Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps
The Aviation Section, Signal Corps, was the aerial warfare service of the United States from 1914 to 1918, and a direct statutory ancestor of the United States Air Force. It absorbed and replaced the Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps, and conducted the activities of Army aviation until its statutory responsibilities were suspended by President Woodrow Wilson in 1918. The Aviation Section organized the first squadrons of the aviation arm and conducted the first military operations by United States aviation on foreign soil.
Members of the 1st Aero Squadron and a Burgess Model H trainer at North Island (later Rockwell Field), San Diego, California, 1915
Members of the 1st Aero Squadron in Mexico, 1916
Lt. Carleton G. Chapman in 1st Aero Squadron Curtiss JN-3 Signal Corps No. 53 preparing to takeoff at Casas Grande, Mexico.
Lt. Herbert A. "Bert" Dargue posing in front of Signal Corps No. 43 at Chihuahua City, Mexico.
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal Corps, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the United States Armed Forces in 1947 with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the second youngest branch of the United States Armed Forces and the fourth in order of precedence. The United States Air Force articulates its core missions as air supremacy, global integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.
The first F-35 Lightning II of the 33rd Fighter Wing arriving at Eglin AFB
An Air Force RQ-4 strategic reconnaissance aircraft
An Air Force KC-46 Pegasus refuels a C-17A Globemaster III
An Air Force A-10 demonstrating close air support at Nellis AFB