1910s AD

Air Force Journal of Logistics, Fall, 2004 by Roger G. Miller

In summary, by June 1918, the various approaches to maintenance and specialist training had succeeded in meeting the Army's most serious requirements in the United States and in France, enabling the Air Service to concentrate the body of its formal technical training programs at the Air Service Mechanics School at Kelly Field and the Dunwoody Industrial Institute. These programs functioned until the end of the war. Altogether, the different programs graduated 14,176 enlisted mechanics and technical persons by 11 November 1918. (24)

Now, where does the Royal Flying Corps come into all this? The Air Service made an early effort to establish its own maintenance training program in France; however, this approach quickly fell apart because of a lack of facilities, training equipment, and instructors. Thus, what training initially took place in Europe was on-the-job at the various flying fields and repair centers, and the Air Service turned to France and England to fill the mechanics training gap. The French Government proved much less helpful in this regard than in other areas. At the request of the French, in 1917, the Air Service, AEF ordered some 475 enlisted persons to French flying fields for instruction, while another 200 aero mechanics were sent to work in French aircraft factories where they received practical experience, if not formal training. These men served in the factories until Foulois requested their return in January 1918. But this was just a drop in the bucket compared to the number required--and the number trained with British assistance. (25)

Help from Great Britain began in the United States when the Air Service took advantage of a training program already in existence. In July 1917, Colonel Cuthbert G. Hoare, commander of the Royal Flying Corps in Canada, proposed a reciprocal training program in which the Royal Flying Corps would train ten American squadrons in Canada in exchange for the use of three flying fields in the United States for winter training when weather closed many of the fields in Canada. The Air Service accepted the offer and built three fields at Camp Taliaferro near Fort Worth, Texas. Subsequently, Hoare offered to train an additional eight squadrons in exchange for extended use of these fields. Eight of the first ten squadrons trained under this program saw operational service in France; however, the process was hardly as straightforward as it seemed on the surface. Ultimately, the Canadian program trained some 4,800 American pilots, ground officers, and enlisted persons. It was a successful program but answered only a part of the need for trained mechanics. (26)

The concept of swapping training in exchange for warm bodies lay at the bottom of the most extensive training program established overseas during the war. Major Raynal C. Bolling had discussed training American mechanics with British authorities while the Bolling Commission was in England in June 1917, and in September, shortly after the first American air units reached France, several detachments in transit to France were diverted to England for instruction on British aircraft. These included the 34th Aero Squadron and 50-man detachments from seven other squadrons. These were joined in October by five additional flying squadrons and several construction units. Subsequently, negotiations between Pershing and the British Air Ministry led to the Mechanic Training Agreement signed on 5 December 1917. This agreement provided that the Air Service would send 15,000 mechanics to England by 1 March 1918 for training by the Royal Flying Corps. Their presence would release a corresponding number of British mechanics for service at the Front. When trained, the American mechanics would be released to the Air Service, AEF in France at the same rate that they were replaced in England by new trainees from the United States. The agreement also called on the Air Service to furnish 6,200 American construction persons--including carpenters, bricklayers, and laborers--to work on RFC flying fields. (27)