Wingless eagle : U.S. Army aviation through World War I / Herbert A. Johnson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Johnson, Herbert Alan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Army--Aviation--History--20th century.

United States.

United States. Army.

Aeronautics, Military--United States--History--20th century.

Aeronautics, Military.

World War, 1914-1918--Aerial operations, American.

World War, 1914-1918.

History.

Aeronautics.

Physical Description:

xvi, 298 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2001]

Summary:

At the start of the twentieth century the United States led the world in advances in aviation, with the first successful engine-powered flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and Dayton, Ohio, beginning in 1903. Fifteen years later, however, American airmen flew European-designed aircraft because American planes were woefully inadequate for service on the Western Front. Why was the United States so poorly prepared to engage in aerial combat in World War I?

To answer this question, Herbert Johnson takes a hard look at the early years of U.S. military aviation, exploring the cultural, technical, political, and organizational factors that stunted its evolution. Among the themes he traces are a chronic lack of government funding for military aeronautics, intraservice conflict over control of the aviation program, and the disruptive influence of a civilian "aeronaut constituency" both on military discipline and on Congressional and public attitudes toward army aviation. Public misunderstanding was further fueled by the army's vacillation between lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air weapon systems, Johnson says, and public opinion was repelled by high-risk exhibition flying and revelations of negligence and favoritism in the Signal Corps's management of the aviation program.

On the technical side, the Wright brothers' patent litigation hindered the development of American aircraft and crippled the domestic aviation industry's manufacturing capacity. The United States, then, entered World War I with obsolete aircraft, virtually no capacity to manufacture new planes on a large scale, and a history of animosity and mistrust between army pilots and their commanders. Wartime experience helped correct some of these problems, but the persistence of others left the postwar Air Service with an uncertain and stormy future.

Contents:

Chapter 1. Aeronautics in Embryo: The Aeronaut Constituency II

Chapter 2. Army Aviation in the Media Fishbowl 29

Chapter 3. European Military Aviation and the Hay Committee Hearings 43

Chapter 4. Tactical Thinking, Army Politics, and Congressional Confusion 67

Chapter 5. Patents, Production, and Progress 90

Chapter 6. The Goodier Court-Martial 116

Chapter 7. World War I in the Air: August 1914-April 1917 140

Chapter 8. Dark Clouds and a Silver Lining: The Punitive Expedition and the National Defense Act 157

Epilogue and Prologue: Army Aviation in World War I 184.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [271]-287) and index.

ISBN:

0807826278

OCLC:

46343210