Billy Mitchell's War with the Navy

Billy Mitchell's War with the Navy PDF Author: Thomas Wildenberg
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612513328
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
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's War with the Navy

Billy Mitchell's War with the Navy PDF Author: Thomas Wildenberg
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612513328
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 251

Get Book

Book Description
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 PDF Author: Emile Gauvreau
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1839741139
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
Billy Mitchell: Founder of Our Air Force and Prophet without Honor, first published in 1942, is a look at the life and controversial career of William “Billy” Mitchell (1879-1936), considered the father of the U.S. Air Force. The book's focus is on Mitchell's campaign for increased spending for building new and improved aircraft and his vision of the role aircraft would play in any future wars, especially against naval ships. Mitchell's outspokenness led to his court-martial for insubordination in 1925.

Billy Mitchell

Billy Mitchell PDF Author: James J. Cooke
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
ISBN: 9781588260826
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
But his brilliance was often overshadowed by his personal failings.".

A Question of Loyalty

A Question of Loyalty PDF Author: Douglas C. Waller
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061750638
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 460

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Book Description
A Question of Loyalty plunges into the seven-week Washington trial of Gen. William "Billy" Mitchell, the hero of the U.S. Army Air Service during World War I and the man who proved in 1921 that planes could sink a battleship. In 1925 Mitchell was frustrated by the slow pace of aviation development, and he sparked a political firestorm, accusing the army and navy high commands -- and by inference the president -- of treason and criminal negligence in the way they conducted national defense. He was put on trial for insubordination in a spectacular court-martial that became a national obsession during the Roaring Twenties. Uncovering a trove of new letters, diaries, and confidential documents, Douglas Waller captures the drama of the trial and builds a rich and revealing biography of Mitchell.

Billy Mitchell

Billy Mitchell PDF Author: Roger G. Miller
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1437912842
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 58

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Book Description
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.

Winged Defense

Winged Defense PDF Author: William Mitchell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aeronautics, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description


Predicting Pearl Harbor

Predicting Pearl Harbor PDF Author: Ronald Drez
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1455623164
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
The story of “a military aviation pioneer and patriot who tried—and failed—to warn [about] an attack on Pearl Harbor almost two decades before it occurred” (San Antonio Express-News). Ever since Commodore Matthew Perry’s 1853 voyage into Japanese waters, the United States and Japan had been on a collision course. Gen. Billy Mitchell recognized the signs and foresaw the eventual showdown between the two nations—eighteen years before the tragedy of Pearl Harbor. When he traveled to Japan disguised as a tourist in 1924, what he found was a nation that had embraced a philosophy of isolationism. Japan had defeated China and Russia on the battlefield decades before, due in part to a veil of secrecy. China and Russia were nearly unable to carry out espionage missions against their enemy. Yet Mitchell’s predictions were dismissed out of hand, and his attempts to have his theories taken seriously led to scorn and a subsequent court martialing. In this book, primary-source documents, memoirs, and firsthand testimonies deliver an exhaustive background to Mitchell’s prescient reports. Historian Ronald J. Drez presents an engaging account of the life and career of the man who not only foresaw the event that brought the United States into the Second World War, but also shaped the future of military air power—finally giving credence to the man called the “Cassandra General.”

My Brother Bill

My Brother Bill PDF Author: Ruth Mitchell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description


The Billy Mitchell Affair

The Billy Mitchell Affair PDF Author: Burke Davis
Publisher: New York : Random House
ISBN:
Category : Aeronautics, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
Mitchell, now known as the "Father of the U.S. Air Force," fought against the short-sightedness of top military leaders regarding air power after World War I. He went on to embarrass the Navy by proving that aircraft could indeed sink destroyers, which had been thought impossible. He was ultimately court-martialed for insubordination, and his contributions were grudgingly acknowledged after his death.

Selling Sea Power

Selling Sea Power PDF Author: Ryan D. Wadle
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806164190
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
The accepted narrative of the interwar U.S. Navy is one of transformation from a battle-centric force into a force that could fight on the “three planes” of war: in the skies, on the water, and under the waves. The political and cultural tumult that accompanied this transformation is another story. Ryan D. Wadle’s Selling Sea Power explores this little-known but critically important aspect of naval history. After World War I, the U.S. Navy faced numerous challenges: a call for naval arms limitation, the ascendancy of air power, and budgetary constraints exacerbated by the Great Depression. Selling Sea Power tells the story of how the navy met these challenges by engaging in protracted public relations campaigns at a time when the means and methods of reaching the American public were undergoing dramatic shifts. While printed media continued to thrive, the rapidly growing film and radio industries presented new means by which the navy could connect with politicians and the public. Deftly capturing the institutional nuances and the personalities in play, Wadle tracks the U.S. Navy’s at first awkward but ultimately successful manipulation of mass media. At the same time, he analyzes what the public could actually see of the service in the variety of media available to them, including visual examples from progressively more sophisticated—and effective—public relations campaigns. Integrating military policy and strategy with the history of American culture and politics, Selling Sea Power offers a unique look at the complex links between the evolution of the art and industry of persuasion and the growth of the modern U.S. Navy, as well as the connections between the workings of communications and public relations and the command of military and political power.