Talk:Henry H. Arnold

Copied
Yet another article lifted verbatim from a web site, and this one with numerous small errors of dates, places, and titles. Wholly re-written and sourced.--Buckboard 15:55, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
 * What website would that be? (And are you sure't it isn't a wikipedia mirror, like answers.com?) Raul654 15:58, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Definitely not a mirror site. http://www.jcs-group.com/military/aaf/washington.html I was goggling for a specific piece of information not available in my written sources and came across it. The only editing has been to split it into sections and break up paragraphs into single-sentence paras. It's a personal military compilation site (also appears to be selling stuff too). I find this a lot in my area of interest, military history, esp. USAAF. Extracting whole from a source is okay by me as long as it's public domain, such as a National park Service, Arlington Cemetery, DoD bio, etc. (Sometimes the prose is turgid but that's another story) as long as it's credited and wikified. But even though there's no copyright notice on this site, it does appear to be someone's authorship, and copying that stuff, inaccuracies aside, makes me uncomfortableBuckboard 06:26, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Better Photo
There's a better photo (HAP-D.JPG) of Arnold without cap on the page for article Operation Bolero. I'd switch them, but don't know how to do it.--TGC55 16:41, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree. Done.--Buckboard 08:38, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

continuation of bombings after the war's end
Is there a reason why the section on World War II doesn't mention that it was Henry H. Arnold who organized the celebratory thousand-plane raid that bombed civilian targets in Japan after Japan had already surrendered? It's a fairly important historical event and is normally what Arnold is remembered for and yet I can't even see the usual Rightwing-Delete/Leftwing-Revert cycle that history pages on such articles are littered with. Is the event described elsewhere or something?

81.155.104.113 22:23, 15 January 2007 (UTC) Elmo
 * Let's see some references from some reliable sources and we'll add it --rogerd 22:47, 15 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Particularly the "celebratory" assertion. --Buckboard 00:12, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
 * It's a moot point. The article is about Arnold, who by Aug 15 no longer controlled any operations. He relinquished command of 20AF on July 16, and on that date US Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific under Spaatz succeeded 20AF in control of strategic bombing operations. Spaatz received his orders from Truman.--Reedmalloy (talk) 22:47, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

-Apparently source materials can be found within the USAAF's own records archive. I'm sure that such a source would be available online, released through the Freedom of Info Act. And I agree, this needs to be documented.
 * The raid in point occurred by 300 B-29s (not 1000) against an oil refinery (not civilian targets) far from the urban centers hours before the announcement of the surrender on August 15 (Japanese time) and was the result of a direct order by Truman (not Arnold) to resume attacks to keep the pressure on Japan to cease resistance (not celebratory). The U.S. had radio intercepts while the raid was in progress from Tokyo to its embassies that a surrender was to be announced and ordering compliance. No raids were ordered, staged, or carried out after the Emperor's announcement.--Reedmalloy (talk) 21:53, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

Service record
The dates of rank section has been added, using info from the official AF bio and the article itself. It would be great to find his official service record so that the discrepancies could be reconciled and make the information totally accurate. &mdash; MrDolomite • Talk 01:21, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Its at NPRC and its a public record. 314-801-0850 to make an appointment to see it. -OberRanks 03:19, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Dates of rank section
Ok, I'm not totally crazy on the layout of the table, but I am being WP:BOLD and hoping other WP editors will help improve things. See also Douglas MacArthur and Chester W. Nimitz for ideas. &mdash; MrDolomite • Talk 01:29, 16 September 2007 (UTC) i need to find out how he contributed to the af dining in i have a project due in 2 days and i cant find enything on him and the dining in together i think that would b an important thing to add  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.105.120.123 (talk) 04:59, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

Military spouses receive a part of pension
I removed this clause:


 * sought a source of income for his wife since his pension benefits would end with his death

since military spouses continue to receive a portion of their deceased spouses pension--much as the pension is divided in the case of divorce.

Also, since Arnold was raised to the rank of General of the Air Force--five stars--he was returned to the active list and received full pay as did all the five-stars (the last of whom, Bradley, passed away in 1981).

This is the case today, and, I believe, was the case back then. However, I've yet to find a source for this. Plowing through Public Laws (i.e. Federal) is much like getting teeth pulled, boring and painful at the same time.

PainMan (talk) 02:49, 6 May 2008 (UTC)


 * He was not returned to the active list. The law was changed, first to make the rank permanent (it was temporary "wartime plus six" in 1944), then to award full pay and benefits to those on the retired list (it had been 3/4). The effect is the same, but retired is retired. Also the portion of pension benefits to his widow was small in 1950--quoted in his bio by Coffey as $75 a month.--Reedmalloy (talk) 13:18, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

Post Nominals
I removed the post nominal letters GCB, referring to his honorary status as Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, from the introduction of this article as Mr. Arnold was not closely associated with the United Kingdom in the sense required by the Manual of Style for biographies. The full style guidelines for the use of post nominal letters can be viewed here: Manual of Style (biographies). —Preceding unsigned comment added by TrufflesTheLamb (talk • contribs) 22:25, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Could His Religion be added to the Infobox?
This was obviously an outstanding man. Could someone please add his religion or his views to his infobox at the top of the page? Invmog (talk) 18:57, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

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Death section
I note the section titled "Death" doesn't actually mention his death. I was looking for that detail in establishing a timeline for other purposes, and noticed I had to go to the intro to find he died in January 1950. If someone has access to a specific biography of him (I don't), that detail probably belongs in the paragraph. Tarl N. ( discuss ) 02:18, 23 August 2022 (UTC)

Opposed then supported integration
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-gen-henry-hap-arnold-architect-american-air-power-overcame-his-fear-flying-180977206/

"Unsurprisingly, Arnold was a product of his time. Like most officers of the day, he was against an integrated military, and in fact at first opposed the creation in 1941 of the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-Black air wing. Arnold even tried to scuttle the program because he saw “Negro officers serving over white enlisted men creating an impossible social situation.” However, he relented and later ordered his commanders to “take affirmative action to insure that equity in training and assignment opportunity is provided all personnel.” In 1948, the newly minted Air Force—under Arnold’s leadership—was the first service branch to fully integrate following President Harry S. Truman’s executive order ending segregation in the military." MisawaSakura (talk) 15:24, 15 January 2024 (UTC)