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In November 1938 Charles Lindbergh wrote urgently to Maj. Gen. Henry Harley \u201cHap\u201d Arnold, the new chief of the Army Air Corps. Touring Germany, the aviation hero had witnessed the surging Luftwaffe firsthand.<\/p>\n
\u201cGermany is undoubtedly the most powerful nation in the world in military aviation, and her margin of leadership is increasing with each month that passes,\u201d Lindbergh wrote. \u201cIn a number of fields the Germans are already ahead of us and they are rapidly cutting down whatever lead we now hold in many others.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Arnold, on the job little more than a month, took Lindy\u2019s warning to heart. He summoned to the National Academy of Sciences a group of researchers and university administrators, including MIT president Vannevar Bush and California Institute of Technology physicists Robert Millikan and Theodore von K\u00e1rm\u00e1n. Some military men thought Arnold was wasting time talking to \u201clonghairs.\u201d Invited by his old friend to lunch with the scientists, Gen. George C. Marshall balked. \u201cWhat on earth are you doing with people like that?\u201d Marshall asked.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cUsing their brains to help us develop gadgets and devices for our airplanes that are far too difficult for the air force engineers to develop themselves,\u201d Arnold replied.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Doctrinaire officers might not have thought to look on campus for help winning wars, but for Arnold the leap was logical. As one of the world\u2019s first licensed pilots, trained at the Wright brothers\u2019 own flying school and mindful that might requires science, technology, and solid design and planning, Arnold conceived a vision of America as an air power and, simultaneously balancing immediate needs with the necessity of peering into the future, nurtured a tiny, feeble armed service into an aerial armada capable of winning a world war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Read the full article here: Here\u2019s why Hap Arnold, a practical visionary, became the \u2018father of the Air Force\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"