15.1.1950 - Death of General Henry H. Arnold

Henry Harley Arnold (June 25, 1886 - January 15, 1950), was a United States Army officer who held the ranks of General of the Army and General of the Air Force. He was Chief of the Air Corps 1938-1941, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces, and the only five-star general of the U.S. Air Force.

Born June 25, 1886 in Gladwin, Pennsylvania, he became a student at the military academy at West Point somewhat out of compulsion; originally, his older brother was supposed to go there to study according to family tradition, but he declined a military career.

He was an average student, 66 out of 120 cadets in his senior year. His dream was to become a cavalryman, but due to poor school performance he was assigned as a lieutenant to the infantry. He enlisted with the 29th Infantry Division in the Philippines. However, he was not very enthusiastic about a career as an infantryman, and when he had the opportunity to see a plane piloted by Louis Blériot in Paris in 1909, he decided to become an aviator.

In 1911, he became a pupil at the Wright Brothers flying school, where, after completing the course, he received his Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) pilot's certificate No. 29 and his military airman's certificate No. 2. As a pilot, he immediately set several altitude records, survived his first crash in August 1911, and was the first American pilot to carry the mail, flying a five-mile (8 km) route on Long Island, New York.

After another plane crash, he stopped actively flying and remained in the infantry for four years. In 1916, he returned to flying and was promoted to captain. He is a staff officer in the 7th Air Squadron. After the entry of the USA into World War I, he applies for a transfer to the front, but is not allowed. As an outstanding staff officer, he was quickly promoted and became the Army's youngest colonel.

Arnold also gained significant experience in aircraft manufacturing and procurement, building flight schools and airfields.recruiting and training large numbers of personnel, as well as the political struggles of the Washington environment, which helped him significantly 25 years later.

After the end of 1. World War I, the Air Force sought to separate itself from Army command, with the Army claiming that the Air Force was only its support force and, on the other on the other side is Air Chief Marshal Billy Mitchell, who wants to create a strong unified air force independent of the Army and Navy.

Arnold sides with Mitchell, but in 1925 he is accused by his supporters, including Arnold, of using sources of information Division to promote their views to congressmen and air service reservists and of trying to "unduly influence legislation." Arnold was sidelined for a few years but was not convicted.

1. On March 1935, the Directorate General of the Air Force was activated to direct all Air Corps combat aviation units, with Arnold commanding the 1st Air Force. Wing and is temporarily promoted to the rank of Brigadier General on 2 March 1935.

President Roosevelt appointed Arnold as Chief of the Air Corps on 29 September 1938 and promoted him to major general. He succeeded in pushing through the mass production of heavy bombers against the wishes of the Army command and became a strong proponent of the B-17, B-29, and jet engine development programs. He was opposed to the United States supplying aircraft to Great Britain; in his view, the domestic air force should have been fully armed first. He got into a dispute with the President over this, even being told that he would benefit from a transfer to a base on Guam.

On June 20, 1941, the United States Air Force was created, just two days before the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Arnold became chief of the Army Air Forces and served as "Chief of Staffwith authority over both the Air Corps and the Air Combat Command.

For U.S. Air Force deployments in Europe, he expanded the list of industrial targets from 23 to 177, with the destruction of the German Luftwaffe as the primary objective. He also directed that the B-29 bomber not be deployed in Europe because of problems with its development, but instead that the B-29 program deployment be concentrated in the Far East to destroy Japanese military power and major cities.

In Europe, he advocated the tactic of deploying large groups of heavy bombers for daily precision raids, where they were to handle enemy fighter aircraft on their own. Heavy losses in the summer and fall of 1943 on deep penetration missions were ignored by Arnold, who criticized Eaker, commander of the Eighth Air Army, for the lack of aggressiveness of the bomber commanders.

Only the deployment of P 51 Mustang escort fighters brought losses down to an acceptable level.

With the strategic bombing crisis in Europe resolved, Arnold placed full emphasis on completing the development and deployment of the B-29 bomber to attack Japan.

The ground forces criticized this project as unnecessary, costly, and technologically overly complex. Arnold pushed hard on this project, rejecting the possibility that the B-29 could be deployed to support naval operations in the Pacific and focusing all resources solely on operations against Japan. It was also necessary to get the bomber into regular deployment because it was the only possible atomic bomb carrier from the Manhattan Project.

After replacing several commanders, he found the right man for the project, and Charles Le May became commander of the XXI Bombardment Group stationed in the Marianas.

The B-29 project was completed, but stress took its toll on the general; between 1943 and 1945, Arnold suffered four heart attacks. For health reasons, he left active duty on July 16, 1945.

On May 7, 1949, he was promoted to five-star general of the Air Force, remaining the only person to hold that rank. He died on 15 January 1950 at his home in Sonoma and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

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