United States. Civil Aeronautics Administration (1940-1958)
Relationships & Variations
Predecessor: United States. Civil Aeronautics Authority (n81149202)
Successor: United States. Federal Aviation Agency (n79034441)
Variant: United States. Department of Commerce. Civil Aeronautics Administration
Appears it was Civil Aeronautics Administration from 29 Aug 1940 to 22 Aug 1958.
LCNAF: United States. Civil Aeronautics Administration; under provisions of Dept. of Commerce order 52, Aug. 29, 1940, that part of the Civil Aeronautics Authority, the functions of which were admin. by the administrator of civil aeronautics under the direction and supervision of the secretary of commerce, was given the organization title Civil Aeronautics Administration; superseded by U.S. Federal Aviation Agency, established by Federal aviation act of 1958, effective 23 Aug. 1958)
Federal Aviation Agency was created under the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to replace the Civil Aeronautics Administration. It became the Federal Aviation Administration in 1966.
Wikipedia: President Franklin D. Roosevelt split the authority into two agencies in 1940: the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) and the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). CAA was responsible for ATC, airman and aircraft certification, safety enforcement, and airway development. CAB was entrusted with safety regulation, accident investigation, and economic regulation of the airlines. The CAA was part of the Department of Commerce. The CAB was an independent federal agency.
On the eve of America's entry into World War II, CAA began to extend its ATC responsibilities to takeoff and landing operations at airports. This expanded role eventually became permanent after the war. The application of radar to ATC helped controllers in their drive to keep abreast of the postwar boom in commercial air transportation. In 1946, meanwhile, Congress gave CAA the added task of administering the federal-aid airport program, the first peacetime program of financial assistance aimed exclusively at development of the nation's civil airports.