Admiral William A. Moffett: Architect of Naval Aviation (Smithsonian History of Aviation and Spaceflight Series) [Hardcover]

William F. Trimble (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 17, 1993

Naval aviation historian William F. Trimble provides a clear and detailed portrait of the man who took on the challenge of forming an aeronautical bureau within the U.S. Navy in 1921 and then nurtured the early development of naval aviation. Describing Admiral William A. Moffett as one of the first high-ranking naval officers to appreciate the importance of the airplane and the effect it would have on the fleet, the author contends that the admiral's strong background as a surface officer gave him a credibility and trust with his superiors that others could not match. The author attributes Moffett's desire to keep aviation as part of the fleet, along with his diplomacy, tenacity, and political and military savvy, to the success of the infant air arm during its formative years. In striking contrast to the tactics of Army General Billy Mitchell, Moffett's handling of the loyalty issue and other politically sensitive topics saved the Navy's air arm, according to Trimble. The book is equally candid about the admiral's shortcomings, including his heavy-handed support for airships, a technological dead end that squandered millions and led to Moffett's death in 1933 when he went down with the airship Akron during a storm.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In this informative biography, Trimble ( Wings for the Navy , Naval Inst. Pr., 1990) describes the trials and tribulations of the man who became the first head of the navy's Bureau of Aeronautics in the 1920s. Moffett (1896-1933) was deeply involved in the design and implementation of the navy's new light airship and aircraft carrier programs. His love of the airship and his feeling that it could be an effective weapons system led to his untimely death in the crash of the airship Akron. One of the more interesting aspects of this book is the running battle between Moffett and Gen. Billy Mitchell to see what service, navy or army, would be in control of the navy's aircraft. This is a fascinating look at the father of naval aviation. Strongly recommended for any aviation and/or naval history collections.
- Terry Wirick, Erie Cty. Lib. System, Pa.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Adm. William A. Moffett has a stronger claim than any other man to being the father of U.S. naval aviation. As the culmination of a naval career that began in the 1890s, he became chief of the Bureau of Aviation in 1921 and remained in that post until his death in the 1933 crash of the dirigible Akron. During those 12 years, he presided over the development of the first U.S. aircraft careers, regularized aircraft procurement, fought many a bloody bureaucratic battle in defense of naval aviators' careers, and generally proved himself both an innovative leader and an effective politician. In U.S. naval history, perhaps only Adm. Hyman G. Rickover played as decisive a role as Moffett did in the development of new weaponry. Unlike submarine mastermind Rickover, however, Moffett has hitherto lacked a full-scale biography. That lack is met by this superior naval history. Roland Green

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 338 pages
• Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press (December 17, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560983205
• ISBN-13: 978-1560983200
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,142,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding biography of Naval Aviation's Architect, November 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Admiral William A. Moffett: Architect of Naval Aviation (Smithsonian History of Aviation and Spaceflight Series) (Hardcover)

William F. Trimble's Smithsonian History of Aviation Series biography "Admiral William A. Moffett: Architect of Naval Aviation" is an outstanding work about the father of American Naval Aviation.

Trimble paints a clear picture of Moffett as a dynamic man of distinct vision, great patience, and remarkable talent who clearly discerned the basic philosophical and organizational ideas necessary to make aviation a part of the fleet. He may have been less clear on some details of the technology, but his broad-ranging vision of the future impact of aviation on navies was completely correct.

Trimble treats the dispute between Billy Mitchell and William Moffett as diplomatically as Moffett did, but no less finally. Nor does Trimble shirk from cataloging Moffett's numerous political battles within and without the Navy to establish Naval Aviation. He also clearly details the admiral's dealings with the many and sundry personalities that impacted his quest to establish aviation in the Navy.

One remarkable fact that comes out is that Moffett was a battleship captain before he became a champion of aviation. Also conspicuously absent in this work is any real finger-pointing at a supposed cabal of "battleship admirals" reputed by legend to have stymied the growth of Naval Aviation. Instead one finds a trail of Congressional penury, and bureaucratic in-fighting, almost none of which spoke to or even disputed the military value of Naval Aviation, much less cast it in opposition to the battleship.

What Trimble brings out is that the early "opposition" to Naval Aviation had almost everything to do with a bureaucratic "turf war" between Moffett's new Bureau of Aviation and the Bureau of Navigation (later called the Bureau of Personnel). The other--"material"--Bureaus bowed out with relative good grace once the technical necessity of BuAer became clear and they grudgingly surrendered control of their shares of the budgetary pie and personnel necessary to develop aviation as a weapon for the fleet. However, BuNav launched a bitter campaign to retain its prerogatives respecting its ability to control personnel assignments and pay.

That battle was still underway when Moffett was killed in the crash of the airship USS Akron, and it was left up to others such as Ernest King and John Towers to continue the fight.

That Moffett was lost in an airship accident is viewed by many as poetic, given his championing of the technology of rigid airships. Ironically, Moffett was not so uniquely or rosily linked to this nascent aviation technology as legend would have it. He pressed every aspect of aviation technology in the Navy, including float planes, sea planes, catapults, and carrier aircraft as well as rigid and non-rigid airships. At the time of his loss aboard Akron, Moffett had been entertaining serious doubts about the effectiveness of airships and pressing the Akron's commanders hard to demonstrate the worth of such expensive vehicles. Clearly, Moffett's support of airships was neither unthinking nor unwavering. His devotion to evaluating any promising technology was, however, total, so he wasn't going to axe rigid airships without good cause.

Beyond his foresight of what aviation could bring to the Navy, and his superb political and organizational skills, Moffett was most importantly a leader. His ability to quiet radical air power advocates in the Navy's own ranks and persuade non-aviators in the fleet of aviation's future importance were instrumental in winning the battle against Billy Mitchell's idea of a unified Air Force controlling all military aircraft ashore and at sea. Had Navy non-aviators been unconvinced of aviation's future utility, they might happily have given up such an expensive burden; had Congress perceived great dissention and support of a unified Air Force in Naval Aviation ranks, it might have mandated Mitchell's approach.

The true measure of Moffett's skill with people was the adroit high-wire act he managed, suspended between traditional naval officers who abhored political activity by officers on one side and the highly charged Mitchell-led air power lobbyists on the other. Despite muttering and outrage on his obviously political activity from within the Navy, and often intemperate attacks by the air power lobby from without, Moffett befriended, wrote to and influenced numerous politicians, industrialists and socialites. On many occasions the intervention of Moffett's bevy of friends proved crucial in the political battles raging around Naval Aviation.

The man who became this leader is also revealed by Trimble's writing, but what becomes apparent is that first, foremost and always, William Moffett was a naval officer. That was the consuming task of his life, and when he discovered aviation it too became central to who he was and what he did.

It is abundantly clear from Trimble's writing the magnitude of the loss the Navy and the nation suffered 20 minutes into 4 April 1933.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book about an influential sailor, August 9, 2008

By 

Jeff Beck "Navy afficianado" (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Admiral William A. Moffett: Architect of Naval Aviation (Bluejacket Books) (Paperback)

This book is the authoritative biography of Admiral Moffett, a man who would not only help to shape the world of Naval Aviation so dominant today but would also help to change the Navy from a group of gun lovers to a group of power projectors. In this book you will read about Moffetts exploits as a child and then as a young adult before he became a sailor and then you will read in excellent detail and prose about the effects he had on the people and the institutions he was involved with up until his tragic death. If you are looking to learn about a father of Naval Aviation or just an interesting man this is the book for you.