This Page Declassified IAW EO12958 e USAF HISTORICAL STUDIES: NO. 98 ssuy seypryg sopdsOeY 2012011 ‘youotg SeaTGory :NELY ‘ou NunEay i : i Tue Unrrep Srates Army Air Arm, APRIL 1861 TO APRIL 1917 ® USAF HISTORICAL DIVISION »w Research Studies Institute = Aix University ~s May 1958 + D> \eaazsv0 THIS PAGE Declassified IAW EO012958This Page Declassified IAW EO12958 Penona sor eins creed ct inp 1 his pbeton ae not 0b ‘Sonne Ss cay ofa chon of he Depart of he hi Bers ‘Ale Unters, THIS PAGE Declassified IAW EO012958This Page Declassified IAW E012958 Foreword JHIS MONOGRAPH, waitten by Mrs. Julietio A. Hennessy of the USAF His- toncal Division, recounts the development of aviation in the United States ‘Army from April 1861, when the Army first became interested in balloons 2s ‘4 means of observation, to April 1917, when America entered World War I. The origins and organizations of the Army's air arm are told in detail, with particular ‘emphasis on early airforce personnel, planes, ané experiments In the process the ‘monograph traces the early development of what today is The United States Air Force, Of necessity, the monograph tends strongly toward the chronologieal variety. ‘This is owing to several factors, the thinness of aviation activities for most of the long period covered and an equal thinness sn records being the principal factors. e Only a few books which deal with this early penod of Army aviation have been written, and all of them together do not cover the period. This, then, is the first sttenpt to put the story into a single volume. Because the story of the air arm from Apnl 1917 to the begianing of World War II also has not been fully covered it is expected that the present monograph will be the first of three, which, when completed, will become the basis for a published history of the Army Air Am, 1861-1939. Like other Historical Divisian staches, this story 18 subject to revision, and ad~ ditional information or suggested corrections will be welcomed. THIS PAGE Declassified IAW EO012958