Division of Military Aeronautics, Secretary of War

The Division of Military Aeronautics was the name of the Army's aviation organization for a four-day period during World War I. It was created by a reorganization by the War Department of the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps on April 24, 1918, still as part of the Signal Corps. It was removed from the Aviation Section by executive order on May 20, 1918, and existed as the sole Army aviation agency until a War Department general order issued May 24, 1918, established it and the Bureau of Aircraft Production, created by the same reorganization on April 24, as coordinate components of the "Air Service". As such, it is recognized by the United States Air Force as the third of its antecedents.

As a subordinate component of the Air Service, the DMA continued until March 19, 1919, when the Board of Aircraft Production was consolidated with it into the Air Service.

The failure of the Aircraft Production Board (after October 1, 1917, the Aircraft Board) and the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps to meet aircraft production goals for the establishment of an adequate air combat force in France by the summer of 1918 forced the administration of President Woodrow Wilson to overhaul the bureaucratic structure of military aviation. In addition the Aircraft Board was being investigated by both the Justice Department and the United States Senate for possible fraud. For similar reasons, the Division of Military Aeronautics was created on April 24, 1918, replacing the Air Division, which had been the final designation of the original Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps.

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