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Today at 56 General Arnold still flies. But the irregular helmet burn has faded from his ruddy face and he seldom gets into a pursuit ship. His mount is the big bomber, which he insisted on developing in the U.S. when the minds of British airmen were on fighters. And he always takes along his lanky aide, Colonel Eugene Beebe, as copilot, for Hap Arnold's theory is that old fellows tire out and may need help at the end of a long flight. So far Colonel Beebe has found nothing to substantiate the boss's theory.
Beyond Mitchell's Dreams. The job General Arnold's Air Forces have to do has grown beyond even the complexity of Billy Mitchell's vision.
Supplies and men are being flown across the oceans of the world and the Ferrying Command has become as important as any of the fighting outfits. It has become more vocal. Ship sinkings by Axis submarines have thrown a load on air power and the Ferrying Command is shouting for more cargo carriers.
Air forces are operating around the world and the men to make them greater are going through flying and ground schools by the thousands. Glider pilots must be trained (a blind spot until recently with Army airmen), planes for fighting men must be moved, bases must be supplied in the six continents that are the Air Forces' battlefield.
Billy Mitchell wrote: "We must relegate armies and navies to a glass case in a dusty museum, which contains samples of the dinosaur, the mammoth and the cave bear."
To prove this assertion is not the object of U.S. airmen. But their job is to prove it as far as concerns the enemy's armies and navies. And on the shoulders of Hap Arnold falls the major responsibility.
He has in his hands the new weapon which has already shown that it can beat fleets and make great armies impotent. Moreover, the particular air force that he commands will soon be a far greater weapon than any other the world has yet seen. In the course of duty he may have to prove that airpower is still underrated.
*The others: Frank P. Lahm, Frederick E. Humphreys, Benjamin D. Doulois.