billy mitchell and his flyers have done it, something that many people maintain was not possible, but they had done it. mitchell realizes the gravity of what he has just done. he admitted later to being emotional in the moment. he said, we wanted to destroy her from the air, but when it was actually accomplished, it was a very serious and awesome site. -- sight. he knows what he has just done. to celebrate, he buzzes the vips aboard the transport henderson. this is a photograph of mitchell buzzing the vips. you notice some atlantic fleet tips visible in the distance off to the right. if you look carefully on the deck, you will notice a variety of reactions. many people are cheering and some people are waving their hats. there were several admirals, particularly service fleet admirals, who were openly weeping, and had openly wept at the death of ostfriesland. because they knew the impact, they felt the impact, the power of what had just happened. that is where the title comes from, the admirals left -- wept, with the admirals are weeping aboard the henderson. billy mitchell has done it

billy mitchell has done it. his flyers have done it their theories have been validated their techniques have been successful and that night. they throw one heck of a party at langley to celebrate. this is a incredible moment and has been called. i think correctly the high watermark the high point of billy mitchell's career. as an air power advocate i think that's absolutely true. i mentioned some later tests. these will occur in september 1921 in the chesapeake bay with uss, alabama. that's a photograph here and then in 1923 with uss, new jersey and uss, virginia off cape hatteras in both cases. they will test gas bombs white phosphorus bombs. that's actually a one of mitchell's planes dropping a white phosphorus bomb on the mass to the alabama there to test the effects of incendi aries to test the effects of gas on american ships older american ships, but nonetheless american ships and then mitchell will sink them and we'll send them all to the bottom replicating what he had done in the summer of excuse me in t

we're going to be talking about billy mitchell and his atlantic tests with our with our special guests joining us from wisconsin. so with that said, i'd like to go ahead and introduce our speakers tonight. chris kohakowski has been a guest speaker here at the museum previously. he did used to live here in the hampton roads area. he specifically spoke at a couple of different summer of flight presentations that were really well received. during his time as the director of the macarthur memorial in norfolk. he's a reviewer and contributor to the air force journal

billy mitchell, who was now billy mitchell, who was now promoted to temporary brigadier promoted to temporary brigadier general would lead the air general would lead th attack in this area. when the attack launched, pershing or no one else had any idea what kind of success the americans would have since this was their so-called baptism of fire. but the attack could not have but the attack could not have gone off more beautifully. gone off more beautifully. the weather was horrible. the weather was horribl it was rainy. it was rainy. it was chilly. it was chilly. the americans launched the the americans launched the attack heading north in this attack heading north in this direction of where we are direction of where we are standing. standing. unbeknownst to them, the germans unbeknownst to them, the germans who had occupied this whole who had occupied this whole salient had began a withdrawal salient had began a withdrawal and they were starting to move and they were starting to move their troops but they didn't end their troops but they didn't end them quick enough. them quick enough. by the

we're going to be talking about billy mitchell and his atlantic tests with our with our special guests joining us from wisconsin. so with that said, i'd like to go ahead and introduce our speakers tonight. chris kohakowski has been a guest speaker here at the museum previously. he did used to live here in the hampton roads area. he specifically spoke at a couple of different summer of flight presentations that were really well received.

we're going to be talking about billy mitchell and his atlantic tests with our with our special guests joining us from wisconsin. so with that said, i'd like to go ahead and introduce our speakers tonight. chris kohakowski hee

billy mitchell, who was now promoted to temporary brigadier general, would lead the air attack in thisa. when the attack launched, pershing or really no one else had any idea what kind of success the americans would have since this was their so-called baptism of fire. but the attack could not have gone off more beautifully. the weather was horrible. it was rainy. it was chilly. the americans launched the attack, heading north in this direction of where we are standing. unbeknownst to them, the germans who had occupied this whole salient had begun a withdrawal and they were starting to move their troops, but they didn't move them quick enough. by the end of the day of the 12th, the americans reached not only the main objectives for that day but many of the objectives for the following day. so by mid-morning of september 13th, the whole salient had been liberated. there was sporadic fighting that went on through the 16th. it was also on the 13th of september that general pershing turned 58 years old. when news of the great american victory reached the newspapers, he was touted as a great

in -- the air arm had not gained independence from the army despite the efforts of billy mitchell, which were considerable. at the same time, americans were deeply interested in aviation. then berg's 1925 flight had fired the imagination -- lindbergh's 1925 flight had fired the imagination. u.s. pilots set and reset distance and speed records in competitions all around the world. in the 1930's, vast technological progress was made in efrin design -- airframe design. it was possible to produce large aircraft that could achieve high speeds. between 1934 and 1938, the average speed of airliners increased from 127 miles per hour to 163 miles per hour. commercial airlines were on track to become big business. the united states government had made important investments in aeronautical research. in particular, through the national advisory committee for aeronautics, or naca. the government also aided in key infrastructure such as beacons and emergency landing fields. orders for aircraft and to be placed in limited numbers. most planes were still handcrafted. the industry was not using assembly-

chris: i am the museum director and tonight we will be talking about billy mitchell and