The Aircraft Board was a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

federal government organization created from the Aircraft Production Board on October 1, 1917, by Act of Congress to provide statutory authority to the APB, which had been created by a resolution of the

Council of National Defense The Council of National Defense was a United States organization formed during World War I to coordinate resources and industry in support of the war effort, including the coordination of transportation, industrial and farm production, financial s ...

on May 16, 1917. Chaired by Howard E. Coffin, the Aircraft Board was also removed from the control of the Council of National Defense and placed under the Secretaries of War and the Navy. The boards, ruled advisory in nature by the Judge Advocate General, gave their recommendations to the

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 con ...

regarding the development and procurement of aircraft during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

., pp. 27-29. 40 ''Stat.'' 296. The board consisted initially of Coffin, Brig. Gen.

George O. Squier Major General George Owen Squier (March 21, 1865 – March 24, 1934) was born in Dryden, Michigan, United States. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in the Class of 1887 and received a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 18 ...

(Chief Signal Officer), Rear Adm. David W. Taylor (Chief of the Bureau of Construction of the Navy), S.D. Waldron, Edward A. Deeds, and Col. Robert L. Montgomery. On June 16, 1917, it added Col. Raynal C. Bolling, and on September 14, 1917, Col. Benjamin D. Foulois and Capt. N. E. Irwin, all of the Aviation Section. After Howard Coffin had resigned under corruption allegations in March, President Wilson appointed John D. Ryan in April 1918 to replace Coffin as head of the board.Anne Cipriano Venzon, Jerold Brown in ''The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia'', Routledge, 1999, , pages 153 and 520

References

* ''The Great War Society Journal'', Volume Five, Number Three. {{US-gov-stub 1917 establishments in the United States 20th-century military history of the United States Military units and formations of the United States in World War I 20th-century history of the United States Air Force Military units and formations established in 1917