IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - July 2021 - 5

History Column:
DOI. No. 10.1109/MAES.2021.3073668
General Billy Mitchell
Hugh Griffiths , University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, U.K.
Brigadier General BillyMitchell was a pioneeringAmerican
aviator, regarded bymany as the Father ofthe U.S. Air Force.
Born on December 29, 1879, in Nice, France, he grew up in
an affluent area of Milwaukee; his father was eventually a
Senator for Wisconsin. He served as an airman in World
War I and became one ofthe top aces, highly decorated, and
finishingWorldWar I as ChiefofAir Service, Third Army.
He was a controversial character, with strongly voiced
opinions on air power. In particular, he was convinced
that battleships could be sunk by air bombing, and hence
that followed. But effectively, after this demonstration,
the battleship became obsolete-though it took some
years before this was truly understood; the Washington
Treaty was signed in 1922 to limit the size and number of
battleships and battlecruisers that could be built, which
indicates that such warships were still regarded as crucial.
Significantly, the demonstration was witnessed by the
Japanese Naval Attache to the U.S., Isoroku Yamamoto.
He had studied at Harvard from 1919 to 1921, so had
become very familiar with American culture and military
doctrine. When he returned to Japan, he was instrumental
in building the strength of the Imperial Japanese Navy,
and, in particular, Japanese naval aviation. By 1941, he
had risen to the rank of Admiral and Commander-in-Chief
of the Combined Fleet, and oversaw the attack on Pearl
Harbor and the Battle ofMidway.
Mitchell's outspoken opinions got him into trouble
Brigadier General Billy Mitchell
(USAF file photo-Public Domain).
that U.S. military funding should be spent on building up
air power rather than on new battleships. He also argued
for the establishment of a separate U.S. Air Force.
In the summer of1921, a series of trials were conducted
of air bombardment of various obsolete warship targets, by
the U.S. Army and Navy aircraft. On July 21, 1921, Mitchell
led a bombing attack with 2000 lb bombs on the German
WW1 dreadnought battleship Ostfriesland, which was sunk.
This column, therefore, marks the centenary ofthat event.
The significance of this result was really quite profound.
Up to this point, battleships had been regarded as
impregnable and unsinkable, and hence formed the foundations
of the great naval powers in WW1 and in the years
Author current address: University College London,
London WC1E 6BT, U.K.
Manuscript received April 10, 2021; accepted April 13,
2021, and ready for publication April 13, 2021.
Review handled by Peter Willett.
0885-8985/21/$26.00 ß 2021 IEEE
JULY 2021
IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE
with the U.S. military authorities, when, in 1925, he
described the crash of the airship Shenandoah as " ... the
direct result ofthe incompetency, criminal negligence, and
almost treasonable administration of the national defense
by the navy and war departments. " He was court-martialled
for insubordination and reduced to the rank ofColonel.
Mitchell died in February 1936. The events of Pearl Harbor
rather proved that he had been right all along, and he was
posthumously restored to the rank of Brigadier General
(1942) and awarded the Congressional GoldMedal " in recognition
of his outstanding pioneer service and foresight in the
field of American military aviation " (1946). He was also the
first person in the United States to have a military aircraft
named after him (theNorth American B-25Mitchell bomber).
Further information may be found in the book authored
by Alfred F. Hurley, Billy Mitchell: CrusaderforAir Power
(Indiana University Press, 2006), available at https://www.
navalgazing.net/Billy-Mitchell-and-the-Ostfriesland-Part-1
The battleship Ostfriedland sinking after bombing
on July 21, 1921 (U.S. Navy-Public Domain).
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https://www.orcid.org/0000-0002-9947-5553 https://www.orcid.org/0000-0002-9947-5553 https://www.orcid.org/0000-0002-9947-5553 https://www.orcid.org/0000-0002-9947-5553 https://www.orcid.org/0000-0002-9947-5553 http://www.navalgazing.net/Billy-Mitchell-and-the-Ostfriesland-Part-1 http://www.navalgazing.net/Billy-Mitchell-and-the-Ostfriesland-Part-1

IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - July 2021

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