George Kenney

Military Strategist

Enshrined 1971

1889-1977

During a 1941 interview with a newspaper reporter, George Kenney recalled the two year period from 1923 to 1925 when he held four jobs simultaneously. He was working as McCook Field’s Chief of Shops, Chief of Inspection, Chief of Production Engineering and Contracting Officer. Kenney told the reporter, “One day I signed a letter as the Chief of Inspection, bawling out the Chief of Shops for some delay, and then went over to the Shops Office and found my own letter waiting for me.”

After World War I, he attended engineering school at McCook Field, Ohio and pioneered the mounting of machine guns on warplane wings to increase firepower.

As instructor at the Tactical School, he developed low altitude attack tactics and the parachute fragmentation bomb.

Kenney’s grasp of what today is called “operational art” and how airpower could be used to complement the operations of land and sea forces was outstanding. Many considered Kenney to be the most accomplished combat air strategist of World War II.

During World War II he became Commanding General of the Allied air forces and the U.S. 5th Air Force in the southwest Pacific Theater supporting General MacArthur.

Became commander of the Far East Air Force in 1944.

In 1946 he organized and commanded the Strategic Air Command.

Biography

After enlisting in the Aviation section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, Kenney earned his wings and was commissioned a first lieutenant in 1917. He received combat training in France and scored two aerial victories while serving with the 91st Aero Squadron.

After the war, Kenney led the Eighth Aero Squadron serving in the Border Patrol. After attending the Engineering School at McCook Field, he made bomber acceptance tests, and pioneered the mounting of machine guns on warplane wings to increase firepower. Kenney attended the Tactical School and the Command and General Staff School. He later instructed at the Tactical School, where he developed low altitude attack tactics and the parachute fragmentation bomb.

Upon graduation from the War College in 1933, he served in the Plans Division and later in the GHQ Air Force in 1935. He was Chief of Production at Wright Field in 1939. After serving as Assistant Air Attaché in Paris in 1940, he recommended basic improvements in pilot protection and warplane firepower. He was commander of the engineering division at Wright Field in 1940, and assistant chief of the materiel division in 1941. During World War II, he commanded the Fourth Air Force, then became commanding General of the Allied air forces and the Fifth Air Force in the Southwest Pacific.

He also became commander of the Far East Air Force in 1944. His forces employed many of his new air tactics in helping to bring victory over Japan in 1945. After the war, he served on the military staff committee of the United Nations. In 1946, he organized and commanded the Strategic Air Command. He became Commandant of the Air University in 1948, and retired as a General in 1951.

General George Kenney died on August 9th, 1977.

For more information on George Kenney, you may want to visit the following websites:

History Net
Air Force Bio
Arlington National Cemetery