What current branch of the U.S. military was a corps of only 50 soldiers when World War I broke out?
1 Answer
US Air Force
Explanation:
To find the answer, I first approached it this way - What are the current branches of the US military?
- Army
- Navy
- Air Force
- Marines
Of the four, only one - the Air Force - would have come into existence only recently (manned powered air flight, courtesy of the Wright Brothers, was only achieved in 1903 and WWI started in 1914) while the others have all existed since the US Revolution (the Marines were originally sharpshooters onboard Navy vessels, targeting enemy officers so as to create confusion on deck).
Which brought me to this wikipedia article about the history of the Air Force and some interesting reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_Air_Force
The structure of the military has always been a source of frustration and friction both within military and political structures:
-
The Marines for instance are technically still a branch of the US Navy - the Commandant of the Marines, who is the Commanding Officer of the Marines, has as his boss the Chief of Naval Operations, who is the Commanding Officer of the Navy. But don't tell the Marines that - they don't like being reminded of that fact.
-
Within the US military, the service with the largest number of boats is the Army. The Navy, in the past, has insisted that Navy personnel should be assigned to operate those boats - the Army wasn't amused.
-
Within the US military, the service with the largest number of aircraft is the Navy. The Air Force, in the past, has insisted that Air Force personnel should be assigned to those planes - and the Navy was just as unamused as the Army was about that whole boat thing.
-
And to round off these examples, the Air Force has control of the missile silos and the intercontinental nuclear missiles. And so they felt that they had control over all things nuclear. And so when the Navy developed nuclear powered ships (including submarines) and the Army was looking into nuclear powered tanks (never panned out but they did try), the Air Force felt they should have their personnel in charge of those assets. The Navy and Army weren't amused.
You get the idea.
And so the birth of a separate branch of the military concerning air power involved lots of people being not amused.
The Air Force began its life as a branch of the US Army's signal corps. They acquired planes and trained pilots for WWI and initially the planes were used to spot where the enemy was - they'd fly overhead and find the enemy and see their placement. Quickly, pilots realized they could shoot at other pilots and prevent them from bringing back intelligence (the pre-curser to the modern day fighter plane), and they could drop grenades on enemy troops (the pre-curser to the modern day bomber).
As the importance of air power developed, it was seen that a separate organization dedicated solely to air power should be created, and it evolved into the modern day Air Force.
