army Air Arm - April 1861 to April 1917'. It is a very factual account of US military aviation.

Paper copies are only available on the second-hand market, but there is a full PDF officially made available. It can be downloaded for instance here here.

It is a fine study, already made more than 50 years ago

Cheers

Kees

[Bruno Stachel]

Thank you very much Kees!

Frank

[Jim]

Originally Posted by Colin A Owers

Actually the first US built aircraft that were used in combat in WWI were the Curtiss H-8/H-12 flying boats in British service. These were the best that the Allies had at that time.

Colin A Owers

Right, but I was referring to the first US aircraft flown in combat by the US forces.