The Signal Corps and Air Service. a study of their expansion in the United States, 1917-1918 / prepared in the Historical Section, the Army War College, July, 1922
On title page verso: War Department. Document no. 1109. The Adjutant General's Office.
Contents:
Part I. The Signal Corps: Earlier history of the Signal Corps -- Organization of the Signal Corps immediately prior to the declaration of war -- Equipment possessed by signal corps troops, April, 1917 -- The war expansion of the Signal Corps and its tactical place in the new army -- Methods adapted to supply the increasing demand for men -- Prefatory education of civilians subject to selective service -- Complete specialist organization for war -- Classifications of material -- Trans-Atlantic communication -- Manufacture of wire -- Radio apparatus -- Field glasses and photographic cameras -- Miscellaneous equipment -- Difficulties and complications in production -- Reorganization in the Office of the Chief Signal Officer -- Separation of the land and air service. -- Part II. The Air Service: The origin of the Air Service -- The air service of the Mexican Punitive Expedition -- Condition of the air service on the eve of the declaration of war -- Aviation authorities and advisory boards -- Aviation programs -- Preliminary plans and estimates -- Plan for training planes -- The basic plan for service planes -- Army organization of the Air Service -- Commissioning officers -- Providing for the troops -- Schools and methods of educating and training for aerial service -- Ground and flying schools -- Aerial gunnery -- Schools for nonflying officers -- Schools for enlisted mechanics -- Aeronautical engineering -- Primary training plane production -- The Liberty engine -- Service plan production -- Balloons -- Our overseas obligations -- Armament, instruments, and accessory equipment -- Control and difficulties of aircraft production. -- Appendix: Explanation of abbreviations -- Table A, Strength and and stations of Signal Corps units, April 1917 -- Table B, Signal units of the National Guard, by States, August 5, 1917 -- Table C, Organization chart, Office Chief Signal Officer -- Table D, Sources and original assignment of nuclei of signal battalions for divisions, corps, and armies -- Table E, Organization chart, Signal Corps -- Table G, Organization chart, Signal Corps, showing transfer of certain production activities to the Purchase, Storage, and Traffic Division, General Staff -- Table H, Organization chart, Division of Military Aeronautics -- Table I, Diagram showing stages of flying training, August 2, 1918 -- Table J, Air Service training schools as of October 23, 1918 -- Statement of works, documents and persons consulted
Summary:
"This monograph has been written to give officers of the Army at large, and all others who may be interested, a general idea of the growth in the United States and from April 6, 1917, to November 11, 1918, of the Signal Corps and Air Service. In this brief study no attempt has been made to describe detail subjects which would be of interest solely to technical students. Throughout the preparation of this paper many conferences were held with officials on duty in the Offices of the Chief Signal Officer and of the Chief of Air Service, and the files of both these offices as well as many others have been freely consulted. Monographs dealing with the work of specific services are, in general, prepared by the services themselves, with the advice and assistance of the Historical Section, The Army War College. Where, however, as in this case, the paper deals with two or more services, it is prepared in the Historical Section, with the advice and assistance of the services."--Preface
