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GENERAL HENRY H. ARNOLD
Retired June 30, 1946. Died Jan. 15,
1950.
General of the Air Force. Pioneer airman who was taught to fly by
the Wright Brothers, and commander of Army Air Forces in victory
over Germany and Japan in World War II: born Gladwyne, Pa., June
25, 1886, died Sonoma, Calif., Jan. 15, 1950. "Hap" Arnold, as he
was fondly known and called, dating from his early days at West
Point, was in the class of 1907 at the U.S. Military Academy. From
then on his life paralleled the growth of America's air power and
he personally contributed to most of the major milestones of
development during the long period until he retired in 1946. Three
years later, by act of Congress, he received permanent five-star
rank as general of the Air Force, the first such commission ever
granted.
Arnold initially was assigned to the 29th Infantry, serving with it
in the Philippine Islands for two years. He returned home for
two-and-a-half-years' duty at Governors Island, N.Y. until April
1911 when he was detailed to the Signal Corps and sent to Dayton,
Ohio for instructions in the Wright biplane. The Wright Brothers,
who had made their first flight in 1903, personally instructed him
for two months, after which he soloed and became one of the
earliest military aviators in June 1911.
Arnold then was assigned to teach other flyers at the Signal Corps
aviation school at College Park, Md. The school was moved to
Augusta, Ga., in November, and he served there until April 1912
when he went back to College Park for flight duty. On June 1, 1912,
he established a new altitude record by piloting a Burgess-Wright
airplane to a height of 6,540 feet. He also took part in air
maneuvers in New York and Connecticut and set several records. On
Oct. 9, 1912, he won the first MacKay Trophy ever awarded for a
reconnaissance flight on a triangular course from College Park to
Washington Barracks, D.C. to Fort Myer, Va., and return to College
Park, flying the early type of Wright biplane with its 40
horsepower engine revolving two propellers by the
chain-and-sprocket method.
During the latter part of 1912 Arnold went to Fort Riley, Kan., as
an aerial observer of Field Artillery firing and was the first
military aviator to use radio to report his observations. In
November 1912 he was assigned to the Office of the Chief Signal
Officer in Washington, where he was promoted to first lieutenant in
April 1913. In September he went back to the 13th Infantry. He
stayed there until March 1916 and came home for two months at
Madison Barracks, N.Y., before going back to aviation duties in May
1916, with promotion to captain and duty at the new flying school
at San Diego, Calif.
In February 1917 Arnold went to Panama to organize an air service
there, which he commanded until May 1917. As the U.S. entered World
War I, he was called back to Washington, promoted to major June 17,
1917, and on Aug. 5 was promoted to full colonel. He was in charge
of Information Service in the Aviation Division of the Signal
Corps. When the Office of Military Aeronautics was created, Arnold
became assistant executive officer and in February 1918 was named
assistant director. He went to France in November 1918 at war's end
on an inspection tour of aviation activities. He returned in
January 1919 as supervisor of the Air Service at Coronado, Calif.,
and as air officer of the 9th Corps Area at the Presidio at San
Francisco.
In June 1920 Arnold went back to captain's grade, but next month
was promoted to major, where he remained until 1931. In October
1922 he became commanding officer of Rockwell Field, Calif.,
serving two years. He graduated from the Army Industrial College in
1925 and became chief of the Information Division in the Office of
the Chief of Air Corps. He testified on behalf of General Billy
Mitchell during the famed courts-martial in the fall of 1925 when
Mitchell was found guilty of insubordination. Arnold devotedly
shared Mitchell's beliefs in the strategic capability of the
airplane and urged an independent air arm which he (Arnold) lived
to see authorized in 1947. He next went to Fort Riley, Kan., where
he commanded Air Corps troops at Marshall Field until 1928. In June
1929 he completed the Command and General Staff School at Fort
Leavenworth and was assigned as commanding officer of the air depot
at Fairfield, Ohio.
Arnold was promoted to lieutenant colonel in February 1931 as
commanding officer of March Field Calf. In July and August 1934 he
personally organized and led a flight of 10 Martin B-10 bombers in
a round-trip record flight from Washington, D.C. to Fairbanks,
Alaska, and next year received his second Mackay Trophy for this
achievement. In February 1935 Arnold was jumped two grades to
brigadier general and put in command of the 1st Wing of General
Headquarters Air Force at March Field, Calif. He was gaining a
reputation as a bomber man, having encouraged development of the
B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator four-engine planes, and the
precision training of crewmembers. In January 1936 he became
assistant to the chief of Air Corps in Washington and on Sept. 29,
1938 was promoted to major general and appointed chief of Air
Corps.
His title was changed to chief of the Army Air Forces on June 30,
1941, and that December he got a third star. When the War
Department General Staff was organized in March 1942 Arnold became
commanding general of Army Air Forces. Prior to and all during
World War II, he directed air activities for the nation's global
war against Germany and Japan. Under him the air arm grew from
22,000 officers and men with 3,900 planes to nearly 2,500,000 men
and 75,000 aircraft. Early in 1943 Arnold made a 35,000-mile tour
of North Africa, Middle East, India and China, and attended the
Casablanca Conferences. In March 1943 he was promoted to four-star
general. He suffered a heart attack in 1945 as the war drew to a
close, attributed by his doctors to overwork.
He retired from the service June 30, 1946, after earning most of
the honors a nation can give a world military leader of his
stature, including three Distinguished Service crosses, the
Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal and decorations from Morocco,
Brazil, Yugoslavia, Peru, France, Mexico and Great Britain. During
his long career Arnold wrote a number of books, including early
boys' books to create interest among youth in flying, and the
post-World War II autobiography "Global Mission," an accurate
account of Air Force activities in the war and his own life. On May
7, 1949 Hap Arnold was appointed the first general of the Air
Force, five-star rank, by the U.S. Congress.
He died at his ranch home, Valley of the Moon, near Sonoma, Calif.,
Jan. 15, 1950. Hap Arnold's name is perpetuated at the Arnold
Engineering Development Center at Tullahoma, Tenn.
(Source: U.S. Air Force Biographical Dictionary by Flint O. DuPre,
Colonel, U.S. Air Force Reserve)
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UNITED STATES AIR
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