Henry H. Arnold

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Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold (June 25, 1886 – January 15, 1950) was an aviation pioneer and commander of the United States Army Air Corps (from 1938), commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces (from 1941 until 1945) and the first and only General of the Air Force (in 1949.) He is also the only person to be a five-star general in two armed services.

Contents 1 Early life and career 2 Post-WWI 3 World War II 4 Health Problems 5 Legacy 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Early life and career

Born June 25, 1886, in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, Arnold was the son of a strong-willed physician also serving in the Pennsylvania National Guard. The family was Baptist in religious belief but had strong Mennonite ties. Arnold attended Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, PA, graduating in the class of 1903. Arnold took the competitive examination for entrance into West Point after his brother Thomas (already a student at Penn State University) refused to do so, but placed second on the list. He received a delayed appointment when the nominated cadet confessed to being married, which was against academy regulations.

Arnold entered the United States Military Academy in the summer of 1903 at age 17. At the academy he helped found the "Black Hand", a cadet group of pranksters. He wanted to join the cavalry but an inconsistent demerit record and an academic class standing of 66th out of 111 cadets resulted in his being commissioned on June 14, 1907 as a Second Lieutenant, Infantry, an assignment he initially protested but was persuaded to accept (there was no commissioning requirement for USMA graduates in 1907). His first posting was to the 29th Infantry in the Philippines.

There, disliking the infantry, Arnold volunteered to assist Captain Arthur S. Cowan of the Signal Corps in a military cartography detail, mapping the entire island of Luzon. Cowan returned to the United States in January, 1909, to become chief of the newly-created Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps and to recruit two lieutenants to become pilots. Cowan contacted Arnold, who cabled his interest in a transfer to the Signal Corps.

In June, 1909, the 29th Infantry relocated to Fort Jay, New York. In 1911 Arnold, having heard nothing more from Cowan, had applied for transfer to the Ordnance Department because it offered an immediate promotion to 1st Lieutenant. He was awaiting the results of the competitive examination he had taken for the position when he learned that his interest in aeronautics had not been forgotten. He 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 D. Milling of the 15th Cavalry, to Dayton, Ohio, for a course in flight instruction at the Wright brothers' aviation school at Simms Station, Ohio. 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 just two hours of flight time). In June 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.

Assigned with Milling to the Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps at College Park, Maryland as the Army's first flight instructors on June 14, Arnold set an altitude record of 3,260 feet on July 7 and twice broke it (August 18, 1911 to 4,167 feet; and June 1, 1912, 6,540 feet). 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 on Long Island, New York.

The flight school moved by train to Augusta, Georgia, in November, 1911, hoping to continue flying there during the winter, but their flying was limited by rain and flooding, and they returned to Maryland in April, 1912. Arnold accepted delivery of the Army's first plane with a propeller and engine mounted on the front on June 26, but crashed into the bay at Plymouth, Massachusetts, trying to take off. Arnold began to develop a phobia about flying, intensified by the earlier fatal crash of the Wright Company instructor who had taught him to fly, Allan L. Welch, at College Park on June 12. Another fatal crash occurred at College Park on September 18, involving an academy classmate of Arnold's, 2d Lt. Lewis Rockwell.

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 Ft. Riley, Kansas, to experiment with spotting for the field artillery. On November 5 his plane stalled, went into a spin, and he narrowly avoided a fatal crash. He immediately grounded himself voluntarily 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.

On December 1, Arnold took a staff assignment as assistant in the Office of the Chief Signal Officer in Washington, D.C. and was given the task of closing down 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. In August, after his first request had been denied for lack of a vacancy, he returned to the infantry.

On September 10, 1913, he married Eleanor Pool, with Lt. Milling acting as his best man. Reassigned to the Philippines in January, 1914, he was quartered next door to 1st Lt. George Catlett Marshall, who became his mentor, friend and long-time supporter. Soon after their arrival Bee miscarried, but on January 17, 1915, their first child, Lois Elizabeth Arnold, was born at Fort McKinley, Manila. In January, 1916, completing a two-year tour with the 13th Infantry, Arnold was reassigned to the 3rd U.S. Infantry and returned to the United States. En route, he received a telegram in Hawaii from Major William L. Mitchell, whom he had met in 1912 at College Park and who was now executive officer of the Air Service, offering him the rank of captain if he volunteered for a return to aviation. On May 20, 1916, Arnold was promoted to Captain (temporary) and reported to Rockwell Field (named for his academy classmate, Lewis Rockwell) for duty as a supply officer with the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps.

Between October 18 and December 16, 1916, Arnold, encouraged by former associates, worked to overcome his fear of flying with voluntary extra duty flying fifteen to twenty minutes a day. On November 26 he flew solo for the first time in four years, and on December 16 he performed aerobatics. Before he could be reassigned to flying duties, however, he was involved as a witness in an incident in which a senior officer had authorized an unofficial excursion flight for a non-aviator, resulting in the loss of the plane. After testifying to army investigators, Arnold was transferred to Panama by the officer he testified against, one day after the birth of his second child, Henry H. Arnold, Jr., on January 29, 1917.

Arnold was assigned to find a suitable location for an airfield in the Panama Canal Zone, build it and command the aero squadron to be assigned there. When the military services could not agree on a site, Arnold was ordered 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 now needed qualified officers for headquarters duty. He was immediately given temporary duty as chief of the Information division with a temporary promotion to Major on June 27 until permanent orders could be cut.

On August 5, 1917, he was again promoted and became the youngest full colonel in the Army (Arnold was a Colonel, Signal Corps--for a period of time he also held the concurrent brevet rank of Major, Infantry), in preparation for being named executive officer of the Aviation Section ten days later. He spent the next year trying to implement a large aviation appropriations bill over the resistance of the Army General Staff. Although he largely failed, 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.

Arnold's third child, William Bruce Arnold, was born July 17, 1918. Shortly after Arnold arranged to go to France to brief the commander of the American Expeditionary Force, General John Pershing, on new developments. Aboard a ship to France in late October he developed influenza and was hospitalized on his arrival in England. He managed to reach France but the Armistice ended the war on November 11.

[edit] Post-WWI

The improvements in aircraft during the war and the creation of organizations such as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics improved the potential for U.S. Army airpower, and it had been made a branch separate from the Signal Corps on May 14, 1918. However to keep control of aviation in the Army ground forces, the first post-war Chief of the reorganized Air Service, Maj. Gen. Charles Menoher, was an infantry general who had commanded the 42nd "Rainbow" Infantry Division in France. He was succeeded by another non-aviator, Maj.Gen. Mason Patrick from the Corps of Engineers, who General John Pershing had used to head the Air Service of the AEF.

Arnold was ordered back to Rockwell Field on December 21, 1918, to supervise the demobilization of 8,000 airmen and surplus aircraft. He worked hard to preserve and promote aviation with shows and publicity stunts. At Rockwell Field Arnold first established relationships with the men that would become his main aides, his executive officer, Captain Carl Spaatz and his adjutant, 1st Lt. Ira Eaker, while supporting the highly visible efforts of Brig. Gen. William L. Mitchell. He was promoted to the permanent rank of Captain on June 30, 1920, and the permanent rank of Major the next day, July 1st.

However after demobilization Rockwell became a remote outpost of the service and Arnold experienced several serious illnesses and accidents requiring hospitalization. His fourth child, John, was born in the summer of 1921 but died on June 30, 1923, of acute appendicitis.

In August, 1924, Arnold was unexpectedly assigned to attend the Army Industrial College. After completing the course in December he was reassigned to duty as chief of Air Service information in January, 1925, working closely with Brig. Gen. Mitchell. When Mitchell was court-martialed, 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 continued to use his position in the Information Office to provide propaganda to airpower-friendly journalists in defiance of orders from the General Staff and with the knowledge of General Patrick. In February, 1926, Secretary of War Dwight F. Davis ordered Patrick to discipline the leakers, and Patrick chose Arnold, with whom he shared a mutual dislike. Arnold was given the choice of resignation from the Army or a general court-martial, but when Arnold chose the latter, the Army apparently decided it did not want another public fiasco, and instead transferred Major Arnold to command the 16th Observation Squadron at Fort Riley, Kansas -- a cavalry post far from any aviation advances.

Arnold accepted his exile and in May, 1927, participated in war games at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. There he met Maj. Gen. James E. Fechet, who had succeeded Patrick as head of the service, now the U.S. Army Air Corps, and successfully completed a difficult assignment for him.

General Fechet intervened with Army Chief of Staff Charles P. Summerall to have Arnold's exile ended by assigning him to the Army's Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth. The year-long course was highly unpleasant for Arnold because of doctrinal differences with the school's commandant, but Arnold graduated with high marks in June, 1929. His next assignment was commander of Fairfield Air Service Depot, Ohio. In 1930 he also became executive officer of the Air Materiel Division, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel on February 1, 1931.

On November 27, 1931, he took command of March Field, California, an assignment which included the refurbishing of the base into one of the showcase installations of the Air Corps and one that required that he resolve strained relations with the citizens of Riverside, California, which he accomplished by having his officers join at least one of the local social service organizations. While base commander at March Field, personnel under Arnold's command 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 a camp for 3,000 boys of the Civilian Conservation Corps.

In 1934 he commanded one of the three military zones during the Air Mail Scandal, but his pilots performed well and his own reputation was relatively untouched by the fiasco. Later that same year he won his second Mackay Trophy, when he led ten of the new B-10 bombers 18,000 miles from Washington to Fairbanks, Alaska. Although he lobbied for recognition of the other airmen involved in the Alaska flight, the Army Chief of Staff ignored Arnold's recommendations, with the result that his reputation among some of his peers was tarnished by resentment.

On March 9, 1935, General Headquarters Air Force (GHQ) was created to take control of all flying units of the Army Air Corps. Its first commander, Major General Frank Andrews, tapped Arnold to command its First Wing, headquartered at March Field, and he was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general on March 2, 1935.

On December 28, 1935, Arnold was summoned to Washington by the Army Chief of Staff and over his protests, made Assistant Chief of the Air Corps under its new Chief, Major General Oscar Westover. Instead of commanding operational units, Arnold was now in charge of procurement and supply. Westover was killed in an air crash in September, 1938, however, and Arnold then became Chief of the Air Corps, with an immediate promotion to Major General September 22. This move did not return Arnold to the operational Air Force, but it did empower him to plan for expansion of the Air Corps into a branch of the Army co-equal with the ground forces.

His first move was to encourage research and development efforts, particularly 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. Charles Lindbergh was also briefly co-opted by the Air Corps as a spokesman for aviation. Arnold concentrated on rapid returns from R&D, exploiting proven technologies to provide operational solutions to counter the rising threat of the Axis Powers. From 1940 onward, Arnold also pushed for jet propulsion, especially after the British shared plans of the Whittle Turbojet in 1941.

[edit] World War II

With U.S. participation in the Second World War inevitable, the division of authority between the Air Corps and General Headquarters Air Force was removed with a revision of Army Regulation 95-5 resulting in the creation of the United States Army Air Forces on June 20, 1941. Arnold was made Chief of the Army Air Forces and acting Deputy Chief of Staff for Air with command authority over both the Air Corps and Air Force Combat Command (successor to GHQ Air Force). This also provided the air arm with a staff of its own, brought the entire organization under the command of one general (Arnold), and granted it near autonomy. It also by consensus postponed debate on separation of the Air Force into a service co-equal with the Army and Navy until after the war.

Arnold gave the new Air Staff as its first assignment the development of a war plan for fighting both Germany and Japan, and it produced AWPD-1, which became the basis for air strategy during the war. AWPD-1 defined four tasks for the USAAF: 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 USAAF to 60,000 aircraft and 2.1 million men. AWPD-1 called for 24 groups (approximately 750 airplanes) of B-29 very heavy bombers to be based in Northern Ireland and Egypt for use against Nazi Germany.

Even before then he had pushed for aid to Great Britain; with U.S. entry into the war, Arnold, a strong supporter of strategic bombing, closely supervised the creation of the Eighth Air Force in England to limit the diversion of Army bombers to anti-submarine patrol and to the Pacific Theater, and thwart British lobbying to have U.S. bombers sent as individual replacements for the Royal Air Force.

In the wake of U.S. entry in the war, Arnold was promoted to lieutenant general on December 15, 1941. On March 9, 1942, with the issuance of War department Circular 59 the USAAF acquired full autonomy, equal to and entirely separate from the Army Ground Forces and Services of Supply. The office of the Chief of the Air Corps and the Air Forces Combat Command were eliminated entirely, with Arnold becoming Commanding General of the USAAF and a member of both the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Combined Chiefs of Staff. In response to an inquiry from President Franklin Roosevelt, Arnold directed the Air War Plans Division in August, 1942, to revise its estimates and AWPD-42 was issued, calling for 75,000 aircraft and 2.7 million men, but also adding a call for 8,000 gliders and the production of 8,000 aircraft for use by other allies. AWPD-42 reaaffirmed 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 not be employed in Europe because of problems in development, but instead be concentrated in the Far East to destroy Japan.

Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor Arnold began to carry out AWPD-1. The primary strategic bombing force against Nazi Germany would be the Eighth Air Force, and he named General Spaatz to command it and General Eaker to head its Bomber Command. Other Arnold protegés eventually filled key positions in the strategic bombing forces, including Colonels Frank A. Armstrong and Newton Longfellow, and Generals Haywood S. Hansell, Jr., Lawrence Kuter, Laverne Saunders, Emmitt O'Donnell, 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 that pre-war doctrine stating that heavily-armed bombers could penetrate defenses to reach any target without supporting escort fighters was wrong and early in 1943 began requesting more fighters and disposable fuel tanks to increase their range, in addition to repeated requests to increase the size of his small bombing force. Eaker was resisted not only by opponents of strategic daylight bombing but by his fighter commanders as well, who argued that the use of drop tanks would endanger their aircraft.

Heavy losses in the summer and fall of 1943 on deep penetration missions increased Eaker's requests, but Arnold, under pressure and impatient for results, ignored the findings and placed the blame on a lack of aggressiveness by bomber commanders. This came at a time when General Dwight 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 a success.

With the strategic bombing crisis resolved in Europe, Arnold placed full emphasis on completion of the development and deployment of the B-29 to attack Japan. The B-29 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 20,000 feet.

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 a military procurement officer accompanying him, Maj.Gen. Bennett E. Meyers, coordinator of the program. Meyers (who would after the war be investigated by Congress in a procurement scandal in which Arnold was compelled to testify), despite labor problems and blizzard weather, succeeded in having a complete bomb group 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 also the highly-classified knowledge that the B-29 would be called upon to deliver the atomic bomb, if the Manhattan Project succeeded. Operations against Japanese targets in China and Southeast Asia began in June, 1944 and from the outset produced far less positive results than expected.

In many ways 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 the B-29 commander in China and replaced him with Maj.Gen. Curtis LeMay. LeMay produced results despite a shortage of resources, and a second B-29 bomber command was moved to the Mariana Islands in November. One of the architects of AWPD-1 and AWPD-42 in command, General Hansell, commanded the bombers but after two months of poor results, which could no longer be blamed on defects in the bomber, 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.

Arnold had at its creation made himself commanding general of the Twentieth Air Force, for which he is sometimes criticized for failure to delegate. 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 may have considered that administrative decisions regarding command could best be handled personally. The Joint Chiefs also desired to place all military forces in the Central Pacific, where the Twentieth Air Force was to be based, under the operational control of Admiral Chester Nimitz, and Arnold was adamantly opposed to diversion of strategic bombers to support tactical operations.

[edit] Health Problems

Between 1943 and 1945 Arnold experienced four heart attacks 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. 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.

His first heart attack occurred February 28, 1943, just after his return from a lengthy and exhausting trip to the Casablanca Conference and to China. 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. Army regulations 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.

His second attack occurred just a month later, on May 10, 1943, and resulted in a 10-day stay in Walter Reed. His third, less severe than the first two, occurred exactly a year later, on May 10, 1944, under the strain of the B-29 problems. Arnold took a month's leave, returning to duty by flying to London for a conference on June 7, 1944.

His last wartime heart attack came on January 17, 1945, just days after he had changed Hansell for LeMay. Arnold had not gone into his office for three days and had refused to admit the Air Forces' chief flight surgeon to his quarters when checked up on. The doctor enlisted a general and personal friend of Arnold's to inquire, after which Arnold was again flown to Coral Gables and placed under 24-hour care for nine days.

Arnold again was allowed to remain in the service, but under conditions which amounted to light duty. With the war clearly in its final stages, Arnold agreed, although when he received word on May 6, 1945, of the surrender of Nazi Germany, he was at the base of the 456th Bomb Group in Italy, in the midst of a tour of Europe.

On March 19, 1943 he was promoted to full general and on December 21, 1944 he was made a General of the Army, ranking him fourth in the U.S. military structure.

In 1945, he founded Project RAND from $10,000,000 of funding leftover from World War II, which later became the RAND Corporation, a think-tank for military strategy.

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 the Air Force on February 28, 1946 (his official date of retirement was June 30). He was succeeded by General Carl 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-acre ranch near Sonoma, California in the summer of 1946 and contracted with Harper & Brothers to write his memoirs, which became the book Global Mission. He was virtually penniless except for his pension and sought a source of income for his wife since his pension benefits would end with his death. He was in the midst of writing the book when he suffered his fifth serious heart attack in January, 1948, hospitalizing him for three months.

On May 7, 1949, Arnold was honored by being made the first (and to date, only) General of the Air Force. (He is also the only individual to serve as a five-star general in two services.) He died January 15, 1950, at his home in Sonoma, California and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

[edit] Legacy

The source of his nickname "Hap" is in dispute, but most likely was short for "Happy," a nickname his wife Bee habitually used for him. His West Point nickname was "Pewt", and possibly also "Benny", and he was known to his family as Harley during his youth. To his immediate subordinates and headquarters staff he was referred to as "The Chief."

The honorary organization in Air Force ROTC, the Arnold Air Society, is named in his honor, as is the cadet social center at the United States Air Force Academy, Arnold Hall. The main athletic field at his alma mater, Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Penna., also bears his name. The Air Force Aid Society awards a scholarship in his name to dependents of Air Force members or retirees.

[edit] References

• Coffey, Thomas M., Hap: the Story of the U.S. Air Force and the Man Who Built It, General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, Viking Press (1982)
• Daso, Dik A., Major USAF, "Hap Arnold's Early Career in Aviation Technology, 1903-1935," Aerospace Power Journal, (Fall, 1996), Air University Press, Maxwell AFB, Alabama
• Nalty, Bernard C., editor, Winged Shield, Winged Sword: A History of the United States Air Force (1997), ISBN 0-16-049009-X

[edit] External links

• Biography at the U.S. Air Force website
• March Field Air Museum, CA
• First Motion Picture Unit of WW2
• Annotated bibliography for Henry Arnold from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues
• Profile page for Henry "Hap" Arnold on the Find A Grave web site