United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerial and space warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces, and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially formed as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the fourth in order of precedence. The USAF is the largest and most technologically advanced air force in the world. The Air Force articulates its core missions as air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.
Gen. William Mitchell House
Mitchell had a major role in the development of American military air power during World War I, and sought to broaden the Air Service (then part of the United States Army). His views were often poorly received and controversial, and he was eventually court-martialed in 1925, and resigned from the Army the following year. His views were to some degree vindicated when the United States Air Force was established in 1947, on an equal footing with the Army and Navy.