The 1st Provisional Air Brigade was a temporary unit of the

United States Army Air Service The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial warf ...

, commanded by Col.

Billy Mitchell William Lendrum Mitchell (December 29, 1879 – February 19, 1936) was a United States Army officer who had a major role in the creation of the United States Air Force. Mitchell served in France during World War I and, by the conflict's end, ...

, operating out of

Langley Field Langley may refer to: People * Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name * Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer * Langley Wakeman Collyer (1885–1947), one ...

, Virginia, that was used in Project B to demonstrate the vulnerability of ships to aerial attack when, in July 1921, the "unsinkable" German dreadnought SMS ''Ostfriesland'' was sent to the bottom of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

by bombardment. Other targets included the German destroyer SMS G-102, the SMS ''Frankfurt'', and the USS ''Iowa''.

Formation

In the wake of the disarmament following the conclusion of the

Great War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, with the aviation branch of the U.S. Army drastically reduced in size, Col. Mitchell felt that the U.S. Navy's focus on building super

dreadnought The dreadnought was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an effect when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", ...

s was a waste of defense money as he was convinced that warships were now vulnerable to air attack. He published articles and had testified before the House subcommittee on aviation "that 1,000 bomber aircraft could be built and operated for the cost of one dreadnought and that his airplanes could sink a battleship. He volunteered to demonstrate this if the navy would provide him with some battleships, which were already due to be demolished. The navy reluctantly agreed to the demonstrations." "Once the test was agreed to, Mitchell formed the First Provisional Air Brigade, drawing 150 airplanes and 1,000 people from air bases around the country. Because none of the pilots knew how to sink ships, extensive training was required at Langley Field in Virginia, where practice missions against mock ships were performed. Among the officers attending the practices was Alexander de Seversky, who had served with Russia during the war, dropping bombs on German ships. He taught the pilots that the best way to sink a ship was to drop the bomb near, not on, the ship."

Tests

"The test, held off the mouth of Chesapeake Bay in July, 1921 attracted widespread public interest. There, after naval aircraft in June had easily disposed of a surfaced U-boat, Mitchell's First Provisional Air Brigade, hastily assembled and trained at Langley Field, attacked and sank three German ships -- a destroyer, the cruiser ''Frankfurt'', and the heavily compartmented ''Ostfriesland''. Disputes arose as to the manner in which the experiment -- directed by the Navy - had been conducted, and the Joint Board's report tended to deprecate the effectiveness of aerial bombing. But the fact of the sinkings was indisputable, and Mitchell went on to clinch the validity of his claims by tests conducted with like results on obsolete US Battleships -- the ''Alabama'' in September, 1921, and the ''Virginia'' and ''New Jersey'' in September, 1923."

Equipment

On 1 May 1921, Mitchell assembled the 1st Provisional Air Brigade, an air and ground crew of 125 aircraft and 1,000 men at

Langley, Virginia Langley is an unincorporated community in the census-designated place of McLean in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The name "Langley" often occurs as a metonym for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), whose headquarters, the George ...

, using six squadrons from the Air Service: *Air Service Field Officers School,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, ( SE-5 fighters) **50th Squadron (later 431st Bomb Squadron) **88th Squadron (later 436th Bomb Squadron) *1st Day Bombardment Group (later

2nd Bomb Group The 2nd Bomb Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Force Global Strike Command and the Eighth Air Force. It is stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The wing is also the host unit at Barksdale. The wing was ...

Kelly Field Kelly Field (formerly Kelly Air Force Base) is a Joint-use airport, Joint-Use facility located in San Antonio, Texas. It was originally named after George E. M. Kelly, the first member of the U.S. military killed in the crash of an airplane he ...

, Texas (SE-5 fighters, Martin NBS-1, Handley-Page O/400, and Caproni CA-5 bombers) ** 49th Squadron ** 96th Squadron *7th Observation Group (

Second Corps Area Second Corps Area was a Corps Area of the United States Army , active from c1920 to 1940. Its headquarters was located at Fort Jay at Governors Island in New York, New York. Its staff also served as the First Army Area headquarters staff. It was ...

Mitchel Field Mitchell may refer to: People and fictional characters *Mitchell (surname), including lists of both people and fictional characters *Mitchell (given name), lists of people and fictional characters Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Ca ...

, New York ( DH-4 and Douglas O-2 observation planes) ** 1st Squadron ** 5th Squadron Handley Page O/400 and Martin MB-2 bombers of the 96th Squadron (Bombardment) did the heavy lifting, dropping bombs of between 230 lbs (100 kg) and 2,000 lbs (910 kg) over a two-day period on the captured German warship, rupturing her water-tightness and sinking her on 21 July off of

Cape Hatteras Cape Hatteras is a cape located at a pronounced bend in Hatteras Island, one of the barrier islands of North Carolina. As a temperate barrier island, the landscape has been shaped by wind, waves, and storms. There are long stretches of beach ...

, North Carolina. Other types drawn for the unit included

Airco DH.4 The Airco DH.4 is a British two-seat biplane day bomber of the First World War. It was designed by Geoffrey de Havilland (hence "DH") for Airco, and was the first British two-seat light day-bomber capable of defending itself. It was desig ...

s and at least one

Curtiss Eagle The Curtiss Eagle (retroactively designated the Model 19 by Curtiss some years later) was an airliner produced in small numbers in the United States shortly after World War I. The aircraft was a conventional biplane with three-bay, unstaggered wi ...

ambulance airplane. Following the sinking of USS ''Alabama'' on 26 September 1921, the 1st Provisional Air Brigade was disbanded. The bombing tests of 1923 were subsequently conducted with equipment and personnel of the 2d Bombardment Group.Maurer Maurer, “Aviation in the U.S. Army, 1919-1939,” Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1987, Library of Congress card number 87-12257, , pages 124-126.

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Military units and formations established in 1921