Henry H. Arnold

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Hap Arnold, 1949/50

Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold (born June 25, 1886 in Gladwyne , Pennsylvania , † January 15, 1950 in Sonoma , California ) was an American General of the Army and General of the Air Force . He was Chief of the United States Army Air Corps from 1938 to 1941 and then Commander in Chief of the United States Army Air Forces until 1946 .

biography

Early military career

Arnold at the wheel of a Wright Model B, 1911

Arnold began his training at the West Point Military Academy in 1903 at the age of 17 and received his patent as a second lieutenant in the infantry in 1907 . He spent the first two years of his service in the Philippines .

In 1911 he was transferred to the Aeronautical Division of the US Army Signal Corps and began pilot training at the Wright Brothers' flight school . He was one of the first American officers to wear the pilot's badge. Upon completion of his training, he served as one of the first military instructors for the Aeronautical Division at the College Park , Maryland flight school . During this time he set several flight records, including an altitude record of 6,540 feet (approx. 1990 meters) in 1912 . In the same year he won the Mackay Trophy , awarded for the first time , a success that he repeated in 1934. Arnold developed a fear of flying after several crashes of his own and fatal crashes by comrades and therefore took a leave of absence from the flight service.

In December 1912, he accepted a position in the Chief Signal Officer's office in Washington. Due to his marriage, he was removed from the active pilot list in 1913 due to the regulations at the time and transferred again to the Philippines in the same year. Here he met, among others, the future Chief of Staff of the Army George C. Marshall . In 1913 he was first lieutenant ( Oberleutnant ).

In 1916 Arnold returned to the Signal Corps and became a supplies officer for the Rockwell Field, California flight school. Here he renewed his flight license and was sent to the Panama Canal Zone , where he was supposed to set up a flight squadron . 1917 was promoted to major . After the entry of the United States in the First World War, Arnold was transferred to Washington, where he most recently in the temporary rank of colonel ( Colonel was entrusted) with responsibilities in administration. His tasks included the further development of aircraft and weapons. Among other things, he was involved in the development of the Kettering Bug , an early preform of the cruise missile , which he was to present to the head of the American Expeditionary Forces , John J. Pershing , in 1918 . Held up by the Spanish flu , it only reached Europe shortly before the Compiègne armistice (1918) .

Interwar period

Upon his return from Europe, Arnold was appointed District Supervisor for the Western District of the Air Service based in Rockwell Field in 1919. His associates in this post included Carl A. Spaatz and Ira C. Eaker . On Arnold's initiative, the first attempts at air refueling were made in California in 1923 .

In 1924 Arnold was again transferred to Washington, where he served as information chief under the Chief of the Air Service Mason Patrick . He had been a supporter of Billy Mitchell's call for an independent air force since his time in California and was transferred to Fort Reily, Kansas, after his court martial. During this time he received an offer to become the first president of the Pan Am airline , but decided to continue his career in the army. Despite his exile, Arnold managed to be admitted to a course at Army Staff College , which he graduated in 1928. He then commanded the Fairfield Air Service Depot near Dayton , Ohio. In 1931 he became the commander of the March Field and appointed in California and to the Lieutenant Colonel ( Lt. Col. transported). In 1933 he also took over the 1st Wing stationed there . Here he renewed his First World War acquaintance with the Nobel laureate in physics, Robert Andrews Millikan , now director of the nearby California Institute of Technology , and with Theodore von Kármán , director of the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory . He won his second Mackay Trophy in 1934 for a long-range flight with ten of the new Martin B-10 all-metal bombers from Bolling Field, District of Columbia to Fairbanks , Alaska, and back. In 1935 he became a temporary brigadier general .

1936 Arnold was appointed Vice Chief of the Army Air Corps and Colonel ( Colonel transported). In September 1938, after the death of his chief Major General Oscar Westover, he succeeded in his position and was promoted to major general. At the same time he received a seat on the main committee of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics . In his new position, he was particularly committed to working with civil institutions in the field of research and development.

Second World War

In 1940 Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall decided to reorganize the air force. As a result, the Army Air Corps and Air Force Combat Command were merged to form the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), of which Arnold became Commander in Chief. In 1941, Arnold founded the Air War Plans Division to complement the Army's War Plans Division . In 1941 he received the rank of lieutenant general . In March 1942 Arnold also became a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as well as the Combined Chiefs of Staff and in 1943 four-star general of the Army.

Arnold's main focus since the beginning of the war in Europe was on expanding the number of the Luftwaffe. Under his leadership, the Army Air Forces grew from 2,000 aircraft and 21,000 men in 1939 to 79,000 aircraft and 2.3 million men at the end of the war. Nevertheless, he remained interested in innovations such as JATO ( jet-assisted take-off ), jet engines , radar , missile weapons and glide bombs . In 1944 he suggested the founding of the Scientific Advisory Group , which Kármán took over. Although he was originally committed to the idea of ​​precision bombing, Arnold authorized the Aphrodite project , which envisaged the use of disused bombers as "flying bombs". Arnold's decision to take command of the 20th US Air Force that carried out the B-29 operations against Japan was also unusual .

US-O11 insignia.svg

In December 1944, Arnold was promoted to General of the Army . This made him the fourth general and the only member of the Army Air Forces to receive this rank. After Arnold had several heart attacks, he retired in 1946 and was succeeded by General Spaatz. On May 7, 1949, Henry H. Arnold was awarded the honorary rank of General of the Air Force . He is the only holder of this rank who has not been awarded since then, and also the only US soldier to hold the rank of five-star general in two different branches of the armed forces.

Arnold funded 1945 from its budget, the establishment of the Project RAND ( R eSearch AN d D evelopment ), which later became the RAND Corporation emerged.
He was a Freemason and was born on November 3, 1927 at Union Lodge No. 7 promoted to Master in Junction City, Kansas.
Arnold received a state funeral at Arlington National Cemetery in 1950 after his death .

honors and awards

Honors

Awards Arnold received various awards from the USA and other countries, including a.

literature

Web links

Commons : Henry H. Arnold  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Factsheet: Gen. Henry H. "Hap" Arnold ( Memento from September 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) at www.nationalmuseum.af.mil
  2. ^ William R. Denslow, Harry S. Truman : 10,000 Famous Freemasons. Volume 1: From A to J. Missouri Lodge of Research, Trenton MO 1957 (Reprinted edition. Kessinger Publishing, Whitefish MT 2004).
personal data
SURNAME Arnold, Henry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Arnold, Henry Harley (full name); Arnold, Hap
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American general
DATE OF BIRTH June 25, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Gladwyne , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH January 15, 1950
Place of death Sonoma , California