Beschreibung:

MITCHELL, WILLIAM ("Billy"). Typed letter signed ("Wm. Mitchell") to Lester D. Gardner, of the Gardner, Moffat Co., War Department, Air Service, Washington, D.C., 26 July 1924. Two pages, 4to, on Mitchell's service imprinted stationery. MITCHELL'S DIRE WARNING OF THE THREAT OF JAPANESE MILITARISM An unusually long letter (for Mitchell), expressing great bitterness at the nation's attitude towards the Air Service and military aviation, voicing a prophetic view of naval power and prescient fear of Japan's growing aviation strength. "...I will come to New York as soon as I can....Our air force, as such, has almost ceased to exist, tactically much more than technically, but both are bad enough. We are again down to the position of the 'blind leading the blind.' The only answer is an independant Air Service and to get away from the Army and Navy, as we have always known. "With the development of our methods, we can absolutely dominate sea areas practically anywhere. It is the only sure method of national defense that we have at the present time where we could dominate. Our people are not inclined to have an army of any size and really do not need one. All the Navy does is to follow behind that of England whereas if they went anywhere near Japan they never would come back; the Japanese air force would destroy them at once. "It is pretty near time for the American people to dig into these things and find out what it is all about...." To remove the difficult Mitchell from Washington, he was sent by his superiors on extended overseas tours. He spent from October l923 to July l924 travelling in the Far East, where he was greatly alarmed by his first-hand contact with Japan's military establishment and accelerating military aviation program. His "Cassandra-like warnings against Japan" (-DAB) continued, unheeded, until his death in l936.