Hansell, Haywood Shepherd Jr. (1903-1988)

National Archives. Via Frank (1999)

"Possum" Hansell visited England in 1941 and brought back information on German industry that helped shape AWPD-1, the American contingency plan for a strategic bombing campaign against Germany if the United States intervened in the war in Europe. A strong advocate of an independent strategic air force in the Pacific, he commanded 21 Bomber Command for five months in its campaign against Japan. He was opposed to night bombing, desiring to conduct a "civilized" bombing campaign that spared enemy civilians, and he also opposed use of strategic bombers to mine Japanese waters. He was determined to destroy the Japanese aircraft industry through daylight precision bombing, but initial raids were costly and unproductive. Although bombing performance had begun to improve during his time as commander, he received little support from his wing commanders (particularly "Rosie" O'Donnell) and was relieved by Curtis LeMay, who thoroughly shook up the command, then switched to night fire bombing.

[There was] extreme pressure to perform. One major slip and the critics would have their way — Twentieth Air Force would have been dismembered and parceled out to the various theaters.... We had given a pledge to launch an air offensive against Japan in November 1944. This proposed offensive was tied into the carefully prepared plans for the Pacific campaigns of Admiral Nimitz and General MacArthur. The target date had to be met, and the success of a highly controversial operation had to be demonstrated, if strategic air power was to reach fruition in the Pacific.

Though a senior bomber commander, Hansell had a broader perspective that many other members of the "bomber cult" (quoted in Wolk 2010):

Proponents of the two ideas soon lost all sense of proportion in the very intensity of their zeal. There was a tendency of the airmen to advocate strategic bombing to the exclusion of all else; and of the ground soldiers to view bombardment simply as more artillery.... it must also be admitted that at least in some very small measure we may possibly have overstated our powers and understated our limitations.

Service record

References

Frank (1999)
Generals.dk (accessed 2008-11-21)

Hastings (2007)
Pettibone (2006)

Tillman (2010)

Wolk (2010)

The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2008-2009, 2011 by Kent G. Budge. Index

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