A Giant in the Shadows

This paper examines the military career of Maj Gen Benjamin Foulois. It emphasizes the personal qualities and professional skill that enabled him to rapidly build up and lead the air arm of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) to victory in World War I. While previous academic works have focused on Foulois’s early aviation career from 1909 to 1916 and his tenure as chief of the Air Corps from 1931 to 1935, nothing details the vital role he played in the development of the American Air Service leading up to and during World War I.