On 6 April 1917, Congress overwhelming passed a declaration of war against Germany, bringing the United States into World War I. That day, the Aviation Section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps (the predecessor of today’s Air Force) only had 132 aircraft, all obsolete. To help equip its fledgling force, the U.S. ordered license production of the British de Havilland DH.4 two seat bomber/reconnaissance aircraft. The DH-4 (the Army changed the designation) would be the only U.S.-built aircraft to see combat during World War I. The first American-built DH-4 arrived in France in May 1918, and airmen from the 135th Aero Squadron flew the first DH-4 combat mission in early August. Only 1,213 of the 4,846 U.S.-built DH-4s were actually delivered to France by Armistice Day on 11 November 1918. Three U.S. companies built the DH-4: legacy Lockheed Martin company Dayton-Wright delivered 3,106 (approximately 150 of which are shown partially disassembled in this pre-delivery photo taken 23 August 1918), Fisher (General Motors) built 1,600, and Standard Aircraft added another 140. The remaining 7,500 DH-4s on order were cancelled.
