American Military History, Volume 2 by Richard W. Stewart

The airplane and the tank both came to symbolize the changing face of warfare during Word War I. But U.S. aviation programs retained their vitality after the war, while the tank fell captive to the conservatism of existing service branches after the National Defense Act of 1920's dissolution of the Tank Corps. The glamour of flight had captured the public imagination, and champions of air power insisted that the new technology could change the face of warfare. Strategic bombing, according to Italy's Giulio Douhet and other theorists, could replace traditional land and naval actions as the dominant form of warfare by directly targeting an enemy nation's population and industrial base, hence its will and capacity to wage war.

Advocates of strategic bombing disagreed with the Army's prevail- ing view of the airplane as a vehicle for reconnaissance and fire sup- port, producing a split within both the Army and the Air Service itself. Brig. Gen. (Acting) William "Billy" Mitchell emerged from the war as the leading U.S. champion of strategic air power, demonstrating the potential of heavy bombers in a series of tests against obsolete war- ships during 1921 and 1923. Mitchell's outspoken behavior and open criticism of prevailing aerial doctrine resulted in his 1925 reduction to the permanent rank of colonel, 1926 court-martial for insubordination, and subsequent resignation from the Army.