WWI, U.S. ARMY, AIR SERVICE, 486th AERO CONSTRUCTION SQUADRON, PATCH, ORIGINAL, VINTAGE

Aero Squadrons were the designation of the first United States Army aviation units until the end of World War I. These units consisted of combat flying, training, ground support, construction and other components of the Air Service. After World War I ended, the majority of these squadrons were demobilized. Some however were retained during the interwar period of the 1920s and 1930s, and served in all theaters of operation during World War II. Today, the oldest squadrons in the United States Air Force and Air National Guard can trace their lineage back to the original Aero Squadrons of WWI.

Originally formed as 74th Aero Squadron

AEF: 21 March 1918 – June 1919 

Construction Squadron

Air Service Production Center #2, Romorantin

Demobilized: June 1919

In January 1918 a new numbering scheme for aero squadrons was established.

• Numbers 1–399 would be for Aero Service Squadrons (AS) 

• 400–599 Aero Construction Squadrons (ACS)

• 600–799 Aero Supply Squadrons

• 800–1099 Aero Repair Squadrons.

The numerical designation of school squadrons at the various flying fields in the United States was discontinued in July 1918, and replaced by letter designation. For example, the 2nd Aero Squadron became Squadron A, Kelly Field. In November 1918, the personnel of the lettered squadrons of each flying field were merged into a single Flying School Detachment at such station.

In addition to the Aero Squadrons, whose mission supported airplanes in one way or another, Air Service Spruce Squadrons have been noted and listed. A part of the Signal Corps, they were located in Oregon and Washington states. When the U.S. entered World War I, it was quickly discovered that the nation had no capacity to build warplanes in quantity. Spruce timber, vital to wing construction was in critically short supply. In 1918, the United States Army stepped in and took over the production of airplane spruce in the pacific northwest, with the Spruce Production Division organizing loggers and constructing a plant to process the wood, construct roads and railroads into the forests to access and cut the timber.

Men in the Spruce Squadrons were part of the Signal Corps along with the Aero Squadrons, as the Signal Corps oversaw all Army aviation. About 50,000 soldiers were assigned to Spruce Squadrons, overseeing about 100,000 lumber workers, were assigned to small camps in the Pacific Northwest. Many of these men were itching to go "over there" and take part in combat, however, their labor and skills to produce spruce lumber were needed far more, in the forests of the Pacific Northwest to produce the materiel needed to build aircraft.