History
In June 1917 Commander Raynal Cawthorne Bolling lead a Bureau of Aircraft Production mission to France, investigating if it was possible to build British and French aircraft in the United States. The Engineering Division was set up to evaluate his proposals. It combined a number of existing division of the Air Service, including the Engineering Department and the Airplane Experimental Department. The first project it undertook was installing an American Liberty L-12 engine on the British de Havilland D.H.9 aircraft, redesignating it USD-9 and USD-9A.
Other aircraft modified include the Bristol F.2B, redesignated XB-1.
After World War I ended, designed aircraft such as the Boeing GA-1 and the Engineering Division VCP racing plane.
In 1925, in order to promote private aircraft developments, the Engineering Division was restricted by General Mason Patrick and could no longer build experimental aircraft.
In 1926 the United States Army Air Service was replaced with the United States Army Air Corps, and the Engineering Division became the Material Division, based at Wright Field. It was given the task of evaluating all projects submitted. This involved recommending technical improvements to manufacturers, drawing up contracts to be awarded, and testing prototype aircraft.
Read more about this topic: Engineering Division
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“It’s not the sentiments of men which make history but their actions.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth. It is astonishing how few facts of importance are added in a century to the natural history of any animal. The natural history of man himself is still being gradually written.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“They are a sort of post-house,where the Fates
Change horses, making history change its tune,
Then spur away o’er empires and o’er states,
Leaving at last not much besides chronology,
Excepting the post-obits of theology.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)