United States Army Air Forces general
This article is about the World War II-era general. For the Pennsylvania State Representative, see
George T. Kenney
.
George Kenney
|
---|
General George C. Kenney
|
Birth name
| George Churchill Kenney
|
---|
Born
| (
1889-08-06
)
August 6, 1889
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
, Canada
|
---|
Died
| August 9, 1977
(1977-08-09)
(aged 88)
Bay Harbor Islands, Florida
, U.S.
|
---|
Place of burial
| |
---|
Allegiance
|
United States of America
|
---|
Service/
branch
| |
---|
Years of service
| - 1917?1947 (Army)
- 1947?1951 (Air Force)
|
---|
Rank
| General
|
---|
Service number
| 0?8940
|
---|
Commands held
| |
---|
Battles/wars
| |
---|
Awards
| |
---|
George Churchill Kenney
(August 6, 1889 ? August 9, 1977) was a
United States Army
general during
World War II
. He is best known as the commander of the
Allied
Air Forces in the
Southwest Pacific Area
(SWPA), a position he held between August 1942 and 1945.
Kenney enlisted as a flying cadet in the
Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps
in 1917, and served on the
Western Front
with the
91st Aero Squadron
. He was awarded a
Silver Star
and the
Distinguished Service Cross
for actions in which he fought off German fighters and shot two down. After hostilities ended he participated in the
Occupation of the Rhineland
. Returning to the United States, he flew reconnaissance missions along the border between the US and Mexico during the
Mexican Revolution
. Commissioned into the
Regular Army
in 1920, he attended the
Air Corps Tactical School
, and later became an instructor there. He was responsible for the acceptance of
Martin NBS-1
bombers built by
Curtis
, and test flew them. He also developed techniques for mounting
.30 caliber machine guns
on the wings of an
Airco DH.4
aircraft.
In early 1940, Kenney became Assistant
Military Attache
for Air in France. As a result of his observations of German and Allied air operations during the early stages of World War II, he recommended significant changes to Air Corps equipment and tactics. In July 1942, he assumed command of the Allied Air Forces and
Fifth Air Force
in
General
Douglas MacArthur
's Southwest Pacific Area. Under Kenney's command, the Allied Air Forces developed innovative command structures, weapons, and tactics that reflected Kenney's orientation towards attack aviation. The new weapons and tactics won perhaps his greatest victory, the
Battle of the Bismarck Sea
, in March 1943. Two other significant bombing raids that ultimately led to complete air supremacy in the
New Guinea campaign
, at
Wewak
(174 planes destroyed) in August 1943 and at
Hollandia
(400 planes destroyed) in March to April 1944, also were due to Kenney and his command. In June 1944 he was appointed commander of the Far East Air Forces (FEAF), which came to include the Fifth,
Thirteenth
, and
Seventh Air Forces
.
In April 1946, Kenney became the first commander of the newly formed
Strategic Air Command
(SAC), but his performance in the role was criticized, and he was shifted to become commander of the
Air University
, a position he held from October 1948 until his retirement from the Air Force in September 1951.
Early life
[
edit
]
George Churchill Kenney was born in
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
, Canada, on August 6, 1889,
during a summer vacation taken by his parents to avoid the humidity of the Boston area. The oldest of four children of carpenter Joseph Atwood Kenney and his wife Anne Louise Kenney, nee Churchill, Kenney grew up in
Brookline, Massachusetts
. He graduated from
Brookline High School
in 1907 and later that year he entered the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), where he pursued a course in civil engineering. After his father left his family, Kenney quit MIT and took various jobs before becoming a
surveyor
for the Quebec Saguenay Railroad.
His mother died in 1913 and Kenney returned to Boston, where he took a job with
Stone & Webster
. In 1914 he joined the
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad
as a civil engineer, building a bridge in
New London, Connecticut
. After this was completed, he formed a partnership, the Beaver Contracting and Engineering Corporation, with a high school classmate, Gordon Glazier. The firm became involved in a number of projects, including the construction of a seawall at
Winthrop, Massachusetts
, and a bridge over the
Squannacook River
.
World War I
[
edit
]
The United States entered
World War I
in April 1917, and Kenney enlisted as a flying cadet in the
Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps
on June 2, 1917. He attended ground school at MIT in June and July, and received primary flight training at
Hazelhurst Field
in
Mineola, New York
, from
Bert Acosta
. He was commissioned as a
first lieutenant
on November 5, 1917, and departed for France soon after. There, he received further flight training at
Issoudun
. This ended in February 1918, when he was assigned to the
91st Aero Squadron
.
The 91st Aero Squadron flew the
Salmson 2A2
, a reconnaissance biplane. Kenney crashed one on takeoff on March 22, 1918. He broke an ankle and a hand, and earned himself the nickname "Bust 'em up George".
His injuries soon healed, and he recorded his first mission on June 3. Kenney flew one of four aircraft on a mission near
Gorze
on September 15, 1918, that was attacked by six German
Pfalz D.III
scouts. His observer
William T. Badham
shot one of them down, and Kenney was credited with his first aerial victory. For this he was awarded a
Silver Star
. A second victory followed in similar circumstances on October 9 while he was flying near
Jametz
in support of the
Meuse-Argonne Offensive
. Once again, the formation he was flying with was attacked by German fighters. This time he was awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross
, which was presented by
Brigadier General
Billy Mitchell
on January 10, 1919.
Kenney's citation read:
[10]
For extraordinary heroism in action near Jametz, France, October 9, 1918. This officer gave proof of his bravery and devotion to duty when he was attacked by a superior number of aircraft. He accepted combat, destroyed one plane and drove the others off. Notwithstanding that the enemy returned and attacked again in strong numbers, he continued his mission and enabled his observer to secure information of great military value.
Kenney remained for a time with the
Allied occupation forces in Germany
, and was promoted to
captain
on March 18, 1919.
He returned to the United States in June 1919. He was the co-author in 1919 of "History of the 91st Aero Squadron"
[12]
He was sent to
Kelly Field
, near
San Antonio, Texas
, and then to
McAllen, Texas
. As commander of the
8th Aero Squadron
, he flew reconnaissance missions along the border with Mexico during the
Mexican Revolution
. Poor aircraft maintenance, rough landing strips and bad weather led to the squadron losing 22 of its 24
Airco DH.4
aircraft in just one year.
Between the wars
[
edit
]
Kenney applied for one of a number of
Regular Army
commissions offered to reservists after the war,
and was commissioned as a captain in the
Air Service
on July 1, 1920.
While he was in hospital in Texas recovering from an aviation accident, he met a nurse,
Helen "Hazel" Dell Richardson, the daughter of a
Mobile, Alabama
, contractor, George W. Richardson. They were married in Mobile on October 6, 1920.
Hazel miscarried twins, and was warned by her doctor of the danger of another pregnancy, but she strongly wished to have a child. In 1922, while the couple was living on
Long Island
, New York, a son, William Richardson Kenney, was born to them, but Hazel died soon afterward from complications. Kenney arranged to have the infant cared for by his neighbor, Alice Steward Maxey, another nurse. On June 5, 1923, Kenney married Maxey in her home town of
Gardiner, Maine
.
From July to November 1920, Kenney was air detachment commander at
Camp Knox
, Kentucky. He then became a student at the Air Service Engineering School at
McCook Field
, near
Dayton Ohio
.
He was the Air Service Inspector at the
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
in
Garden City, New York
, where he was responsible for the acceptance of the fifty
Martin NBS-1
bombers that the Air Service had ordered from Curtis between 1921 and 1923. Kenney inspected the aircraft, and test flew them.
While there, he was reduced in rank from captain to first lieutenant on November 18, 1922,
a common occurrence in the aftermath of World War I when the wartime army was demobilized.
He returned to McCook in 1923, and developed techniques for mounting
.30 caliber machine guns
on the wings of a DH.4.
He was promoted to captain again on November 3, 1923.
His daughter, Julia Churchill Kenney, was born in Dayton in June 1926.
In 1926, Kenney became a student at the
Air Corps Tactical School
, at
Langley Field
, Virginia, the Air Corps' advanced training school. He then attended the
Command and General Staff School
at
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
, the Army's advanced school where officers were taught how to handle large formations as commanders or staff officers. Most Air Corps officers, including Kenney, considered the course largely irrelevant to them, and therefore a waste of time, but nonetheless a prerequisite for promotion in a ground-oriented Army.
Afterwards, he returned to the Air Corps Tactical School as an instructor. He taught classes of attack aviation. He was particularly interested in low-level attacks, as a means of improving accuracy. There were tactical problems with this, as low-flying aircraft were vulnerable to ground fire. There were also technical problems to be solved, as an aircraft could be struck by its own bomb fragments.
His interest in attack aviation would ultimately set him apart in an Air Corps where strategic bombardment came to dominate thinking.
Kenney reached the pinnacle of his professional education in September 1932, when he entered the
Army War College
in
Washington, D.C.
At the war college, committees of students studied a number of World War I battles; Kenney's committee examined the
Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes
. They updated actual war plans, Kenney's study group working on
War Plan Orange
. They also had to write an individual paper; Kenney wrote his on "The Proper Composition of the Air Force". One benefit of the Army War College was that it brought Air Corps officers into contact with ground officers that they would later have to work closely with. Members of Kenney's class included
Richard Sutherland
and
Stephen Chamberlain
, both of whom worked with him on committees.
Graduation from the Army War College was normally followed by a staff posting, and on graduation in June 1933 Kenney became an assistant to
Major
James E. Chaney
in the Plans Division of the Office of the Chief of the Air Corps,
Major General
Benjamin Foulois
. He performed various duties, including translating an article by the Italian air power theorist
Giulio Douhet
into English. In 1934, he was involved with drafting legislation that granted the Air Corps a greater degree of independence. This legislation prompted the Army to create
GHQ Air Force
, a centralized, air force-level command headed by an aviator answering directly to the
Army Chief of Staff
.
Lieutenant Colonel
Frank M. Andrews
was chosen to command it, and selected Kenney as his Assistant Chief of Staff for Plans and Training.
In this role, Kenney was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel on March 2, 1935, skipping that of major. He became involved in an acrimonious debate with the Army General Staff over the Air Corps' desire to purchase more
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
bombers. He also became caught up in a bureaucratic battle between Andrews and Major General
Oscar Westover
over whether the Chief of the Air Corps should control GHQ Air Force. As a result, Kenney was transferred to the
Infantry School
at
Fort Benning, Georgia
, on June 16, 1936, with the temporary rank of major, to teach tactics to young infantry officers. He was promoted to the substantive rank of major on October 1, 1937, but the assignment was hardly a choice one for an Air Corps officer. In September 1938 he accepted an offer to command the
97th Observation Squadron
at
Mitchell Field, New York
.
World War II
[
edit
]
In 1939, Kenney was made Chief of the Production Engineering Section at
Wright Field
, Ohio. He was sent to France in early 1940, once again with the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel, as Assistant
Military Attache
for Air.
His mission was to observe
Allied
air operations during the early stages of World War II. As a result of his observations, he recommended many important changes to Air Corps equipment and tactics, including upgrading armament from .30 caliber to
.50 caliber machine guns
, and installing leak-proof fuel tanks,
but his scathing comparisons of the German
Luftwaffe
with the Air Corps upset many officers.
[25]
This resulted in his being sent back to Wright Field.
In January 1941, he became commander of the Air Corps Experimental Depot and Engineering School there, with the rank of brigadier general. He was promoted to major general on March 26, 1942, when he became commander of the
Fourth Air Force
,
an air defense and training organization based in
San Francisco
.
Kenney personally instructed pilots on how to handle the
Lockheed P-38 Lightning
and
A-29 Hudson
.
Southwest Pacific Area
[
edit
]
In July 1942, Kenney received orders to take over the Allied Air Forces and
Fifth Air Force
in
General
Douglas MacArthur
's
Southwest Pacific Area
. MacArthur had been dissatisfied with the performance of his air commander, Lieutenant General
George Brett
.
Frank M. Andrews, by then a major general, turned down the job, and MacArthur, offered a choice between Kenney and Major General
James Doolittle
, chose Kenney.
Kenney reported to MacArthur in
Brisbane
on July 28, 1942, and was treated to "a lecture for approximately an hour on the shortcomings of the Air Force in general, and the Allied Air Forces in the Southwest Pacific in particular."
Kenney felt that MacArthur did not understand air operations, but recognized that he somehow needed to establish a good working relationship with him. When he asked MacArthur for authority to send people he considered "deadwood" home, something that his superiors in Washington, D.C. had refused to give, MacArthur enthusiastically approved.
Building a good relationship with MacArthur meant getting past MacArthur's chief of staff, Lieutenant General
Richard Kerens Sutherland
. Brett advised Kenney that "a showdown early in the game with Sutherland might clarify the entire atmosphere."
Sutherland, who had a civil pilot's license, had taken to issuing detailed instructions to the Allied Air Forces. This was more than simply a turf battle; to many airmen, it was a part of the ongoing battle for an independent air force that they had long been advocating.
At one point, Kenney drew a dot on a plain page of paper and told Sutherland, "the dot represents what you know about air operations, the entire rest of the paper what I know."
Sutherland backed down, and would henceforth let Kenney run the Allied Air Forces without interference.
It did not follow, however, that MacArthur would invariably accept Kenney's advice.
Kenney sent home Major General
Ralph Royce
, Brigadier Generals Edwin S. Perrin, Albert Sneed and Martin Scanlon,
and about forty colonels.
In Australia, he found two talented, recently arrived brigadier generals,
Ennis Whitehead
and
Kenneth Walker
.
Kenney reorganized his command in August, appointed Whitehead as commander of the V Fighter Command and Walker as commander of the V Bomber Command.
The Allied Air Forces was composed of both
United States Army Air Forces
(USAAF) and
Royal Australian Air Force
(RAAF) personnel. Kenney moved to separate them. Brigadier General
Donald Wilson
arrived in September and replaced
Air Vice Marshal
William Bostock
as Kenney's chief of staff. Bostock took over the newly created
RAAF Command
.
This brought Kenney into conflict with the
Chief of the Air Staff
of the RAAF, Air Vice Marshal
George Jones
, who felt that an opportunity had been lost to simplify the administration of the RAAF. Kenney preferred to have Bostock in command, and while he regarded the antipathy between Jones and Bostock as a nuisance, was happy to leave arrangements the way they were.
However, Kenney deviated from the normal structure of an air force by creating the Advanced Echelon (ADVON) under Whitehead. The new headquarters had the authority to change the assignments of aircraft in the forward area, where fast-changing weather and enemy action could overtake orders drawn up in Australia.
Kenney was promoted to lieutenant general on October 21, 1942.
Perhaps because of his experience in World War I, Kenney had a great deal of respect for Japanese fighters.
He decided to conserve his bombers, and concentrate on attaining air superiority over New Guinea. Kenney switched the bombers to attacking by night unless fighter escorts could be provided.
SWPA had a low priority, and simply could not afford to replace losses from costly daylight missions.
What he needed was an effective long-range fighter, and Kenney hoped that the Lockheed P-38 Lightning would fit the bill, but the first ones delivered to SWPA were plagued with technical problems.
Kenney had
Charles Lindbergh
teach his P-38 pilots how to extend the range of their aircraft.
The Southwest Pacific was not a promising theater of war for the strategic bomber. The bombers of the day did not have the range to reach Japan from Australia,
and there were no typical strategic targets in the theater other than a few oil refineries.
This set up a doctrinal clash between Kenney, an attack aviator, and Walker, the bomber advocate. The long-standing Air Corps tactic for attacking shipping called for large formations of high-altitude bombers. With sufficient mass, so the theory went, bombers could bracket any ship with walls of bombs, and do so from above the effective range of the ship's anti-aircraft fire. However the theoretical mass required was two
orders of magnitude
greater than what was available in the Southwest Pacific.
A dozen or so bombers was the most that could be put together, owing to the small number of aircraft in the theater and the difficulties of keeping them serviceable. The results were therefore generally ineffective, and operations incurred heavy casualties.
Walker resisted Kenney's proposals that the bombers conduct attacks from low level using bombs armed with instantaneous fuses.
Kenney ordered Walker to try the fuses for a couple of months, so that data could be gained about their effectiveness;
a few weeks later Kenney discovered that Walker had discontinued their use. In November, Kenney arranged for a demonstration attack on the SS
Pruth
, a ship that had sunk off Port Moresby in 1924 and was often used for target practice.
After the attack Walker and Kenney took a boat out to the wreck to inspect the damage. As expected, none of the four bombs dropped had hit the stationary wreck, but the instantaneous fuses had detonated the bombs when they struck the water, so bomb fragments had torn holes in the sides of the ship. Walker reluctantly conceded the point.
A few weeks later, Walker was shot down leading a daylight raid over
Rabaul
, an attack that Kenney had ordered to be conducted at night.
In addition to trying different types of ordnance, the Allied Air Forces experimented with modifications to the aircraft themselves. Major
Paul I. "Pappy" Gunn
modified some USAAF
Douglas A-20 Havoc
light bombers by installing four .50 in (12.7 mm)
machine guns
in their noses,
and two 450-US-gallon (1,700 L; 370 imp gal) fuel tanks were added to give the aircraft more range. This was successful, and an attempt was then made to create a longer range attack aircraft by doing the same thing to a
B-25 Mitchell
medium bomber
, to operate as a "commerce destroyer".
This proved to be somewhat more difficult. The resulting aircraft was obviously nose heavy despite adding lead ballast to the tail, and the vibrations caused by firing the machine guns were enough to make rivets pop out of the skin of the aircraft.
The tail guns and belly turrets were removed, the latter being of little use if the aircraft was flying low.
The Allied Air Forces also adopted innovative tactics. In February 1942, the RAAF began experimenting with
skip bombing
, an anti-shipping technique used by the British and Germans.
Flying only a few dozen feet above the sea toward their targets, aircraft would release their bombs, which would then, ideally,
ricochet
across the surface of the water and explode at the side of the target ship, under it, or just over it. A similar technique was mast-height bombing, in which bombers would approach the target at low altitude, 200 to 500 feet (61 to 152 m), at about 265 to 275 miles per hour (426 to 443 km/h), and then drop down to mast height, 10 to 15 feet (3.0 to 4.6 m) about 600 yards (550 m) from the target. They would release their bombs at around 300 yards (270 m), aiming directly at the side of the ship.
The two techniques were not mutually exclusive. A bomber could drop two bombs, skipping the first and launching the second at mast height.
The
Battle of the Bismarck Sea
demonstrated the effectiveness of low-level attacks on shipping.
Another form of airpower employed by Kenney was air transport. This started in September 1942 when troops of the
32nd Infantry Division
were airlifted from Australia to
Port Moresby
.
Later in the campaign,
C-47 Dakotas
landed Australian troops at
Wanigela
.
A year later, American paratroops
landed at Nadzab
, enabling the
Australian 7th Division
to be flown in.
The ultimate challenge was to integrate air power with MacArthur's strategy. Kenney described the process this way in 1944:
The first step in this advancement of the bomber line is to gain and maintain air control as far into enemy territory as our longest range fighters can reach. Then we put an air blockade around the Jap positions or section of the coast which we want in order to stop him from getting supplies or reinforcements. The bombers then go to work and pulverize his defensive system, methodically taking out artillery positions, stores, bivouac areas and so on. Finally comes the air cover escorting the amphibious expedition to the landing beach, a last minute blasting and smoking of the enemy beach defenses and the maintenance of strafers and fighters overhead, on call from the surface forces until their beachhead is secured. If emergency supplies are needed we drop them by parachute. The ground troops get a transport field ready as fast as possible so that we can supplement boat supply by cargo carrying airplanes. When necessary, we evacuate the wounded and sick and bring in reinforcements in a hurry. The transport field becomes a fighter field, the strafers and finally the heavies arrive and it is time to move forward again.
Far East Air Forces
[
edit
]
In June 1944, Kenney was appointed commander of the Far East Air Forces (FEAF), which came to include the Fifth,
Thirteenth
, and
Seventh Air Forces
. He created the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Air Task Forces to control air operations in forward areas, each for a specific mission, another departure from doctrine. While Kenney was enthusiastic about this innovation, Washington did not like it and, over Kenney's objections, converted the three air task forces into the
308th
,
309th
and
310th Bombardment Wings
.
He was promoted to general on March 9, 1945.
Kenney hoped to get
Boeing B-29 Superfortresses
assigned to the Far East Air Forces so that, based from airfields near
Darwin
, they could destroy the Japanese oilfields at
Balikpapan
.
His agitation for the B-29s did not endear him to the USAAF staff in Washington, D.C. Instead,
B-24 Liberators
were used in a strike from Darwin in August 1943 by the American 380th Bombardment Group assigned to the
Royal Australian Air Force
. Another series of five air raids were launched by B-24s of the
5th
and
Thirteenth Air Forces
from
Noemfoor Island
. The Japanese had been conserving their fighter forces to protect the oil fields
[69]
and the first two raids, which did not have fighter cover, suffered severe losses. After the war, the
Strategic Bombing Survey
concluded that this would have been far more productive than
Operation Matterhorn
, which saw B-29s based in China to bomb steel plants in Japan, as oil was more critical to the Japanese war effort than steel.
Post-war career
[
edit
]
In April 1946, Kenney became the first commander of the newly formed
Strategic Air Command
(SAC). He was encouraged by
Secretary of the Air Force
Stuart Symington
to join him in the political battle surrounding the establishment of an independent United States Air Force.
Separately, the two men gave promotional speeches around the country. As a result, SAC's efficiency suffered.
On May 8, 1946, Kenney publicly presented the
Medal of Honor
to the family of
Thomas B. McGuire Jr.
, the second-highest scoring US fighter pilot, who had been killed in action.
[73]
Kenney left day-to-day operations at SAC in the hands of his deputy commander, Major General
St. Clair Streett
. Part of the reason for Kenney's lack of focus on SAC was also his assignment as U.S. representative to the
United Nations
Military Staff Committee
, which appeared at that time to be potentially an important assignment. In January 1947, Streett was replaced by Major General
Clements McMullen
. With McMullen serving officially as Kenney's deputy but actually in command, a cross-training program was implemented in early 1948 to teach bomber crew members each other's tasks, the goal being to reduce each bomber's contingent of officers from five to three. Morale suffered as a result. Major General
Lauris Norstad
, responsible for reporting the readiness of American airpower to the U.S. Secretary of Defense,
James Forrestal
, heard from unhappy airmen that the SAC was in a poor state of readiness, and he initiated an investigation. He selected Charles Lindbergh and
Paul Tibbets
to perform the inquiry. Tibbets told Norstad that he found nobody at SAC knew their job.
Lindbergh said that McMullen's cross-training program "seriously interfered with training the primary mission."
On May 6, 1948, Kenney spoke to a crowd in
Bangor, Maine
, telling them that the US was likely to be attacked by the Soviet Union as soon as the latter had enough atomic bombs. In Washington, D.C., a group of senators including
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
complained of Kenney's "belligerent" speech, and previous ones in the same vein by Symington, saying that matters of foreign policy should be left to the president and the secretary of state, not to leaders of the United States Air Force (USAF)
[76]
Another controversy that Kenney became embroiled in concerned the
Convair B-36 Peacemaker
. He was less than impressed with this expensive and under-performing aircraft, preferring the
Boeing B-50 Superfortress
, an upgraded version of the B-29 instead. The USAF, however, had staked much of its credibility on the B-36, something that Kenney did not seem to appreciate.
In the context of the
Berlin Blockade
in June 1948, the
Air Force Chief of Staff
, General
Hoyt S. Vandenberg
, met with Forrestal to report the poor state of SAC. Following this meeting, Norstad recommended that Vandenberg replace Kenney, and Vandenberg quickly agreed, choosing Lieutenant General
Curtis LeMay
as the man he would prefer to lead the strategic bombing arm in case of war with the USSR.
[78]
LeMay was made leader of SAC, and Kenney became commanding officer of the
Air University
, a position he held from October 1948 until his retirement from the Air Force in September 1951.
[79]
In April 1949, Kenney became the sixth person to receive the General William E. Mitchell Memorial Award.
[80]
He was inducted into the
National Aviation Hall of Fame
in Dayton, Ohio, in 1971.
[81]
Retirement
[
edit
]
After his retirement, he lived in
Bay Harbor Islands, Florida
. In 1958 he appeared as the host of the TV anthology series
Flight
. He died on August 9, 1977.
Books
[
edit
]
Kenney wrote three books about the SWPA air campaigns he led during World War II. His major work was
General Kenney Reports
(1949), a personal history of the air war he led from 1942 to 1945. He also wrote
The Saga of Pappy Gunn
(1959) and
Dick Bong: Ace of Aces
(1960), which described the careers of
Paul Gunn
and
Richard Bong
, two of the most prominent airmen under his command. In addition, he wrote a book about military leader General Douglas MacArthur titled
The MacArthur I Know
(1951).
Family
[
edit
]
He was survived by his two children, five grandsons and one granddaughter. His son, William "Bill" R. Kenney, rose to the rank of colonel in the USAF.
His daughter, Julia, married Edward C. Hoagland Jr., a fighter pilot in World War II and later in Korea, who eventually retired from the USAF at the rank of lieutenant colonel.
[84]
Dates of rank
[
edit
]
Effective dates of rank, which count towards time in service, are when the officer formally accepted the appointment or promotion.
Insignia
|
Rank
|
Component
|
Date
|
No insignia at the time
|
Private first class
|
Enlisted Reserve Corps
|
June 2, 1917
|
|
First lieutenant
|
Officers' Reserve Corps
|
November 5 (effective November 8) 1917
|
|
Captain
|
National Army (
United States Army Air Service
)
|
March 18, 1919
|
|
Captain
|
United States Army Air Service
|
July 1 (effective September 21) 1920
|
|
First lieutenant
|
Regular Army
(United States Army Air Service)
|
November 18, 1922 (reverted to permanent rank)
|
|
Captain
|
Regular Army (United States Army Air Service)
|
November 3, 1923
|
|
Major
|
Regular Army (United States Army Air Corps)
|
June 16 (effective June 22) 1936 (temporary)
October 1, 1937 (permanent)
|
|
Lieutenant colonel
|
Regular Army (United States Army Air Corps)
|
March 2, 1935 (temporary)
March 1 (effective March 11) 1940 (temporary)
November 29, 1940 (permanent)
|
|
Brigadier general
|
Army of the United States
|
January 29 (effective February 14) 1941
|
|
Temporary
Colonel
|
Regular Army (
United States Army Air Forces
)
|
July 15 (effective July 22) 1941
|
|
Major general
|
Army of the United States
|
February 26, 1942
|
|
Lieutenant general
|
Army of the United States
|
October 15, 1942
|
|
Brigadier general
|
Regular Army (United States Army Air Forces)
|
September 1, 1943
|
|
Major general
|
Regular Army (United States Army Air Forces)
|
February 1, 1945
|
|
General
|
Army of the United States
|
March 9, 1945
|
|
General
|
United States Air Force
, Retired
|
August 31, 1951
|
Source:
[85]
[86]
Awards and decorations
[
edit
]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
History of the 91st Aero Squadron .p.7
1919
- ^
"Valor awards for George Churchill Kenney"
. Military Times
. Retrieved
July 4,
2012
.
- ^
History of the 91st Aero Squadron Coblenz Germany 1919
- ^
"World Battlefronts: For the Honor of God"
.
Time
. January 18, 1943. p. 28
. Retrieved
July 6,
2012
.
- ^
Bunnell, John G. (June 2005).
"Knockout Blow? The Army Air Force's Operations against Ploesti and Balikpapan"
(PDF)
. Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Defense Technical Information Center. pp. 64?65.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on February 16, 2020
. Retrieved
February 17,
2020
.
- ^
"Air Force Medal of Honor Recipients"
. HomeOfHeroes.com. 2011. p. 13
. Retrieved
July 2,
2012
.
- ^
"Urge Airforce Temper Talks: Senators Angry Over Belligerent Outbursts"
.
Greensburg Daily Tribune
. Greensburg, Pennsylvania. United Press. May 8, 1948. p. 1 – via Google News Archive.
- ^
Meilinger, Phillip S.
"George C. Kenney"
.
American Airpower Biography
. AirChronicles. Archived from
the original
on October 2, 2001
. Retrieved
July 2,
2012
.
- ^
"General George Churchill Kenney"
.
Biographies
. United States Air Force. Archived from
the original
on July 17, 2012
. Retrieved
July 2,
2012
.
- ^
"Gen. Kenney Receives Mitchell Air Awar d"
.
The New York Times
. April 29, 1949. p. 25.
- ^
"Enshrinee George Kenney"
. National Aviation Hall of Fame
. Retrieved
February 10,
2023
.
- ^
"Wedding Planned"
.
Indiana Evening Gazette
. March 26, 1948. p. 1.
- ^
Official Army and Air Force Register, 1948, p. 979.
- ^
Air Force Register, 1952, p. 516.
References
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.
See also
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External links
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Military offices
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Preceded by
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Commander, Strategic Air Command
1947?1948
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