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Prophet of Airpower [[image - photograph]] [[caption]] In World War I, Gen. Billy Mitchell was in command of air forces in Europe and had his insigne on a single-engine Spad. [[/caption]] [[image - photograph]] [[caption]] The old German battleship Ostfriesland goes down off the Virginia coast in 1921 after being bombed by Mitchell's planes in a mock attack. [[/caption]] [[image - photograph]] [[caption]] Insisting that planes had mighty war potential, Gen. Mitchell undertook to prove it by blasting the battleship Alabama with bombs in a 1923 test. [[/caption]] [[image - photograph]] [[caption]] A military court tried Mitchell on charges of violating good order and military discipline. Mrs. Mitchell was present at the trial. [[/caption]] ACROSS THE Nation this week, aviation in all its phases will throw its hat into the air in celebration of its 50th birthday. The exciting history of flying as well as the wondrous developments yet to come will be extolled, step by step, at dinners, in the press, on the radio and television-and rightly so. Probably no other science or art-or whatever flying can be called-developed as rapidly in the short space of half a century. But there is one chapter in aviation history that undoubtedly will get scant, if any, attention, particularly from the armed services. It is the story of Brig. Gen. William (Billy) Mitchell. That story is the skeleton in aviation's closet. At the close of World War I, Gen. Mitchell advocated a strong, separate air force. He foresaw aeronautics as "the greatest and principal means of national defense." He insisted that planes could sink warships with bombs and, in demonstrations off the Virginia capes, proved his point. Old German warships were used as targets. So certain were some high officials that the demonstrations would fail that Secretary of the Navy Denby is said to have offered to stand on the bridge of one of the ships during the bombing. In the tests, a submarine was blown from the water with a single blast. Then a destroyer, a cruiser and, finally, a battleship were sunk. Even so, there still were skeptics. Gen. Mitchell, unrelenting in his convictions, labored on. In 1922 he set a speed record of 221 miles an hour, but predicted planes soon would exceed 300 miles an hour. He pleaded for more vigorous aeronautical research and development, but it fell mostly on deaf ears. Born in 1879, the son of Senator John L. Mitchell of Wisconsin, he was graduated from George Washington University as the war with Spain was coming on. He enlisted as a private, but in only six days his rise had started. He was promoted to second lieutenant. By 1914 his interest in aviation was aroused. World War I had started, and he went to France as a major to observe air warfare on the Western front. In less than a month after we entered the war in April, 1917, he was the first American officer to fly over the German lines. Shortly before the war ended, he was elevated to brigadier general. Six governments, including our own, pinned medals on his chest. He came back as assistant chief of the air service, but as military aviation lagged, he grew more and more critical. High Government circles regarded him as "the bad boy of aviation," but it was his scorching testimony before a congressional committee in 1925, accusing Army "brass hats" of opposing air service expansion, that was the beginning of the end. He was reduced to his permanent rank of colonel and transferred to a then remote air command at San Antonio. A short time later, disaster struck. The Navy dirigible Shenandoah crashed in Ohio, killing 14 men. Mitchell, although in Texas, called a press conference. He told reporters the accident was caused by "incompetence, criminal negligence and almost treasonable administration of national defense by the War and Navy Departments." His statement caused an uproar in Government and armed forces circles, but instead of withdrawing his remarks, Mitchell added: "What I have said.... hurts the bureaucrats in Washington. It ought to hurt them because it is true." President Coolidge ordered his - court-martial. He was accused of violating "good order and military discipline." Some one remarked that it was not what he said, but how he said it that got him into trouble. The trial was held here before a board of 10 officers, one of whom was Douglas MacArthur, then a major general. The board, on December 17, 19225, found Mitchell guilty. His sentence was suspension from service for five years without pay. Rather than accept the ignominy of his conviction, Mitchell resigned from the Army and retired to a farm near Warrenton, Va. But he continued to lambast the Government and services, through lectures and writing, for lagging air development. In 1931 he said our military planes were not equal to European aviation in speed, armament and carrying capacity and, a little later, he said war with Japan was inevitable. As 1941 dawned our involvement in World War II was approaching rapidly. In June we created the "single unified organization" he had urged the Army Air Force. During the war years, we built planes that went even faster than he had predicted. They sank ships just as he had proved they could. They bombed the enemy around the world, patrolled our shores and protected our shipping. When peace returned in 1945, Billy Mitchell's day also had come. At long last, he was vindicated, but, unfortunately, he did not hear the belated acclaim and praise that came his way. He had been dead for nine years.
