Synopses & Reviews
The most famous and controversial figure in the history of American air power, William "Billy" Mitchell began his romance with aviation in 1916 when, at the age of 38, he took private flying lessons—graduating just in time to undertake the mobilization of America’s nascent air forces in World War I.
A daring and tireless leader who rose to the rank of brigadier general, commanding all of America’s aerial-combat units in France, and earning numerous decorations, Mitchell nonetheless managed to alienate most of his superiors—contradictory results that only grew more pronounced during his remarkable, and remarkably difficult, career.
Review
WWII History, July 2006
“In 1905, only two years after the Wright Brothers got their primitive flying maching off the ground, a young Army officer by the name of William Mitchell published a shocking, heretical article in Cavalry Journal. It predicted future wars would be waged ‘in the air, on the surface of the earth, and under the earth and water.’ Jeffers’ account of Billy Mitchell’s life is a story of unflinching honor and the courage to risk everything for one’s deeply held beliefs. Few books have told that story as well as this one.”