Does anyone have any info on the US General named General Henry 'Hap' Arnold. Any would be helpful. Thanks
The architect of modern US Air Force, great man! ____________________________________ Henry Hartley Arnold, the son of a doctor, was born in Gladwyne, United States, on 25th June, 1886. He attended the West Point Military Academy and graduated in 1907 (66/111) and joined the United States Army. Arnold took an early interest in flying and became the US Army's first pilot in 1911 and helped establish the Signal Corp's aviation school at College Park, Maryland. During this period Arnold set an altitude record of 6,540 feet. Transfered to an administration post in Washington Arnold missed much of the early development in combat flying that took place during the First World War. After the war Arnold joined William Mitchell in his campaign for more military air power. In 1936 Arnold was promoted to assistant chief of the Air Corps and took the top job when Major General Oscar Westover was killed in a crash on 29th September 1938. He also joined with Ira Eaker to write three books on flying, "This Flying Game" (1936), "Winged Victory" (1941) and "Army Flyer" (1942). In 1940 Henry Stimson, the US Secretary of War, and General George Marshall, the Chief of Staff of the US Army, decided to reorganize the air force. The Air Corps that had been responsible for training and procurement, and the Air Force Combat Command, were merged to become the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Arnold was appointed as commander of the USAAF. In 1941 the USAAF had 25,000 personnel and about 4,000 aircraft. This included the fighters, Seversky P-35 and Curtis P-36, and the bombers, Lockhead Hudson, Douglas SBD-3 and the B-25A Mitchell. This USAAF suffered badly during the Japanese Air Force attack on Pearl Harbor on 7th December, 1941. A total of 178 aircraft were destroyed on the ground and 159 were damaged. An estimated 2,403 men were killed and a further 1,778 were injured. After the United States entered the Second World War aircraft production rose dramatically. In 1942 10,769 fighters and 12,627 bombers were built. The following year this was increased to 23,988 fighters and 29,355 bombers. The peak was reached in 1944 with 38,873 fighters and 35,003 bombers being built. This included new fighters such as the P-51 Mustang, the Grumman Hellcat, the Chance-Vought Corsair and the Republic Thunderbolt. Dramatic improvements also took place in the production of US bombers such as the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B24 Liberator and the B-29 Stratafortress. Arnold was a strong supporter of area bombing (known in Germany as terror bombing) where entire cities and towns were targeted. The US 8th Air Force, based in southern England, played an important role in this strategic bombing offensive. In March 1942, Arnold was promoted to Commanding General. He was also a member of the American Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff. In December 1944 Arnold was promoted which placed him fourth in ranking behind George Marshall, Douglas MacArthur and Dwight D. Eisenhower. After the war Arnold suffered a heart-attack and was succeeded by Carl Spaatz. Henry Hartley Arnold died on 15th January, 1950, in Sonoma, California.
I have found this: He was born in suburban Gladwyn, Pennsylvania on June 25, 1886. He graduated from high school with the customary indecision about a career, not sure whether he should enter a seminary to become a Baptist minister or study medicine and eventually take over his father's practice. He started keeping company with Eleanor Poole, whom he later married. When an older brother decided not to follow through on an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy, Arnold took the examinations, was accepted, and entered West Point in 1903. http://www.nationalaviation.org/museum_enshrinee.asp?eraid=4&enshrineeid=330
Henry H. Arnold's photos and awards Timothy, I'm afraid that if you are looking for a deep insight on the man, you won't be able to find it in the net. However, there are good news since there are some books available (and cheap!) that will fulfill entirely your requests. Not only you'll learn about Henry H. Arnold's career and how US Air Force was built, but the character of the man, his routine, his experiences, his adventurous personality and even how the man kept on working during WWII despite having suffered five heart attacks! E. g. Arnold was a difficult taskmaster. He continually interfered in the affairs of his subordinates, refused to use or even organize his staff effectively, and his mercurial temper often made him quite nasty. Nonetheless, he was a man whose great weaknesses were also his great strengths. His drive, vision, and sense of initiative were indispensable in leading the air arm. The most important book to research on Henry H. Arnold as a MAN is Thomas M. Coffey's "Hap: The Sory of the US Air Force and the Man Who Built It General H. 'Hap' Arnold". However, his info about the birth of modern US Air Force is a bit biased, according to the following review: "Coffey has done an excellent job of bringing Arnold's complex personality to life. Although his portrait is largely sympathetic, Coffey leaves one with the image of a difficult and irascible husband, father, subordinate, and commander. Yet, his genius for accomplishing great things and inspiring others to perform great deeds as well is apparent. Because Coffey relies so heavily on interviews, however, his story is incomplete and biased. For example, Arnold's decision to command personally the B29 forces in the Pacific was an unprecedented action for a member of the joint chiefs. Although the author notes this, he fails to explain how Arnold was able to convince the other chiefs-to say nothing of the theater commanders involved-to accept such an unusual command arrangement. More significantly, although Coffey alludes to Arnold's vision as an air strategist and strategic bombing advocate, he gives almost no insight into this area. Arnold's extensive writings on this subject (he authored or coauthored four books plus his memoirs) are scarcely mentioned. As a result, this biography is more of a sketch than a portrait; it provides an outline and some interesting hints, but the detail is lacking". If you want to read about him by his own writing then there is: "Arnold's memoirs were written with the help of William R. Laidlaw and are titled "Global Mission" (New York: Harper and Row, 1949). They tend to resemble the man who wrote them: energetic, enthusiastic, advocative, a mixture of broad vision and intimate detail, and somewhat disorganized. Arnold had a legendary temper, but that is not in evidence here. He had obviously mellowed in the four years since his retirement; thus, the spirited arguments with the other services-and even with individuals in his own service-are muted. Arnold notes his differences with the Navy, but he has nary a contrary word for Admirals Leahy, King, Nimitz, or Towers, his main antagonists. Although this restraint is commendable, it finesses some of the key strategic issues of the war, and we are left with rather bland comments like "after some discussion we were able to reach a compromise." His biggest barbs are reserved for the Chinese-who he saw as hopelessly corrupt-and the Soviets-who he viewed with increasing distrust as the war progressed. By the end of the war, Arnold was already a cold warrior and concluded his memoirs with a warning to maintain an air force powerful enough to counter the Soviet Union. Especially useful are his fascinating stories of the early years of aviation and the evolution of airpower in the two decades following the First World War. His detailed account of the war years is also quite interesting, and the sheer volume of the problems he encountered are clearly illustrated. In seven pages he lists the subjects of dozens of memos that he had to write in a typical day, everything from the design of buttons that were miniature compasses to assist downed aircrews to the location of B29 bases in China. Overall, this was an enjoyable and very readable book-one of the best of the wartime memoirs of a senior leader". There is another book, "Hap, Henry H. Arnold, military aviator", a biography which I don't know much of, by Richard G. Davis. And finally, Arnold's long-expected war diaries: "American Airpower Comes of Age", which I think would be a nice reading. Hope this helps! It's true AS LONG AS they are NOT Austrians and doesn't have Arnold as name.
Thanks I will have to find some of those books. I wonder why you can't find anything about him on the web.
