page_title: United States Army Air Service
section_title: Annual Air Service strength
hierarchical_section_title: United States Army Air Service / Post-war / Annual Air Service strength
caption_attribution_description: English: NBS-1 of the 2d Bomb Group, April 1926 Original caption: NBS-1 of the 96th Bombardment Squadron in April 1926 (USAF via NARA)
context_page_description: The United States Army Air Service was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1918 and 1926 and a forerunner of the United States Air Force. It was established as an independent but temporary branch of the U.S. War Department during World War I by two executive orders of President Woodrow Wilson: on May 24, 1918, replacing the Aviation Section, Signal Corps as the nation's air force; and March 19, 1919, establishing a military Director of Air Service to control all aviation activities. Its life was extended for another year in July 1919, during which time Congress passed the legislation necessary to make it a permanent establishment. The National Defense Act of 1920 assigned the Air Service the status of "combatant arm of the line" of the United States Army with a major general in command.
  In France, the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force, a separate entity under commanding General John J. Pershing that conducted the combat operations of U.S. military aviation, began field service in the spring of 1918.
caption: NBS-1s of the 2nd Bomb Group, April 1926
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