Fighting machines for the air service, AEF.(American Expeditionary Forces)

We didn't know what a fighting machine was

--Col. Benjamin D. Foulois, U.S. Air Service (1)

America's successful record of manpower mobilization during the First World War far outpaced the mobilization of American industry. Throughout the war, the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in France remained largely dependent on its allies for the provision of tanks, artillery, machineguns, fighting planes, and many other necessities of modern warfare.

Postwar congressional and public scrutiny focused on the wartime production record of the U.S. aviation