Mitchell Demonstrates Air Power -- Near Frisco in Dare County, North Carolina
N 35° 13.917 W 075° 37.348
18S E 443359 N 3898943
My children in their lifetime will see aeronautics become the greatest and principal means of national defense and rapid transportation all over the world and possibly beyond our world into interstellar space
Waymark Code: WM84A6
Location: North Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 01/25/2010
Views: 2
In September 1923, Brigadier General Mitchell provided a chilling view of the effectiveness of aerial bombardment on surface vessels to skeptical government and military observers. Taking off from his temporary Hatteras Village airfield, Mitchell rendezvoused with Martin Bombers from Langley Field, Virginia. Equipped with newly developed bombsights and supercharged engines, the bombers quickly sank the obsolete battleships "Virginia" and "New Jersey" anchored just 20 miles off the Hatteras Island coast.
Responding to General Mitchell's urgent call for construction of a temporary airfield, local Hatterasmen used shovels, hoes, and horsedrawn carts alongside a tractor pulling a weighted pallet, to fill holes, tidal pools, and marshy areas and pack level a landing strip. Their quick work helped to ensure the success of Mitchell's demonstration.
Despite the effectiveness of this, and other demonstrations, it would be many years before Mitchell's far-reaching ideas on air power were adopted. Mitchell was posthumously honored in 1946 when he was awarded a special medal of honor "in recognition of his outstanding pioneer service and foresight in the field of America's military aviation."
Group that erected the marker: Frisco Civic League. Northeastern Historic Places Office, NC Dept of Cultural Resources.
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
Billy Mitchell Road
Frisco, NC USA
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: Not listed
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