TheEngineering Division was a division of theAviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps in theUnited States Department of War. It was formed on 31 August 1918, under the direction of Lt ColJesse G. Vincent, to study and design American versions of foreign aircraft. It was later renamedEngineering Division, Air Service and then in 1926Material Division Air Corps. It was based atMcCook Field, and in October 1927 moved toWright Field.

United States Armed Forces procurement of aircraft began when theArmy's 1907Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps, acquired several of theWright Military Flyer of 1909.

TheAirplane Engineering Department was established by theEquipment Division, U.S. Signal Corps in 1917 forWorld War I experimental engineering. The department had a 1917Foreign Data Section, and the Airplane Engineering Department was onMcCook Field at Dayton, Ohio (the 1917Patterson Field andFairfield Aviation General Supply Depot were nearby.) In June 1917 MajorRaynal Bolling lead aBureau of Aircraft Production mission to France, investigating if it was possible to build British and French aircraft in the United States and which aircraft should be bought from the Allies.^[1]McCook Field established theAir School of Application in 1919 after the department became the Airplane Engineering Division on 31 August 1918 under Lt ColJesse G. Vincent (Packard co-engineer of the 1917V-12 Liberty engine) to study and design American versions of foreign aircraft. It combined a number of existing divisions of the Air Service, including the Engineering Department and the Airplane Experimental Department.^{[citation needed]}

TheEngineering Division was set up to evaluate proposals, and the first project it undertook was installing an AmericanLiberty L-12 engine on the BritishAirco DH.9 aircraft, designating it USD-9 and USD-9A.^{[citation needed]} Other aircraft modified include theBristol F.2 Fighter, designated XB-1.

In 1920, the Engineering Division'sBureau of Aircraft Production completed the design of the Ground Attack, Experimental, (GAX) aircraft built as theBoeing GA-1, and designed theVerville-Clark Pursuit (led byAlfred V. Verville) that after redesign won theinitial Pulitzer Race in 1920 at Roosevelt Field. The division also designed the TP-1 and TW-1.^[2] In 1925, in order to promote private aircraft developments, the Engineering Division was restricted by GeneralMason Patrick and could no longer build experimental aircraft.

In 1926 theUnited States Army Air Service was replaced with theUnited States Army Air Corps, and the Engineering Division merged in 1926 with the Air Service's Supply Division^[3] (formed by 1919) to form theMaterial Division (Air Corps)^[3] atWright Field.

• Acquisition Management in the United States Air Force and its Predecessors. Accessed 22 September 2008.
• Lineage and Commanders of Aeronautical Systems Center. Accessed 22 September 2008.