Cunningham's Role In The Marines Corps

The Marines Corps has had a history of being the most aggressive and tactical fighting force in the nation. However, it was not until May 16, 1912 that the Marines were able to defend across the full spectrum: on land, at sea, and in the air. BY ASSUMING UNPRECEDENTED POSITIONS AND PUBLISHING NUMEROUS ARTICLES, LIEUTENANT COLONEL ALFRED AUSTELL CUNNINGHAM PROVED TO BE THE MOST PIVOTAL FIGURE IN THE ADVANCEMENT OF AVIATION IN THE MARINE CORPS.
Alfred Austell Cunningham was born March 8, 1881 in Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated from a military prep school before joining the 2d Georgia Infantry Volunteers at the start of the Spanish American War in 1898. After his time in Cuba, Cunningham returned to the states to pursue a career in real estate
Cunningham’s forward presence as an advocate for Marine Aviation was greatly displayed while he was a member of the Chambers Board. This was a committee specifically chosen by the Secretary of the Navy, the Joseph Daniels, to develop plans for the Naval Aeronautics Service. Although the board focused on naval aviation, Cunningham was insightful in his early recognition that the development and wider acceptance of naval aviation would greatly influence the development and acceptance of Marine Aviation. Through his position on the board, Cunningham was able to propose revolutionary directly influence the decisions of the Secretary of the Navy, and the Major General Commandant of the Marine Corps. In 1912, the first Marine Corps Headquarters of Aviation was established by Major General Commandant Biddle. He stated, “in view of the great benefit to an Advanced Base Force that might result from trained aviators, two officers and one man of the Marine Corps have been under instruction in aviation…and it is hoped that during the coming year this number may be considerably increased.” By the 1920s, the Secretary of the Navy consented to the creation of a Marine flying section at the naval aviation school in Pensacola, Florida. In
Following his initial plea in 1908 that landed him a spot in Marine aviation to begin with, Cunningham testified at a hearing at the Navy Department in Washington, D.C. in 1919 upon the “Development of Naval Aviation Policy.” He argued that Navy and Marine aviation provide invaluable support for both the advanced base and expeditionary forces. He went on to outline specifically where Marine aviation had been vital support both during the World Wars and after, specifically in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nicaragua, and how those successes only proved the need for aviation in the Marine Corps. He also wrote about what the Marine aviation force would specifically need. He advocated for the development of identical air-bases on the East and West coasts that would be the home ports of the expeditionary and advanced base air forces. Cunningham also went on to write articles in the Gazette and Proceedings about how the Marine Corps’ most important tool in carrying out the nation’s interests was aviation. In one of his most well-known articles, “The Value of Aviation to the Marine Corps,” Cunningham wrote a detailed explanation about the successful missions Marine aviation had completed, the exponential growth it experienced in such a short amount of time, and the advantages they had provided such as aerial bombing and photographing. He argued, “If the planes could