How different would our lives be if you couldn’t fly at night or through fog? Would you want to fly if 80% of daily flights were delayed or cancelled? The modern aviation industry owes its existence to Jimmy Doolittle. He was a visionary leader, seeing past the greatest aviation challenges of the twentieth century; he was an ethical leader, making tough decisions during the darkest days of World War 2. This paper will discuss how he leveraged his visionary leadership skills, creating an inclusive environment for a diverse team of professionals solving the impossible challenge of taking off and landing blind. Additionally, Jimmy Doolittle encountered critical instrumentation problems that could have hindered his progress; instead, he used
As an ethical leader, this paper will discuss how Jimmy Doolittle’s promoted from lieutenant colonel to brigadier general overnight, found himself in command of an entire Numbered Air Force (NAF). Placed in unfamiliar territory, he displayed intellectual humility by relying heavily on the advice of his staff to educate him in his new command. Furthermore, as the 8th Air Force commander in Europe, he faced a severe shortage in experienced air crews as the operations tempo increased during the build up to D-Day. He faces an ethical dilemma to either follow a direct order from General Hap Arnold or maintain the trust and faith of his men. I used my personal experience to demonstrate how my skills compared to those that Jimmy Doolittle exhibited as a visionary and ethical leader, helping me become a better leader. I will explain that I’ve fallen short of his conceptual team dimension style and how that skill would have helped me solve an Armory inventory issue by finding alternatives for funding. Finally, I’ll show how I demonstrated intellectual humility when my commander made me the Superintendent of Logistics and Readiness, although having no prior experience or knowledge of those sections. Let’s start by rewinding the clock 89 years to the pioneering
As a visionary, he leveraged the diversity of his team, creating an inclusive environment of mutual trust to work through the challenge of blind flight. He exercised his conceptual team dimensions pattern developing alternatives that created three new aeronautical instruments. Ethically, Doolittle relied on his intellectual humility to overcome a lack of training and command experience to successfully lead a NAF using the strength of his staff. He crafted an artful solution to an ethical dilemma that kept his credibility with his men while meeting the intent of General Arnold’s order. The attributes of Jimmy Doolittle are personally relevant because they demonstrate our similarities and differences. I want to emulate his conceptual team dimension style to help me make my teams more successful, instead of prematurely dismissing an idea as I did with my Armory project. I will continue honing the intellectual humility we both share, building on the success I had when I assumed control of the Logistics division, continuing to empower all my teams. Thanks to Jimmy Doolittle, we can travel all over the world, around the clock, without worrying about safe air
In today’s world, the use of airplanes in wars or in everyday life has become a part of how we live as human beings. Removing the air forces of the world is like taking a step back in time when wars were only fought on land or sea. WWI began only eleven short years after the Wright brothers achieved powered flight in 19031 and yet aircrafts were being used for surveillance and eventually combat purposes. It is understood that these aircrafts were primitive, but they laid down the foundation for what we know today as fighter jets. The Fokker Eindecker “revolutionized air combat by successfully employing a synchronized forward -firing machine gun mounted on the engine cowling”2. Because this airplane became the first to successfully use a synchronized machine gun, it allowed its pilots to become the first aerial combat tactitions3.
The analysis presented in this paper has been done with an aim to answer one fundamental question: "Why did Brigadier Savage succeed in transforming the 918th while Colonel Davenport fails?". The differences in leadership style between the two men have been presented within the frame work of three main parameters: vision, organizational changes and human resource management.
Black Hearts is a great example of the reality on how severe bad leadership skills can ripple throughout a unit and impact its overall mission. This book serves as a guide for future leaders of America and will set the examples of what not to do in leadership positions. The lessons we can take from these soldiers can help us as potential leaders to become more competent and effective. The fact that this book focused on the hardships, poor decisions and sound judgment of the soldiers it helped emphasize on what was not the best choice of action and leaves a moment for you as the audience to think how you would of done it better. So right or wrong there was a lesson to be learned and the book did a good job including the reader. This book puts you in the shoes of a small group of soldiers from the 502nd Infantry Regiment and gives you an up close and personal take on the experience of the soldiers, from the bottom of the the ranks all the way up to the commander. 502nd Bravo Company 1st platoon deployed in the fall of 2005 into one of the most dangerous battle zones in Iraq known as the “Triangle of Death”. Thrown into the heartland of a growing insurgency, with undefined goals and a shortage of manpower, Bravo Company began piling up casualties at an alarming rate. They suffered many losses, as well as mental anguish. Because of the long and tragic deployment, a collapse in leadership began to unfold causing one of the most tragic, brutal, and infamous deployments in U.S Army history. There were many reasons that caused the deconstruction of leadership, and eventually, the actions of the soldiers accompanied by the lack of control, lead to the rape and murder of an innocent Iraqi girl and her family. This is a story about character...
The airmobility concept is one of Army Aviation’s most prominent battlefield innovations, almost single handedly shaping the Vietnam War and in many ways, helping to influence how we fight wars today. In its essence, airmobility is a concept that utilizes Army aircraft in order to enhance the ground forces’ ability to perform the five fundamentals of combat: command and control, firepower, intelligence, mobility, and communications (Rottman, 2007). At the zenith of the airmobility concept is the airmobile assault or commonly known today as, the air assault. The airmobile assault was more than just moving troops from point A to point B; it involved intense planning and preparation. When implemented correctly, the airmobile assault provided light infantry greater mobility on the battlefield, along with the ability to seize the initiative and to synchronize attacks.
“The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living” (Bradley 258). Given command of the reactivated 82nd Division, he oversaw its training before fulfilling a similar role for the 28th Division. In both cases, he used Marshall's approach of simplifying military doctrine to
With the recent innovation of the airplane revolutionizing the battlefields of World War I, American air warriors like 1st Lieutenant Frank Luke Jr. and Captain Eddie Rickenbacker separated themselves through valiant actions that contributed significantly to the American war effort. Yet, the fearless determination to serve and the advances in tactical air warfare influenced by Lt. Luke Jr. greatly outweigh the amount of citations and medals earned by Capt. Rickenbacker setting the prescient for the massive contributions airmen could make in war.
“Aviation is proof that given, the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible” (Brainyquote.com). Eddie Rickenbacker describes the ability of the human mind to achieve the impossible by creating the means to fly. This statement epitomizes David O. Swain –Aerospace Engineer and former Senior Vice President of Boeing- and the contributions to technology, aviation, and the world he helped provide. Without the revolutionary technology he was a part of today’s military would not be the same.
Captain Aubrey exhibits and demonstrates leadership characteristics that inspire his crew to be the best that they can be. One of the most important leadership traits that Captain Jack has is a single-minded focus on his purpose. All of his decisions are held up against the g...
Snider, D. M. (2008). Dissent and strategic leadership of the military professions. Carlisle Barracks, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College.
Almost every decision involving an aircraft is either going to be affected by the four forces of flight, or alter those forces in some manner. These forces are governed by laws of nature, but can be manipulated to create conditions beneficial to a particular mission. Understanding these forces will enable the managers, laborers, pilots, and crew to make the necessary decisions to get the performance needed from their aircraft. This understanding does not always happen, and is often passed down erroneously from generation to generation. (Smith, 1992) A basic accurate knowledge of how an airplane interacts with the air around it will empower those who have it to make well informed decisions as aviation professionals.
The development of aircraft was encouraged by the wars requirements, also by the aircraft were used. Many people along with the military believed that aircraft had a wider purpose than just photography from the air the war continued, and throughout this ‘belief’ that the military had two completely different...
Now that the economy has enhanced and the U.S. government endorsed the General Aviation Revitalization Act, which reduces liability risks for planes over 18 years old, Cessna is inspired to start assembling its incredible Skyhawks once more. If there is one thing that I have learned in my nearly 20 years in this industry, it is that pilots are apt to continue to fly the same planes that they learned to fly on.
As our forefathers before us stated, ‘‘No one is more professional than I. I am a Noncommissioned Officer, a leader of soldiers. As a Noncommissioned Officer, I realize that I am a member of a time honored corps, which is known as “The Backbone of the Army (“The NCO Creed writing by SFC Earle Brigham and Jimmie Jakes Sr”). These words to Noncommissioned Officer should inspire us to the fullest with pride, honor, and integrity. The NCO creed should mean much more than just words whenever we attend a NCO’s school. For most of us this is what our creed has become because we learn to narrate or recite. The military from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard has an overabundance of NCOs who fall under their pay grade of E-5, E-6 and etc. Yet somehow there still not enough leaders. I believe that the largest problem afflicting the military today is our lack of competent leaders, ineffective leader development, and how we influence our subordinates under us who are becoming leaders.
In this lesson he reflects on his time serving in World War II. He was one of the conductors of a study for the Air Force that was trying to understand why so many of the pilots were aborting their missions. 20% of the pilots aborted their missions with reasons that poorly covered their true motivation, fear of death. Curtis LeMay, a colonel in the Air Force threatened the pilots with being court-marshaled if they failed to complete their missions and the pilots stopped aborting. This lesson falls under the international relations theory of realism. LeMay used hard power, the threat of being court-marshaled, as a means to keep the pilots in line. Yet this lesson also imposes that the completion of the missions, shows of force against Germany, were done in the name of security for the United
Essential emergency response services have been developed since ancient times. So when the speed and range of airplanes started to mature it excited early bush pilots. Airplanes were naturally suited to the role of providing the fastest response over great distances. This was shown to be true mo...