11. The Air Mail debacle revealed the inadequacies of the US Army Air Corps in the 1930s
The Army resumed carrying the airmail on March 19, using severely limited routes and operating only in clear weather. Eventually, over 260 Army pilots participated in the program, among them Curtis LeMay and Ira Eaker. Air Mail service was gradually returned to contracted carriers, and the Army’s participation ended in May. In the aftermath, Speaker of the House Henry Rainey commented on the Air Corps, “If it is not equal to carrying the mail, I would like to know what it would do in carrying bombs”. The Chief of the Army Air Corps, Major General Benjamin Foulois, resigned and retired, and following a lengthy investigation by Congressional committee received a reprimand and public humiliation. Chief of Staff MacArthur managed to keep his own skirts clean, despite the obvious training defects within a portion of the Army under his ultimate command.
A Board of Inquiry under former Secretary of War, Newton Baker, investigated the conditions within the Army Air Corps. Nine of its twelve members were Army ground forces officers. The board rejected the need to expand the Air Corps or grant it authority of an autonomous service. It recommended improved training, particularly in instrument flying, though it had no means of expanding the budget to pay for it. The Air Corps continued to operate under the authority of the US Army Chief of Staff, through his assigned Chief of the Army Air Corps. The following year Germany revealed to the world its modernized Luftwaffe, a violation of the Versailles Treaty but an accomplished fact. The Army Air Corps moved quickly to obtain modern aircraft and improved pilot training, as much as military budgets allowed.