Advocate of Air Power

Mitchell was promoted to the rank of brigadier general for his service in World War I. After the war, he returned to the United States as second in command of the air service. Mitchell urged research into better bombing sights, more power­ful aircraft engines, and torpedoes that could be dropped by plane. He wanted to build planes that could carry troops and to form a separate air force with an inde­pendent command. He also managed to form an aerial force to fight forest fires.

Mitchell made sure that aviation stayed in the news and in the minds of Americans. He sent his pilots on speed and endurance flights to build publicity. In 1922, Lieutenant James Doolittle became the first person to fly across the United States in less than a day. The next year, Lieutenants John Macready and Oakley Kelly made headlines by fly­ing across the country nonstop. In 1924, Mitchell sent eight airmen in four planes to fly around the world. Two of the planes crashed along the way, but two arrived back in Seattle, Washington State (their departure point), six months and 26,345 miles (42,389 kilometers) after taking off.