The Air Force Association, incorporated February 4, 1946, observes its Golden Anniversary. Fifty .. • -i. • : • .- t • 1 . '0. ;,; ..,... , . , ',.. i,•: '... 104. L.',.';'• ' !: . ,, n the summer of 1945,11 of who was court-martialed for his ag- the Army H. H. "Hap" Arnold gressive advocacy of airpower. I was already thinking about the The key policy objective of the three million Army Air Forces veter- new Air Force Association would be ans who would be return in ii civil- the establishment of the Air Force as ian life when World War II , over. a separate military service. When What Arnold, Command in eneral that goal was realized in 1947, AFA's of the Army Air Forces, had in mind journal, Air Force Magazine, pro- for departing veterans was an organi- claimed it to be "The Day Billy zation that would not only "keep the Mitchell Dreamed Of." gang together" but also work effec- An admirer aptly described Arnold tively on behalf of airpower. as a "human bulldozer." The energy Arnold was the founding father of that he imparted to get AFA going the new organization—whic would was prodigious. In August 1945, be known as the Air Force ssocia- Arnold asked Edward P. Curtis, an tion—but the spiritual fathe s Billy AAF veteran and an executive of the Mitchell, who led the fight r an in- Eastman Kodak Co., to put the Asso- A consensus formed early that the Association's first dependent role for military aviation. ciation together. Curtis began with president should be war hero In the 1920s, Arnold had put his own an organizational meeting in New James H. Doolittle (left). career on the line to back Mitchell, York, N. Y., on October 12, 1945. Years of - -a. ._ _ -wr------ ..,.. 1. took airpower to the public. The biggest attraction at the in Chicago was the biggest aircraft in the world, the 8-36. AIR FORCE Magazine / February 1996 The twelve men who attended are recognized today as the founders of AFA. [See box, opposite.] They The Air Force Magazine agreed on the basic direction the As- cover for January 1946 was sociation would take and that appli- a classic. It pictured cation should be made to the Inter- "Hap" Arnold, wartime nal Revenue Service for nonprofit, leader of the Army Air Forces and founding father tax-exempt status. of AFA. Later on, leaders would be elected, but an initial group of officers would be appointed to get things under way and build membership for the organi- zation. A consensus developed early that war hero Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle, who had returned to civil- ian life as a vice president of Shell Oil, should be AFA's first president. In January 1946, President Doolit- tle held a press conference to an- nounce the establishment of AFA. He said that the organization would be based on a grass-roots structure, with local, state, and regional affili- ates; that it would publish a national magazine; and that it would sponsor educational programs to keep its members and the public at large abreast of airpower developments. Message and Momentum On February 4, 1946, the Air Force Association was incorporated in Wash- ington, D. C. This is the date tradi- tionally observed as AFA's birth- day. The new organization had a message and momentum. What it did not have was money. In that first critical year, members dug deep into their pockets and donated more than $50,000 in addition to their dues to keep AFA alive. The new organization might be strapped for cash, but its performance was top of the line. When AFA lead- ers spoke, the New York Times and other news media regarded it as news- worthy. In August 1946, the Asso- ciation organized a coast-to-coast radio broadcast, featuring (among many others) two Hollywood stars, James M. Stewart, who was an AFA Six of the officers of the newly formed Air Force Association vice president, and Ronald W. Rea- letter that was the direct forerunner met with President Harry S. gan, an ex–Air Force captain and a of Air Force Magazine. As com- Truman at the White House in charter member of AFA. mander of the AAF, he ordered "a early 1946. From left: AFA In July 1946, another element of first-class, slick-paper magazine— President Jimmy Doolittle, the plan for AFA fell into place when highly readable—the best of its kind— Executive Director Willis S. Fitch, National Director Forrest Air Force Magazine, "The Official with worldwide circulation." In 1946, Vosler, President Truman, Service Journal of the US Army Air the magazine was "bequeathed to the Third Vice President Thomas Forces," became "The Official Jour- Association by the AAF in a kind of G. Lanphier. Jr.. Second Vice nal of the Air Force Association." war-surplus status," as one of the President Meryl' M. Frost, and National Director James M. This, too, bore the mark of Arnold. editors put it. Stewart. Early in his career, Arnold had been At AFA's first National Conven- Chief of Information for the Air Ser- tion, held in Columbus, Ohio, in 1947, vice and editor of the monthly news- Gen. Carl A. Spaatz, Air Force Chief 36 AIR FORCE Magazine.' February 1996 In Hollywood, AFA's observance of Air Force Day, August 1, 1946, was organized by former AAF Lt. Col. Jack L. Warner (second from left). A special coast-to-coast radio broadcast featured fighter ace Lt. Col. John C. Meyer, former AAF Capt. Ronald W. Reagan, and former AAF Col. Jimmy Stewart. The Twelve Founders John S. Allard, Bronxville, N. Y. Everett R. Cook, Memphis, Tenn. Edward P. Curtis, Rochester, N. Y. James H. Doolittle, Los Angeles, Calif. W. Deering Howe, New York, N. Y. Rufus Rand, Sarasota, Fla. Sol Rosenblatt, New York, N. Y. Julian B. Rosenthal, who wrote the original Julian B. Rosenthal, New York, N. Y. AFA Constitution and James M. Stewart. Beverly Hills. Calif. bylaws, lives in Durham. N. C.. and Lowell P. Weicker, New York, N. Y. continues to follow Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, New York, N. Y. Association events with great interest. John Hay Whitney, New York, N. Y. Membership shot over 100,000 during AFA's second full year of existence, but that level proved unsustainable, and the Association did 150 not reach it again until the 1960s. Strong growth in the 1970s and 1980s reflects the 100 remarkable success of the Base Drive member- ship program. Totals dropped in the 1990s, 50 along with the size of the Air Force. 0 1946 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 AIR FORCE Magazine / February 1996 37 In 1949, AFA was in the forefront taking part were Jimmy Stewart, Bob of support for the B-36 bomber, which Hope, Marlene Dietrich, Lena Home, was under attack by advocates of Clark Gable, Dinah Shore, Jack Demp- carrier-based airpower. The unsuc- sey, Jerry Colonna, Jane Froman, Car- cessful attempt by naval enthusiasts men Miranda, Margaret O'Brien, Wal- to kill the B-36 became known as the ter Pidgeon, Herb Shriner, Gypsy "Revolt of the Admirals" and was Rose Lee, Joe E. Brown, Jinx Falken- detailed in a special fifteen-page re- berg, and the Radio City Music Hall port in the December 1949 issue of Rockettes. John Reed Kilpatrick, Air Force Magazine. The B-36 went president of the Madison Square When the Air Force gained indepen- dence from the Army in 1947. AFA paid fitting tribute to Billy Mitchell, who had led the fight for airpower after World War I and who was court-martialed for his aggressive advocacy of the cause. of Staff, told the delegates that "pub- lic support is as essential to effec- tive airpower as industries, airplanes, and airmen." Informing the public and generat- ing public support was something that AFA did well. At Columbus, citizens stood four abreast for blocks, waiting to walk through a B-29. Presi- dent Doolittle and other Association leaders drew large crowds and press attention wherever they went. A criti- cal connection to the public, how- ever, was the 152 local squadrons— as chapters were called in those days—operating in forty-five states by the end of AFA's first year. President Doolittle in his remarks at Columbus was especially proud of the small squadrons, singling out the Beckley, W. Va., group for doing "as much to bring the message of `airpower is peace power' to their fellow citizens as any community in the country." September 18, 1947, was a great day for AFA as the US Air Force took its place as a separate military service. The battles, however, were on to operational service, and the Garden Corp., called it "the greatest far from over. Postwar demobiliza- admirals' revolt foundered. show ever put on in Madison Square tion continued to draw down the Celebrity participation was a stan- Garden." strength of the armed forces. "While dard feature of early AFA events. Clearly, the young Air Force Asso- recognizing that peacetime airpower The "Hollywood Connection" was ciation was fulfilling the three objec- is expensive, we know that wartime never more in evidence than at tives that Doolittle laid out in his Feb- airpower is far more costly," AFA "Operation Wing Ding" at Madison ruary 1946 press conference. The warned in its first Statement of Pol- Square Garden in New York Sep- "grass roots," represented by the lo- icy. In 1948, the Association cam- tember 25, 1948. This four-and-one- cal squadrons, were thriving impres- paigned for a seventy-group Air half-hour program was produced by sively.