The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell

Jimmy, how are you? Billy, it's good to see you.

Admiral Sims, General Mitchell.

We've met.

Mitchell, you know Admiral Gage?

We've exchanged correspondence.

This is Commander Landsdowne of our lighter-than-air service.

His dirigible will patrol the area during maneuvers.

I know the commander. General Mitchell.

I'd like to clearly state, Billy,

that I'm extremely and utterly impartial...

in your dispute with the navy.

That's why the general staff assigned me...

to decide whether to allow you to carry out this mission.

I assume you have no objection to me.

I wouldn't want a fairer judge.

Very well, then. Admiral, will you state the navy's position?

That battleship is the primary target of our maneuvers.

The air service believes that it can be sunk by aerial bombardment.

The navy denies this...

and asks that they be allowed to sink it with naval gunfire.

Why does the navy feel the ship can't be sunk from the air?

That ship was once the pride of the German navy--

the battleship Ostfriesland.

The British called her "the unsinkable Dreadnought."

Are you aware of these facts, General? Yes, sir.

Would you care to fly back to Langley Field?

I'll show you exactly how I intend to sink her.

Yes, I'll be glad to. Gentlemen.

What'd you think of that? All hits or near misses. Quite impressive.

We'll send that scow to the bottom in nothing flat.

Somebody's burning! Someone's burning!

Look! He's burning!

Call out the crash truck and the ambulance!

Why doesn't he use his parachute? We have no parachutes.

Are you all right, Bob? Yeah, I--

I guess so. I'm a little singed around the edges.

Here. What happened?

It's that fuel line.

I smelled gas in the cockpit when I took off.

Why'd you go up when you knew something was wrong?

General, if it isn't one thing, it's another.

Today it was that fuel line. Yesterday it was an oil pump.

And last week I almost lost a wing.

And yet I'm luckier than a lot of the guys.

Now you see, Jimmy, why I need money so badly.

She certainly could use some improvements.

But that's not an impressive weapon, any way you take it.

It can be. Come here. I'd like to show you something.

Halt!

Sentry, this is General Guthrie.

Give me a hand, will you.

Where'd you get those?

I had Ordnance make it up for me.

One ton of cast T.N.T.

You're not trying to tell me that your planes can carry a 2,000-pound bomb.

Of course they can. They'll sink the battleship as though it were a tin can.

Let's be realistic, Billy.

A 2,000-pound bomb is not practical under wartime conditions.

Maybe you'll get it in the air, but never to the target.

That's exactly what I want to do.

Give me a chance, and I'll show you it can be done.

On a staged exhibition, maybe, but never in combat.

How high do you want to fly? I'd like to come in at a thousand feet.

You know as well as I do that anti-aircraft will knock down any planes lower than 5,000.

Anti-aircraft?

In a real fight,

our pursuit ships would be in there strafing their decks.

I have to be realistic in this, Billy.

After all, we have performance figures on our guns.

But the airplane is an unproved weapon.

I'll prove it to you if you'll let me.

One of these days, half the world will be in ruins from the air.

I want this country to be in the other half.

If I sink that ship, we may have a real air force.

Where's the money coming from? There's not enough to go around for the army and navy now.

Forget them. The next war will be fought in the sky anyway.

No war is won until a bayonet is put to the throat of the enemy.

The foot soldiers won the last war, and they'll win the next.

In the end, it's the infantry who will lead the way.

Yes, and we'll blast the road for them.

Your attitude isn't helping your case any. I'm sorry, sir.

Well, then, let's forget the next war.

I'm in a war right now.

My boys are dying every week...

in these obsolete, moth-eaten, antiquated flying machines.

Let me get in there and prove that we're entitled to live.

Billy, this test is supposed to simulate wartime conditions.

If you come in at a low level...

and drop a bomb too big ever to be practical,

you're simply staging an exhibition for your own purposes...

and you'll give the wrong impression.

Now, in order to be fair to both sides, I'm going to give you two cracks at her.

But you'll have to come in at 5,000 feet and carry only the thousand-pound bombs.

Five thousand feet? Why, that'll rig it all in favor of the navy.

I'm sorry. Those are your orders.

Have you a car available to take me back?

Yes, sir.

I'd like somebody to tell me...

why the taxpayers of this country should throw their money away...

on a useless military toy called the airplane.

The theory is, Senator, it might come in handy in time of war.

War is a serious business, Congressman Reid,

and it's got to be taken seriously.

The taxpayers don't want their money wasted on a lot of silly kite-flyers.

One six-inch naval gun is worth the entire air service.

Exactly, and I think it should be reduced to its realistic proportions--

an entertainment unit for holiday parades and state fairs.

If we have another war, Senator, I hope you fight it personally.

Gen. Mitchell has signaled, requesting permission to commence bombing.

Has he reported his altitude? He's at the 5,000-foot level, sir.

He didn't even scratch her.

I knew he couldn't sink her. Sink her? He didn't even touch her.

- After all, the British fleet couldn't sink it. - I knew he could never do it.

General, I want new orders for tomorrow.

In what way? I want to use 2,000-pound bombs.

We've been over that before.

Request denied. You're dismissed, gentlemen.

But, Jimmy, with 2,000-pounders...

I don't have to hit the ship.

Water concussion will blow her bottom out. I can prove it.

A 2,000-pound bomb is an unrealistic weapon.

Make your run as before.

I'm not going out there and make a fool of the air service...

in front of 40 foreign nations and the world press.

You will carry out your orders.

Let's-- Let's postpone the run.

Let me off the hook till I can figure something out.

I think it would be most unfortunate if you were to sink that ship.

What?

Twice during my lifetime this country's gone to war...

with an army untrained, unequipped and unready.

I don't want to go to war that way again.

But I might have to if you can make Congress believe this country can be defended...

by airplanes alone.

You will attack from 5,000 feet with 1,000-pound bombs.

Good day, Billy.

Go on, go on.

What's going on, boys?

We've been talking.

What about?

We've come to the conclusion...

that we're just not getting anyplace.

I see.

And?

And...

there just doesn't seem to be any future, sir.

Everything seems kind of hopeless.

So we've decided to ask your advice...

if we should resign from the service.

You want me to tell you to quit flying?

Sure, the planes are no good and--

and the pay is small,

but 20 years from now San Francisco will be just a few hours from New York,

and New York will be a bombing run from Berlin.

The whole-- The whole world will be in the air.

Go ahead and quit if you want to, but don't ask me about it.

Oh. Billy. Come in.

Oh, I-- I didn't think you'd gone to bed yet.

I'm sorry I woke you. Go on back to sleep. No, no, come in.

Billy!

What are you doing in Washington?

Well, I-- I didn't mean to disturb you.

I've just been driving around, thought you might be up.

I'd better go. Don't be silly.

Can I get you anything?

No, thank you, Margaret.

I wouldn't be very good company tonight.

You look tired. Why don't you sit down. I'll get you a glass of milk.

I know how you feel, Billy.

It was tough luck about the ship.

Well, it's not only the ship.

The whole thing has fallen apart.

My boys came to me tonight. They want to quit. All of them.

I'm not surprised.

We all get a little discouraged at one time or another.

I've been thinking maybe I've been wrong about everything.

Maybe men weren't meant to fly.

That doesn't sound like you, Billy.

When I got to be a general, I thought,

Now I'll be able to do things, change the whole works.

But they're out to stop me.

There's always a bigger general.

General Yesterday.

No, thank you, Margaret. I really don't care for anything.

You go back to bed, and I'll go where I belong.

Now, Billy, drink this and relax.

You can't possibly sleep the way you are.

Sleep?

There's a little job I have to figure out for tomorrow--

how to sink a great, big, steel-covered, unsinkable battleship...

when my commanding officer has made it impossible.

You can't blame Guthrie for that, Billy.

He's just going according to rules.

That's the way we all have to work-- by the book. You know that.

Sure. We go by the book.

Suppose some other country throws away the book. Then where are we?

I've got to open their eyes to what can happen.

I've got to sink that battleship.

You can't do the impossible.

I can try.