The Way and Life of General Carl A. Spaatz
The name General Carl ‘Tooey’ Andrew Spaatz has become synonymous with the phrase air power and strategist. Air power has come along way since Wilbur and Orville launched the first airplane in 1902 in the city of Kitty Hawk. Famous engineers have taken the Wright-Brothers design and made great improvements to them while slowly integrating these new powerful means of transportation, weaponry and communication aids into the military. Since the onset of World War I there has been a debate on how to most effectively use these new airplanes in the Army’s collection. Most individuals believed that airplanes should be under control of the Army theater commander, while very few felt that these airplanes should be a separate entity from the Army. One of these few people who believed that the Air Force should be separate is General Spaatz. General Spaatz possessed perseverance, leadership attributes and military knowledge; all factors leading him becoming a substantial proponent of a separate Air Force. Spaatz legacy continues to live on; his leadership skills continue to influence people today as General Spaatz is still able to impact air power in the 21st century.
It is no accident that General Spaatz is a proponent of a separate Air Force. Spaatz’s perseverance, leadership attributes and military knowledge would lead him to be a proponent of a separate Air Force were all being shaped, tweaked and instilled upon him during his early plebe years at the United States Military Academy (USMA) beginning in 1900. Looking back on Spaatz’s career at the USMA, one would not predict Spaatz to become the first Chief of Staff of the newly independent United States Air Force. However, these four years spent at the USMA were very influential, particularly in Spaatz’s development as a leader and his ability to persevere. While at the USMA Spaatz was very much a rebel and was constantly breaking the rules. Nevertheless, Spaatz knew he was smart, he demonstrated this by being ranked in the top half of his class. Although, as Spaatz entered his senior year, he felt he had nothing else to prove and began to slack off. Eventually Spaatz ended up being ranked near the bottom of his class. He went from the rank of 39th to 98th of 107 within a year. With the possibility of getting kicked-out Spaatz used his perseve...
... middle of paper ...
...orce is grateful for a man like General Spaatz and the events that occurred in his lifetime. He may have been subject to coincidence, or even fate, but either way Spaatz’s leadership, perseverance and military knowledge is no accident.
Works Cited
Davis, Richard G. "Carl A. Spaatz and the Development of the Royal Air
Force-U.S. Army Air Corps Relationship, 1939-1940." The Journal of Military
History. Oct. 1990: EBSCOhost. 9 Nov. 2003
Davis, Richard G. "Gen Carl Spaatz and D Day." Airpower Journal. Winter 1997: Military & Government Collection. 10 Nov. 2003
Doughty, Robert A., and Ira D. Gruber. Warfare in the Western World. Vol.
II. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001. 797.
Glines, C.V.. "Air Power Strategist Carl A. Spaatz." Aviation History. Vol. 12, Issue 4. Mar. 2002: Military & Government Collection. 8 Nov. 2003
McNeely, Gina. "Legacy of Flight." Aviation History. Mar. 1998: Academic Search Premier. 8 Nov. 2003.
Maj. Carl A. Spaatz. 7 June 2002. The Evolution of Aeronautical
Development at the Aeronautical Systems Center . 8 Nov. 2003
.
Mets, David R. Master of Airpower. Novato, California: Presido, 1988.
Airmen: An Illustrated History: 1939-1949.” Oct. 2012. Vol. 65 Issue 4, pg. 316-319. 4p. Ebsco Host. Tucker, Phillip Thomas, 1953. Web.2014.
In today’s world, the use of airplanes in wars or in everyday life has become a part of how we live as human beings. Removing the air forces of the world is like taking a step back in time when wars were only fought on land or sea. WWI began only eleven short years after the Wright brothers achieved powered flight in 19031 and yet aircrafts were being used for surveillance and eventually combat purposes. It is understood that these aircrafts were primitive, but they laid down the foundation for what we know today as fighter jets. The Fokker Eindecker “revolutionized air combat by successfully employing a synchronized forward -firing machine gun mounted on the engine cowling”2. Because this airplane became the first to successfully use a synchronized machine gun, it allowed its pilots to become the first aerial combat tactitions3.
Parsons, Othal T. Interview by author, 17 April 1995. Mail questionnaire. 12th Armored Division Historical Project, Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas.
Lowe, A. (1998). Air Marshal William Avery Bishop. [WWW Document]. Retrieved May 2nd, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.billybishop.net/zone/bishop.html
Sanderson, Jefferey. "GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON, JR.” Last modified may 22, 1997. Accessed January 4, 2014. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCwQFjAA&url=http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a331356.pdf&ei=tYbHUtv3HcGs2gX2u4HAAQ&usg=AFQjCNFU5EzdWjKlt81w8gh_Bj2UEttaZw&sig2=aAz3jIZg7U6peDzL_i8w9w.
Hogan, D. (2004). Centuries of Service. Retrieved September 11, 2009, from the Center of Military History website
Cameron, R. S. (2003). The army vision: The 4th AD in world war II. Military Review, 83(6), 59-68
Armies and Navies have clashed since antiquity, but the airplane that enables aerial combat is barely a century old. Airplanes saw widespread combat in the First World War, and, despite the doubts and financial concerns of military leaders of the time, the brave men who fly them have gained their own dedicated military division, the United States Air Force. Billy Mitchell, through his charisma and an image that endeared him in American culture, was an instrumental figure in developing the modern Air Force.
Lucas, C. (1997 September) Chief Airey. Air Force Magazine, vol 80. Retrieved from http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/1997/September 1997/0997airey.aspx
Johnson, David E. Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers: Innovation in the U.S. Army, 1917-1945. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1998. Print.
...be waged from the skies. Battle plans now had to include a way to protect soldiers from attack from over head and to harass the enemy using the same. In the beginning powered flight had little effect on war but by the end it was a major aspect. Air power became a major contributing factor to who would win a war.
War Department Office of the Chief of the Army Air Forces, “AWPD-1”, (Washington: War Department, 1941), 17.
- - -, ed. "The Anti-War Movement in the United States." English.Illnois.edu. Ed. Oxford Companion to American Military History. 1st ed. Vers. 1. Rev. 1. Oxford Companion to American Military History, 1999. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. .
Heppenheimer, T. (2001). A Brief History Of Flight: From Balloons to Mach 3 and Beyond. Canada: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Unikoski, Ari. “The War in the Air - Summary of the Air War”. First World War.com. 2009. http://www.firstworldwar.com/airwar/summary.htm