The Collapse of the Coolidge Air Policy
[Editor’s Note: Many are aware that Gen. William “Billy” Mitchell was court-martialed in 1925 for his outspoken position regarding air power. Many are also aware that he accurately predicted the war with Japan, the attack of the Hawaiian Islands and the importance that air power would play in future conflicts. At the time many of these ideas were scoffed at by senior commanders. Few of us have had the opportunity to see firsthand what General Mitchell was actually espousing. The following article is the fouth in a series General Mitchell wrote for Aeronautics magazine in 1929, others of which will be presented in future issues.]
The world has arrived at the aeronautical era.
During this stage of our development, the destiny of nations and the future progress of civilization depend upon air power.
Most of us have a very hazy understanding of what air power is. In a general way, air power, as distinguished from land power or sea power, is the ability to do something in the air. It is able to operate and do its work anywhere over the world, because wherever there is air, aircraft can go. They are hitched neither to the land nor to the sea, but are able to fly across the North or South Pole, the Tropics or the Temperate Zone, over land or sea. Transportation has been called the essence of civilization. The ability to transport persons or materials, or even thoughts, with great rapidity renders possible the organization and control of larger and larger cities, states and countries.
Air power allows a quick interchange of commodities, it permits a speedy transfer of commercial paper of various kinds, and above all, it assists national defense greatly, because when a nation is menaced, its military power must be moved in the most rapid way to the threatened points. Hitherto, when transportation was confined to the land and water, railways
had to be depended upon as the quickest means of going from one place to another. Railways
are confined to the places that have the least gradients or the easiest ascent up mountains. The banks of rivers and low divides or passes at their heads determine where the railways have to go.
Transportation along the ground, whether by railway or road, soon becomes congested at its narrowest points. The air is not limited in this way, as the whole earth is covered with a roadway eight-miles deep. There are no passes, no mountains, no forests, no deserts in the air.
It is the same all over the world.
At sea, the pathway for ships has been more or less parallel to the Equator, which is the longest way around the world. Ships are not able to go very far north or south on account of ice, fogs and cold. Aircraft are not limited by such conditions. They are able to fly over the shortest routes, whether these be across the temperate zone or the tropics, or the North or South Pole. In fact, the colder the weather, the better it is for flying in many ways, because the air is heavier, which allows the propellers of the airplanes to take hold of it better and prevents moisture being taken up in the air, causing fogs and storms. The colder the air, the less moisture it can hold.
At the present time, there is no limit to where aircraft may go over the earth’s surface. The only limit is the height they can attain. It is believed that the air over the earth which is capable of sustaining aircraft with their present means of propulsion extends up to a height of something around 55,000 feet. Airplanes are constantly attaining new . . .
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Early autopilot installed in a Sperry Messenger
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