On June 21, 1921, Army Air Service pilots bombed the captured German battleship Ostfriesland to demonstrate the effectiveness of aerial bombing on warships. At the time, the ship was one of the world's largest war vessels. Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell, assistant chief of the Army Air Service, arranged the demonstration to prove that air power should become the country's first line of defense. Most military leaders doubted that airplanes could inflict serious damage on warships. Mitchell's tests proved them wrong.

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Keywords: air, airforce, force, military, states, united, usa