Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold (25 June 1886 – 15 January 1950) was an American general officer holding the ranks of General of the Army and later, General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps (1938–1941), commanding general of the United States Army Air Forces, the only United States Air Force general to hold five-star rank, and the only officer to hold a five-star rank in two different U.S. military services. Arnold was also the founder of Project RAND, which evolved into one of the world's largest non-profit global policy think tanks, the RAND Corporation, and was one of the founders of Pan American World Airways.
Instructed in flying by the Wright Brothers, Arnold was one of the first military pilots worldwide, and one of the first three rated pilots in the history of the United States Air Force.Arnold, Capt. Charles DeF. Chandler, and Lt. Thomas Milling all qualified for the rating on 5 July 1912. Milling received the first certificate while Arnold was listed first on War Department General Order Number 39, which was the first list of rated Military Aviators. He overcame a fear of flying that resulted from his experiences with early flight, supervised the expansion of the Air Service during World War I, and became a protégé of then Brigadier General (later Colonel) Billy Mitchell.
Arnold rose to command the Army Air Forces immediately prior to the American entry into World War II and directed its hundred-fold expansion from an organization of little more than 20,000 men and 800 first-line combat aircraft into the largest and most powerful air force in the world. An advocate of technological research and development, his tenure saw the development of the intercontinental bomber, the jet fighter, the extensive use of radar, global airlift and atomic warfare as mainstays of modern air power.
Arnold's most widely used nickname, "Hap", was short for "Happy", attributed variously to work associates when he moonlighted as a silent film stunt pilot in October 1911, or to his wife, who began using the nickname in her correspondence in 1931 following the death of Arnold's mother. His family called him Harley during his youth, and his mother and wife called him "Sunny". His West Point classmates called Arnold "Pewt" or "Benny" and his immediate subordinates and headquarters staff referred to him as "The Chief".: see note 1 for a detailed discussion of the chronology and sources of Arnold's nicknames.
Early life and career Born 25 June 1886, in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, Arnold was the son of Dr. Herbert Alonzo Arnold (1857–1933), a physician and a member of the prominent political and military Arnold Family. His mother was Anna Louise ("Gangy") Harley (1857–1931), from a "Dunker" farm family and the first female in her family to attend high school. Arnold was Baptist in religious belief but had strong Mennonite ties through both families. However, unlike her husband, "Gangy" Arnold was "fun-loving and prone to laughter," and not rigid in her beliefs. When Arnold was eleven, his father responded to the Spanish–American War by serving as a surgeon in the Pennsylvania National Guard, of which he remained a member for the next 24 years.
Arnold attended Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1903. The athletic fields at Lower Merion are named after him. Arnold had no intention of attending West Point (he was preparing to attend Bucknell University and enter the Baptist ministry) but took the entrance examination after his older brother Thomas defied their father and refused to do so. Arnold placed second on the list and received a delayed appointment when the nominated cadet confessed to being married, prohibited by academy regulations.
Arnold entered the United States Military Academy at West Point as a "Juliette" (one month late), having just turned 17. His cadet career was spent as a "clean sleeve" (cadet private). At the academy he helped found the "Black Hand", a group of cadet pranksters, and led it during his first class year. He played second-team running back for the varsity football team, was a shot putter on the track and field team, and excelled at polo. Arnold's academic standing varied between the middle and the lower end of his class, with his better scores in mathematics and science. He wanted assignment to the Cavalry but an inconsistent demerit record has an addenda table showing that his demerits tripled and his conduct standing doubled during his first class year. and a cumulative general merit class standing of 66th out of 111 cadets resulted in his being commissioned on 24 June 1907, as a second lieutenant, Infantry. He initially protested the assignment (there was no commissioning requirement for USMA graduates in 1907), but was persuaded to accept a commission in the 29th Infantry, at the time stationed in the Philippines. Arnold arrived in Manila on 7 December 1907.
Arnold disliked infantry troop duties and volunteered to assist Captain Arthur S. Cowan of the 20th Infantry, who was on temporary assignment in the Philippines mapping the island of Luzon. Cowan returned to the United States following completion of the cartography detail, transferred to the Signal Corps, and was assigned to recruit two lieutenants to become pilots. Cowan contacted Arnold, who cabled his interest in also transferring to the Signal Corps but heard nothing in reply for two years. In June 1909, the 29th Infantry relocated to Fort Jay, New York, and en route to his new duty station by way of Paris, Arnold saw his first airplane in flight, piloted by Louis Blériot. In 1911, Arnold applied for transfer to the United States Army Ordnance Department because it offered an immediate promotion to first lieutenant. While awaiting the results of the required competitive examination, he learned that his interest in aeronautics had not been forgotten.
Military aviation pioneer
Arnold immediately sent a letter requesting a transfer to the Signal Corps and on 21 April 1911, received Special Order 95, detailing him and 2nd Lt. Thomas DeWitt Milling of the 15th Cavalry, to Dayton, Ohio, for a course in flight instruction at the Wright brothers' aviation school at Simms Station, Ohio. While individually instructed, they were part of the school's May 1911 class that included three civilians and Lieutenant John Rodgers of the United States Navy. Beginning instruction on 3 May with Arthur L. Welsh, Arnold made his first solo flight 13 May after three hours and forty-eight minutes of flight in 28 lessons.Milling, instructed by Cliff Turpin, had already soloed on 8 May with two hours of flight time. He had attracted the attention of Orville Wright, who went up with him (but not Arnold) and approved the early solo. On 14 May, he and Milling completed their instruction. Arnold received Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) pilot certificate number 29 on 6 July 1911, and Military Aviator Certificate Number 2 a year later. He also was recognized by a general order in 1913 as one of the first 24 rated military aviators, authorized to wear the newly designed Military Aviator badge.
After several more weeks of solo flying in Dayton to gain experience, Arnold and Milling were sent on 14 June to the Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps station established at College Park, Maryland, to be the Army's first flight instructors. There Arnold set an altitude record of on 7 July and thrice broke it (18 August 1911, to ; 25 January 1912, to ; and 1 June 1912, ). In August 1911, he experienced his first crash, trying to take off from a farm field after getting lost. In September Arnold became the first U.S. pilot to carry mail, flying a bundle of letters five miles (8 km) on Long Island, New York, and he is credited as the first pilot to fly over the U.S. Capitol and the first to carry a United States Congressman as a passenger. The following month, Arnold moonlighted as a pilot in the filming of two silent movies, doubling for the leads in The Military Air-Scout and The Elopement.
The flight school moved in November 1911 to a farm leased near Augusta, Georgia, hoping to continue flying there during the winter. Training was limited by rain and flooding, and they returned to Maryland in May 1912. Arnold began to develop a phobia about flying, intensified by Al Welsh's fatal crash at College Park on 11 June.Also killed in the crash was 2d Lieutenant Leighton W. Hazelhurst Jr. In August Arnold was at Marblehead, Massachusetts, with 1st Lieutenant Roy C. Kirtland conducting acceptance tests of the Burgess Model H, an enclosed-fuselage tandem-seat seaplane and the Army's first tractor (front-mounted propeller and engine). The pair received orders to fly the new aircraft to Bridgeport, Connecticut, to participate in maneuvers but high winds forced them to land on Massachusetts Bay on 12 August. Attempting to take off again, Arnold caught a wing tip in the water turning into the wind and crashed into the bay off Plymouth. Arnold suffered a lacerated chin during the mishap but the aircraft was salvaged and repaired. Another crash at College Park on 18 September killed 2nd Lieutenant Lewis Rockwell, an academy classmate of Arnold's.
In October, Arnold and Milling were ordered to enter the competition for the first MacKay Trophy for "the most outstanding military flight of the year." Arnold won when he located a company of cavalry from the air and returned safely despite strong turbulence. As a result, he and Milling were sent to Fort Riley, Kansas, to experiment with radio and other communications from the air with the field artillery. Arnold's flight on 2 November in Wright C Speed Scout S.C. Number 10, with 1st Lieutenant Follett Bradley as his wireless operator, successfully sent the first radio telegraph message, at a distance of , from an aircraft to a receiver on the ground, manned by 1st Lt. Joseph O. Mauborgne of the Signal Corps.Ironically, Arnold was stationed in the Philippines as an infantry officer two years later when Mauborgne went aloft himself with Arnold's close friend 2nd Lieutenant Bert Dargue, and made the first two-way communication from the air to the ground, a radio station on Corregidor on 11 December 1914. Three days later, Arnold flew on an artillery spotting exercise with 1st Lieutenant Alfred L.P. Sands of the 6th Field Artillery as an observer. Spiraling down to land in S.C. No. 10, the plane stalled, went into a spin, and they narrowly avoided a fatal crash.On 9 February 1914, Lieutenant Henry Post was flying this aircraft near San Diego in an attempt to establish an altitude record. As Post spiraled down below 600 feet, the aircraft went into a vertical dive similar to Arnold's and crashed into San Diego Bay, killing him. () He immediately grounded himself and applied for a leave of absence. Flying was considered so dangerous that no stigma was attached for refusing to fly, and his request was granted.Five of the Army's 14 aviators transferred out during 1913. During his leave of absence he renewed an acquaintance with Eleanor "Bee" Pool, the daughter of a banker, and one of his father's patients."Bee" was shortened from "Beetle" or "Beadle", a name given to her by her older brothers. Although Arnold often used "Beadle" in his letters to her, there is no dispute that she was habitually referred to as "Bee" by family and associates.