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    Billy Mitchell: Stormy Petrel Of The Air [Illustrated Edition]
    Billy Mitchell: Stormy Petrel Of The Air [Illustrated Edition]
    Billy Mitchell: Stormy Petrel Of The Air [Illustrated Edition]
    Ebook94 pages1 hour

    Billy Mitchell: Stormy Petrel Of The Air [Illustrated Edition]

    By Roger G. Miller

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    About this ebook

    Includes 25 illustrations

    A short but detailed biography of the prophet of American military Airpower – Billy Mitchell.

    On July 21, 1921, Brig. Gen. William “Billy” Mitchell circled high above the rough surface of the Chesapeake Bay, exultant witness to an event he had orchestrated and produced. Shortly after noon, the mortally wounded, former-German battleship Ostfriesland began to roll, turning completely over while air escaping from the huge hull gave sounds that some present interpreted as the sighs of a great beast dying. By one o’clock it was over, and Ostfriesland had slipped below the surface. It was not the sinking that was unique, however. Modern battleships had sunk before. They had been lost in storms and split their hulls on reefs and rocks. They had been hit by torpedoes, crushed by shell fire, and even sunk by mines and scuttling charges. But no battleship had ever gone to the bottom as the direct result of aerial bombs dropped from the fragile airplane, a new invention then barely eighteen years old. Disbelieving observers aboard the nearby U.S.S. Henderson were shocked, appalled, and dismayed as the Ostfriesland disappeared. Among the naval officers were some with tears in their eyes. But for the outspoken, flamboyant Billy Mitchell it was fulfillment and vindication. He had prophesied that aircraft could sink battleships; had fought for the trials that had just taken place; and had selected, organized, and trained the airmen who had accomplished their mission. Sinking the Ostfriesland was in many ways the summit of his military career, and Billy was not about to let anyone ignore his victory. Command pennant streaming from his aircraft, Mitchell paraded past the Henderson waving his wings, rubbing salt into a deep Navy wound.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTannenberg Publishing
    Release dateNov 6, 2015
    ISBN9781786252463
    Billy Mitchell: Stormy Petrel Of The Air [Illustrated Edition]
    Author

    Roger G. Miller

    See Book Description

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      Book preview

      Billy Mitchell - Roger G. Miller

      This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING—www.picklepartnerspublishing.com

      To join our mailing list for new titles or for issues with our books – picklepublishing@gmail.com

      Or on Facebook

      Text originally published in 2004 under the same title.

      © Pickle Partners Publishing 2015, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

      Publisher’s Note

      Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

      We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

      BILLY MITCHELL STORMY PETREL OF THE AIR

      Roger G. Miller

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Contents

      TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

      BILLY MITCHELL STORMY PETREL OF THE AIR 7

      RECOMMENDED READING 49

      REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 51

      Appendix I — Mitchell: Colonel or Brigadier General? 52

      Appendix II — Mitchell: Medal of Honor Winner? 54

      Appendix III — Decorations and Awards 55

      Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell personally led the attack on the Ostfriesland from his pennant-marked De Havilland DH–4. (Courtesy U.S. Air Force Museum)

      The Ostfriesland sinking, July 21, 1921. Escaping air from the hull seemed to some observers to be the sighs of a great beast dying.

      BILLY MITCHELL STORMY PETREL OF THE AIR

      petrel \’pe- trel, pê-\ [alternate of earlier pitteral] : any of numerous seabirds; esp. : one of the smaller long-wing birds that fly far from land — compare STORM PETREL.

      Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary.

      He was known as the ‘Stormy Petrel of the Air’—petrel, a bird in flight. He was that, and he soared with eagles . . .

      James J. Cooke, Billy Mitchell, p. 287.

      On July 21, 1921, Brig. Gen. William Billy Mitchell circled high above the rough surface of the Chesapeake Bay, exultant witness to an event he had orchestrated and produced. Shortly after noon, the mortally wounded, former-German battleship Ostfriesland began to roll, turning completely over while air escaping from the huge hull gave sounds that some present interpreted as the sighs of a great beast dying. By one o’clock it was over, and Ostfriesland had slipped below the surface. It was not the sinking that was unique, however. Modern battleships had sunk before. They had been lost in storms and split their hulls on reefs and rocks. They had been hit by torpedoes, crushed by shell fire, and even sunk by mines and scuttling charges. But no battleship had ever gone to the bottom as the direct result of aerial bombs dropped from the fragile airplane, a new invention then barely eighteen years old. Disbelieving observers aboard the nearby U.S.S. Henderson were shocked, appalled, and dismayed as the Ostfriesland disappeared. Among the naval officers were some with tears in their eyes. But for the outspoken, flamboyant Billy Mitchell it was fulfillment and vindication. He had prophesied that aircraft could sink battleships; had fought for the trials that had just taken place; and had selected, organized, and trained the airmen who had accomplished their mission. Sinking the Ostfriesland was in many ways the summit of his military career, and Billy was not about to let anyone ignore his victory. Command pennant streaming from his aircraft, Mitchell paraded past the Henderson waving his wings, rubbing salt into a deep Navy wound.

      * * *

      William Mitchell—he had no middle name—was born on December 29, 1879, into a wealthy and prominent Wisconsin family living at the time in Nice, France. Prior to the Civil War, his grandfather, Alexander Mitchell, had established the Marine Fire and Insurance Company—a bank despite its name—and expanded it into a respected Milwaukee business. And during the war, he built and operated the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad. Alexander Mitchell’s business acumen had made him and his family wealthy by the time the war ended. His son, John Ledlum Mitchell, however, proved more interested in literature, languages, and travel, and would ultimately lose much of the family fortune. John enlisted in the 24th Wisconsin infantry during the Civil War and saw combat during several of the western campaigns. Following the war he traveled extensively, played a significant role in the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans, and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and later the Senate.

      Billy grew up in Milwaukee, but his parents, especially his father, were often absent. Billy liked the outdoors. He hunted and fished and, especially, loved horses and horsemanship, an affection he would never lose. He was popular and charming, and as a youngster assimilated many of the characteristics that had made his grandfather successful, including self-confidence, drive, ambition, courage, competitiveness, and a certain ruthlessness common to nineteenth-century captains of industry. Though intelligent, Billy was not particularly studious. He received private tutoring at home and spent several years at Racine College of Wisconsin, an Episcopalian preparatory school. Tired of the strict discipline at Racine, however, he transferred in 1895 to Columbian Preparatory, later George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., where his parents resided while his father was in the Senate.

      In April 1898, the United States declared war on Spain. Adventure called and eighteen-year- old Mitchell promptly abandoned his studies and enlisted

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