He proposed that airpower could relegate trench warfare to the annals of history. Airpower, Mitchell contended, provided a method to achieve victory more quickly, cheaply, and humanely than ground combat. Mitchell further comprehended that technology was double-edged. It could both protract and curtail war’s slaughter and suffering. Machine guns, chemical weapons, and artillery had slain millions for many years and little gain; airpower, he hoped, would achieve strategic goals with minimal time and destruction. He correctly recognized that his innovative concept ran contrary to traditional army thinking on the role of airpower in war. It also deviated from naval airpower, which served primarily for defense of the battleship or carrier group. Mitchell, therefore, envisioned a separate American military service: distinct from the army in that it focused entirely on the air domain and its associated technological and theoretical issues, and different from the navy in perspective and potential …show more content…
The Air Corps Act of 1926 created the Army Air Corps, established an Assistant Secretary for War for Air, and provided representation on the War Department’s General Staff. Moreover, airpower enthusiasts created professional military education programs, such as the Air Corps Tactical School. These programs not only emphasized the importance of strategic bombing, but also facilitated debate on the role of fighter aircraft. Consequently, future advocates of airpower expanded the theory and refined the practice of implementing aviation technology and air war tactics. Education became the most significant method of enculturating airpower in the American