In this time period, the first Wright Brothers plane was purchased by the US Army Signal Corps, quickly followed by a Curtiss and a number of others aeroplanes: all with the idea in mind, to just to learn to fly. Navigation was barely a thought althoughpilotage navigation was common to all whereby the pilot and observer navigated by maintaining visual contact with the terrain around them. The first aircraft compasses, driftmeters and bombsites were also developed during this period. And too, research was being conducted in the area of use of a new device called the radio. The aeroplane itself was creating an entirely new set of technologies to do with flight and flight navigation. By 1917 the US Army Signal Corps had created only one aircraft, the JN-4 "Jenny" trainer. Meanwhile the European nations had fully generated multitudes of planes for a number of different military missions: fighters, bombers and observation aeroplanes.

Navigator developments in this period:

• Compasses were brought from the balloon and dirigibles to fixed wing aircraft. Ref. Aerial Navigation of To-day by Charles C. Turner, published by Seeley & Co. Limited 1910 Chapters XII Navigation of the Air and XII Aeronautical Equipment. Pages 247 & 248.
  
• Watches adapted from the railroads became strap-on wristwatches. Ref. www.antiqueweb.com, www.thewatchguy.homestead.com / HAMILTON and www.flightwatch.com
  
• A first bombsight with bomb rack was created in 1910 by US Army SC, Lt. Riley E. Scott, the first bombardier. Later versions of this bombsight were used in WW-I by the French. Ref. CROSSHAIRS June 1994. Page 4 by Col. E. C. Ned Humphreys, Jr. USAF Ret. And Bombardier, A History, Volume II, Turner Publishing, Paducah, KY, by Philip A. St. John, Ph.D.,page 9.
  
• First wireless messages were sent and received from an airplane by McCurdy at Sheepshead Bay, NY, 1910. Ref. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, The History of Flight from Around the World 1910s Date August 1910. This was followed by many other radio related tests. A telegraph was set-up in a Farman biplane with a reel-antenna and Morse code key for air to ground communications in France 1911. Ref. THIS WAS AIR TRAVEL by Henry R. Palmer, Jr. Published by Bonanza Books, NY, NY 1960. The first two-way-radio messages between an aeroplane and the ground was successfully tested in Manila, Philippines, by Army Air service pilot Lt. Herbert A. Dargue with radio operator Lt. J. O. Maubergne, December 16. 1914. Ref. National Aviation Hall of Fame, H.A. Dargue exhibit.
  
• Propeller driven electrical generator to power aircraft radio equipment was developed in Germany. Ref. Aviation History by Anne Millbrooke, Published by Jeppesen-Sanderson 1999. Page 4-34
  
• Air speed meter was introduced by Frank E. Boland (Ref. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, The History of Flight from Around the World 1910s).
  
• Various types of drift and bubble levels began to be used on planes by 1914. Ref. History of Air Navigation Time Line, 23 April 2002, Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon, UK. Mr. Terry Hayward
  
• Ground station three beacon navigation radio was developed in Britian. Ref. Aviation History by Anne Millbrooke, Published by Jeppesen-Sanderson 1999. Page 4-34
  
• 1917, the UK Royal Naval Air Service and German Luftwaffe fitted aeroplanes with two-way communications radios (WT). Ref. History of Air Navigation Time Line, 23 April 2002, Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon, UK. Mr. Terry Hayward