August 1914 World War I began in August 1914. In contrast to the U.S. which had fewer than a dozen military airplanes at that time, Germany, France, and England had 180, 136, and 48 aircraft, respectively. These nations soon discovered the immense value of aerial reconnaissance to their armies and a race began to build up their flying forces. Within a short time, each realized the importance of denying this aerial reconnaissance to the enemy; thus aerial combat was born.

During the first several years of the war, great strides were made in airplane design and performance, in the development of gunnery and bombing equipment, and in aerial combat tactics and techniques. The airplane became a true weapon of destruction over the battlefield of Europe.

The U.S. remained neutral when WWI began, so development in Signal Corps aviation progressed at a leisurely rate. Various experiments were conducted at North Island with automatic pilots, but results were of little practical value. Tests were also conducted on a Scott bombsight and bomb release mechanism, the results of which were very impressive to the young flyers at North Island. However, they were not so impressive to the Army officers of higher rank and lesser vision who continued to insist that the airplane's major military use was for reconnaissance, not dropping bombs.