Page talk:A Concise History of the U.S. Air Force.djvu/8

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Two questions spring to mind:

  1. The approval of funding by Congress is notable, being the first of its kind. It would be nice to know the details of this approval. This says "On March 3, 1911, Congress appropriated $125000 for Army aviation and made $25000 available to the service immediately." w:Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps agrees with this, but doesnt give any references for the facts given. Famous First Facts A Record Of First Happenings, Discoveries And Inventions In The United States (1933; OCLC:1223058all editions: 1935) gives more details: "[First] Naval airplane was the Curtiss Amphibian Triad delivered July 1911. It was equipped with dual controls permitting two pilots to operate them in flight. It was tested at Lake Keuka, Hammondsport, N.Y. The first naval pilots were lieutenants Theodore Gordon Ellyson and John Henry Towers. Funds were obtained from a $25000 congressional appropriation passed March 4, 1911 (36 Stat. L.1268) "for experimental work in the development of aviation for naval purposes."
  2. "Why all this fuss about airplanes for the Army? I thought we already had one" - this is a famous quote. Who said it? According to this, a congressman said it during session, and a Washington newspaper reporter probably put it to paper. This book (ISBN 0160453518) has a popup which says "As quoted in Chandler and Lahm, How Army Grew WingsOCLC:570115all editions, p. 183, n. 6. Their source was a story in a Washington, D.C., newspaper." This says that he said it when he was approached for support of a $200,000 appropriation to procure the plane and support facilities. This says that "General [James] Allen, Chief Signal Officer, had requested $200,000 for aeronautics for the fiscal year 1908 and for each of the two succeeding years, but no appropriations were made."

John Vandenberg (chat) 06:24, 16 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

A Washington Post search on "Why all this fuss about airplanes for the Army" (without quotes) returns one hit; a 175 word article "Amateur Flier Learns Why Army Shooed Him Away" on Dec 28, 1945. A search with quotes doesnt turn up any hits. John Vandenberg (chat) 09:06, 16 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This quotes it as "What's all this fuss about an aerial machine for the Signal Corps? I thought they already had one!" John Vandenberg (chat) 09:23, 16 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This wonderful source document "Legislative History of the AAF and USAF", found here is not working with any2djvu, so I will quote here:

“

The air arm of the United States originated as a minor activity of the Signal Corps of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, when the Aeronautical Division, consisting of one officer and two enlisted men, was established in the office of the Army's Chief Signal Officer. The Aeronautical Division's first airplane was received from the Wright brothers on 2 August 1909, the contract for the purchase of a plane having been signed on 10 February 1908.[1]

Between 1910 and 1911 no funds were appropriated by Congress for aviation purposes. Prior to 1911 the only statutory references to aerial activity on the part of the U.S. Army was to be found in the appropriations for the Signal Corps under the heading "war balloons." The first direct statutory reference to aircraft was contained in the Appropriations Act of March 3, 1911, which read as follows:

For Expenses of the Signal Service of the Army ... War ballons and airplanes, including their maintenance and repair; ... Provided, however, that no more than $100,000 of said amount shall be used for the purchase, maintenance and repair of airplanes and other aerial machines.[2]

In 1913 Congress appropriated $125,000 for army aviation and provided for the detail of 30 officers to the aviation service of the Signal Corps. ....

  1. ↑ United States Armed Forces Information School, The Army Almanac, A Book of Facts Concerning the Army of the United States (Washington, 1950), p.211.
  2. ↑ 36 U.S. Statutes at Large, 1038 [hereinafter cited 36 Stat. 1038, etc.]. See also Maj. Guido R. Perera, "Legislative History of Aviation in the United States and Abroad" [hereinafter cited Perera, Legislative History], pp 1-2
”

So, the document to be found is Appropriations Act of March 3, 1911, confirmed to be in 36 Stat. 1038. John Vandenberg (chat) 06:04, 17 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I managed to get the Legislative History of the AAF and USAF converted, here. It's been OCRed and I confirmed that was successful, I extracted the text manually... is there anything we have to do to get your bot to move the text to Wikisource page-by-page? --❨Ṩtruthious ℬandersnatch❩ 01:33, 18 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I have downloaded the DJVU, and it doesnt appear to have a text layer. John Vandenberg (chat) 03:10, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Shoot, arrgh, I had uploaded the OCRed version separately but looking at the Commons history that must have crashed or been rejected or something. I'm sorry to have mislead you with that comment. Here's the text. --❨Ṩtruthious ℬandersnatch❩ 07:49, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I am uploading the text now. I split the text you gave on "This Page Declassified", which gave 139 pages, so I am assuming that they have split in the correct positions. So far it looks correct. John Vandenberg (chat) 09:49, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The above quote is now proofread at Page:Legislative History of the AAF and USAF.djvu/8. Thanks, John Vandenberg (chat) 10:34, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Regarding the appropriations act of March 3, 1911, the pertinent page scans of the Statutes at Large (volume 36) are available through the Library of Congress:

Hope that is useful! Tarmstro99 13:37, 12 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

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