Sometimes it's just fun to walk up and down the isles looking at the books with no thought of what you want to read. That's how I came across this book, The Billy Mitchell Affair by Burke Davis (358.4MIT).
Billy Mitchell fought in WW I. After the war, he really stressed that the U.S. needed to expand the use of airplanes. At this time, the Navy oversaw the small division of airplane pilots. The Navy was against spending more money on the airforce. It would be perceived as having weak battleships that could not do their jobs.
To illustrate his point, Mitchell had some planes perform target practice on some decommissioned battleships, sinking them. The Navy, however, downplayed the efficiency of the airplanes.
He was sent to inspect the military preparedness of Hawaii. He reported that the various branches of the military were not working together, making Hawaii a prime target for attack. In fact, he laid out how easily the Japanese could travel over to Hawaii by island hopping, and catch the military off guard.
From there he traveled to China and Japan. In China, he said that with the huge population, they could become a strong military country. When he visited Japan, he noticed a lot of anti-U.S. sentiment, with a willingness to even sacrificing their own lives for their country. In his 1925 detailed report on Japan, he mentioned several sites that were manufacturing parts for airplanes, and the estimated production per month. Again, his superiors downplayed the report.
When he arrived back to the states, it wasn't long before he was court-martialed.
Read this fascinating book about a general who was ahead of his time when it came to military warfare.
c Waterloo Public Library 2008
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