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  • Aeronca L-3B "Grasshopper"

    The L-3, originally designated O-58, was the military version of the Aeronca Model 65 Defender. This high-wing, light airplane could operate from small, hastily-built flying fields. The Army ordered the first O-58s in 1941 to test the use of light aircraft for liaison and observation missions in

  • AAF Established

    With the expansion of the Army's air arm, it became increasingly evident that there was an urgent need for closer cooperation between its two independent elements, the Air Corps (responsible for materiel and training functions) and the Air Force Combat Command (responsible for operational

  • Air Corps Expands

    The decaying military situation in Europe emphasized the need for urgency within the United States. In May 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called for production of 50,000 military planes a year, a tremendous increase from the 1,800 produced in 1938. Various Air Corps expansion programs were

  • Aircraft Cannons

    In 1939 Wright Field modified a B-18 for installation of a 75mm cannon in its belly and fired the weapon while in flight. Although results were less successful than anticipated, this marked the first attempt to "marry" a 75mm weapon to an airplane.During World War II, 75mm cannons were installed in

  • Air Mail Ramp Light

    This 10,000-volt floodlight was manufactured by the BBT Corp. of America of Philadelphia. It was used in the 1930s at a government air mail emergency airfield near Waterman, Ill., where the donor's father was a weather observer and caretaker.Click here to return to the Early Years Gallery.

  • Airplane Landing Lights

    Early in the 1920s, McCook Field began experimenting with night flying equipment. Emphasis was placed upon airplane landing lights to replace highly dangerous wingtip and parachute flares in use at the time. The two lights on display at the museum, designed and tested at McCook Field in 1925, were

  • Advent of the All-Metal Airplane

    By the early 1930s, aircraft design and construction technology throughout the world had advanced to the point where it was possible to mass-produce all-metal airplanes. There had been an all-metal plane as early as World War I, but it was an exception. Most airplanes of the war period and the 1920s

  • Aerial Mapping

    After World War I, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey asked for the U.S. Army Air Service's help in using aerial photographs for mapping, and tests conducted during the summer of 1919 proved the concept. In 1920 Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell stated that the Army Air Service -- if properly organized --

  • Aerial Route Flashing Beacon

    The U.S. Army Air Service placed beacons like this one around airfields in the early 1920s. They were also stationed three miles apart along the established air mail routes, and at night, pilots could see their constant glow from 10 miles away. A switch automatically turned the light on at night or

  • Air Corps Development, 1919-1935

    Following World War I, many Americans believed the United States should never again become involved in European entanglements. Military appropriations were reduced dramatically and the Air Service was cut to only 10,000 men as of June 30, 1920. This reduction in funds had a paralyzing effect upon