Henry Harley Arnold, American, 1886 - 1950 Search this
Medium:
paper; ink (dark blue); adhesive / engraving
Type:
Postage Stamps
Place:
United States of America
Date:
November 5, 1988
Description:
The Postal Service issued a new 65-cent Great Americans Series stamp honoring General Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold on November 5, 1988, in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania. The dedication ceremony was held at The Gladwyne School. The stamp issuance coincided with a football game between the US Air Force Academy and the US Military Academy at West Point, New York.
During World War II, Arnold was responsible for the training, organization, and general direction of the United States Army Air Corps. He transformed the nation's unprepared and ill-equipped air forces into the largest and most powerful in the world.
When General Arnold assumed command of the fledgling Army Air Corps at the onset of World War II, he led just 20,000 soldiers and a few hundred badly outdated planes. By 1944, he had accomplished his dream. Under his guidance, the Army Air Corps had grown into an incomparable air power of nearly 2.5 million men and women and more than 75,000 state-of-the-art aircraft, giving the Allies an unbeatable hand in the skies.
Arnold served in key military positions, where he was influential in planning strategy that resulted in the Allied victory. In 1949, President Harry S. Truman appointed Arnold a five-star general of the Air Force, the first such commission ever granted.
Designed by Christopher Calle, the stamps were engraved through the intaglio process by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and issued in panes of 100.
