One Hundred Years of Flight USAF Chronology ... - The Air University

May 26: Maj. Townsend F. Dodd became the first aviation officer on the staff
of Maj. Gen. John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary
Forces.
June 17: The Aeronautical Mission, Aircraft Production Board, led by Maj.
Raynal C. Bolling (the Bolling Mission), sailed for Europe. It was
charged with determining the types of aircraft the United States
should build and with surveying British, French, and Italian aircraftmanufacturing
techniques.
July 3: The American Expeditionary Forces began arriving in France.
July 24: Congress appropriated $640 million for Army aviation and authorized
the Aviation Section to expand to 9,989 officers and 87,083 enlisted men.
No earlier appropriation had come close to this amount.
July 27: A British DeHavilland DH–4 aircraft arrived in the United States to
serve as a model for the first American-built aircraft equipped with the
U.S.-made Liberty 12-cylinder engine.
September 3: Brig. Gen. William L. Kenly was appointed first chief of the Air
Service, American Expeditionary Forces, thus becoming the first single
head of all U.S. air activities in-theater. Col. William “Billy” Mitchell
became air commander, Zone of Advance.
September 13: The 1st Aero Squadron arrived in France as the first air unit
to serve with the American Expeditionary Forces.
October 18: The Signal Corps established an experimental laboratory at
McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, to test new aviation technology.
October 29: The first American-built DH–4 was completed and flown at
Dayton, Ohio.
November 7: Eugene J. Bullard, an American in French service, became the
first black fighter pilot to claim an aerial victory.
November 27: Brig. Gen. Benjamin D. Foulois replaced Brig. Gen. William
L. Kenly as chief of the Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces.
1918
1917–18
January 19: The U.S. School of Aviation Medicine began operations under
Maj. William H. Wilmer at Hazelhurst Field, Mineola, New York, to train
medical doctors and nurses to treat U.S. military aviation personnel.
January 20: Col. William “Billy” Mitchell became chief of Air Service, I Army
Corps, upon its organization at Neufchateau, France.
15