The Keeper File

摘要

Brig. Gen. William Mitchell is the most famous figure in the history of US airpower. In World War I, he gained fame as a fiery leader but alienated almost everyone. He returned to Washington and soon angered the Navy by demonstrating you could sink battleships with airplanes. He ripped both the Army and Navy for what he saw as their negligence of airpower. By 1925, the Army had had enough of "Billy," and it shipped him off to a dead-end post in Texas. It was from exile that Mitchell launched the most famous verbal attack of his career. The trigger was the Sept. 3, 1925 crash of a Navy airship, Shenandoah, killing 14 crew members. In a 6,000-word press statement, Mitchell pinned the disaster on Army and Navy leaders, whom he accused of "incompetency," "criminal negligence," and "almost treasonable administration" of military aviation. The remarks enraged Washington and landed Mitchell in a sensational court-martial. He was convicted of insubordination and suspended from active duty, but Mitchell resigned and continued to speak out. Mitchell made many controversial statements in his time, but only one got him court-martialed. This is the one.