During the spring and summer of 1921 General Billy Mitchell conducted a series of controversial tests demonstrating the effectiveness of bombing naval vessels by air. Mitchell met opposition from naval and army leaders concerned not only with the potential implications of the tests, but also with the general’s own unconventional style and willingness to flaunt authority and chains of command to promote his ideas.

During the tests of late June 1921, McDougall obtained permission from Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby to observe the proceedings on Chesapeake Bay. The bombings were conducted on several obsolete US Navy ships and German naval units turned over to the United States after the First World War. Despite being carried out with sharply restrictive rules of engagement, McDougall was impressed with the results. Navy officials were less so, and eventually Mitchell would be court martialed and stripped of his rank. And while the tests also demonstrated the limitations of air power during the early 1920s, within a generation it would be used to devastating effect during World War II and beyond.

White phosphorus dropped on the U.S.S. Alabama intended to blind the ship’s gunners. This is from September 1921 tests, McDougall did not see these, but they produced dramatic images.

I’m once again struck by McDougall’s ability to insert himself into some of the most dramatic events of his time.