A brief history of Henry Harley Arnold 5 star rank USAF general
By Willie Bodenstein
10.11.2024
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Born on 25 June 1886 Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold was an aviation pioneer and the only U.S. Air Force general to hold five-star rank as well as the only officer to hold a five-star rank in two different U.S. military services, General of the Army and General of the Air Force.
He had just turned seventeen when he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point. However, he soon realised that infantry troop duties were not for him and when he heard that Captain Arthur S. Cowan of the 20th Infantry, was on a temporary assignment in the Philippines was tasked with mapping the island of Luzon he volunteered.
Arnold was twenty-one in 1911 when he saw his first airplane in flight and on 21 April 1911, he requested a transfer to the US Signal Corps and was accepted. He started flight training at Dayton, Ohio on a Wright Model B airplane. After several weeks of solo flying in Dayton, Arnold and a fellow student Milling were sent to the Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps station established to be the Army's first flight instructors.
It was whilst stationed at the signal station he set an altitude record of 3,260 feet (990 m) on 7 July 1911 and thrice broke it (18 August 1911, to 4,167 feet (1,270 m); 25 January 1912, to 4,764 feet (1,452 m); and 1 June 1912, 6,540 feet (1,990 m)).
In October, Arnold and Milling were ordered to enter the competition for the first MacKay Trophy for "the most outstanding military flight of the year." Arnold won when he located a company of cavalry from the air and returned safely despite high turbulence. As a result, he was sent to Fort Riley, Kansas, to experiment with radio and other communications from the air with the field artillery. Arnold's flight on 2 November in a Wright C Speed Scout S.C. No. 10, with 1st Lt. Follett Bradley as his wireless operator, successfully sent the first radio telegraph message, at a distance of 6 miles (9.7 km), from an aircraft to a receiver on the ground.
Arnold had an illustrious career during both world wars. He passed away on 15 January 1950, at his home in Sonoma.
