May 20, 1918

May 20, 1918

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org

President Woodrow Wilson signs the Overman Act, which, mostly as a result of the monumental problems the US faced in gearing up aircraft production for World War I, transfers the Aviation Section from the Signal Corps to two agencies under the Secretary of War-the Bureau of Aircraft Production and the Division of Military Aeronautics, which constitutes the US Air Service. Maj. Gen. William L. Kenly is named as the Air Service’s director of Military Aeronautics.

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org

Related Content

Second B-21 Flies for the First Time

Sept. 11, 2025
A second B-21 bomber has flown from Palmdale to Edwards Air Force Base in California, ramping up the Air Force’s test effort for its new fleet.

Natalie Crawford, Icon of USAF Analysis and Modernization, Dies at 86

Sept. 10, 2025
Natalie Crawford, whose analysis helped shape and build Air Force modernization for decades, has died at 86. Crawford, who joined RAND Corp. in 1964 and spent more than 60 years as an analyst and expert there, was an influential and instrumental voice in the development of almost every innovation pioneered…

SDA’s First Operational Data Satellites Launch Successfully

Sept. 10, 2025
The U.S. military launched 21 satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., Sept. 10, carrying out the first phase of the Space Development Agency’s plan to put more than 100 operational “Tranche 1” data transport spacecraft in orbit over the next year.