The Air Force has a proud tradition, but many people don’t know that it once was a part of the Army. Before 1947 the Air Force was a part of the Army, and was seen as a Army force that was airborne. The Army has been around for over two hundred years, but it was not until nearly six years after the start of aviation that the Army got into the act. Congress voted its first funding in 1911 and then expanded it into a aviation section of the Army in 1914. The first real military role began in the first World War, and America provided over 4000 airplanes to help out France. By the end of World War I it became clear that there was a lot of potential to aviation and the military, but it also was clear that there was a great deal of confusion with the new section and aviation in general.
Slowly as the Air Force grew, it began to divide its supporters. Some people actually involved in Army Aviation saw it as an important section and valuable in its own right.
Others involved in Army Leadership thought that aviation was merely a method of transporting or delivering men, cargo or materials. So, they tended to be dismissive of Army Air Aviation, or not give it a whole lot of respect. This got worse during World War II. Aviation played an important role in the victory of the Allied forces and at the end of the war, despite its value and use, there were a lot of people in Army Leadership that wanted to scrap the Army Air Force, or believed that now that World War II was over that we had no need of a large aviation force.
President Harry Truman disagreed. In September 1947 he signed legislation that made the Air Force its own independent service. Ever since then, the Air Force has grown into its present size, strength and force.
