Write a short essay describing the career of one of them and how he contributed to military aviation.

Q: Research air power pioneers and write an essay about one of them. Generals Billy Mitchell, Curtis LeMay, and Hap Arnold were three of the pioneers of the United States Air Force. Using the index in your textbook, find and read the paragraphs discussing their role in building American air power. Write a short essay describing the career of one of them and how he contributed to military aviation.
Henry H. Arnold He was one of the first four military aviators in the service of the United States, and he guided United States military aviation to its pre-eminent position as a world power while becoming the only person in U.S. history to hold the rank of five-star general in both the Army and Air Force. He loved Hamilton Field and in 1946 retired to live in the North Bay area.
Arnold initially was assigned to the 29th Infantry, serving with it in the Philippine Islands for two years. He returned home for two-and-a-half-years’ duty at Governors Island, N.Y. until April 1911 when he was detailed to the Signal Corps and sent to Dayton, Ohio for instructions in the Wright biplane. The Wright Brothers, who had made their first flight in 1903, personally instructed him for two months, after which he soloed and became one of the earliest military aviators in June 1911.
During the latter part of 1912 Arnold went to Fort Riley, Kan., as an aerial observer of Field Artillery firing and was the first military aviator to use radio to report his observations. In November 1912 he was assigned to the Office of the Chief Signal Officer in Washington, where he was promoted to first lieutenant in April 1913. In September he went back to the 13th Infantry. He stayed there until March 1916 and came home for two months at Madison Barracks, N.Y., before going back to aviation duties in May 1916, with promotion to captain and duty at the new flying school at San Diego, Calif.
In February 1917 Arnold went to Panama to organize an air service there, which he commanded until May 1917. As the U.S. entered World War I, he was called back to Washington, promoted to major June 17, 1917, and on Aug. 5 was promoted to full colonel. He was in charge of Information Service in the Aviation Division of the Signal Corps. When the Office of Military Aeronautics was created, Arnold became assistant executive officer and in February 1918 was named assistant director. He went to France in November 1918 at war’s end on an inspection tour of aviation activities. He returned in January 1919 as supervisor of the Air Service at Coronado, Calif., and as air officer of the 9th Corps Area at the Presidio at San Francisco.
His title was changed to chief of the Army Air Forces on June 30, 1941, and that December he got a third star. When the War Department General Staff was organized in March 1942 Arnold became commanding general of Army Air Forces. Prior to and all during World War II, he directed air activities for the nation’s global war against Germany and Japan. Under him the air arm grew from 22,000 officers and men with 3,900 planes to nearly 2,500,000 men and 75,000 aircraft. Early in 1943 Arnold made a 35,000-mile tour of North Africa, Middle East, India and China, and attended the Casablanca Conferences. In March 1943 he was promoted to four-star general. He suffered a heart attack in 1945 as the war drew to a close, attributed by his doctors to overwork.
He retired from the service June 30, 1946, after earning most of the honors a nation can give a world military leader of his stature, including three Distinguished Service crosses, the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal and decorations from Morocco, Brazil, Yugoslavia, Peru, France, Mexico and Great Britain. During his long career Arnold wrote a number of books, including early boys’ books to create interest among youth in flying, and the post-World War II autobiography “Global Mission,” an accurate account of Air Force activities in the war and his own life. On May 7, 1949 Hap Arnold was appointed the first general of the Air Force, five-star rank, by the U.S. Congress