U.S.A.F 70th Birthday

By Matthew Willis and Trevor Farley

Staff reporters

On September eighteenth, 2017 it was the United States’ Air force seventieth birthday. The Air Force is a really important branch in the United States’ military. The Air Force is the branch of the military that deals with airpower, airplanes, and aerodynamics. Right now the Air Force’s Chief of Staff is General David Goldfein. The amount of active duty in the Air Force now is approximately 318,415 people including officers and enlisted.

The Air Force is a very large branch of the United States’ military. The Air Force’s history is a strange history but it started off with Billy Mitchell. He believed that airpower was the way forward in modern combat.

Billy Mitchell was an army Colonel in WW1 and WW2 who commanded the army air force. He thought the army Air Force should have it’s own branch separate from the army. He believed that air power was going to be a key element in the success of the allies in the war. When his fellow officers disagreed with him about it he was infuriated. He showed them a test about how airplanes could sink battleships, which was a very big problem in the war but they still disagreed with him. Mitchell continued to argue and tell people about how important airplanes could be in combat.

Kamryn Lovett an 8th grader, whose father is retired air force. Talked about why the air force was important to her family, “ I’m very proud that my dad has served my country but, I don’t know a lot  about as he retired when I was still a little kid starting school.”  

After continually doing this he angered the top army brass. Soon Mitchell was court-martialed from the army, but he kept continuing to tell people about the Air Force’s importance until his death on February nineteenth, 1936. Billy Mitchell is considered to be the father of the modern air force and air-power. A few years later the United States Air Force was founded on September 18, 1947 by congress.

The Air Force soon progressed in size and strength rapidly growing into one of the biggest military branches. It has played a crucial role in every war the United States has fought in 1947 and onwards. At Frank J. Dobie junior high there is a very high percentage of military families each are unique and from different aspects of the military and life. Some of these students are part of Air Force families, the Air Force still remains important in the military to this day. Happy birthday everyone.