Billy Mitchell: Crusader for Air Power

Front Cover
Indiana University Press, 1975 - Biography & Autobiography - 190 pages

"This is the best book—the most scholarly, the most judicial, the best written—about the intelligent, attractive, undiplomatic, quixotic Billy Mitchell, the legendary founder of today's United States Air Force." —Robert H. Ferrell, author of Harry S. Truman: A Life

Revered by many Americans as a martyr for his cause, Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell has been one of the least understood figures of modern military history. His position as the dominant figure in American aviation from 1919 until his court-martial in 1925 has made him the frequent subject of biography, film, and television, but usually these portrayals have overemphasized the sensational elements of his story. For Mitchell, sensationalism was only a means of drawing attention to his farsighted ideas on aviation. In Billy Mitchell, he emerges as a man with a mission and a true pioneer of modern aviation, a man whose ideas about leadership in aerial operations inspire and instruct today's airmen and women. Anyone interested in aviation will delight in this compelling biography.

 

Selected pages

Contents

1 A Fair Foundation
1
2 No Decision on the GroundBefore a Decision in the Air
22
3 Everything on a Broad Basis and High Plane
39
Make Them Either Fish or Cut Bait
56
5 The First Line of Offense
73
Treasonable Administration of the National Defense
90
7 It Is Difficult to Get Them Stirred Up
110
8 The End of a Long and Tortuous Road
125
An Interpretation
136
Additional Insights
141
Abbreviations Appearing in Notes and Bibliography
149
Notes
152
Bibliography
178
Index
185
Back Cover
192
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Billy Mitchell: Crusader for Air Power
Alfred F. Hurley
No preview available - 1975

Common terms and phrases

Adolphus Greely aerial air arm Air Corps Air Power aircraft airmen airplane airship American military Army and Navy Army aviation attaché attack Baker battleship Benjamin Foulois Billy Mitchell bombers bombing tests British campaign Caproni carriers Colonel combat command Coolidge court-martial Department dirigible enemy fighter flying Foulois France French future German Giulio Douhet Greely Hartney Hearst hereafter cited Ibid July June Lampert Committee Lassiter Board Leavenworth major Mason Patrick Memo Memoirs Menoher ment Military Aeronautics military aviation military policy Morrow Morrow Board National Defense Naval Aviation offensive operations Ostfriesland Pacific Patrick Pershing problems Report role Roosevelt Secretary Sept ships Signal Corps Spaatz Squier strategic bombardment Tactical School targets tion Trenchard Turnbull and Lord U.S. Air Services U.S. Army U.S. Congress vital centers warfare Washington Weeks WM to mother World York

References to this book

About the author (1975)

Alfred F. Hurley, Brigadier General, USAF (Ret.), is Professor of History and Chancellor/President Emeritus at the University of North Texas, and publisher of Air Power History, journal of the Air Force Historical Foundation. He lives in Denton, Texas.

Bibliographic information

TitleBilly Mitchell: Crusader for Air Power
AuthorAlfred F. Hurley
Editionillustrated
PublisherIndiana University Press, 1975
ISBN0253201802, 9780253201805
Length190 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Biography & Autobiography / Military
History / Military / Aviation & Space
  
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