Henry H. Arnold
Encyclopedia
Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold (June 25, 1886 – January 15, 1950) was an American general officer holding the grades of General of the Army
and later General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps
(1938–1941), Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II
, the only Air Force general to hold five-star rank, and the only person to hold a five-star rank in two different U.S. military services.
Instructed in flying by the Wright Brothers
, Arnold was one of the first military pilots worldwide, and one of the first three rated pilots in the history of the United States Air Force
.Arnold, Capt. Charles DeF. Chandler, and Lt. Thomas Milling all qualified for the rating on July 5, 1912. Milling received the first certificate while Arnold was listed first on War Department General Order No. 39, which was the first list of rated Military Aviators. He overcame a fear of flying
that resulted from his experiences with early flight, supervised the expansion of the Air Service during World War I
, and became a protégé of Gen. Billy Mitchell.
He rose to command the Army Air Forces immediately prior to U.S. entry into World War II and directed its expansion into the largest and most powerful Air Force in the world. An advocate of technological research and development
, Arnold's tenure saw the development of the intercontinental bomber, the jet fighter, the extensive use of radar
, global airlift
and atomic warfare
as mainstays of modern air power.
Arnold's primary nickname, "Hap," was apparently short for "Happy," attributed variously to work associates when he moonlighted
as a stunt pilotHe flew as the pilot double for the leads in the 1911 silent The Military Air-Scout and the 1912 The Elopement, both filmed in October 1911. or to his wife, but he was called Harley by his family during his youth, and "Sunny" by his mother. He was known to his West Point classmates as "Pewt" or "Benny". By his immediate subordinates and headquarters staff he was referred to as "The Chief."
, Arnold was the son of Dr. Herbert Alonzo Arnold (1857-1933), a strong-willed physician
and a member of the prominent political and military Arnold Family
. His mother was Anna Louise Harley (1857-1931), from a "Dunker
" farm family and the first female in her family to attend high school. Arnold was Baptist
in religious belief, but had strong Mennonite
ties through both families. However, unlike her husband, Louise Arnold was "fun-loving and prone to laughter," and not rigid in her beliefs. When Arnold was eleven, his father responded to the Spanish-American War
by serving as a surgeon
in the Pennsylvania National Guard
, of which he remained a member for the next 24 years.
Arnold attended Lower Merion High School
in Ardmore, Pennsylvania
, graduating in 1903. The athletic fields at Lower Merion are named after him. Arnold had no intention of attending West Point (he was preparing to attend Bucknell University
and enter the Baptist ministry) but took the entrance examination after his older brother Thomas defied their father and refused to do so, and placed second on the list. He received a delayed appointment when the nominated cadet confessed to being married, counter to academy regulations.
Arnold entered the United States Military Academy
as a "Juliette" (one month late), having just turned 17. His cadet career was spent as a "clean sleeve" (cadet private). At the academy he helped found the "Black Hand", a group of cadet
pranksters, and led it during his first class year. He played second-team running back
for the varsity football
team, was a shot put
ter on the track and field team, and excelled at polo
. Arnold's academic standing varied between the middle and the lower end of his class, with his better scores in mathematics and science. He wanted assignment to the Cavalry
but an inconsistent demerit record and a cumulative general merit class standing of 66th out of 111 cadets resulted in his being commissioned on June 14, 1907, as a second lieutenant, Infantry
. He initially protested the assignment (there was no commissioning requirement for USMA graduates in 1907), but was persuaded to accept a commission in the 29th Infantry
, then in the Philippines
. Arnold arrived in Manila on December 7, 1907.
Arnold disliked infantry troop duties and volunteered to assist Capt. Arthur S. Cowan of the 20th Infantry
, who was on temporary assignment in the Philippines mapping the island of Luzon
. Cowan returned to the United States following completion of the cartography
detail, transferred to the Signal Corps, and was assigned to recruit two lieutenants to become pilots. Cowan contacted Arnold, who cabled his interest in also transferring to the Signal Corps but heard nothing in reply for two years. In June 1909, the 29th Infantry was relocated to Fort Jay
, New York
, and en route to his new duty station by way of Paris
, France, Arnold saw his first airplane
in flight, piloted by Louis Blériot
. In 1911, Arnold applied for transfer to the Ordnance Department
because it offered an immediate promotion to First Lieutenant. While awaiting the results of the required competitive examination, he learned that his interest in aeronautics had not been forgotten.
, for a course in flight instruction at the Wright brothers
' aviation school at Simms Station
, Ohio
. While individually instructed, they were part of the school's May 1911 class that included three civilians and Lt. John Rodgers
of the United States Navy
. Beginning instruction on May 3, Arnold made his first solo flight May 13 after three hours and forty-eight minutes of flying lessons (Milling had already soloed on May 8 with two hours of flight time), instructed by Arthur L. Welsh
.Milling was instructed by "Cliff" Turpin
but attracted the attention of Orville Wright, who went up with Milling (but not Arnold) and authorized his early solo. On May 14, he and Milling completed their instruction. Arnold received Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
(FAI) pilot certificate No. 29 on July 6, 1911, and Military Aviator Certificate No. 2 a year later. He also was recognized by a general order in 1913 as one of the first 24 rated military aviators
, authorized to wear the newly-designed Military Aviator badge.
After several more weeks of solo flying in Dayton to gain experience, Arnold and Milling were sent to the Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps
at College Park, Maryland
, as the Army's first flight instructors on June 14. There Arnold set an altitude record of 3260 feet (993.6 m) on July 7 and thrice broke it (August 18, 1911, to 4167 feet (1,270.1 m); January 25, 1912, to 4764 feet (1,452.1 m); and June 1, 1912, 6540 feet (1,993.4 m)). In August 1911, he experienced his first crash, trying to take off from a farm field after getting lost. In September Arnold became the first U.S. pilot to carry mail, flying a bundle of letters five miles (8 km) on Long Island
, New York, and he is credited as the first pilot to fly over the U.S. Capitol
and the first to carry a United States Congress
man as a passenger.
The flight school moved in November 1911 to a farm leased near Augusta
, Georgia
, hoping to continue flying there during the winter. Training was limited by rain and flooding, and they returned to Maryland in May 1912. Arnold accepted delivery of the Army's first tractor airplane (front-mounted propeller
and engine) on June 26, but crashed into the bay at Plymouth
, Massachusetts
during takeoff. Arnold began to develop a phobia about flying, intensified by Al Welsh's fatal crash at College Park on June 12. Another crash at College Park on September 18 killed 2nd Lt. Lewis Rockwell, an academy classmate of Arnold's.
In October, Arnold and Milling were ordered to enter the competition for the first MacKay Trophy
for "the most outstanding military flight of the year." Arnold won when he located a company of cavalry from the air and returned safely, despite high turbulence. As a result, he and Milling were sent to Fort Riley
, Kansas
, to experiment with radio communications from the air with the field artillery
. Arnold's flight on November 2 in Wright C Speed Scout
S.C. No. 10, with 1st Lt. Follett Bradley as his wireless operator, successfully sent the first radio telegraph message, at a distance of 6 miles (9.7 km), from an aircraft to a receiver on the ground, manned by 1st Lt. Joseph O. Mauborgne
of the Signal Corps.Ironically, Arnold was stationed in the Philippines as an infantry officer two years later when Mauborgne went aloft himself with Arnold's close friend 2nd Lt. Bert Dargue
, and made the first two-way communication from the air to the ground, a radio station on Corregidor on December 11, 1914. Three days later, Arnold's plane stalled, went into a spin, and he narrowly avoided a fatal crash. He immediately grounded himself and applied for a leave of absence. Flying was considered so dangerous that no stigma was attached for refusing to fly, and his request was granted (five of the Army's 14 aviators transferred out during 1913). During his leave of absence he renewed an acquaintance with Eleanor "Bee" Pool, the daughter of a banker, and one of his father's patients."Bee" was shortened from "Beetle," a name given to her by her older brothers.
On December 1, Arnold took a staff assignment in the Office of the Chief Signal Officer in Washington, D.C.
In the spring he was assigned the task of closing the flying school at College Park. Although promoted to 1st lieutenant on April 10, 1913, Arnold was unhappy and requested a transfer to the Philippines. While awaiting a response, he was assigned to the 9th Infantry on July 10. In August, he testified before the House Military Affairs Committee
against a bill to make aviation a semi-autonomous "Air Corps". He was assigned to a company at Fort Thomas, Kentucky
, on September 1, where remained until his transfer to the 13th Infantry
on November 1.
in Manila
. After eight months of troop duty, Arnold became battalion adjutant.Arnold's interest in aeronautics continued despite his fear of lying. During this period he applied to the Army for enrollment in the aeronautical engineering course at MIT but was turned down. In January 1916, completing a two-year tour with the 13th Infantry, Arnold was attached to the 3rd Infantry and returned to the United States. En route to Madison Barracks
, New York, he exchanged telegrams from Hawaii with an assistant executive
of the Aviation Section, Signal Corps
, Major William L. Mitchell, who alerted him that he was being detailed to the Signal Corps again, as a first lieutenant if he chose non-flying status. However, if he volunteered to requalify for a rating of Junior Military Aviator, a temporary promotion to captain was mandated by law. On May 20, 1916, Arnold reported to Rockwell Field
, California
, on flying status but as supply officer at the Signal Corps Aviation School.The 1914 law that established the Aviation Section reduced all rated officers to JMA, not just Arnold, because of a provision requiring three years as a JMA before becoming eligible for an MA rating. He received permanent promotion to captain, Infantry, on September 23.
Between October and December 1916, encouraged by former associates, Arnold overcame his fear of flying by going up fifteen to twenty minutes a day. On November 26, he flew solo, and on December 16 requalified for his JMA. Before he could be reassigned to flying duties, he was involved as a witness in a controversial incident. The Secretary of the Aviation School, Capt. Frank P. Lahm, authorized an excursion flight on January 10 for a non-aviator that resulted in the loss of the airplane in Mexico and the disappearance of the officers for nine days. After testifying to army investigators on January 27, acknowledging that the flight had been authorized by Lahm, Arnold was transferred to Panama on January 30, 1917, one day after the birth of his second child, Henry H. Arnold, Jr.The school commandant, Col. William A. Glassford, publicly stated that the flight was unauthorized, but Arnold reported that he saw an authorization signed by Lahm, resulting in the apparent retribution from Glassford. However, another interpretation of the facts comes from Gen. Huston, who attributes the dispute to Arnold's perceived insubordination in conducting an immediate air search for the missing aviators, although Lahm and Glassford had issued orders not to do so. Glassford's final fitness report on Arnold characterized him as "not suited for an independent command" and "a trouble maker." According to Huston, Arnold's transfer to Panama was ordered in December 1916, before the incident, and was actually delayed when he had to remain at Rockwell to give a statement to investigators. However, Coffey's conclusions are those made by Arnold himself, and newpaper accounts of the time confirm that no air search took place until a week had passed. Glassford, like most of the senior leaders in aviation, was a non-pilot with a prior association in ballooning. Glassford reached the mandatory retirement age of 64 in April 1917 and despite the war went on the retired list.
Arnold collected the men who would make up his first command, the 7th Aero Squadron, in New York City on February 5, 1917, and was ordered to find a suitable location for an airfield in the Panama Canal Zone
. When the military in Panama could not agree on a site, Arnold was ordered back to Washington D.C. to resolve the dispute and was en route by ship when the United States declared war
on Germany. Arnold requested to be sent to France, but his presence in Washington worked against him, since the Aviation Section needed qualified officers for headquarters duty.
Beginning May 1, 1917, he received a series of assignments, as officer in charge of the Information Division, with a promotion to major
on June 27, as assistant executive officer of the Aeronautical Division, and then as executive officer after it became the Air Division on October 1. On August 5, 1917, he was promoted again, becoming the youngest full colonel
in the Army,On August 14, 1918, Walter G. Kilner, also of the Air Service, took that distinction at the age of 30 years, one month, and six days.
Arnold gained significant experience in aircraft production and procurement, the construction of air schools and airfields, and the recruitment and training of large numbers of personnel, as well as learning political in-fighting in the Washington environment, all of which helped him significantly 25 years later. When the Division of Military Aeronautics superseded the Air Division in April 1918, Arnold continued as executive assistant to its director, Maj. Gen. William Kenly, and advanced to Assistant Director when the DMA was removed from the Signal Corps in May 1918.Arnold again received an unsatisfactory fitness report, as Chief Signal Officer George O. Squier placed much of the blame on him for the failures of the Signal Corps Aviation Section that cost Squier control of the air service, describing Arnold as "inclined to be disloyal". Arnold's subsequent boss, Gen. Kenley, saw things differently and recommended Arnold for a Distinguished Service Medal
, although the Squier fitness report quashed it.
Arnold's third child, William Bruce Arnold, was born July 17, 1918. Shortly after, Arnold arranged to go to France to brief General John Pershing, commanding the American Expeditionary Force
, on the Kettering Bug
, a weapons development. Aboard a ship to France in late October he developed Spanish influenza and was hospitalized on his arrival in England. He did reach the front on November 11, 1918, but the Armistice
ended the war on the same day.
The Air Service
separated from the Signal Corps on May 20, 1918. However control of aviation remained with the land forces when its post-war director was a field artillery
general, Maj. Gen. Charles T. Menoher
, who epitomized the view of the War Department
General Staff
that "military aviation can never be anything other than simply an arm of the (Army)". Menoher was followed in 1921 by another non-aviator, Maj.Gen. Mason M. Patrick
. Patrick, however, obtained a rating of Junior Airplane Pilot
despite being 59 years old and became both an airpower advocate and a proponent of an independent air force.
Arnold was sent to Rockwell Field on January 10, 1919, as District Supervisor, Western District of the Air Service, to oversee the demobilization
of 8,000 airmen and surplus aircraft. There he first established relationships with the men who became his main aides, executive officer Capt. Carl A. Spaatz and adjutant 1st Lt. Ira C. Eaker. He supported the highly publicized views of Assistant Chief of Air Service Billy Mitchell. Arnold's promotion to colonel expired June 30, 1920, while he was Air Officer of the Ninth Corps Area
in San Francisco, and he reverted back to his permanent rank of captain. Even though he received an automatic promotion to major because of his Military Aviator rating, he became junior to officers serving under him, including Spaatz, whose promotion received while in France was not rescinded. On August 11, 1920, Arnold formally transferred to the Air Service. In October 1922 he was sent back to Rockwell, now a service depot, as base commander and encouraged an aerial refueling
, the first in history, that took place eight months later.
Arnold experienced several serious illnesses and accidents requiring hospitalization, including recurring stomach ulcers and the amputation of three fingertips on his left hand in 1922.Ironically, the accident involving his fingers occurred during a visit by his father, a physician, who reattached the fingertips. His wife and sons also experienced serious health problems, and his fourth child, John, born in the summer of 1921, died on June 30, 1923, of acute appendicitis
.
In August 1924, Arnold was unexpectedly assigned to attend a five-month course of study at the Army Industrial College. After completing the course he was hand-picked by Patrick, despite a mutual dislike, to head the Air Service's Information Division, working closely with Mitchell. When Mitchell was court-martial
ed, Arnold, Spaatz, and Eaker were all warned that they were jeopardizing their careers by vocally supporting Mitchell, but they testified on his behalf anyway. After Mitchell was convicted on December 17, 1925, Arnold and other officers continued to use the Information Division to mail pro-Mitchell information to airpower-friendly congressmen and Air Service reservists. In February, Secretary of War
Dwight F. Davis
ordered Patrick to find and discipline the culprits. Patrick was already aware of the activity and chose Arnold to set an example. He gave Arnold the choice of resignation or a general court-martial, but when Arnold chose the latter, Patrick decided to avoid another public fiasco and instead transferred him to Ft. Riley, far from the aviation mainstream, taking command of the 16th Observation Squadron
on March 22, 1926.As commanding officer of the 16th O.S., Arnold was "dual-hatted" as Aviation Officer to the inactive 7th Division (demonstration unit for the Cavalry School) until August 15, 1927, and the Aviation Officer of the 2nd Cavalry Division
until August 1, 1928. Patrick's press release on the investigation stated that Arnold was also reprimanded for violating Army General Order No. 20 by attempting "to influence legislation in an improper manner."
Despite this setback, which included a fitness report that stated "in an emergency he is liable to lose his head", Arnold made a commitment to remain in the service, turning down an offer of the presidency of the soon-to-be operating Pan American Airways, which he had helped bring into being.The offer came from naval aviation pioneer John K. Montgomery at the end of July 1927, when Arnold was already eligible for retirement at half-pay. Montgomery was president of American International Airways, a firm he had founded with financing originally intended to create Pan Am for Arnold. AIA's landing rights in Cuba had been transferred to Juan Trippe
, putting together the companies (including AIA) that would become Pan Am in June 1928. Arnold made the best of his exile and in May 1927, his participation in war games at Fort Sam Houston
, Texas
, impressed Maj. Gen. James E. Fechet, successor to Patrick as Chief of the U.S. Army Air Corps. He also received superlative fitness reports from his commanders at Ft. Riley, Brig. Gen. Ewing E. Booth (who had been a member of the Mitchell court) and his successor, Brig. Gen. Charles J. Symmonds.
On February 24, 1927, his son David Lee Arnold was born at Ft. Riley. In 1928 Arnold wrote and published six books of juvenile fiction, the "Bill Bruce Series," whose objective was to interest young people in flying.The books were titled Bill Bruce and the Pioneer Aviators; Bill Bruce, The Flying Cadet; Bill Bruce Becomes an Ace; Bill Bruce on Border Patrol; Bill Bruce in the Transcontinental Race and Bill Bruce on Forest Patrol (New York: A. L. Burt, 1928).
Gen. Charles P. Summerall to have Arnold's exile ended by assigning him in August 1928 to the Army's Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth
.Summerall had been Arnold's mathematics instructor at West Point. The year-long course was unpleasant for Arnold because of doctrinal differences with the school's commandant, Maj Gen. Edward L. King, but Arnold graduated with high marks in June 1929.King had also been on the court that tried Billy Mitchell. Arnold was slated for assignment to the Air Corps Training Center in San Antonio following graduation, but Brig. Gen. Lahm, the commander of the ACTC, strongly opposed it, possibly recalling their 1917 dispute. Instead Arnold commanded the Fairfield Air Service Depot
, Ohio
. In 1930 he also became Chief of the Field Service Section, Air Corps Materiel Division, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel
on February 1, 1931.
He took command of March Field, California
, where Spaatz had just assumed command of the grandiose-sounding but tiny 1st Wing
, on November 27, 1931. Arnold's responsibilities included refurbishing the base into a showcase installation, which required that he resolve strained relations with the community. He accomplished this by having his officers join local social service organizations and by a series of well-publicized relief efforts. Arnold took command of the 1st Wing himself on January 4, 1933, which flew food-drops during blizzards in the winter of 1932-33, assisted in relief work during the Long Beach earthquake of March 10, 1933, and established camps for 3,000 boys of the Civilian Conservation Corps
. He organized a high-profile series of aerial reviews that featured visits from Hollywood celebrities and aviation notables.Arnold became close friends with Jack Warner
and Donald Douglas
, and began cultivating a relationship with the California Institute of Technology
. In August 1932, Arnold began acquisition of portions of Rogers Dry Lake
as a bombing and gunnery range for his units, a site that later became Edwards Air Force Base
.
In 1934, he commanded a military zone of the controversial Army Air Corps Mail Operation
, with a temporary headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah
, but his pilots performed well and his own reputation was untouched by the fiasco. Later that same year he won his second Mackay Trophy, when he led ten Martin B-10B
bombers on an 8290 miles (13,341.4 km) flight from Bolling Field
to Fairbanks, Alaska
, and back. Overly credited with its success, he nonetheless lobbied for recognition of the other airmen who took part, but the Deputy Chief of Staff ignored his recommendations. His reputation among some of his peers was tarnished by resentment when he was belatedly awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross
for the flight in 1937.Maj. Gen. Hugh A. Drum, a key member of the General Staff in its clashes with the Air Corps, ignored Arnold's recommendations.
On March 1, 1935, General Headquarters Air Force was activated to control all combat aviation units of the Air Corps based in the United States, although it was not subordinate to the Chief of Air Corps. While a significant step towards an independent air force, this dual authority created serious problems of unity of command for the next six years. GHQAF commander Maj. Gen. Frank Andrews tapped Arnold to retain command its 1st Wing, which now carried with it a temporary promotion to the rank of brigadier general
, effective March 2, 1935. On December 23, 1935, new Army Chief of Staff Gen. Malin Craig
summoned Arnold to Washington. He and Arnold had become personal friends and golf
ing partners during Craig's command of the Ninth Corps Area in 1933. Over Arnold's protests, Craig made him an assistant chief of the Air Corps, filling a vacancy caused by the elevation of Maj. Gen. Oscar M. Westover
to Chief. Arnold became responsible for procurement and supply, and dealt with the political struggles over them. In effect, however, Arnold also "switched sides" in the struggle between GHQ Air Force and the Air Corps.
on September 21, 1938. Prior vacancies in the office had been filled by the incumbent assistant chief, and Arnold's appointment to succeed Westover seemed automatic since he was well-qualified. Yet the appointment was delayed when a faction developed supporting the appointment of Andrews that included two members of the White House
staff, press secretary Stephen Early
and military adviser Col. Edwin M. Watson. A rumor circulated through the White House that Arnold was a "drunkard". In his memoirs, Arnold recorded that he enlisted the help of Harry Hopkins
to attack the drinking rumors, but more recent research asserts that Craig threatened to resign as Army chief of staff if Arnold was not appointed.Arnold had been raised in an extremely abstemious household, but he had a known fondness for White Horse Scotch whisky
, especially when mixed as an Old Fashioned
cocktail. Steve Early's disdain stemmed from assignment in 1926 as Washington correspondent for the Associated Press
during Arnold's problems with Patrick, while "Pa" Watson held a personal dislike of Arnold and had been a West Point classmate of Andrews. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
appointed Arnold as Chief of Air Corps on September 29, which carried with it the rank of Major General
. To repair his relationship with the Andrews faction, most of whom were part of GHQ Air Force, he selected its chief of staff, Col. Walter G. "Mike" Kilner, to fill the assistant chief vacancy.Unfortunately, Arnold's "heir apparent" medically retired less than a year later and committed suicide in 1940. Andrews' candidacy was led by his chief of staff, Col. Hugh J. Knerr
, who had been Arnold's executive officer on the Alaska flight. The DFC for Arnold, at a time when his support for the B-17 was lukewarm, embittered Knerr, who continued his efforts to unseat Arnold until Andrews' death in 1943. Andrews himself took no part in the controversy. His relationship with Arnold remained cordial, but he was not reappointed as commander of GHQAF when his term expired in March 1939. Knerr was coerced to retire at the same time, but when Andrews asked Arnold to return Knerr to active duty in 1941, Arnold agreed, and later recommended him to head the VIII Service Command.
When Marshall requested a reorganization study from the Air Corps, Arnold submitted a proposal on October 5, 1940, that would create an air staff, unify the air arm under one commander, and grant it autonomy with the ground and supply forces. The proposal was immediately opposed by the General Staff in all respects. He and Eaker collaborated on three books promoting airpower: This Flying Game (1936, reprinted 1943), Winged Victory (1941), and Army Flyer (1942).
Arnold encouraged research and development
efforts, among his projects the B-17 and the concept of Jet-assisted takeoff. To encourage the use of civilian expertise, the California Institute of Technology
became a beneficiary of Air Corps funding and Theodore von Kármán
of its Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory
developed a good working relationship with Arnold that led to the creation of the Scientific Advisory Group
in 1944. Arnold characterized his wartime philosophy of research and development as: "Sacrifice some quality to get sufficient quantity to supply all fighting units. Never follow the mirage, looking for the perfect airplane, to a point where fighting squadrons are deficient in numbers of fighting planes." To that end he concentrated on rapid returns from R&D investments, exploiting proven technologies to provide operational solutions to counter the rising threat of the Axis Powers. Arnold also pushed for jet propulsion, especially after the British shared their plans of Whittle
's turbojet during his visit to Britain in April 1941.
In March 1939 Arnold was appointed to head the Air Board by Secretary of War Harry Woodring
, to recommend doctrine and organization of Army airpower to the Chief of Staff. While the board's report concluded that airpower was indispensable to the defense of the hemisphere, stressed the need for long-range bombers, and became the basis for the first Air Corps field manual
, it was a "considerable attenuation" of the doctrine being developed at the Air Corps Tactical School
. Arnold submitted the findings to George C. Marshall, newly appointed as Chief of Staff, on September 1, 1939, the day Nazi Germany
invaded Poland
.
When Congress repealed the Neutrality Act in November 1939 to permit the selling of aircraft to the belligerents, Arnold became concerned that shipments of planes to the Allies slowed delivery to the Air Corps, particularly since control of the allotment of aircraft production had been given to the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department
in December 1938, and by extension, to Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr.
, a White House favorite. Arnold experienced two years of difficulties with Morgenthau, who was prone to denigrate the leadership of the War Department and Air Corps.Arnold got himself into the president's doghouse early. In January 1939, pique at negotiations between the French, Morgenthau and the U.S. Navy (without Air Corps knowledge) concerning an Air Corps project—the Douglas DB-7 bomber—led him to ill-advised criticism of those involved to Congress after the prototype crashed during flight testing with a French Air Force observer on board. Their conflict peaked on March 12, 1940, when Arnold's public complaint about increases in shipments brought a personal warning from Roosevelt that "there were places to which officers who did not 'play ball' might be sent, such as Guam," and got him banished from the White House
for eight months.Morgenthau's control of aircraft production faded permanently after January 1941 when Harry Hopkins became Roosevelt's favored confidant.
The disfavor shown Arnold by Roosevelt reached a turning point in March 1941 when new Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson
, a supporter of Arnold, submitted his name with two others for promotion to the permanent rank of major general. Roosevelt refused to send the list to the Senate
for confirmation
because of Arnold's nomination, and his forced retirement from the service seemed imminent to both Stimson and Marshall. Stimson and Harry Hopkins arranged for Arnold, accompanied by Maj. Elwood "Pete" Quesada
, to travel to England for three weeks in April to evaluate British aircraft production needs and to provide an up-to-date strategic analysis.The other two nominees were Courtney H. Hodges
as Chief of Infantry, and William N. Porter as Chief of Chemical Warfare Service. Quesada was chief of the Foreign Language Section, Intelligence Division, at the time. His meeting with Roosevelt to report his findings was judged as impressively cogent and optimistic, but the president ruminated on Arnold's future for three weeks before submitting his name and the others to the Senate. From that point on, however, Arnold's "position in the White House was secure." His importance to Roosevelt in setting an airpower agenda was demonstrated when Arnold was invited to the Atlantic Conference
in Newfoundland in August, the first of seven such summits that he, not Morgenthau, would attend.
on June 20, 1941, only two days before Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union
. Arnold became Chief of the Army Air Forces and acting Deputy Chief of Staff for Air with authority over both the Air Corps and Air Force Combat Command (successor to GHQAF). While this provided the air arm with a staff of its own and brought the entire organization under the command of one general, it failed to grant the degree of autonomy sought. By consensus between Marshall and Arnold, debate on separation of the Air Force into a service co-equal with the Army and Navy was postponed until after the war.
In July 1941, Roosevelt asked for production requirements to defeat potential enemies, and Arnold endorsed a request by his new Air War Plans Division
to submit an air war plan. The assessment, designated AWPD/1, defined four tasks for the AAF: defense of the Western Hemisphere, an initial defensive strategy against Japan, a strategic air offensive against Germany, and a later strategic air offensive against Japan in prelude of invasion. It also planned for an expansion of the AAF to 60,000 aircraft and 2.1 million men. AWPD/1 called for 24 groups (approximately 750 airplanes) of very long range B-29
bombers to be based in Northern Ireland
and Egypt
for use against Nazi Germany, and for production of sufficient Consolidated B-36
s for intercontinental bombing missions of Germany.
Soon after U.S. entry in the war, Arnold was promoted to lieutenant general
on December 15, 1941. On March 9, 1942, after the creation of the AAF failed to define clear channels of authority for the air forces, the Army adopted the functional reorganization that Arnold had advocated in October 1940. Acting on an executive order
from Roosevelt, the War Department granted the AAF full autonomy, equal to and entirely separate from the Army Ground Forces and Services of Supply. The Office of the Chief of Air Corps and the Air Forces Combat Command were abolished, and Arnold became AAF Commanding General and an ex officio member of both the Joint Chiefs of Staff
and the Combined Chiefs of Staff
.
In response to an August 1942 directive, Arnold had the AWPD revise its estimates. AWPD/42 resulted, calling for 75,000 aircraft and 2.7 million men, and increased the production of aircraft for use by other allies. AWPD/42 reaffirmed earlier strategic priorities, but increased the list of industrial targets from 23 to 177, ranking the German Luftwaffe
first and its submarine
force second in importance of destruction. It also directed that the B-29 bomber not be employed in Europe because of problems in its development, but instead that the B-29 program's deployment be concentrated in the Far East
to destroy the Japanese military power.
Arnold began to carry out AWPD/1. The primary strategic bombing force against Nazi Germany would be the Eighth Air Force
, and he named Spaatz to command it and Eaker to head its Bomber Command. Other Arnold protégés eventually filled key positions in the strategic bombing forces, including Haywood S. Hansell
, Laurence S. Kuter
, and James H. Doolittle.
Despite protecting his strategic bombing force from demands of other services and allies, Arnold was forced to divert resources from the Eighth to support operations in North Africa
, crippling the Eighth in its infancy and nearly killing it. Eaker (now Eighth Air Force commander) found from experience that the pre-war doctrine of daylight precision bombing, developed at the Air Corps Tactical School
as a foundation for separating the Air Force from the Army, was mistaken in its tenet that heavily-armed bombers could reach any target without the support of long-range escort fighters. Early in 1943 he began requesting more fighters and jettisonable fuel tanks to increase their range, in addition to repeated requests to increase the size of his small bombing force.
Heavy losses in the summer and fall of 1943 on deep penetration missions increased Eaker's requests. Arnold, under pressure and impatient for results, ignored Eaker's findings and placed the blame on a lack of aggressiveness by bomber commanders. This came at a time when Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower
was putting together his command group for the invasion of Europe
, and Arnold approved Eisenhower's request to replace Eaker with his own commanders, Spaatz and Doolittle. Ironically, the very items Eaker requested — more airplanes, drop tanks, and P-51
fighters — accompanied the change of command and made the Eighth Air Force decisive in defeating Germany using the daylight bombing doctrine.
The change in command at Eighth Air Force, particularly involving the relief of a friend or protogé, was just one of many that exemplified a ruthlessness Arnold developed to get results. In 1942, Brig. Gen. Walter R. Weaver, acting chief of the Air Corps, had his job eliminated and was relegated to a technical training command. George C. Kenney
relieved Jacob E. Fickel
in command of Fourth Air Force
Arnold had known Fickel since they were lieutenants together in the 29th and 13th Infantry Regiments in the Philippines. and later that same year replaced former Chief of the Air Corps George H. Brett as Southwest Pacific air commander. In the B-29 campaign, Curtis E. LeMay relieved Kenneth B. Wolfe in India in July 1944,The wing commander of the 58th Bomb Wing acted as interim commander until LeMay's arrival at the end of August. then Hansell on Guam in January 1945.
With the strategic bombing crisis resolved in Europe, Arnold placed full emphasis on completion of the development and deployment of the B-29
Very Long Range (VLR) bomber to attack Japan. As early as 1942, Arnold planned to make himself commanding general of the Twentieth Air Force
. This unique command arrangement may also have contributed to his health problems (see below), but after the negative experience of building an effective bombing force against Germany, and realizing the consequences of failure against Japan, Arnold concluded that, absent any unity of command in the Pacific theaters, administrative decisions regarding VLR operations could best be handled personally. However, theater commanders Douglas MacArthur
, Chester Nimitz
, and Joseph Stillwell all coveted the B-29s for tactical support, to which Arnold was adamantly opposed as a diversion from strategic policy. He convinced not only Marshall, but also Chief of Naval Operations
Ernest J. King, that the Twentieth was unique in that its operations cut across the jurisdiction of all three theaters, and thus should report directly to the Joint Chiefs with Arnold acting as their executive agent. In February 1944 President Roosevelt agreed and approved the arrangement.
The VLR program had been plagued with a seemingly unending series of development problems, subjecting it and Arnold to much criticism in the press and from skeptical field commanders. The B-29 was the key component of the AAF's fourth strategic priority, since no other land-based bomber was capable of reaching the Japanese homeland, but by February 1944, the XX Bomber Command
, slated to begin Operation Matterhorn
on June 1, had virtually no flight time yet above an altitude of 20000 feet (6,096 m).
With a designated overseas deployment date of April 15, 1944, Arnold intervened in the situation personally by flying to Kansas on March 8. For three days he toured training bases involved in the modification program, distressed at his findings of shortages and work failures, and on the spot made Maj. Gen. Bennett E. Meyers, a military procurement officer accompanying him, the coordinator of the program. Meyers succeeded in the "Battle of Kansas": despite labor problems and blizzard weather a complete bomb group was ready for deployment by April 9. The mechanical problems of the B-29, however, had not been resolved, and combat operations identified many new ones. Arnold felt the pressure of not only achieving the goals of AWPD/1, but of justifying by results a very expensive technological project in the B-29, and providing the delivery platform for the highly-classified atomic bomb if the Manhattan Project
succeeded. VLR operations against Japanese targets in China and Southeast Asia began in June 1944, and from the outset produced far less positive results than expected.
The difficulties of the Twentieth Air Force
's campaign against Japan mirrored those of the Eighth Air Force's against Germany. With characteristic impatience, Arnold quickly relieved Wolfe, the B-29 commander in China, after less than a month of operations, and replaced him with LeMay. A second B-29 command began operations from bases in the Mariana Islands
in November. Brig. Gen. Haywood S. Hansell
, one of the architects of AWPD/1 and AWPD/42, encountered even more command problems than had Wolfe or LeMay. After two months of poor results, and because he resisted the campaign of firebombing
attacks against Japanese population centers favored by Arnold and his chief of staff, Lauris Norstad
, Arnold decided he too needed replacing. He shut down operations from China, consolidated all the B-29s in the Marianas, and replaced Hansell with LeMay in January 1945 as commander of XXI Bomber Command
.
s severe enough to require hospitalization. In addition to being by nature intensely impatient, Arnold considered that his personal presence was required wherever a crisis might be, and as a result he traveled extensively and for long hours under great stress during the war, aggravating what may have been a pre-existing coronary condition. His extended trips and inspection tours were to the United Kingdom
in April 1941 and again in May 1942; the South Pacific in September 1942, North Africa
and China
in January–February 1943; the Middle East
and Italy
(where his party came under artillery fire) in November–December 1943; London
and Normandy
accompanying Marshall in June 1944; Germany and Italy
in April–May 1945; the Western Pacific in June 1945; and Potsdam
in July 1945. A lesser but more frequent factor may have been his difficulty in handling inter-service politics
, particularly with the Navy, which steadfastly refused to recognize him as a Chief of Staff
or his subordinate staff as equals.Huston states that King rarely spoke to Arnold at meetings, instead directing air matters to Marshall. On Guam, with knowledge of the approaching atomic bomb decision, he was compelled to negotiate with Nimitz over what seemed petty Navy objections to the basing there of the headquarters of the strategic air forces.
Arnold's first heart attack occurred February 28, 1943, just after his return from the Casablanca Conference and China. During that trip, Argonaut, the B-17 bomber transporting his party, became lost for several hours over Japanese-held territory trying to "fly the Hump
" at night. He was hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Hospital
for several days, then took three weeks leave at the Coral Gables Biltmore Hotel
in Florida, which had been converted into a convalescent hospital. U.S. Army regulations then required that he leave the service, but President Roosevelt waived the requirement in April after he demonstrated his recovery, and on the condition that the President be provided with monthly updates on Arnold's health.
Arnold's second heart attack occurred just a month later, on May 10, 1943, and resulted in a 10-day stay in Walter Reed. Against the wishes of Marshall, he gave the commencement address for the Class of June 1943 at West Point, where his son Bruce was graduating.Arnold also presented the wings of the 208 graduates commissioned in the Air Corps, including Robin Olds
, but Bruce Arnold was medically disqualified from being a pilot. His third heart attack, less severe than the first two, occurred exactly a year after the second, on May 10, 1944, under the strain of the B-29 problems. Arnold took a month's leave, returning to duty by flying with Marshall to London
on June 7 for a conference and an inspection of Omaha Beach
.
Arnold's last wartime heart attack came on January 17, 1945, just days after he replaced Hansell with LeMay. Arnold had not gone into his office for three days, and he refused to admit the Air Force's chief flight surgeon
to his quarters to be examined. The flight surgeon enlisted a general and personal friend of Arnold's to inquire on his condition, after which Arnold was again flown to Coral Gables, Florida
, and placed under 24-hour care for nine days. Arnold again was allowed to remain in the service, but under conditions that amounted to light duty. He continued to tour air bases in both theaters. Arnold was returning by C-54 from Italy to Miami for a checkup when he received the news of the German surrender on May 7, 1945. On July 16 he relinquished command of the Twentieth Air Force to LeMay.
On March 19, 1943, Arnold was promoted (wartime) to full General
, and on December 21, 1944, appointed a five-star General of the Army
under Public Law 282-78, placing him fourth in Army rank seniority behind Marshall, MacArthur, and Eisenhower. He received honorary doctorates
from Pennsylvania Military College
and the University of Southern California
in 1941, and from Iowa Wesleyan College
in 1942.
In 1945, Arnold directed the founding of Project RAND (which became the RAND Corporation, a non-profit think tank) with $10,000,000 of funding leftover from World War II
. Initially tasked "to connect military planning with research and development decisions," RAND widely expanded in its scope beyond its original mission.
After a trip to South America
in January 1946, in which he developed a heart arrhythmia severe enough to cancel the remainder of the trip, General Arnold left active duty in the AAF on February 28, 1946, (his official date of retirement was June 30, 1946). On March 23, 1946, Public Law 333-79 made the promotion to General of the Army permanent for all those holding it, and awarded full pay and allowances for those on the retired list. He was succeeded by Spaatz, who also became first Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force
when it became a separate service on September 18, 1947.
Arnold retired to a 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) ranch near Sonoma, California
, and signed a contract with Harper & Brothers
to write his memoirs, Global Mission. Unlike George S. Patton
, who enjoyed independent wealth, or colleagues who had taken positions in government, such as Marshall (appointed Secretary of State), Arnold had no source of income beyond his retirement pay and allowances, and was not healthy enough to continue service. His autobiography was an attempt to provide financial security for his wife after his death, and during the writing of it he suffered his fifth heart attack in January 1948, hospitalizing him for three months.
On May 7, 1949, Public Law 58-81 changed the designation of Arnold's final rank and grade to that of General of the Air Force, and he remains the only person to have held the rank. He is also the only person to hold five-star rank in two U.S. military services. He died on January 15, 1950, at his home in Sonoma. He was given a state funeral
in Washington, D.C. that included rare services held in Arlington Memorial Amphitheater
, and he was buried in Section 34 of Arlington National Cemetery
. Robert A. Lovett
, with whom Arnold worked closely during the war in his capacity as Assistant Secretary of War for Air, stated that Arnold had been as much a casualty of war as if he had been injured in the line of duty.
All three of Arnold's surviving sons were graduates of West Point (Henry Harley Jr., 1939;Because poor eyesight disqualified him as a pilot, "Hank" Arnold was commissioned in the Coast Artillery Corps and commanded an AAA automatic weapons battalion in Italy. After 1945, the remainder of his career was as a Field Artillery
officer. Willam Bruce, June 1943;Bruce Arnold entered the United States Naval Academy
's Class of 1942, but dropped out in June 1939. He enlisted in the Cavalry, took and passed a competitive exam for entrance to West Point, and entered the Class of 1944 in July 1940. His class was accelerated because of the war and graduated as the Class of June 1943. Because of poor eyesight he too went into the Coast Artillery Corps, becoming an antiaircraft battery commander on Okinawa by the end of the war. Bruce resolved a 20-year resentment of his father and transferred to the United States Air Force in March 1949. and David Lee, 1949Col. David Arnold was the only son to spend his entire career in the USAF, but like his brothers, was not rated.) and reached the grade of colonel. The two youngest served in the United States Air Force and are interred near their father's burial site at Arlington National Cemetery
.
, Tennessee
, and the Arnold Engineering Development Center
are named for Arnold. The Air Force Research Laboratory
generally recognizes Arnold as the visionary who first articulated that superior research and development capabilities are essential to deterring and winning wars. Arnold's ideas underpin the Laboratory's modern-day role within the Air Force.
The cadet social center at the United States Air Force Academy
, Arnold Hall, and the Arnold Hall Community Center at Lackland Air Force Base
, Texas
, are both named for Arnold.
The Air Force Association
recognizes the "most significant contribution by a military member for national defense" with its H.H. Arnold Award.
The top honorary organization in Air Force ROTC, the Arnold Air Society
, is named for him, and The George C. Marshall Foundation awards the George C. Marshall/Henry "Hap" Arnold ROTC Award annually to the top senior cadet at each college or university with an AFROTC program. The Air Force Aid Society awards a college scholarship in his name to the dependents of Air Force members or retirees.
On May 18, 2006, the Department of the Air Force introduced prototypes of two new service dress uniforms, one resembling those worn by Air Service officers prior to 1926, called the "Billy Mitchell heritage coat," and another, resembling the U.S. Army Air Forces' Uniform of World War II and named the "Hap Arnold heritage coat". In 2007, the Air Force decided in favor of the "Hap Arnold" prototype, but in 2009 the new Chief of Staff of the Air Force directed that "no further effort be made on the Hap Arnold Heritage Coat" and the uniform change was suspended indefinitely.
During the last mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavor, STS-134
, a five-star insignia of Arnold's preserved in the National Museum of the United States Air Force
was carried into space by shuttle pilot Gregory H. Johnson as a commemorative gesture to Arnold's legacy. Arnold was then the featured honoree of the museum's National Aviation Day celebration of August 20, 2011, when Johnson returned the insignia to the museum.
The United States Department of Defense
high school at the former Wiesbaden Air Base in Wiesbaden
, Germany, was named General H. H. Arnold High School in 1949. The school was renamed Wiesbaden High School
in 2006 after the installation was transferred to the United States Army.
On November 7, 1988, the United States Postal Service
released the H. H. "Hap" Arnold 65 cent postage stamp bearing the likeness of Arnold, in his honor, as part of the Great Americans series
.
Arnold Drive, a main arterial road running through Sonoma Valley
near his ranch, was named in his honor.
In a rare depiction of him on film, Arnold was sympathetically portrayed in the 1954 film The Glenn Miller Story
, played by Barton MacLane
.
General of the Army (United States)
General of the Army is a five-star general officer and is the second highest possible rank in the United States Army. A special rank of General of the Armies, which ranks above General of the Army, does exist but has only been conferred twice in the history of the Army...
and later General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
(1938–1941), Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the only Air Force general to hold five-star rank, and the only person to hold a five-star rank in two different U.S. military services.
Instructed in flying by the Wright Brothers
Wright brothers
The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...
, Arnold was one of the first military pilots worldwide, and one of the first three rated pilots in the history of the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
.Arnold, Capt. Charles DeF. Chandler, and Lt. Thomas Milling all qualified for the rating on July 5, 1912. Milling received the first certificate while Arnold was listed first on War Department General Order No. 39, which was the first list of rated Military Aviators. He overcame a fear of flying
Fear of flying
A fear of flying is a fear of being on an airplane , or other flying vehicle, such as a helicopter, while in flight. It is also sometimes referred to as aerophobia, aviatophobia, aviophobia or pteromerhanophobia....
that resulted from his experiences with early flight, supervised the expansion of the Air Service during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and became a protégé of Gen. Billy Mitchell.
He rose to command the Army Air Forces immediately prior to U.S. entry into World War II and directed its expansion into the largest and most powerful Air Force in the world. An advocate of technological research and development
Research and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
, Arnold's tenure saw the development of the intercontinental bomber, the jet fighter, the extensive use of radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
, global airlift
Airlift
Airlift is the act of transporting people or cargo from point to point using aircraft.Airlift may also refer to:*Airlift , a suction device for moving sand and silt underwater-See also:...
and atomic warfare
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...
as mainstays of modern air power.
Arnold's primary nickname, "Hap," was apparently short for "Happy," attributed variously to work associates when he moonlighted
Moonlighting
Moonlighting is the practice of holding a second job . It may also refer to:* Moonlighting , a 1982 drama film by Jerzy Skolimowski* Moonlighting , broadcast in 1985–1989 and starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd...
as a stunt pilotHe flew as the pilot double for the leads in the 1911 silent The Military Air-Scout and the 1912 The Elopement, both filmed in October 1911. or to his wife, but he was called Harley by his family during his youth, and "Sunny" by his mother. He was known to his West Point classmates as "Pewt" or "Benny". By his immediate subordinates and headquarters staff he was referred to as "The Chief."
Early life and career
Born June 25, 1886, in Gladwyne, PennsylvaniaGladwyne, Pennsylvania
Gladwyne is a suburban community in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States along the Main Line. The population was 4,050 at the 2000 census...
, Arnold was the son of Dr. Herbert Alonzo Arnold (1857-1933), a strong-willed physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and a member of the prominent political and military Arnold Family
Arnold family
The Arnold family is an American political and military family with ties to New England, Georgia and Ohio. The descendents of American Revolutionary War general Benedict Arnold in Great Britain, while not particularly politically active, also achieved notable success in the 19th...
. His mother was Anna Louise Harley (1857-1931), from a "Dunker
Church of the Brethren
The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination originating from the Schwarzenau Brethren organized in 1708 by eight persons led by Alexander Mack, in Schwarzenau, Bad Berleburg, Germany. The Brethren movement began as a melding of Radical Pietist and Anabaptist ideas during the...
" farm family and the first female in her family to attend high school. Arnold was Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
in religious belief, but had strong Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
ties through both families. However, unlike her husband, Louise Arnold was "fun-loving and prone to laughter," and not rigid in her beliefs. When Arnold was eleven, his father responded to the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
by serving as a surgeon
Surgeon
In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...
in the Pennsylvania National Guard
Pennsylvania National Guard
The Pennsylvania National Guard is composed of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard and the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. It is one of the largest National Guards in the nation. It has the largest Army National Guard of all the states and the fourth largest Air National Guard. These forces are...
, of which he remained a member for the next 24 years.
Arnold attended Lower Merion High School
Lower Merion High School
Lower Merion High School, is an American public high school in Ardmore, a community on the Pennsylvania Main Line.It is the larger of the two high schools in Lower Merion School District, which serves both Lower Merion Township and the Borough of Narberth. It was ranked among the top 60 U.S. high...
in Ardmore, Pennsylvania
Ardmore, Pennsylvania
Ardmore is a census-designated place in Delaware and Montgomery counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The population was 12,455 at the 2010 census...
, graduating in 1903. The athletic fields at Lower Merion are named after him. Arnold had no intention of attending West Point (he was preparing to attend Bucknell University
Bucknell University
Bucknell University is a private liberal arts university located alongside the West Branch Susquehanna River in the rolling countryside of Central Pennsylvania in the town of Lewisburg, 30 miles southeast of Williamsport and 60 miles north of Harrisburg. The university consists of the College of...
and enter the Baptist ministry) but took the entrance examination after his older brother Thomas defied their father and refused to do so, and placed second on the list. He received a delayed appointment when the nominated cadet confessed to being married, counter to academy regulations.
Arnold entered the United States Military Academy
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
as a "Juliette" (one month late), having just turned 17. His cadet career was spent as a "clean sleeve" (cadet private). At the academy he helped found the "Black Hand", a group of cadet
Cadet
A cadet is a trainee to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. The term comes from the term "cadet" for younger sons of a noble family.- Military context :...
pranksters, and led it during his first class year. He played second-team running back
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...
for the varsity football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team, was a shot put
Shot put
The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" a heavy metal ball—the shot—as far as possible. It is common to use the term "shot put" to refer to both the shot itself and to the putting action....
ter on the track and field team, and excelled at polo
Polo
Polo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Sometimes called, "The Sport of Kings", it was highly popularized by the British. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a...
. Arnold's academic standing varied between the middle and the lower end of his class, with his better scores in mathematics and science. He wanted assignment to the Cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
but an inconsistent demerit record and a cumulative general merit class standing of 66th out of 111 cadets resulted in his being commissioned on June 14, 1907, as a second lieutenant, Infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
. He initially protested the assignment (there was no commissioning requirement for USMA graduates in 1907), but was persuaded to accept a commission in the 29th Infantry
29th Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 29th Infantry Regiment is a unit of the United States Army first formed in 1813.-Establishment and early missions:The first 29th Infantry was constituted on 29 January 1813, and saw service in the War of 1812. Following this, the regiment was merged with the 6th Infantry...
, then in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. Arnold arrived in Manila on December 7, 1907.
Arnold disliked infantry troop duties and volunteered to assist Capt. Arthur S. Cowan of the 20th Infantry
20th Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 20th Infantry Regiment is a United States Army infantry regiment.-History:It was organized on 6 June 1862 at Fort Independence , as the 2nd Battalion of the 11th Infantry, one of the nine "three-battalion" regiments of regulars, each battalion containing eight companies of infantry, in...
, who was on temporary assignment in the Philippines mapping the island of Luzon
Luzon
Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...
. Cowan returned to the United States following completion of the cartography
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
detail, transferred to the Signal Corps, and was assigned to recruit two lieutenants to become pilots. Cowan contacted Arnold, who cabled his interest in also transferring to the Signal Corps but heard nothing in reply for two years. In June 1909, the 29th Infantry was relocated to Fort Jay
Fort Jay
Fort Jay is a harbor fortification and the name of the former Army post located on Governors Island in New York Harbor. Fort Jay is the oldest defensive structure on the island, built to defend Upper New York Bay, but has served other purposes...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and en route to his new duty station by way of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France, Arnold saw his first airplane
Blériot XI
The Blériot XI is the aircraft in which, on 25 July 1909, Louis Blériot made the first flight across the English Channel made in a heavier-than-air aircraft . This achievement is one of the most famous accomplishments of the early years of aviation, and not only won Blériot a lasting place in...
in flight, piloted by Louis Blériot
Louis Blériot
Louis Charles Joseph Blériot was a French aviator, inventor and engineer. In 1909 he completed the first flight across a large body of water in a heavier-than-air craft, when he crossed the English Channel. For this achievement, he received a prize of £1,000...
. In 1911, Arnold applied for transfer to the Ordnance Department
Ordnance Corps
The United States Army Ordnance Corps is a Sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Lee, Virginia.-Mission Statement:The U.S...
because it offered an immediate promotion to First Lieutenant. While awaiting the results of the required competitive examination, he learned that his interest in aeronautics had not been forgotten.
Military aviation pioneer
Arnold immediately sent a letter requesting a transfer to the Signal Corps, and on April 21, 1911, received Special Order 95, detailing him and 2nd Lt. Thomas DeWitt Milling of the 15th Cavalry, to Dayton, OhioDayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
, for a course in flight instruction at the Wright brothers
Wright brothers
The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...
' aviation school at Simms Station
Huffman Prairie
Huffman Prairie, also known as Huffman Prairie Flying Field or Huffman Field is part of Ohio's Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. While individually instructed, they were part of the school's May 1911 class that included three civilians and Lt. John Rodgers
John Rodgers (naval officer, World War I)
John Rodgers was an officer in the United States Navy and an early aviator.-Biography:Rodgers was the great-grandson of Commodores Rodgers and Perry. He was born in Washington, D.C. and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1903...
of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. Beginning instruction on May 3, Arnold made his first solo flight May 13 after three hours and forty-eight minutes of flying lessons (Milling had already soloed on May 8 with two hours of flight time), instructed by Arthur L. Welsh
Arthur L. Welsh
Arthur L. "Al" Welsh was a Jewish, Russian-born American pioneer aviator who became the first flight instructor for the Wright Brothers. He was killed in an aircrash in 1912.-Early life:...
.Milling was instructed by "Cliff" Turpin
James Clifford Turpin
James Clifford Turpin was a pioneer aviator with the Wright Exhibition Team.-Biography:He was born on May 6, 1886. He attended Purdue University, the first graduate to receive a pilot's license. Turpin joined the Wright Exhibition team in 1910, flying demonstrations across the country. The group...
but attracted the attention of Orville Wright, who went up with Milling (but not Arnold) and authorized his early solo. On May 14, he and Milling completed their instruction. Arnold received Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale is the world governing body for air sports and aeronautics and astronautics world records. Its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. This includes man-carrying aerospace vehicles from balloons to spacecraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles...
(FAI) pilot certificate No. 29 on July 6, 1911, and Military Aviator Certificate No. 2 a year later. He also was recognized by a general order in 1913 as one of the first 24 rated military aviators
U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Ratings
U.S. Air Force aeronautical ratings are military aviation skill standards established and awarded by the United States Air Force for commissioned officers participating in "regular and frequent flight", The standard by which flight status has been defined in law, executive orders, and regulations...
, authorized to wear the newly-designed Military Aviator badge.
After several more weeks of solo flying in Dayton to gain experience, Arnold and Milling were sent to the Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps
Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps
The Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps was the world's first heavier-than-air military aviation organization and the progenitor of the United States Air Force. A component of the U.S...
at College Park, Maryland
College Park, Maryland
College Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, USA. The population was 30,413 at the 2010 census. It is best known as the home of the University of Maryland, College Park, and since 1994 the city has also been home to the "Archives II" facility of the U.S...
, as the Army's first flight instructors on June 14. There Arnold set an altitude record of 3260 feet (993.6 m) on July 7 and thrice broke it (August 18, 1911, to 4167 feet (1,270.1 m); January 25, 1912, to 4764 feet (1,452.1 m); and June 1, 1912, 6540 feet (1,993.4 m)). In August 1911, he experienced his first crash, trying to take off from a farm field after getting lost. In September Arnold became the first U.S. pilot to carry mail, flying a bundle of letters five miles (8 km) on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, New York, and he is credited as the first pilot to fly over the U.S. Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
and the first to carry a United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
man as a passenger.
The flight school moved in November 1911 to a farm leased near Augusta
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, hoping to continue flying there during the winter. Training was limited by rain and flooding, and they returned to Maryland in May 1912. Arnold accepted delivery of the Army's first tractor airplane (front-mounted propeller
Propeller
A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...
and engine) on June 26, but crashed into the bay at Plymouth
Plymouth (town), Massachusetts
Plymouth is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Plymouth holds a place of great prominence in American history, folklore and culture, and is known as "America's Hometown." Plymouth was the site of the colony founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims, passengers of the famous ship the...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
during takeoff. Arnold began to develop a phobia about flying, intensified by Al Welsh's fatal crash at College Park on June 12. Another crash at College Park on September 18 killed 2nd Lt. Lewis Rockwell, an academy classmate of Arnold's.
In October, Arnold and Milling were ordered to enter the competition for the first MacKay Trophy
MacKay trophy
The Mackay Trophy was established on 27 January 1911 by Clarence Hungerford Mackay, who was then head of the Postal Telegraph-Cable Company and the Commercial Cable Company. Originally, aviators could compete for the trophy annually under rules made each year or the War Department could award the...
for "the most outstanding military flight of the year." Arnold won when he located a company of cavalry from the air and returned safely, despite high turbulence. As a result, he and Milling were sent to Fort Riley
Fort Riley
Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in Northeast Kansas, on the Kansas River, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 100,656 acres in Geary and Riley counties and includes two census-designated places: Fort Riley North and Fort...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, to experiment with radio communications from the air with the field artillery
Field artillery
Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, long range, short range and extremely long range target engagement....
. Arnold's flight on November 2 in Wright C Speed Scout
Wright Model C
|-References:*], Dr. Richard Stimson, The Wright Stories...
S.C. No. 10, with 1st Lt. Follett Bradley as his wireless operator, successfully sent the first radio telegraph message, at a distance of 6 miles (9.7 km), from an aircraft to a receiver on the ground, manned by 1st Lt. Joseph O. Mauborgne
Joseph Mauborgne
In the history of cryptography, Joseph Oswald Mauborgne co-invented the one-time pad with Gilbert Vernam of Bell Labs. In 1914 he published the first recorded solution of the Playfair cipher...
of the Signal Corps.Ironically, Arnold was stationed in the Philippines as an infantry officer two years later when Mauborgne went aloft himself with Arnold's close friend 2nd Lt. Bert Dargue
Herbert Dargue
Herbert Arthur "Bert" Dargue was a career officer in the United States Army, reaching the rank of major general in the Army Air Forces. He was a pioneer military aviator and one of the first ten recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross.Dargue entered the United States Military Academy on June...
, and made the first two-way communication from the air to the ground, a radio station on Corregidor on December 11, 1914. Three days later, Arnold's plane stalled, went into a spin, and he narrowly avoided a fatal crash. He immediately grounded himself and applied for a leave of absence. Flying was considered so dangerous that no stigma was attached for refusing to fly, and his request was granted (five of the Army's 14 aviators transferred out during 1913). During his leave of absence he renewed an acquaintance with Eleanor "Bee" Pool, the daughter of a banker, and one of his father's patients."Bee" was shortened from "Beetle," a name given to her by her older brothers.
On December 1, Arnold took a staff assignment in the Office of the Chief Signal Officer in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
In the spring he was assigned the task of closing the flying school at College Park. Although promoted to 1st lieutenant on April 10, 1913, Arnold was unhappy and requested a transfer to the Philippines. While awaiting a response, he was assigned to the 9th Infantry on July 10. In August, he testified before the House Military Affairs Committee
United States House Committee on Armed Services
thumb|United States House Committee on Armed Services emblemThe U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, commonly known as the House Armed Services Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives...
against a bill to make aviation a semi-autonomous "Air Corps". He was assigned to a company at Fort Thomas, Kentucky
Fort Thomas, Kentucky
Fort Thomas is a city in Campbell County, Kentucky, on the southern bank of the Ohio River and the site of an 1890 US Army post. The population was 16,325 at the 2010 census, making it the largest city in Campbell County and it is officially part of the Cincinnati – Northern Kentucky metropolitan...
, on September 1, where remained until his transfer to the 13th Infantry
13th Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 13th Infantry Regiment is a United States Army infantry regiment whose battalions are currently tasked as basic training battalions.- History :...
on November 1.
Marriage and return to aviation
On September 10, 1913, he and Bee married, with Milling acting as his best man. Sent back to the Philippines in January 1914, he was quartered near 1st Lt. George C. Marshall, who became his mentor, friend and patron. Soon after their arrival she miscarried, but on January 17, 1915, their first child, Lois Elizabeth Arnold, was born at Fort McKinleyFort McKinley
Several places have been named Fort McKinley* Fort William McKinley * Fort McKinley, Maine* Fort McKinley, Ohio--------------------------------------------------------------------------------...
in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
. After eight months of troop duty, Arnold became battalion adjutant.Arnold's interest in aeronautics continued despite his fear of lying. During this period he applied to the Army for enrollment in the aeronautical engineering course at MIT but was turned down. In January 1916, completing a two-year tour with the 13th Infantry, Arnold was attached to the 3rd Infantry and returned to the United States. En route to Madison Barracks
Madison Barracks
Madison Barracks was a military installation at Sackets Harbor that was built for occupation by 600 U.S. troops, a few years after the War of 1812. It was named for James Madison who had just completed his presidency in 1817. The facility is a National Historic Landmark and a historic district...
, New York, he exchanged telegrams from Hawaii with an assistant executive
Executive officer
An executive officer is generally a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization.-Administrative law:...
of the Aviation Section, Signal Corps
Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps
The Aviation Section, Signal Corps, was the military aviation service of the United States Army from 1914 to 1918, and a direct ancestor of the United States Air Force. It replaced and absorbed the Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps, and was succeeded briefly by the Division of Military...
, Major William L. Mitchell, who alerted him that he was being detailed to the Signal Corps again, as a first lieutenant if he chose non-flying status. However, if he volunteered to requalify for a rating of Junior Military Aviator, a temporary promotion to captain was mandated by law. On May 20, 1916, Arnold reported to Rockwell Field
Rockwell Field
Rockwell Field was an Army air base located in Coronado, California, near San Diego. It shared the area known as North Island with Naval Air Station North Island from 1912 to 1935. Its functions were eventually moved to March Field so that the naval air station could take over the whole area...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, on flying status but as supply officer at the Signal Corps Aviation School.The 1914 law that established the Aviation Section reduced all rated officers to JMA, not just Arnold, because of a provision requiring three years as a JMA before becoming eligible for an MA rating. He received permanent promotion to captain, Infantry, on September 23.
Between October and December 1916, encouraged by former associates, Arnold overcame his fear of flying by going up fifteen to twenty minutes a day. On November 26, he flew solo, and on December 16 requalified for his JMA. Before he could be reassigned to flying duties, he was involved as a witness in a controversial incident. The Secretary of the Aviation School, Capt. Frank P. Lahm, authorized an excursion flight on January 10 for a non-aviator that resulted in the loss of the airplane in Mexico and the disappearance of the officers for nine days. After testifying to army investigators on January 27, acknowledging that the flight had been authorized by Lahm, Arnold was transferred to Panama on January 30, 1917, one day after the birth of his second child, Henry H. Arnold, Jr.The school commandant, Col. William A. Glassford, publicly stated that the flight was unauthorized, but Arnold reported that he saw an authorization signed by Lahm, resulting in the apparent retribution from Glassford. However, another interpretation of the facts comes from Gen. Huston, who attributes the dispute to Arnold's perceived insubordination in conducting an immediate air search for the missing aviators, although Lahm and Glassford had issued orders not to do so. Glassford's final fitness report on Arnold characterized him as "not suited for an independent command" and "a trouble maker." According to Huston, Arnold's transfer to Panama was ordered in December 1916, before the incident, and was actually delayed when he had to remain at Rockwell to give a statement to investigators. However, Coffey's conclusions are those made by Arnold himself, and newpaper accounts of the time confirm that no air search took place until a week had passed. Glassford, like most of the senior leaders in aviation, was a non-pilot with a prior association in ballooning. Glassford reached the mandatory retirement age of 64 in April 1917 and despite the war went on the retired list.
Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
. When the military in Panama could not agree on a site, Arnold was ordered back to Washington D.C. to resolve the dispute and was en route by ship when the United States declared war
Declaration of war by the United States
A declaration of war is a formal declaration issued by a national government indicating that a state of war exists between that nation and another. For the United States, Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution says "Congress shall have power to ... declare War"...
on Germany. Arnold requested to be sent to France, but his presence in Washington worked against him, since the Aviation Section needed qualified officers for headquarters duty.
Beginning May 1, 1917, he received a series of assignments, as officer in charge of the Information Division, with a promotion to major
Major (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, major is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel...
on June 27, as assistant executive officer of the Aeronautical Division, and then as executive officer after it became the Air Division on October 1. On August 5, 1917, he was promoted again, becoming the youngest full colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
in the Army,On August 14, 1918, Walter G. Kilner, also of the Air Service, took that distinction at the age of 30 years, one month, and six days.
Arnold gained significant experience in aircraft production and procurement, the construction of air schools and airfields, and the recruitment and training of large numbers of personnel, as well as learning political in-fighting in the Washington environment, all of which helped him significantly 25 years later. When the Division of Military Aeronautics superseded the Air Division in April 1918, Arnold continued as executive assistant to its director, Maj. Gen. William Kenly, and advanced to Assistant Director when the DMA was removed from the Signal Corps in May 1918.Arnold again received an unsatisfactory fitness report, as Chief Signal Officer George O. Squier placed much of the blame on him for the failures of the Signal Corps Aviation Section that cost Squier control of the air service, describing Arnold as "inclined to be disloyal". Arnold's subsequent boss, Gen. Kenley, saw things differently and recommended Arnold for a Distinguished Service Medal
Distinguished Service Medal (United States)
The Distinguished Service Medal is the highest non-valorous military and civilian decoration of the United States military which is issued for exceptionally meritorious service to the government of the United States in either a senior government service position or as a senior officer of the United...
, although the Squier fitness report quashed it.
Arnold's third child, William Bruce Arnold, was born July 17, 1918. Shortly after, Arnold arranged to go to France to brief General John Pershing, commanding the American Expeditionary Force
American Expeditionary Force
The American Expeditionary Forces or AEF were the United States Armed Forces sent to Europe in World War I. During the United States campaigns in World War I the AEF fought in France alongside British and French allied forces in the last year of the war, against Imperial German forces...
, on the Kettering Bug
Kettering Bug
-External links:* * *...
, a weapons development. Aboard a ship to France in late October he developed Spanish influenza and was hospitalized on his arrival in England. He did reach the front on November 11, 1918, but the Armistice
Armistice
An armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but may be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace...
ended the war on the same day.
Acolyte of Billy Mitchell
United States Army Air Service
The Air Service, United States Army was a forerunner of the United States Air Force during and after World War I. It was established as an independent but temporary wartime branch of the War Department by two executive orders of President Woodrow Wilson: on May 24, 1918, replacing the Aviation...
separated from the Signal Corps on May 20, 1918. However control of aviation remained with the land forces when its post-war director was a field artillery
Field artillery
Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, long range, short range and extremely long range target engagement....
general, Maj. Gen. Charles T. Menoher
Charles T. Menoher
Major General Charles Thomas Menoher was a U.S. Army general, first Chief of the United States Army Air Service, and commanded the U.S. Army Hawaiian Department from 1924-1925...
, who epitomized the view of the War Department
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
General Staff
General Staff
A military staff, often referred to as General Staff, Army Staff, Navy Staff or Air Staff within the individual services, is a group of officers and enlisted personnel that provides a bi-directional flow of information between a commanding officer and subordinate military units...
that "military aviation can never be anything other than simply an arm of the (Army)". Menoher was followed in 1921 by another non-aviator, Maj.Gen. Mason M. Patrick
Mason Patrick
Mason Mathews Patrick was a U.S. Army general and air power advocate.Patrick was born in Lewisburg, West Virginia and graduated from West Point in 1886. For three years he was at the Engineer School of Application, Willets Point, New York, graduating in 1889...
. Patrick, however, obtained a rating of Junior Airplane Pilot
U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Ratings
U.S. Air Force aeronautical ratings are military aviation skill standards established and awarded by the United States Air Force for commissioned officers participating in "regular and frequent flight", The standard by which flight status has been defined in law, executive orders, and regulations...
despite being 59 years old and became both an airpower advocate and a proponent of an independent air force.
Arnold was sent to Rockwell Field on January 10, 1919, as District Supervisor, Western District of the Air Service, to oversee the demobilization
Demobilization
Demobilization is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and military force will not be necessary...
of 8,000 airmen and surplus aircraft. There he first established relationships with the men who became his main aides, executive officer Capt. Carl A. Spaatz and adjutant 1st Lt. Ira C. Eaker. He supported the highly publicized views of Assistant Chief of Air Service Billy Mitchell. Arnold's promotion to colonel expired June 30, 1920, while he was Air Officer of the Ninth Corps Area
Corps area
A Corps area was a geographically-based organizational structure of the United States Army used to accomplish domestic administrative, training and tactical tasks from 1920 to 1942. Each corps area included divisions of the Regular Army, Organized Reserve and National Guard of the United States...
in San Francisco, and he reverted back to his permanent rank of captain. Even though he received an automatic promotion to major because of his Military Aviator rating, he became junior to officers serving under him, including Spaatz, whose promotion received while in France was not rescinded. On August 11, 1920, Arnold formally transferred to the Air Service. In October 1922 he was sent back to Rockwell, now a service depot, as base commander and encouraged an aerial refueling
Aerial refueling
Aerial refueling, also called air refueling, in-flight refueling , air-to-air refueling or tanking, is the process of transferring fuel from one aircraft to another during flight....
, the first in history, that took place eight months later.
Arnold experienced several serious illnesses and accidents requiring hospitalization, including recurring stomach ulcers and the amputation of three fingertips on his left hand in 1922.Ironically, the accident involving his fingers occurred during a visit by his father, a physician, who reattached the fingertips. His wife and sons also experienced serious health problems, and his fourth child, John, born in the summer of 1921, died on June 30, 1923, of acute appendicitis
Appendicitis
Appendicitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the appendix. It is classified as a medical emergency and many cases require removal of the inflamed appendix, either by laparotomy or laparoscopy. Untreated, mortality is high, mainly because of the risk of rupture leading to...
.
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
ed, Arnold, Spaatz, and Eaker were all warned that they were jeopardizing their careers by vocally supporting Mitchell, but they testified on his behalf anyway. After Mitchell was convicted on December 17, 1925, Arnold and other officers continued to use the Information Division to mail pro-Mitchell information to airpower-friendly congressmen and Air Service reservists. In February, Secretary of War
United States Secretary of War
The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
Dwight F. Davis
Dwight F. Davis
Dwight Filley Davis was an American tennis player and politician. He is best remembered as the founder of the Davis Cup international tennis competition.-Biography:...
ordered Patrick to find and discipline the culprits. Patrick was already aware of the activity and chose Arnold to set an example. He gave Arnold the choice of resignation or a general court-martial, but when Arnold chose the latter, Patrick decided to avoid another public fiasco and instead transferred him to Ft. Riley, far from the aviation mainstream, taking command of the 16th Observation Squadron
16th Reconnaissance Squadron
The 16th Reconnaissance Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 311th Photographic Wing, stationed at Buckley Field, Colorado. It was inactivated on 12 April 1945.-History:...
on March 22, 1926.As commanding officer of the 16th O.S., Arnold was "dual-hatted" as Aviation Officer to the inactive 7th Division (demonstration unit for the Cavalry School) until August 15, 1927, and the Aviation Officer of the 2nd Cavalry Division
2nd Cavalry Division (United States)
-Heraldry:SHOULDER SLEEVE INSIGNIA*Description: On a yellow Norman shield with a green border, a blue chevron below two eight-pointed blue stars.*Blazon: Or, a chevron azure, in chief 2 mullets of eight points of the second, a bordure vert....
until August 1, 1928. Patrick's press release on the investigation stated that Arnold was also reprimanded for violating Army General Order No. 20 by attempting "to influence legislation in an improper manner."
Despite this setback, which included a fitness report that stated "in an emergency he is liable to lose his head", Arnold made a commitment to remain in the service, turning down an offer of the presidency of the soon-to-be operating Pan American Airways, which he had helped bring into being.The offer came from naval aviation pioneer John K. Montgomery at the end of July 1927, when Arnold was already eligible for retirement at half-pay. Montgomery was president of American International Airways, a firm he had founded with financing originally intended to create Pan Am for Arnold. AIA's landing rights in Cuba had been transferred to Juan Trippe
Juan Trippe
Juan Terry Trippe was an American airline entrepreneur and pioneer, and the founder of Pan American World Airways, one of the world's most prominent airlines of the twentieth century.-Early years:...
, putting together the companies (including AIA) that would become Pan Am in June 1928. Arnold made the best of his exile and in May 1927, his participation in war games at Fort Sam Houston
Fort Sam Houston
Fort Sam Houston is a U.S. Army post in San Antonio, Texas.Known colloquially as "Fort Sam," it is named for the first President of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston....
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, impressed Maj. Gen. James E. Fechet, successor to Patrick as Chief of the U.S. Army Air Corps. He also received superlative fitness reports from his commanders at Ft. Riley, Brig. Gen. Ewing E. Booth (who had been a member of the Mitchell court) and his successor, Brig. Gen. Charles J. Symmonds.
On February 24, 1927, his son David Lee Arnold was born at Ft. Riley. In 1928 Arnold wrote and published six books of juvenile fiction, the "Bill Bruce Series," whose objective was to interest young people in flying.The books were titled Bill Bruce and the Pioneer Aviators; Bill Bruce, The Flying Cadet; Bill Bruce Becomes an Ace; Bill Bruce on Border Patrol; Bill Bruce in the Transcontinental Race and Bill Bruce on Forest Patrol (New York: A. L. Burt, 1928).
Air Corps mid-career
Fechet intervened with Army Chief of StaffChief of Staff of the United States Army
The Chief of Staff of the Army is a statutory office held by a four-star general in the United States Army, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, and as such is the principal military advisor and a deputy to the Secretary of the Army; and is in...
Gen. Charles P. Summerall to have Arnold's exile ended by assigning him in August 1928 to the Army's Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, immediately north of the city of Leavenworth in the upper northeast portion of the state. It is the oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C. and has been in operation for over 180 years...
.Summerall had been Arnold's mathematics instructor at West Point. The year-long course was unpleasant for Arnold because of doctrinal differences with the school's commandant, Maj Gen. Edward L. King, but Arnold graduated with high marks in June 1929.King had also been on the court that tried Billy Mitchell. Arnold was slated for assignment to the Air Corps Training Center in San Antonio following graduation, but Brig. Gen. Lahm, the commander of the ACTC, strongly opposed it, possibly recalling their 1917 dispute. Instead Arnold commanded the Fairfield Air Service Depot
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in Greene and Montgomery counties in the state of Ohio. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wright Field and Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot. Patterson Field is located approximately...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. In 1930 he also became Chief of the Field Service Section, Air Corps Materiel Division, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant Colonel (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel. It is equivalent to the naval rank of commander in the other uniformed services.The pay...
on February 1, 1931.
He took command of March Field, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, where Spaatz had just assumed command of the grandiose-sounding but tiny 1st Wing
1st Bombardment Wing (World War II)
The 1st Bombardment Wing is an inactive United States Army Air Force unit. It was the first wing formed in the reorganized United States Army Air Service, created in August 1919 to control three groups patrolling the border with Mexico after revolution broke out there. Its last assignment was with...
, on November 27, 1931. Arnold's responsibilities included refurbishing the base into a showcase installation, which required that he resolve strained relations with the community. He accomplished this by having his officers join local social service organizations and by a series of well-publicized relief efforts. Arnold took command of the 1st Wing himself on January 4, 1933, which flew food-drops during blizzards in the winter of 1932-33, assisted in relief work during the Long Beach earthquake of March 10, 1933, and established camps for 3,000 boys of the Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
. He organized a high-profile series of aerial reviews that featured visits from Hollywood celebrities and aviation notables.Arnold became close friends with Jack Warner
Jack Warner
Jack Leonard "J. L." Warner , born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, was a Canadian American film executive who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California...
and Donald Douglas
Donald Wills Douglas, Sr.
Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. was a United States aircraft industrialist and founder of the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1921 .-Early life:...
, and began cultivating a relationship with the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
. In August 1932, Arnold began acquisition of portions of Rogers Dry Lake
Rogers Dry Lake
Rogers Dry Lake is an endorheic desert salt pan in the Mojave Desert of Kern County, California. The lake derives its name from the Anglicization from the Spanish name, Rodriguez Dry Lake. It is the central part of Edwards Air Force Base as its hard surface provides a natural extension to the...
as a bombing and gunnery range for his units, a site that later became Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located on the border of Kern County, Los Angeles County, and San Bernardino County, California, in the Antelope Valley. It is southwest of the central business district of North Edwards, California and due east of Rosamond.It is named in...
.
Air Mail Scandal
The Air Mail scandal, also known as the Air Mail fiasco, is the name that the American press gave to the political scandal resulting from a congressional investigation of a 1930 meeting , between Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown and the executives of the top airlines, and to the disastrous...
, with a temporary headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
, but his pilots performed well and his own reputation was untouched by the fiasco. Later that same year he won his second Mackay Trophy, when he led ten Martin B-10B
Martin B-10
The Martin B-10 was the first all-metal monoplane bomber to go into regular use by the United States Army Air Corps, entering service in June 1934...
bombers on an 8290 miles (13,341.4 km) flight from Bolling Field
Bolling Air Force Base
Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling is a military installation, located in Southeast Washington, D.C., established on 1 October 2010 in accordance with congressional legislation implementing the recommendations of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission...
to Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks is a home rule city in and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska, and second largest in the state behind Anchorage...
, and back. Overly credited with its success, he nonetheless lobbied for recognition of the other airmen who took part, but the Deputy Chief of Staff ignored his recommendations. His reputation among some of his peers was tarnished by resentment when he was belatedly awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)
The Distinguished Flying Cross is a medal awarded to any officer or enlisted member of the United States armed forces who distinguishes himself or herself in support of operations by "heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight, subsequent to November 11, 1918." The...
for the flight in 1937.Maj. Gen. Hugh A. Drum, a key member of the General Staff in its clashes with the Air Corps, ignored Arnold's recommendations.
On March 1, 1935, General Headquarters Air Force was activated to control all combat aviation units of the Air Corps based in the United States, although it was not subordinate to the Chief of Air Corps. While a significant step towards an independent air force, this dual authority created serious problems of unity of command for the next six years. GHQAF commander Maj. Gen. Frank Andrews tapped Arnold to retain command its 1st Wing, which now carried with it a temporary promotion to the rank of brigadier general
Brigadier general (United States)
A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed...
, effective March 2, 1935. On December 23, 1935, new Army Chief of Staff Gen. Malin Craig
Malin Craig
Malin Craig was a United States Army general.-Biography:Malin Craig was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, on August 5, 1875; Graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1898; was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the 4th Infantry, April 1898;-Spanish American War:Served with the...
summoned Arnold to Washington. He and Arnold had become personal friends and golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
ing partners during Craig's command of the Ninth Corps Area in 1933. Over Arnold's protests, Craig made him an assistant chief of the Air Corps, filling a vacancy caused by the elevation of Maj. Gen. Oscar M. Westover
Oscar Westover
Oscar M. Westover was a major general and fourth chief of the United States Army Air Corps.-Biography:He was born in Bay City, Michigan and enlisted in the Army when he was 18. He began his service as a private in 1901 before being appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point...
to Chief. Arnold became responsible for procurement and supply, and dealt with the political struggles over them. In effect, however, Arnold also "switched sides" in the struggle between GHQ Air Force and the Air Corps.
Chief of Air Corps
Westover was killed in an air crash at Burbank, CaliforniaBurbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
on September 21, 1938. Prior vacancies in the office had been filled by the incumbent assistant chief, and Arnold's appointment to succeed Westover seemed automatic since he was well-qualified. Yet the appointment was delayed when a faction developed supporting the appointment of Andrews that included two members of the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
staff, press secretary Stephen Early
Stephen Early
Stephen Tyree Early was a U.S. journalist and government official. He served as White House Press Secretary under Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1945 and again under President Harry S. Truman in 1950.-Career:...
and military adviser Col. Edwin M. Watson. A rumor circulated through the White House that Arnold was a "drunkard". In his memoirs, Arnold recorded that he enlisted the help of Harry Hopkins
Harry Hopkins
Harry Lloyd Hopkins was one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's closest advisers. He was one of the architects of the New Deal, especially the relief programs of the Works Progress Administration , which he directed and built into the largest employer in the country...
to attack the drinking rumors, but more recent research asserts that Craig threatened to resign as Army chief of staff if Arnold was not appointed.Arnold had been raised in an extremely abstemious household, but he had a known fondness for White Horse Scotch whisky
White Horse (whisky)
White Horse Scotch Whisky is a blended Scotch Whisky from Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. It was first produced by James Logan Mackie in 1861. In 2006, White Horse won blended whisky of the year in Murray's 2007 Whisky Bible.-Composition:...
, especially when mixed as an Old Fashioned
Old Fashioned
The Old Fashioned is a type of cocktail made by muddling dissolved sugar with bitters then adding alcohol, such as jenever, whiskey, or brandy, and a twist of citrus rind. The name references the combination's age: it is possibly the first drink to be called a cocktail...
cocktail. Steve Early's disdain stemmed from assignment in 1926 as Washington correspondent for the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
during Arnold's problems with Patrick, while "Pa" Watson held a personal dislike of Arnold and had been a West Point classmate of Andrews. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
appointed Arnold as Chief of Air Corps on September 29, which carried with it the rank of Major General
Major general (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general...
. To repair his relationship with the Andrews faction, most of whom were part of GHQ Air Force, he selected its chief of staff, Col. Walter G. "Mike" Kilner, to fill the assistant chief vacancy.Unfortunately, Arnold's "heir apparent" medically retired less than a year later and committed suicide in 1940. Andrews' candidacy was led by his chief of staff, Col. Hugh J. Knerr
Hugh J. Knerr
Hugh Johnston Knerr was a Major General in the United States Air Force.-Biography:Knerr was born on May 30, 1887 in Fairfield, Iowa. He passed away on October 26, 1971 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.-Career:...
, who had been Arnold's executive officer on the Alaska flight. The DFC for Arnold, at a time when his support for the B-17 was lukewarm, embittered Knerr, who continued his efforts to unseat Arnold until Andrews' death in 1943. Andrews himself took no part in the controversy. His relationship with Arnold remained cordial, but he was not reappointed as commander of GHQAF when his term expired in March 1939. Knerr was coerced to retire at the same time, but when Andrews asked Arnold to return Knerr to active duty in 1941, Arnold agreed, and later recommended him to head the VIII Service Command.
When Marshall requested a reorganization study from the Air Corps, Arnold submitted a proposal on October 5, 1940, that would create an air staff, unify the air arm under one commander, and grant it autonomy with the ground and supply forces. The proposal was immediately opposed by the General Staff in all respects. He and Eaker collaborated on three books promoting airpower: This Flying Game (1936, reprinted 1943), Winged Victory (1941), and Army Flyer (1942).
Arnold encouraged research and development
Research and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
efforts, among his projects the B-17 and the concept of Jet-assisted takeoff. To encourage the use of civilian expertise, the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
became a beneficiary of Air Corps funding and Theodore von Kármán
Theodore von Karman
Theodore von Kármán was a Hungarian-American mathematician, aerospace engineer and physicist who was active primarily in the fields of aeronautics and astronautics. He is responsible for many key advances in aerodynamics, notably his work on supersonic and hypersonic airflow characterization...
of its Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory
Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory
The Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology , was a research institute created in 1926, at first specializing in aeronautics research. In 1930, Hungarian scientist Theodore von Kármán accepted the directorship of the lab and emigrated to the United States. Under...
developed a good working relationship with Arnold that led to the creation of the Scientific Advisory Group
Scientific Advisory Group
The Scientific Advisory Group of the United States Air Force, later renamed the Scientific Advisory Board, was established in 1944, when General Henry H. Arnold asked Dr. Theodore von Kármán to establish a group of scientists to review the techniques and research trends in aeronautics...
in 1944. Arnold characterized his wartime philosophy of research and development as: "Sacrifice some quality to get sufficient quantity to supply all fighting units. Never follow the mirage, looking for the perfect airplane, to a point where fighting squadrons are deficient in numbers of fighting planes." To that end he concentrated on rapid returns from R&D investments, exploiting proven technologies to provide operational solutions to counter the rising threat of the Axis Powers. Arnold also pushed for jet propulsion, especially after the British shared their plans of Whittle
Frank Whittle
Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS was a British Royal Air Force engineer officer. He is credited with independently inventing the turbojet engine Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS (1 June 1907 – 9 August 1996) was a British Royal Air...
's turbojet during his visit to Britain in April 1941.
In March 1939 Arnold was appointed to head the Air Board by Secretary of War Harry Woodring
Harry Hines Woodring
Harry Hines Woodring was a U.S. political figure. He was born in 1890 in Elk City, Kansas. He was educated in city and county schools and at sixteen began work as a janitor in the First National Bank of Neodesha, Kansas...
, to recommend doctrine and organization of Army airpower to the Chief of Staff. While the board's report concluded that airpower was indispensable to the defense of the hemisphere, stressed the need for long-range bombers, and became the basis for the first Air Corps field manual
Field Manual
__FORCETOC__Field Manual is the second solo album by Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Chris Walla, released on January 29, 2008 on Barsuk Records. The album is Walla's first under his own name...
, it was a "considerable attenuation" of the doctrine being developed at the Air Corps Tactical School
Air Corps Tactical School
The Air Corps Tactical School, also known as ACTS and "the Tactical School", was a military professional development school for officers of the United States Army Air Service and United States Army Air Corps, the first such school in the world. Created in 1920 at Langley Field, Virginia, it...
. Arnold submitted the findings to George C. Marshall, newly appointed as Chief of Staff, on September 1, 1939, the day Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
invaded Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
.
When Congress repealed the Neutrality Act in November 1939 to permit the selling of aircraft to the belligerents, Arnold became concerned that shipments of planes to the Allies slowed delivery to the Air Corps, particularly since control of the allotment of aircraft production had been given to the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
in December 1938, and by extension, to Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr.
Henry Morgenthau, Jr.
Henry Morgenthau, Jr. was the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He played a major role in designing and financing the New Deal...
, a White House favorite. Arnold experienced two years of difficulties with Morgenthau, who was prone to denigrate the leadership of the War Department and Air Corps.Arnold got himself into the president's doghouse early. In January 1939, pique at negotiations between the French, Morgenthau and the U.S. Navy (without Air Corps knowledge) concerning an Air Corps project—the Douglas DB-7 bomber—led him to ill-advised criticism of those involved to Congress after the prototype crashed during flight testing with a French Air Force observer on board. Their conflict peaked on March 12, 1940, when Arnold's public complaint about increases in shipments brought a personal warning from Roosevelt that "there were places to which officers who did not 'play ball' might be sent, such as Guam," and got him banished from the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
for eight months.Morgenthau's control of aircraft production faded permanently after January 1941 when Harry Hopkins became Roosevelt's favored confidant.
The disfavor shown Arnold by Roosevelt reached a turning point in March 1941 when new Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson
Henry L. Stimson
Henry Lewis Stimson was an American statesman, lawyer and Republican Party politician and spokesman on foreign policy. He twice served as Secretary of War 1911–1913 under Republican William Howard Taft and 1940–1945, under Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the latter role he was a leading hawk...
, a supporter of Arnold, submitted his name with two others for promotion to the permanent rank of major general. Roosevelt refused to send the list to the Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
for confirmation
Advice and consent
Advice and consent is an English phrase frequently used in enacting formulae of bills and in other legal or constitutional contexts, describing a situation in which the executive branch of a government enacts something previously approved of by the legislative branch.-General:The expression is...
because of Arnold's nomination, and his forced retirement from the service seemed imminent to both Stimson and Marshall. Stimson and Harry Hopkins arranged for Arnold, accompanied by Maj. Elwood "Pete" Quesada
Elwood Richard Quesada
Elwood Richard "Pete" Quesada, CB, CBE was a United States Air Force General, FAA administrator, and, later, a club owner in Major League Baseball.-Early years:...
, to travel to England for three weeks in April to evaluate British aircraft production needs and to provide an up-to-date strategic analysis.The other two nominees were Courtney H. Hodges
Courtney Hodges
General Courtney Hicks Hodges was an American military officer, most prominent for his role in World War II, in which he commanded the First United States Army in Northwest Europe.-Early life and military career:...
as Chief of Infantry, and William N. Porter as Chief of Chemical Warfare Service. Quesada was chief of the Foreign Language Section, Intelligence Division, at the time. His meeting with Roosevelt to report his findings was judged as impressively cogent and optimistic, but the president ruminated on Arnold's future for three weeks before submitting his name and the others to the Senate. From that point on, however, Arnold's "position in the White House was secure." His importance to Roosevelt in setting an airpower agenda was demonstrated when Arnold was invited to the Atlantic Conference
Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Charter was a pivotal policy statement first issued in August 1941 that early in World War II defined the Allied goals for the post-war world. It was drafted by Britain and the United States, and later agreed to by all the Allies...
in Newfoundland in August, the first of seven such summits that he, not Morgenthau, would attend.
Reorganization, autonomy, and strategic plans
The division of authority between the Air Corps and GHQ Air Force was removed with promulgation of Army Regulation 95-5, creating the United States Army Air ForcesUnited States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
on June 20, 1941, only two days before Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
. Arnold became Chief of the Army Air Forces and acting Deputy Chief of Staff for Air with authority over both the Air Corps and Air Force Combat Command (successor to GHQAF). While this provided the air arm with a staff of its own and brought the entire organization under the command of one general, it failed to grant the degree of autonomy sought. By consensus between Marshall and Arnold, debate on separation of the Air Force into a service co-equal with the Army and Navy was postponed until after the war.
In July 1941, Roosevelt asked for production requirements to defeat potential enemies, and Arnold endorsed a request by his new Air War Plans Division
Air War Plans Division
The Air War Plans Division was an American military organization established to make long-term plans for war. Headed by Harold L. George, the unit was tasked in July 1941 to provide President Franklin D...
to submit an air war plan. The assessment, designated AWPD/1, defined four tasks for the AAF: defense of the Western Hemisphere, an initial defensive strategy against Japan, a strategic air offensive against Germany, and a later strategic air offensive against Japan in prelude of invasion. It also planned for an expansion of the AAF to 60,000 aircraft and 2.1 million men. AWPD/1 called for 24 groups (approximately 750 airplanes) of very long range B-29
B-29 Superfortress
The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...
bombers to be based in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
for use against Nazi Germany, and for production of sufficient Consolidated B-36
Convair B-36
The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" was a strategic bomber built by Convair and operated solely by the United States Air Force from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 was the largest mass-produced piston engine aircraft ever made. It had the longest wingspan of any combat aircraft ever built , although there have...
s for intercontinental bombing missions of Germany.
Soon after U.S. entry in the war, Arnold was promoted to lieutenant general
Lieutenant General (United States)
In the United States Army, the United States Air Force and the United States Marine Corps, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general...
on December 15, 1941. On March 9, 1942, after the creation of the AAF failed to define clear channels of authority for the air forces, the Army adopted the functional reorganization that Arnold had advocated in October 1940. Acting on an executive order
Executive order
An executive order in the United States is an order issued by the President, the head of the executive branch of the federal government. In other countries, similar edicts may be known as decrees, or orders in council. Executive orders may also be issued at the state level by a state's governor or...
from Roosevelt, the War Department granted the AAF full autonomy, equal to and entirely separate from the Army Ground Forces and Services of Supply. The Office of the Chief of Air Corps and the Air Forces Combat Command were abolished, and Arnold became AAF Commanding General and an ex officio member of both the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a body of senior uniformed leaders in the United States Department of Defense who advise the Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the President on military matters...
and the Combined Chiefs of Staff
Combined Chiefs of Staff
The Combined Chiefs of Staff was the supreme military command for the western Allies during World War II. It was a body constituted from the British Chiefs of Staff Committee and the American Joint Chiefs of Staff....
.
In response to an August 1942 directive, Arnold had the AWPD revise its estimates. AWPD/42 resulted, calling for 75,000 aircraft and 2.7 million men, and increased the production of aircraft for use by other allies. AWPD/42 reaffirmed earlier strategic priorities, but increased the list of industrial targets from 23 to 177, ranking the German Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
first and its submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
force second in importance of destruction. It also directed that the B-29 bomber not be employed in Europe because of problems in its development, but instead that the B-29 program's deployment be concentrated in the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
to destroy the Japanese military power.
Strategic bombing in Europe
Immediately after the attack on Pearl HarborPearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
Arnold began to carry out AWPD/1. The primary strategic bombing force against Nazi Germany would be the Eighth Air Force
Eighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....
, and he named Spaatz to command it and Eaker to head its Bomber Command. Other Arnold protégés eventually filled key positions in the strategic bombing forces, including Haywood S. Hansell
Haywood S. Hansell
Haywood Shepherd Hansell Jr., was a general officer in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, and later the United States Air Force...
, Laurence S. Kuter
Laurence S. Kuter
General Laurence Sherman Kuter was a Cold War-era U.S. Air Force general and former commander of NORAD...
, and James H. Doolittle.
Despite protecting his strategic bombing force from demands of other services and allies, Arnold was forced to divert resources from the Eighth to support operations in North Africa
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
, crippling the Eighth in its infancy and nearly killing it. Eaker (now Eighth Air Force commander) found from experience that the pre-war doctrine of daylight precision bombing, developed at the Air Corps Tactical School
Air Corps Tactical School
The Air Corps Tactical School, also known as ACTS and "the Tactical School", was a military professional development school for officers of the United States Army Air Service and United States Army Air Corps, the first such school in the world. Created in 1920 at Langley Field, Virginia, it...
as a foundation for separating the Air Force from the Army, was mistaken in its tenet that heavily-armed bombers could reach any target without the support of long-range escort fighters. Early in 1943 he began requesting more fighters and jettisonable fuel tanks to increase their range, in addition to repeated requests to increase the size of his small bombing force.
Heavy losses in the summer and fall of 1943 on deep penetration missions increased Eaker's requests. Arnold, under pressure and impatient for results, ignored Eaker's findings and placed the blame on a lack of aggressiveness by bomber commanders. This came at a time when Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
was putting together his command group for the invasion of Europe
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...
, and Arnold approved Eisenhower's request to replace Eaker with his own commanders, Spaatz and Doolittle. Ironically, the very items Eaker requested — more airplanes, drop tanks, and P-51
P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II, the Korean War and in several other conflicts...
fighters — accompanied the change of command and made the Eighth Air Force decisive in defeating Germany using the daylight bombing doctrine.
The change in command at Eighth Air Force, particularly involving the relief of a friend or protogé, was just one of many that exemplified a ruthlessness Arnold developed to get results. In 1942, Brig. Gen. Walter R. Weaver, acting chief of the Air Corps, had his job eliminated and was relegated to a technical training command. George C. Kenney
George Kenney
George Churchill Kenney was a United States Army Air Forces general during World War II. He was commander of the Allied air forces in the Southwest Pacific Area from August 1942 until 1945.-Early life:...
relieved Jacob E. Fickel
Jacob Earl Fickel
Major General Jacob Earl "Jake" Fickel had a prominent career in the United States Air Force usually associated with being an instructor of aviation...
in command of Fourth Air Force
Fourth Air Force
The Fourth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Reserve . It is headquartered at March Air Reserve Base, California....
Arnold had known Fickel since they were lieutenants together in the 29th and 13th Infantry Regiments in the Philippines. and later that same year replaced former Chief of the Air Corps George H. Brett as Southwest Pacific air commander. In the B-29 campaign, Curtis E. LeMay relieved Kenneth B. Wolfe in India in July 1944,The wing commander of the 58th Bomb Wing acted as interim commander until LeMay's arrival at the end of August. then Hansell on Guam in January 1945.
VLR operations against Japan
B-29 Superfortress
The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...
Very Long Range (VLR) bomber to attack Japan. As early as 1942, Arnold planned to make himself commanding general of the Twentieth Air Force
Twentieth Air Force
The Twentieth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming.20 AF's primary mission is Intercontinental Ballistic Missile operations...
. This unique command arrangement may also have contributed to his health problems (see below), but after the negative experience of building an effective bombing force against Germany, and realizing the consequences of failure against Japan, Arnold concluded that, absent any unity of command in the Pacific theaters, administrative decisions regarding VLR operations could best be handled personally. However, theater commanders Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
, Chester Nimitz
Chester Nimitz
Fleet Admiral Chester William Nimitz, GCB, USN was a five-star admiral in the United States Navy. He held the dual command of Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet , for U.S. naval forces and Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas , for U.S...
, and Joseph Stillwell all coveted the B-29s for tactical support, to which Arnold was adamantly opposed as a diversion from strategic policy. He convinced not only Marshall, but also Chief of Naval Operations
Chief of Naval Operations
The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...
Ernest J. King, that the Twentieth was unique in that its operations cut across the jurisdiction of all three theaters, and thus should report directly to the Joint Chiefs with Arnold acting as their executive agent. In February 1944 President Roosevelt agreed and approved the arrangement.
The VLR program had been plagued with a seemingly unending series of development problems, subjecting it and Arnold to much criticism in the press and from skeptical field commanders. The B-29 was the key component of the AAF's fourth strategic priority, since no other land-based bomber was capable of reaching the Japanese homeland, but by February 1944, the XX Bomber Command
XX Bomber Command
The XX Bomber Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Far East Air Forces, based on Okinawa. It was inactivated on July 16, 1945.- History:...
, slated to begin Operation Matterhorn
Operation Matterhorn
Operation Matterhorn was a military operations plan of the United States Army Air Forces in World War II for the strategic bombing of Japanese forces by B-29 Superfortresses based in India and China. Targets included Japan itself, and Japanese bases in China and South East Asia...
on June 1, had virtually no flight time yet above an altitude of 20000 feet (6,096 m).
With a designated overseas deployment date of April 15, 1944, Arnold intervened in the situation personally by flying to Kansas on March 8. For three days he toured training bases involved in the modification program, distressed at his findings of shortages and work failures, and on the spot made Maj. Gen. Bennett E. Meyers, a military procurement officer accompanying him, the coordinator of the program. Meyers succeeded in the "Battle of Kansas": despite labor problems and blizzard weather a complete bomb group was ready for deployment by April 9. The mechanical problems of the B-29, however, had not been resolved, and combat operations identified many new ones. Arnold felt the pressure of not only achieving the goals of AWPD/1, but of justifying by results a very expensive technological project in the B-29, and providing the delivery platform for the highly-classified atomic bomb if the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
succeeded. VLR operations against Japanese targets in China and Southeast Asia began in June 1944, and from the outset produced far less positive results than expected.
The difficulties of the Twentieth Air Force
Twentieth Air Force
The Twentieth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming.20 AF's primary mission is Intercontinental Ballistic Missile operations...
's campaign against Japan mirrored those of the Eighth Air Force's against Germany. With characteristic impatience, Arnold quickly relieved Wolfe, the B-29 commander in China, after less than a month of operations, and replaced him with LeMay. A second B-29 command began operations from bases in the Mariana Islands
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
in November. Brig. Gen. Haywood S. Hansell
Haywood S. Hansell
Haywood Shepherd Hansell Jr., was a general officer in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, and later the United States Air Force...
, one of the architects of AWPD/1 and AWPD/42, encountered even more command problems than had Wolfe or LeMay. After two months of poor results, and because he resisted the campaign of firebombing
Firebombing
Firebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire, caused by incendiary devices, rather than from the blast effect of large bombs....
attacks against Japanese population centers favored by Arnold and his chief of staff, Lauris Norstad
Lauris Norstad
Lauris Norstad was an American General in the United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force.-Early life and military career:...
, Arnold decided he too needed replacing. He shut down operations from China, consolidated all the B-29s in the Marianas, and replaced Hansell with LeMay in January 1945 as commander of XXI Bomber Command
XXI Bomber Command
The XXI Bomber Command was a unit of the Twentieth Air Force in Guam for strategic bombing during World War II.- Lineage:* Constituted as XXI Bomber Command on 1 Mar 1944, and activated the same day.-Assignments:...
.
Final years
Health problems
Between 1943 and 1945 Arnold experienced four heart attackMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
s severe enough to require hospitalization. In addition to being by nature intensely impatient, Arnold considered that his personal presence was required wherever a crisis might be, and as a result he traveled extensively and for long hours under great stress during the war, aggravating what may have been a pre-existing coronary condition. His extended trips and inspection tours were to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in April 1941 and again in May 1942; the South Pacific in September 1942, North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
in January–February 1943; the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
(where his party came under artillery fire) in November–December 1943; London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
accompanying Marshall in June 1944; Germany and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in April–May 1945; the Western Pacific in June 1945; and Potsdam
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 16 July to 2 August 1945. Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States...
in July 1945. A lesser but more frequent factor may have been his difficulty in handling inter-service politics
Interservice rivalry
Interservice rivalry is a military term referring to rivalries that can arise between different branches of a country's armed forces, such as between a nation's land forces , naval and air forces. It also applies to the rivalries between a country's intelligence services, Central Intelligence...
, particularly with the Navy, which steadfastly refused to recognize him as a Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff
The title, chief of staff, identifies the leader of a complex organization, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a Principal Staff Officer , who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide to an important individual, such as a president.In general, a chief of...
or his subordinate staff as equals.Huston states that King rarely spoke to Arnold at meetings, instead directing air matters to Marshall. On Guam, with knowledge of the approaching atomic bomb decision, he was compelled to negotiate with Nimitz over what seemed petty Navy objections to the basing there of the headquarters of the strategic air forces.
Arnold's first heart attack occurred February 28, 1943, just after his return from the Casablanca Conference and China. During that trip, Argonaut, the B-17 bomber transporting his party, became lost for several hours over Japanese-held territory trying to "fly the Hump
The Hump
The Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew military transport aircraft from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort of Chiang Kai-shek and the units of the United States Army Air Forces based in...
" at night. He was hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Hospital
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
The Walter Reed Army Medical Center was the United States Army's flagship medical center until 2011. Located on 113 acres in Washington, D.C., it served more than 150,000 active and retired personnel from all branches of the military...
for several days, then took three weeks leave at the Coral Gables Biltmore Hotel
Coral Gables Biltmore Hotel
The Coral Gables Biltmore Hotel is a luxury hotel in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. It was designed by Schultze and Weaver and was built in 1926 by John McEntee Bowman and George Merrick as part of the Biltmore hotel chain....
in Florida, which had been converted into a convalescent hospital. U.S. Army regulations then required that he leave the service, but President Roosevelt waived the requirement in April after he demonstrated his recovery, and on the condition that the President be provided with monthly updates on Arnold's health.
Arnold's second heart attack occurred just a month later, on May 10, 1943, and resulted in a 10-day stay in Walter Reed. Against the wishes of Marshall, he gave the commencement address for the Class of June 1943 at West Point, where his son Bruce was graduating.Arnold also presented the wings of the 208 graduates commissioned in the Air Corps, including Robin Olds
Robin Olds
Robin Olds was an American fighter pilot and general officer in the U.S. Air Force. He was a "triple ace", with a combined total of 16 victories in World War II and the Vietnam War. He retired in 1973 as a brigadier general....
, but Bruce Arnold was medically disqualified from being a pilot. His third heart attack, less severe than the first two, occurred exactly a year after the second, on May 10, 1944, under the strain of the B-29 problems. Arnold took a month's leave, returning to duty by flying with Marshall to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on June 7 for a conference and an inspection of Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach is the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II...
.
Arnold's last wartime heart attack came on January 17, 1945, just days after he replaced Hansell with LeMay. Arnold had not gone into his office for three days, and he refused to admit the Air Force's chief flight surgeon
Flight surgeon
A flight surgeon is a military medical officer assigned to duties in the clinical field variously known as aviation medicine, aerospace medicine, or flight medicine...
to his quarters to be examined. The flight surgeon enlisted a general and personal friend of Arnold's to inquire on his condition, after which Arnold was again flown to Coral Gables, Florida
Coral Gables, Florida
Coral Gables is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, southwest of Downtown Miami, in the United States. The city is home to the University of Miami....
, and placed under 24-hour care for nine days. Arnold again was allowed to remain in the service, but under conditions that amounted to light duty. He continued to tour air bases in both theaters. Arnold was returning by C-54 from Italy to Miami for a checkup when he received the news of the German surrender on May 7, 1945. On July 16 he relinquished command of the Twentieth Air Force to LeMay.
Promotion and retirement
General (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, general is a four-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. General ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army or General of the Air Force; the Marine Corps does not have an...
, and on December 21, 1944, appointed a five-star General of the Army
General of the Army (United States)
General of the Army is a five-star general officer and is the second highest possible rank in the United States Army. A special rank of General of the Armies, which ranks above General of the Army, does exist but has only been conferred twice in the history of the Army...
under Public Law 282-78, placing him fourth in Army rank seniority behind Marshall, MacArthur, and Eisenhower. He received honorary doctorates
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
from Pennsylvania Military College
Widener University
Widener University is a private, coeducational university located in Chester, Pennsylvania.Its main campus sits on 108 acres , just southwest of Philadelphia...
and the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
in 1941, and from Iowa Wesleyan College
Iowa Wesleyan College
Iowa Wesleyan College is a private four-year liberal arts college of the United Methodist Church located Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.Iowa Wesleyan is recognized as a pioneer in higher education in America. Founded in 1842, it ranks as the oldest coeducational college located west of the Mississippi River...
in 1942.
In 1945, Arnold directed the founding of Project RAND (which became the RAND Corporation, a non-profit think tank) with $10,000,000 of funding leftover from World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Initially tasked "to connect military planning with research and development decisions," RAND widely expanded in its scope beyond its original mission.
After a trip to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
in January 1946, in which he developed a heart arrhythmia severe enough to cancel the remainder of the trip, General Arnold left active duty in the AAF on February 28, 1946, (his official date of retirement was June 30, 1946). On March 23, 1946, Public Law 333-79 made the promotion to General of the Army permanent for all those holding it, and awarded full pay and allowances for those on the retired list. He was succeeded by Spaatz, who also became first Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force
Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force
The Chief of Staff of the Air Force is a statutory office held by a four-star general in the United States Air Force, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Air Force, and as such is the principal military advisor and a deputy to the Secretary of the...
when it became a separate service on September 18, 1947.
Arnold retired to a 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) ranch near Sonoma, California
Sonoma, California
Sonoma is a historically significant city in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, USA, surrounding its historic town plaza, a remnant of the town's Mexican colonial past. It was the capital of the short-lived California Republic...
, and signed a contract with Harper & Brothers
Harper & Brothers
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins.-History:James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishing business J. & J. Harper in 1817. Their two brothers, Joseph Wesley Harper and Fletcher Harper, joined them...
to write his memoirs, Global Mission. Unlike George S. Patton
George S. Patton
George Smith Patton, Jr. was a United States Army officer best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II. He was also well known for his eccentricity and controversial outspokenness.Patton was commissioned in the U.S. Army after his graduation from...
, who enjoyed independent wealth, or colleagues who had taken positions in government, such as Marshall (appointed Secretary of State), Arnold had no source of income beyond his retirement pay and allowances, and was not healthy enough to continue service. His autobiography was an attempt to provide financial security for his wife after his death, and during the writing of it he suffered his fifth heart attack in January 1948, hospitalizing him for three months.
On May 7, 1949, Public Law 58-81 changed the designation of Arnold's final rank and grade to that of General of the Air Force, and he remains the only person to have held the rank. He is also the only person to hold five-star rank in two U.S. military services. He died on January 15, 1950, at his home in Sonoma. He was given a state funeral
State funerals in the United States
State funerals in the United States are public funerals held in the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. that are offered to a sitting or ex-President of the United States, a President-elect, as well as other people designated by the President...
in Washington, D.C. that included rare services held in Arlington Memorial Amphitheater
Arlington Memorial Amphitheater
The Arlington Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery, near the center of the Cemetery, is the home of the Tomb of the Unknowns where Unknown American Servicemembers from World War I, World War II, and Korea are interred. This site has also hosted the state funerals of many famous...
, and he was buried in Section 34 of Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...
. Robert A. Lovett
Robert A. Lovett
Robert Abercrombie Lovett was the fourth United States Secretary of Defense, serving in the cabinet of President Harry S. Truman from 1951 to 1953 and in this capacity, directed the Korean War. Promoted to the position from deputy secretary of defense Domhoff described Lovett as a "Cold War...
, with whom Arnold worked closely during the war in his capacity as Assistant Secretary of War for Air, stated that Arnold had been as much a casualty of war as if he had been injured in the line of duty.
All three of Arnold's surviving sons were graduates of West Point (Henry Harley Jr., 1939;Because poor eyesight disqualified him as a pilot, "Hank" Arnold was commissioned in the Coast Artillery Corps and commanded an AAA automatic weapons battalion in Italy. After 1945, the remainder of his career was as a Field Artillery
Field artillery
Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, long range, short range and extremely long range target engagement....
officer. Willam Bruce, June 1943;Bruce Arnold entered the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
's Class of 1942, but dropped out in June 1939. He enlisted in the Cavalry, took and passed a competitive exam for entrance to West Point, and entered the Class of 1944 in July 1940. His class was accelerated because of the war and graduated as the Class of June 1943. Because of poor eyesight he too went into the Coast Artillery Corps, becoming an antiaircraft battery commander on Okinawa by the end of the war. Bruce resolved a 20-year resentment of his father and transferred to the United States Air Force in March 1949. and David Lee, 1949Col. David Arnold was the only son to spend his entire career in the USAF, but like his brothers, was not rated.) and reached the grade of colonel. The two youngest served in the United States Air Force and are interred near their father's burial site at Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...
.
Legacy
Arnold Air Force BaseArnold Air Force Base
Arnold Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Coffee and Franklin counties, Tennessee, adjacent to the city of Tullahoma. It is named for General Henry "Hap" Arnold, the father of the U.S. Air Force....
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, and the Arnold Engineering Development Center
Arnold Engineering Development Center
Arnold Engineering Development Center is a ground-based flight test facility operated by the US Air Force Materiel Command.-Mission statement:The AEDC mission is to:...
are named for Arnold. The Air Force Research Laboratory
Air Force Research Laboratory
The Air Force Research Laboratory is a scientific research organization operated by the United States Air Force Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of affordable aerospace warfighting technologies; planning and executing the Air Force science and...
generally recognizes Arnold as the visionary who first articulated that superior research and development capabilities are essential to deterring and winning wars. Arnold's ideas underpin the Laboratory's modern-day role within the Air Force.
The cadet social center at the United States Air Force Academy
United States Air Force Academy
The United States Air Force Academy is an accredited college for the undergraduate education of officer candidates for the United States Air Force. Its campus is located immediately north of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States...
, Arnold Hall, and the Arnold Hall Community Center at Lackland Air Force Base
Lackland Air Force Base
Lackland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located west-southwest of San Antonio, Texas. The base is under the jurisdiction of the 802d Mission Support Group, Air Education and Training Command ....
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, are both named for Arnold.
The Air Force Association
Air Force Association
The Air Force Association is an independent, 501 non-profit, civilian education organization, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia...
recognizes the "most significant contribution by a military member for national defense" with its H.H. Arnold Award.
The top honorary organization in Air Force ROTC, the Arnold Air Society
Arnold Air Society
The Arnold Air Society is a professional, honorary, service organization advocating the support of aerospace power. AAS is open to officer candidates in Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps and at the United States Air Force Academy , and is formally affiliated with the Air Force Association...
, is named for him, and The George C. Marshall Foundation awards the George C. Marshall/Henry "Hap" Arnold ROTC Award annually to the top senior cadet at each college or university with an AFROTC program. The Air Force Aid Society awards a college scholarship in his name to the dependents of Air Force members or retirees.
On May 18, 2006, the Department of the Air Force introduced prototypes of two new service dress uniforms, one resembling those worn by Air Service officers prior to 1926, called the "Billy Mitchell heritage coat," and another, resembling the U.S. Army Air Forces' Uniform of World War II and named the "Hap Arnold heritage coat". In 2007, the Air Force decided in favor of the "Hap Arnold" prototype, but in 2009 the new Chief of Staff of the Air Force directed that "no further effort be made on the Hap Arnold Heritage Coat" and the uniform change was suspended indefinitely.
During the last mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavor, STS-134
STS-134
STS-134 was the penultimate mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program. The mission marked the 25th and final flight of . This flight delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier to the International Space Station. Mark Kelly served as the mission commander...
, a five-star insignia of Arnold's preserved in the National Museum of the United States Air Force
National Museum of the United States Air Force
The National Museum of the United States Air Force is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is the world's largest and oldest military aviation museum with more than 360 aircraft and missiles on display...
was carried into space by shuttle pilot Gregory H. Johnson as a commemorative gesture to Arnold's legacy. Arnold was then the featured honoree of the museum's National Aviation Day celebration of August 20, 2011, when Johnson returned the insignia to the museum.
The United States Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
high school at the former Wiesbaden Air Base in Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
, Germany, was named General H. H. Arnold High School in 1949. The school was renamed Wiesbaden High School
Wiesbaden High School
Wiesbaden High School is an American high school located in Wiesbaden, Germany and is a part of the Department of Defense Dependents Schools, the 9th largest United States School System. While located in Wiesbaden Germany, the school follows a traditional U.S. curriculum and traditional U.S...
in 2006 after the installation was transferred to the United States Army.
On November 7, 1988, the United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
released the H. H. "Hap" Arnold 65 cent postage stamp bearing the likeness of Arnold, in his honor, as part of the Great Americans series
Great Americans series
The Great Americans series is a set of definitive stamps issued by the United States Postal Service, starting on December 27, 1980 with the 19¢ stamp depicting Sequoyah, and continuing through 2002, the final stamp being the 78¢ Alice Paul self-adhesive stamp. The series, noted for its simplicity...
.
Arnold Drive, a main arterial road running through Sonoma Valley
Sonoma Valley
Sonoma Valley is the birthplace of the California wine industry and often called The Valley of the Moon. Sonoma Valley is home to some of the earliest vineyards and wineries in the state, some of which survived the phylloxera epidemic of the 1870s and the impact of Prohibition...
near his ranch, was named in his honor.
In a rare depiction of him on film, Arnold was sympathetically portrayed in the 1954 film The Glenn Miller Story
The Glenn Miller Story
The Glenn Miller Story is a 1954 American film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in their first non-western collaboration.-Plot:...
, played by Barton MacLane
Barton MacLane
Barton MacLane was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. Although he has appeared in many classic films from the 1930s through the 1960s, he was known for his role as Gen...
.
Dates of rank
All dates of rank sourced from AF Historical Study No. 91. |
Cadet Cadet A cadet is a trainee to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. The term comes from the term "cadet" for younger sons of a noble family.- Military context :... , United States Military Academy United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City... at West Point, New York West Point, New York West Point is a federal military reservation established by President of the United States Thomas Jefferson in 1802. It is a census-designated place located in Town of Highlands in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 7,138 at the 2000 census... , 1903 |
| No pin insignia in 1907 |
Second Lieutenant, Infantry Infantry Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies... : June 14, 1907 |
 |
First Lieutenant, Infantry: April 10, 1913 |
  |
Captain, Aviation Section, Signal Corps (ASSC): May 20, 1916 |
|
Captain, Infantry: September 23, 1916 |
 |
Major Major (United States) In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, major is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel... , ASSC: June 27, 1917 |
 |
Colonel Colonel (United States) In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general... , Signal Corps, National Army National Army The term national army has many meanings around the world, and is used typically, but not necessarily, to mean the lawful army of the state as distinct from rebel armies or private armies that may operate there.National Army may also refer to:... : August 5, 1917 |
|
Major, Infantry: —Temporary: January 15, 1918 —Permanent: July 1, 1920 |
|
Major, Air Service United States Army Air Service The Air Service, United States Army was a forerunner of the United States Air Force during and after World War I. It was established as an independent but temporary wartime branch of the War Department by two executive orders of President Woodrow Wilson: on May 24, 1918, replacing the Aviation... : August 11, 1920 |
 |
Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant Colonel (United States) In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel. It is equivalent to the naval rank of commander in the other uniformed services.The pay... , Air Corps United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941... : February 1, 1931 |
 |
Brigadier General Brigadier general (United States) A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed... : —Temporary: March 2, 1935 —Assistant Chief of Air Corps: December 24, 1935 —Permanent: December 2, 1940 |
|
Colonel, Air Corps: March 1, 1936 |
 |
Major General Major general (United States) In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general... : —Chief of Air Corps: September 22, 1938 —Permanent: February 3, 1941 |
 |
Lieutenant General Lieutenant General (United States) In the United States Army, the United States Air Force and the United States Marine Corps, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general... , Army of the United States Army of the United States The Army of the United States is the official name for the conscription force of the United States Army that may be raised at the discretion of the United States Congress in the event of the United States entering into a major armed conflict... : December 15, 1941 |
 |
General General (United States) In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, general is a four-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. General ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army or General of the Air Force; the Marine Corps does not have an... , Army of the United States: March 19, 1943 |
 |
General of the Army General of the Army (United States) General of the Army is a five-star general officer and is the second highest possible rank in the United States Army. A special rank of General of the Armies, which ranks above General of the Army, does exist but has only been conferred twice in the history of the Army... : —Temporary, Army of the United States: December 21, 1944 —Permanent: March 23, 1946 |
| Retired from active duty: June 30, 1946 | |
|
General of the Air Force General of the Air Force (United States) General of the Air Force is a five-star general officer rank and is the highest possible rank in the United States Air Force. General of the Air Force ranks immediately above a general and is equivalent to General of the Army in the United States Army and Fleet Admiral in the United States Navy;... , United States Air Force United States Air Force The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of... : May 7, 1949 |
Awards and decorations
SOURCE: AF Historical Study No. 91. |
|||
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Command Pilot U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Ratings U.S. Air Force aeronautical ratings are military aviation skill standards established and awarded by the United States Air Force for commissioned officers participating in "regular and frequent flight", The standard by which flight status has been defined in law, executive orders, and regulations... |
|||||
| Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Service Medal (United States) The Distinguished Service Medal is the highest non-valorous military and civilian decoration of the United States military which is issued for exceptionally meritorious service to the government of the United States in either a senior government service position or as a senior officer of the United... (October 1942, September 1945, October 1945) |
|||||
| Legion of Merit Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements... |
Distinguished Flying Cross Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) The Distinguished Flying Cross is a medal awarded to any officer or enlisted member of the United States armed forces who distinguishes himself or herself in support of operations by "heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight, subsequent to November 11, 1918." The... |
Air Medal Air Medal The Air Medal is a military decoration of the United States. The award was created in 1942, and is awarded for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.-Criteria:... |
World War I Victory Medal with 2 campaign stars | ||
| American Defense Service Medal American Defense Service Medal The American Defense Service Medal is a decoration of the United States military, recognizing service before America’s entry into the Second World War but during the initial years of the European conflict.-Criteria:... |
American Campaign Medal American Campaign Medal The American Campaign Medal was a military decoration of the United States armed forces which was first created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt... |
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal The European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal is a military decoration of the United States armed forces which was first created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt... |
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal The Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal is a service decoration of the Second World War which was awarded to any member of the United States military who served in the Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945 and was created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The medal was... |
||
| World War II Victory Medal World War II Victory Medal The World War II Victory Medal is a decoration of the United States military which was created by an act of Congress in July 1945. The decoration commemorates military service during World War II and is awarded to any member of the United States military, including members of the armed forces of... |
Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross Order of the Southern Cross The National Order of the Southern Cross is a Brazilian order of chivalry founded by Emperor Pedro I on 1 December 1822. This order was intended to commemorate the independence of Brazil and the coronation of Pedro I... (Brazil) |
Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur Légion d'honneur The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802... (France) |
Grand Cross of the Order of the Aztec Eagle Order of the Aztec Eagle The Order of the Aztec Eagle is a Mexican order and is the highest decoration awarded to foreigners in the country.It was created by decree on December 29, 1933 by President Abelardo L. Rodríguez as a reward to services given to Mexico or humankind by foreigners... (Mexico) |
||
| Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath... (United Kingdom) |
Grand Cross of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite (Morocco) | Grand Commander of the Order of the Sun (Peru) | Medal of Military Merit (Mexico) | ||
| Military Aviator badge U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Ratings U.S. Air Force aeronautical ratings are military aviation skill standards established and awarded by the United States Air Force for commissioned officers participating in "regular and frequent flight", The standard by which flight status has been defined in law, executive orders, and regulations... |
|||||