Happy Birthday, U.S. Air Force!

The United States Air Force turns 67 today. Yep, on September 18, 1947 the Air Force gained its independence with the implementation of the National Security Act of 1947, which established what we now know as the Department of Defense. From the Council on Foreign Relations blog:

The origins of the USAF lie in a decision made just four years after the Wright Brothers conducted the world’s first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. In 1907, the U.S. Army Signal Corps created an Aeronautical Division and put it in “charge of all matters pertaining to military ballooning, air machines and all kindred subjects.” As aviation technology improved, the army’s air force grew bigger. An independent military arm became virtually inevitable after the Army Air Forces became an autonomous U.S. Army Command in 1942, growing substantially throughout the remainder of World War II. On July 26, 1947, President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 on board the presidential aircraft, the Sacred Cow, and set the creation of the USAF in motion.

Through the years, Chelsea Clock has supplied timepieces to several branches of the U.S. Government and the Department of Defense—including the Air Force—and today continues to be the timepiece of choice for the Military. In fact, countless Chelseas are sailing aboard U.S. Navy ships, carriers, destroyers, submarines, and other vessels right now! Please join us in a heartfelt Happy Birthday to our service men and women who protect us in the sky.