Aviation History - July 2018

AvIATORS

12 AH JULY 2018

ABOVE: THOMAS D. MCAVOY/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES; LEFT: U.S. AIR FORCE

The Writer

Side of Hap

Arnold

PIONEER AMERICAN MILITARY

PILOT, CHAMPION OF THE AIR

SERVICE, COMMANDING GENERAL

OF THE ARMY AIR FORCES AND...

CHILDREN’S AUTHOR?

BY WALTER S. ANDARIESE

G

eneral Henry H. Arnold’s leadership of the U.S. Army

Air Forces in World War II was extraordinary and well

documented. During World War I, however, “Hap”

served mostly Stateside with the Army Air Service,

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service rivalries in which Army aviation always seemed to

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1920s intended to highlight the value of military aviation and

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Although Arnold’s books

were aimed at teenagers,

adults today who are inter

ested in early aviation will

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informative. They feature

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airman Lieutenant Bill

Bruce, freshly returned from

WWI service following the

Armistice. One volume in

the series, Bill Bruce on Border

Patrol, opens with a list of

all titles in the set under the

heading “The Aviator Series

• Adventures of a Young
  Airplane Pilot for Boys 12
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  titles are: Bill Bruce and the
  Pioneer Aviators, Bill Bruce
  the Flying Cadet, Bill Bruce
  Becomes an Ace, Bill Bruce on
  Forest Patrol and Bill Bruce
  in the Trans-continental Race.
  5W[\IZMI^IQTIJTM^QIM*Ia
  or other online suppliers.
  The Border Patrol book
  mainly concerns America’s
  Southwest, but it also relates
  to WWI. While not a combat
  pilot himself, Arnold asso
  ciated with them and was
  familiar with the slang, ter

HAPPY DAYS Henry H.

“Hap” Arnold smiles after

signing the repeal of the

Neutrality Act in November

1939 (above) and takes the

controls of a Wright Model B

as a flight instructor at College

Park, Md., in June 1911 (left).