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You're right about the men in robes, but that's only when they create new "rights" not found in the Constitution. It's not difficult to construe that the Founders would have wanted an Air Force, if they ever could have envisioned one, is not a large leap.

On the other hand, what would have been the problem with passing and ratifying a Constitutional amendment specifically authorizing such, before appropriating funds for multi-year projects? I don't think any World War II planes were multi-year projects the way some later ones have been, and surely World War II had demonstrated the value of having an Air Corps. What would have been the opposition to a Constitutional Amendment authorizing the Air Force as an entity in its own right with the ability to receive multi-year appropriations like those given to the Navy?

If one grants Congress the power to act as it sees fit without needing Constitutional authorization, so long as it declares its actions to be "necessary", then any limits to Congressional power become meaningless. Practically anything can be declared to be "necessary".