15. The Kettering Bug continued to be built and wrecked during flight testing
Through the rest of October and into November Kettering and his team built and flew Bugs in a test and evaluation program, assisted by Army personnel. On November 11, the war in Europe ended. All testing of the Bug was immediately halted. Construction of new Bugs was also stopped. Existing planes and components were gathered at McCook Field, and all design drawings, research papers, reports, subcontracts, and remaining bills and expense accounts were prepared for delivery to Washington. In late November General Squier requested Kettering and Orville Wright come to Washington for a meeting with the Secretary of War.
Secretary of War Newton Baker needed to advise the President, Woodrow Wilson, on weapons and potential weapons which were subject to discussion at the upcoming peace conference. Wilson intended to recommend all nations impose a ban on some of the weapons introduced during the war, which included submarines and gas weapons. Baker had been briefed on the aerial bomb, and its potential destructive power. Though the Bug was still a secret program, he made several oblique references to its existence in public speeches, calling it one of the most “destructive” weapons yet devised by the military for use in war.
