On August 30, 1917, the U.S. Army organized the 117th Aero Squadron at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas. The unit would later be redesignated the 638th Aero Squadron, one of many formations created during the extraordinary expansion of American military aviation after the United States entered the First World War. Kelly Field, which had begun operating shortly before America’s entry into the conflict, quickly became a major center for organizing, training, and supporting the growing Air Service.
The challenge was larger than producing pilots. Wartime aviation required mechanics, riggers, engine specialists, supply personnel, armament crews, and administrators capable of keeping fragile aircraft flying. At fields such as Kelly, the Army assembled men into specialized squadrons, introduced them to military aviation work, and prepared them for service in the United States and overseas. The rapid enlargement of these facilities reflected the nation’s effort to build an effective air arm while the war in Europe was already underway.
The 117th Aero Squadron departed Kelly Field in October 1917 for overseas service. After training with the Royal Flying Corps in Britain, it arrived in France in 1918, was redesignated the 638th Aero Squadron, and received Sopwith Camel fighters shortly before the Armistice. Although the squadron did not enter combat before the fighting ended, it later served with the American occupation forces in Germany and conducted training, patrol, and demonstration flights. Kelly Field’s significance lies not in a single squadron’s combat record, but in the institutional machinery it helped create: the people, schools, logistics, maintenance systems, and unit structures that made sustained American air operations possible, helping establish the foundations on which later U.S. military aviation would grow.
Image: An archival aerial photograph of Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas, showing hangars, barracks, and aircraft along the field’s grass landing areas. Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
