Arnold, Henry (redirected from Hap Arnold)

Arnold, Henry (Harley)

 known as Hap Arnold

(born June 25, 1886, Gladwyne, Pa., U.S.—died Jan. 15, 1950, Sonoma, Calif.) U.S. air force officer. He attended West Point and initially served in the infantry. Volunteering as a flyer, he received instruction from Orville Wright. After World War I, with Billy Mitchell he became an eloquent advocate of an expanded air force. He rose through the ranks of the U.S. Army Air Corps to become its commander in 1938, and he commanded the Army Air Forces worldwide during World War II, overseeing a massive buildup and greatly influencing air bombardment strategy. He was named general of the army in 1944 and, after the National Defense Act of 1947 created an independent Air Force, general of the Air Force.

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Arnold, (Henry Harley) “Hap” (1886–1950) soldier, aviator; born in Gladwyne, Pa. A physician's son, he graduated from West Point in 1907 and served in the infantry before transferring to the Signal Corps. Bored with garrison routine, Arnold volunteered for flight training, receiving instruction from no less an authority than Orville Wright, and obtained a pilot's license in 1911. An ally of air visionary William Mitchell, Arnold became a leading advocate of air power during the 1920s and 1930s. As commander of the Army Air Corps (1938) and, from 1941 onward, as chief of the Army Air Forces, he built a mighty air fleet—64,000 aircraft and 2.4 million men—and developed strategic and tactical air doctrine, including the massive long-range bombing of Germany and Japan. Arnold retired in 1946, a year before the air force became an independent service. Given a fifth star as a general of the army in 1944, his commission was changed to general of the air force in 1949. Arnold wrote several books, including This Flying Game (1936) and Global Mission (1949).