Henry H. "Hap" Arnold was one of the truly great men in American airpower. He was a pioneer Airman who was taught to fly by the Wright Brothers, and commander of Army Air Forces in victory over Germany and Japan in World War II. He was also the first and only General of the Air Force, a five-star rank bestowed by an act of Congress.
He was born in Gladwyne, Pa., June 1886. "Hap," as he was known and called, dating from his early days at West Point, was in the class of 1907 at the U.S. Military Academy. From then on his life paralleled the growth of America's air power and he personally contributed to most of the major milestones of development during the long period until he retired in 1946.
Arnold initially was assigned to the 29th Infantry, serving in the Philippine Islands for two years. He returned home until April 1911 when he was detailed to the Signal Corps and sent to Dayton, Ohio for instructions in the Wright biplane. The Wright Brothers who had made their first flight in 1903 personally instructed him for two months, after which he soloed and became one of the earliest military aviators in June 1911.
Arnold then was assigned to teach other flyers at the Signal Corps aviation school at College Park, Md. The school was moved to Augusta, Ga. in November and he served there until April 1912 when he went back to College Park for flight duty. On June 1, 1912, he established a new altitude record by piloting a Burgess-Wright airplane to a height of 6,540 feet. He also took part in air maneuvers in New York and Connecticut and set several records. On Oct. 9, 1912 he won the first MacKay Trophy ever awarded for a reconnaissance flight on a triangular course from College Park to Washington Barracks, D.C. to Fort Myer, Va., and return to College Park, flying the early type of Wright biplane with its 40 horsepower engine revolving two propellers by the chain-and-sprocket method.
In February 1917 Arnold went to Panama to organize an air service there, which he commanded until May 1917. As the U.S. entered Word War I he was called back to Washington, promoted to major June 17, 1917 and Aug. 5 was promoted to full colonel. He was in charge of Information Service in the Aviation Division of the Signal Corps. When the Office of Military Aeronautics was created, Arnold became assistant executive officer and in February 1918 was named assistant director. He went to France in November 1918 at war's end on an inspection tour of aviation activities. He returned in 1919 as supervisor of the Air Service at Coronado, Calif., and as air officer of the 9th Corps Area at the Presidio in San Francisco.
In June 1920 Arnold went back to captain's grade, but next month was promoted to major, where he remained until 1931. In October 1922 he became commanding officer of Rockwell Field, Calif., serving two years. He testified on behalf of Gen. Billy Mitchell during the court-martial in the fall of 1925 when Mitchell was found guilty of insubordination. Arnold shared Mitchell's beliefs in the strategic capability of the airplane and urged an independent air arm which Arnold lived to see authorized in 1947. He next went to Fort Riley, Kan., where he commanded Air Corps troops at Marshall Field until 1928.
In July and August 1934 he personally organized and led a flight of 10 Martin B-10 bombers in a round-trip record flight from Washington, D.C. to Fairbanks, Alaska, and next year received his second Mackay Trophy for this achievement. In February 1935 Arnold was jumped two grades to brigadier general and put in command of the 1st Wing of General Headquarters Air Force at March Field, Calif. He was gaining a reputation as a bomber man, having encouraged development of the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator four-engine planes, and the precision training of crewmembers. In January 1936 he became assistant to the chief of Air Corps in Washington and on Sept. 29, 1938 was promoted to major general and appointed chief of Air Corps.
His title was changed to chief of the Army Air Force on June 30, 1941 and that December he got a third star. When the War Department General Staff was organized in March 1942 Arnold became commanding general of Army Air Force. During World War II, he directed air activities for the nation's global war against Germany and Japan. Under him the air arm grew from 22,000 officers and men with 3,900 planes to nearly 2,500,000 men and 75,000 aircraft. Early in 1943 Arnold made a 35,000-mile tour of North Africa, Middle East, India and China, and attended the Casablanca Conferences. In March 1943 he was promoted to four-star general. He suffered a heart attack in 1945 as the war drew to a close, attributed by his doctors to overwork. 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.
He retired from the service June 30, 1946 after earning most of the honors a nation can give a world military leader of his stature, including three Distinguished Service crosses, the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal and decorations from Morocco, Brazil, Yugoslavia, Peru, France, Mexico and Great Britain. During his long career Arnold wrote a number of books, including early boys' books to create interest among youth in flying, and the post-World War II autobiography Global Mission (New York: Harper and Row, 1949), an accurate account of Air Force activities in the war and his own life. Three years after his retirement, by act of Congress, he received permanent five-star rank as general of the Air Force, the first such commission ever granted.
He died at his ranch home near Sonoma, Calif., Jan. 15, 1950. Arnold Engineering Development Center at Tullahoma, Tenn., is named in honor.
Sources compiled from Air University and U.S. Air Force Biographical Dictionary by Flint O. DuPre, Colonel, U.S. Air Force Reserve.