Jack M. Ivy

The Paradoxical Paradigm: Aviation Leadership, 1918-1926: How William Moffett Changed the Navy and How Billy Mitchell Prevented the Formation of a Separate Air Force Jack M. Ivy

This paper scrutinizes the senior aeronautical leaders in the early inter-war period. The author's thesis is that the Navy embraced the new technology of aviation, and the entire Navy changed as a result, while the Army rejected aviation, relegating it to a separate "special" category that inevitably led to independence. The author's contention is that Rear Admiral William Moffett's superior leadership and acute understanding of his organization brought about the metamorphosis of the Navy into a modern combat force, while the Army aeronautical leaders' misunderstanding of their organization was responsible for the technology being rejected. The author also proposes that Brigadier General William Mitchell, far from the often proclaimed spiritual father of the modern Air Force, was the inept leader primarily responsible for the United States NOT forming an independent air force during the interwar period.