Billy Mitchell(1879-1936)
U.S. Army officer who foresaw -- and unwisely trumpeted -- the need for
air power to win land wars. (Unwise, because his candor cost him his
career.) He advocated a separate air force, thus incurring the wrath of
U.S. army and navy brass. When the navy airship "Shenandoah" went down
in 1925, Mitchell accused the government of "incompetency, criminal
negligence and almost treasonable administration of the national
defense." On account of that statement he was court-martialed for
insubordination, and he eventually resigned from the army. The story is
wonderfully captured, with Gary Cooper in the role of the general, in
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955).
