You mean the Army, the Air force didn’t exist until after WWII.
Aviation was a part of the Army, just like Armor, or it’s naval elements.
“You mean the Army, the Air force didn’t exist until after WWII.
Aviation was a part of the Army, just like Armor, or it’s naval elements.”
USAF did not exist as a separate armed service dept until September 1947.
The US Army Air Corps was established in 1926 to bring some order and permanence to the air arm of what was then the War Dept. This brought a degree of autonomy - personnel could no longer be assigned outside aviation.
The US Army Air Forces were established in 1942 and took over all former USAAC facilities, equipment, and people. Nominally, this put the air arm on a more equal footing with the other two War Dept branches: the Army Ground Forces, and the Services of Supply.
USAAF did operate with a large degree of de facto autonomy. It was always staffed by volunteers, so the problems that came with draftees were largely absent. It was often referred to as “the Air Force” in routine activities.
The US Navy developed its air arm along completely different lines. Aviation was always conceived of as an element of support for the Fleet (still is today). Aviation had no independent mission and still does not. USN has been reducing all aviation capabilities that are not carrier based.
Unified standards for performance, interoperability, interchangeability, etc were never mandated, though a few tentative steps were taken along technical lines, by both War and Navy Depts in the late 1930s, on their own initiative. Interoperability is still a problem, despite numerous attempts to make it mandatory.