Chapter 186. To increase the efficiency of the aviation service of the Army, and for other purposes
1,818 words·~8 min read·
/statutes-at-large/vol-38/chapter-186-2174993·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 186.— An Act To increase the efficiency of the aviation service of the Army, and for other purposes.July 18, 1914.[[H. R. 5304](/us/bill/63/hr/5304).][[Public, No. 143](/us/pl/63/143).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Army. Aviation section of Signal Corps created. Duties, etc.That there shall hereafter be, and there is hereby created, an aviation section, which shall be a part of the Signal Corps of the Army, and which shall be, and is hereby, charged with the duty of operating or supervising the operation of all military air craft, including balloons and aeroplanes, all appliances pertaining to said craft, and signaling apparatus of any kind when installed on said craft; also with the duty of training officers and enlisted men in matters pertaining to military aviation.
Sec. 2. Officers and enlisted men provided for.That, in addition to such officers and enlisted men as shall be assigned from the Signal Corps at large to executive, administrative, scientific, or other duty in or for the aviation section, there shall be in said section aviation officers not to exceed sixty in number, Additional to regular Corps allotment.and two hundred and sixty aviation enlisted men of all grades; and said aviation officers and aviation enlisted men, all of whom shall be engaged on duties pertaining to said aviation section, shall be additional to the officers and enlisted men now allotted by law to the Signal Corps, the commissioned and enlisted strengths of which are hereby increased accordingly.
Details from line officers.The aviation officers provided for in this section shall, except as hereinafter prescribed specifically to the contrary, be selected from among officers holding commissions in the line of the Army with Tour of service.rank below that of captain, and shall be detailed to serve as such aviation officers for periods of four years, unless sooner relieved, and Vol. 31, p. 755.the provisions of section twenty-seven of the Act of Congress approved February second, nineteen hundred and one (Thirty-first Statutes, 515 page seven hundred and fifty-five) are hereby extended so as to apply to said aviation officers and to the vacancies created in the line of the Redetail of proficient aviators.Army by the detail of said officers therefrom, but nothing in said Act or in any other law now in force shall be held to prevent the detail or redetail at any time to fill a vacancy among the aviation officers authorized by this Act, of any officer holding a commission in the line of the Army with rank below that of captain, and who, during prior service as an aviation officer in the aviation section, shall have become especially proficient in military aviation.Aviation students.
There shall also be constantly attached to the aviation section a sufficient number of aviation students to make, with the aviation officers actually detailed in said section under the provisions of this Act, a total number of sixty aviation officers and aviation students constantly under assignment to, or detail in, said section. Said aviation Selection, tour of service, etc.students, all of whom shall be selected on the recommendation of the chief signal officer from among unmarried lieutenants of the line of the Army not over thirty years of age, shall remain attached to the aviation section for a sufficient time, but in no case to exceed one year, to determine their fitness or unfitness for detail as aviation officers in said section, and their detachment from their respective arms No vacancies created by detachment.of service which under assignment to said section shall not be held to create in said arms vacancies that may be filled by promotions or original appointments: *Provided*, That no person, except in time of *Provisos.* Details not compulsory.
Assignment to cease if officer inefficient, etc.war, shall be assigned or detailed against his will to duty as an aviation student or an aviation officer: *Provided further*, That whenever, under such regulations as the Secretary of War shall prescribe and publish to the Army, an officer assigned or detailed to duty of any kind in or with the aviation section shall have been found to be inattentive to his duties, inefficient, or incapacitated from any cause whatever for the full and efficient discharge of all duties that might properly be imposed upon him if he should be continued on duty in or with said section, said officer shall be returned forthwith to the branch of the service in which he shall hold a commission.
Sec. 3. That the aviation officers hereinbefore provided for shall Aviation officers rated.Junior military aviators.Qualifications of present officers for.be rated in two classes, to wit, as junior military aviators and as military aviators. Within sixty days after this Act shall take effect the Secretary of War may, upon the recommendation of the Chief Signal Officer, rate as junior military aviators any officers with rank below that of captain, who are now on aviation duty and who have, or shall have before the date of rating so authorized, shown by practical tests, including aerial flights, that they are especially well qualified for military aviation service; and after said rating shall have been made the Subsequent ratings.rating of junior military aviator shall not be conferred upon any person except as hereinafter provided.
Each aviation student authorized by this Act shall, while on duty Aviation students.Increased pay.that requires him to participate regularly and frequently in aerial flights, receive an increase of 25 per centum in the pay of his grade and length of service under his line commission. Each duly qualified Junior military aviators. Increased grade and pay.junior military aviator shall, while so serving, have the rank, pay, and allowances of one grade higher than that held by him under his line commission, provided that his rank under said commission be not higher than that of first lieutenant, and, while on duty, requiring him to participate regularly and frequently in aerial flights, he shall receive in addition an increase of 50 per centum in the pay of his Military aviators.Rating limited.grade and length of service under his line commission.
The rating of military aviator shall not be hereafter conferred upon or held by any person except as hereinafter provided, and the number of officers Increased grade and pay.with that rating shall at no time exceed fifteen. Each military aviator who shall hereafter have duly qualified as such under the provisions of this Act shall, while so serving, have the rank, pay, and 516 allowances of one grade higher than that held by him under his line commission, provided that his rank under said commission be not higher than that of first lieutenant, and, while on duty requiring him to participate regularly and frequently in aerial flights, he shall receive in addition an increase of 75 per centum of the pay of his grade and length of service under his line commission.
Personnel of enlisted men.The aviation enlisted men hereinbefore provided for shall consist of twelve master signal electricians, twelve first-class sergeants, twenty-four sergeants, seventy-eight corporals, eight cooks, eighty-two Rating of aviation mechanician.first-class privates, and forty-four privates. Not to exceed forty of said enlisted men shall at any one time have the rating of aviation mechanician, which rating is hereby established, and said rating shall not be conferred upon any person except as hereinafter *Provisos*.
Instruction in art of flying.provided: *Provided*, That twelve enlisted men at a time shall, in the discretion of the officer in command of the aviation section, be instructed in the art of flying, and no enlisted man shall be assigned to duty as an aerial flyer against his will except in time of war. Increase of pay.Each aviation enlisted man, while on duty that requires him to participate regularly and frequently in aerial flights, or while holding the rating of aviation mechanician, shall receive an increase of fifty Qualification certificates required.per centum in his pay: *Provided further*, That, except as hereinafter provided in the cases of officers now on aviation duty, no person shall be detailed as an aviation officer, or rated as a junior military aviator, or as a military aviator, or as an aviation mechanician, until there shall have been issued to him a certificate to the effect that he is qualified for the detail or rating, or for both the detail and Examination.the rating, sought or proposed in his case, and no such certificate shall be issued to any person until an aviation examining board, which shall be composed of three officers of experience in the aviation service and two medical officers, shall have examined him, under general regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of War and published to the Army by the War Department, and shall have reported him to be qualified for the detail or rating, or for both the detail and the rating, sought or proposed in his case: *Provided further, * Issue of certificates.That the Secretary of War shall cause appropriate certificates of qualification to be issued by the Adjutant General of the Army to all officers and enlisted men who shall have been found and reported by aviation examining boards in accordance with the terms of this Act, to be qualified for the details and ratings for which said officers Service as aviation student prior to detail.and enlisted men shall have been examined: *Provided further*, That except as hereinbefore provided in the cases of officers who are now on aviation duty and who shall be rated as junior military aviators as hereinbefore authorized, no person shall be detailed for service as an aviation officer in the aviation section until he shall have served creditably as an aviation student for a period to be fixed by Military aviators.Rating requirements.the Secretary of War; and no person shall receive the rating of military aviator until he shall have served creditably for at least three years as an aviation officer with the rating of junior military Payments in case of death from accident.aviator: *Provided further*, That there shall be paid to the widow of any officer or enlisted man who shall die as the result of an aviation accident, not the result of his own misconduct, or to any other person designated by him in writing, an amount equal to one year’s pay at the rate to which such officer or enlisted man was entitled at the In lieu of other allowance for death in service.time of the accident resulting in his death, but any payment made in accordance with the terms of this proviso on account of the death of any officer or enlisted man shall be in lieu of and a bar to any payment Vol. 35, pp. 108, 735.under the Acts of Congress approved May eleventh, nineteen hundred and eight, and March third, nineteen hundred and nine (Thirty-fifth Statutes, pages one hundred and eight and seven hundred and fifty-five), on account of death of said officer or enlisted man.
Approved, July 18, 1914.