Billy Mitchell's War with the Navy
Billy Mitchell's War with the Navy

Author: Thomas Wildenberg

Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Published: 2014-02-15

Total Pages: 339

ISBN-13: 1612513328

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

When Billy Mitchell returned from WWI, he brought with him the deep-seated belief that air power had made navies obsolete. However, in the years following WWI, the U.S. Congress was far more interested in disarmament and isolationist policies than in funding national defense. For the military services this meant lean budgets and skeleton operating forces. Billy Mitchell’s War with the Navy recounts the intense political struggle between the Army and Navy air arms for the limited resources needed to define and establish the role of aviation within their respective services in the period between the two world wars. After Congress rejected the concept of a unified air service in 1920, Mitchell and his supporters turned on the Navy, seeking to substitute the Air Service as the nation's first line of defense. While Mitchell proved that aircraft could sink a battleship with the bombing of the Ostfriesland in 1921, he was unable to convince the General Staff of the Army, the General Board of the Navy, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, or Congress of the need for an independent air force. When Mitchell turned to the pen to discredit the Navy, he was convicted by his own words and actions in a court-martial that captivated the nation, and was forced to resign in 1925. Rather than ending the rivalry for air power, Mitchell’s resignation set the stage for the ongoing dispute between the two services in the years immediately before WWII. After Mitchell’s resignation, the rivalry for air power between the two services resurfaced when the Navy's plans to procure torpedo planes for the defense of Pearl Harbor and Coco Solo were brought to the attention of the Army. The book concludes with a description of the events surrounding the Air Corps' abysmal performance at Pearl Harbor and Midway followed by a critical assessment of how the development of aviation was pursued by the Army and the Navy after WWII.

Billy Mitchell
Billy Mitchell

Author: Roger G. Miller

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2009-06-01

Total Pages: 58

ISBN-13: 1437912842

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Billy Mitchell was one of the most significant figures in Air Force history, blazing a path for future Airmen. This book describes the major events and people in Mitchell¿s life. Mitchell argued for the need for an independent Air Force, but went too far by declaring that airpower would render the other services obsolete. He encountered much opposition, especially from the Navy, and was court-martialed when he began accusing various officials of treason. Mitchell died before an independent Air Force was established. Photos.

Billy Mitchell
Billy Mitchell

Author: Alfred F. Hurley

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 1975

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 0253201802

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"This is the best book—the most scholarly, the most judicial, the best written—about the intelligent, attractive, undiplomatic, quixotic Billy Mitchell, the legendary founder of today's United States Air Force." —Robert H. Ferrell, author of Harry S. Truman: A Life Revered by many Americans as a martyr for his cause, Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell has been one of the least understood figures of modern military history. His position as the dominant figure in American aviation from 1919 until his court-martial in 1925 has made him the frequent subject of biography, film, and television, but usually these portrayals have overemphasized the sensational elements of his story. For Mitchell, sensationalism was only a means of drawing attention to his farsighted ideas on aviation. In Billy Mitchell, he emerges as a man with a mission and a true pioneer of modern aviation, a man whose ideas about leadership in aerial operations inspire and instruct today's airmen and women. Anyone interested in aviation will delight in this compelling biography.

A Question of Loyalty
A Question of Loyalty

Author: Douglas C. Waller

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2004-09-07

Total Pages: 451

ISBN-13: 0060505478

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"A Question of Loyalty" puts readers in the middle of the epic story of Gen. Billy Mitchell--the architect of the modern Air Force--and his spellbinding trial over patriotism and treason. 16-page photo insert.

Command Of The Air
Command Of The Air

Author: General Giulio Douhet

Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing

Published: 2014-08-15

Total Pages: 620

ISBN-13: 1782898522

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In the pantheon of air power spokesmen, Giulio Douhet holds center stage. His writings, more often cited than perhaps actually read, appear as excerpts and aphorisms in the writings of numerous other air power spokesmen, advocates-and critics. Though a highly controversial figure, the very controversy that surrounds him offers to us a testimonial of the value and depth of his work, and the need for airmen today to become familiar with his thought. The progressive development of air power to the point where, today, it is more correct to refer to aerospace power has not outdated the notions of Douhet in the slightest In fact, in many ways, the kinds of technological capabilities that we enjoy as a global air power provider attest to the breadth of his vision. Douhet, together with Hugh “Boom” Trenchard of Great Britain and William “Billy” Mitchell of the United States, is justly recognized as one of the three great spokesmen of the early air power era. This reprint is offered in the spirit of continuing the dialogue that Douhet himself so perceptively began with the first edition of this book, published in 1921. Readers may well find much that they disagree with in this book, but also much that is of enduring value. The vital necessity of Douhet’s central vision-that command of the air is all important in modern warfare-has been proven throughout the history of wars in this century, from the fighting over the Somme to the air war over Kuwait and Iraq.

Bombs without Boots
Bombs without Boots

Author: Anthony M. Schinella

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2019-02-19

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 0815732422

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Airpower can achieve military objectives—sometimes, in some circumstances It sounds simple: using airpower to intervene militarily in conflicts, thus minimizing the deaths of soldiers and civilians while achieving both tactical and strategic objectives. In reality, airpower alone sometimes does win battles, but the costs can be high and the long-term consequences may fall short of what decision-makers had in mind. This book by a long-time U.S. intelligence analyst assesses the military operations and post-conflict outcomes in five cases since the mid-1990s in which the United States and/or its allies used airpower to “solve” military problems: Bosnia in 1995, Kosovo in 1999, Afghanistan in 2001, Lebanon in 2006, and Libya in 2011. In each of these cases, airpower helped achieve the immediate objective, but the long-term outcomes often diverged significantly from the original intent of policymakers. The author concludes that airpower sometimes can be effective when used to support indigenous ground forces, but decision-makers should carefully consider all the circumstances before sending planes, drones, or missiles aloft.

A Concise History of the U.S. Air Force
A Concise History of the U.S. Air Force

Author: Stephen Lee McFarland

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Except in a few instances, since World War II no American soldier or sailor has been attacked by enemy air power. Conversely, no enemy soldier orsailor has acted in combat without being attacked or at least threatened by American air power. Aviators have brought the air weapon to bear against enemies while denying them the same prerogative. This is the legacy of the U.S. AirForce, purchased at great cost in both human and material resources.More often than not, aerial pioneers had to fight technological ignorance, bureaucratic opposition, public apathy, and disagreement over purpose.Every step in the evolution of air power led into new and untrodden territory, driven by humanitarian impulses; by the search for higher, faster, and farther flight; or by the conviction that the air way was the best way. Warriors have always coveted the high ground. If technology permitted them to reach it, men, women andan air force held and exploited it-from Thomas Selfridge, first among so many who gave that "last full measure of devotion"; to Women's Airforce Service Pilot Ann Baumgartner, who broke social barriers to become the first Americanwoman to pilot a jet; to Benjamin Davis, who broke racial barriers to become the first African American to command a flying group; to Chuck Yeager, a one-time non-commissioned flight officer who was the first to exceed the speed of sound; to John Levitow, who earned the Medal of Honor by throwing himself over a live flare to save his gunship crew; to John Warden, who began a revolution in air power thought and strategy that was put to spectacular use in the Gulf War.Industrialization has brought total war and air power has brought the means to overfly an enemy's defenses and attack its sources of power directly. Americans have perceived air power from the start as a more efficient means of waging war and as a symbol of the nation's commitment to technology to master challenges, minimize casualties, and defeat adversaries.