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This webpage reproduces part of The United States in the Air by Mason M. Patrick Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc. Garden City, New York, 1928 The text is in the public domain. This page has been carefully proofread and I believe it to be free of errors. If you find a mistake though, please let me know! next: Part I

 p. ix  Introduction

I have read General Patrick's book The United States in the Air with a great deal of interest. It deserves, in my opinion, a conspicuous place among the volumes that have been written during the past few years on aviation in its various phases. It is the work of a man who is intimately acquainted with every angle of American air activity both during and after the World War, and the biography, as well, of one who has devoted virtually all of his life to the service of his country.

A decade has vanished since the day General Pershing summoned General Patrick to his headquarters and placed in his hands full responsibility for the success­ful prosecution of plans for American Army air operations in France. Those familiar with General Patrick's work are in a position to appreciate the effectiveness with which he discharged his duties, and to realize that under his leader­ship the Air Service, from very small beginnings, grew to be a vital force in the A. E. F. by Armistice Day.

General Patrick discusses the many perplexing  p. x problems of wartime aviation with which he had to deal. He also paints one of the clearest pictures ever presented of American air operations over the front, behind the lines, and at home.

An additional reason why The United States in the Air should be of peculiar value to the American public is the thoroughness with which it discusses post-war aviation in this country, not alone along military lines but also in covering the expansion of commercial air operations.

As head of Army aviation, General Patrick stimulated and encouraged scientific research and practical flight developments of enormous value. The fruits of those projects are now enjoyed by commercial aviation in broad measure. It should be borne in mind that until quite recently aviation was generally considered to have no value other than military. Consequently, the great progress that has been made since the Wright brothers first flew in 1903 has been almost entirely under military direction. That America has been in the front line of this development was well known to those familiar with the advances made since the war, but it required the spectacular transoceanic flights of the past year  p. xi to convince the American people of that fact. Now they have no doubts on that score. It is therefore especially significant that General Patrick exerted his leader­ship during this most important period.

Virtually every person is familiar with the storms of controversy which American military aviation was called upon to negotiate from time to time since the war and before the permanent expansion and administrative policy provided for in the five-year Army Air Corps development programme was authorized by Congress. General Patrick repeatedly had to exercise all the tact and diplomacy at his command. His task was never an easy one but his energy and ability enabled him to overcome obstacles which others less able than he might never have been able to circumvent.

Opinions may differ as to conclusions which he has drawn on many controversial subjects, but the fact remains that the book is a graphic, human, and historic document, and is the result of an experience unique in air history.

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