Mitchell, Billy [William]
Mitchell, Billy [William] (1879–1936), army officer, airpower theorist.Scion of a Wisconsin railroad and banking family, Mitchell was born in Nice, France, where his parents were vacationing. Enlisting as a private in the Spanish‐American War, nineteen‐year‐old Billy was promoted to lieutenant as a result of an appeal by his father, John Mitchell, a U.S. senator. In 1901, he became a regular army lieutenant in the Signal Corps. Promoted to major, he was appointed chief of the Signal Corps' new aviation section in 1916.
In World War I, as a brigadier general, Mitchell organized and ably led the U.S. Army's fledgling Air Service in France. In addition to aerial pursuit, reconnaissance, and ground support, he experimented with mass bombing of enemy military formations and installations in the war zone. From this experience and his discussions with Sir Hugh Trenchard, head of the Royal Flying...
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