The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell 1955

Brigadier General William “Billy” Mitchell (Gary Cooper) fights to prove the Air Service’s worth as an independent force by sinking the battleship Ostfriesland under restrictive conditions agreed to by the Army and Navy. He defies orders to limit the attack to bombs under 1,000 pounds from above 5,000 ft, and instead loads 2,000-pound bombs, directing the aircraft to fly at about 1,500 ft, proving that the ex-German WWI battleship Ostfriesland can indeed be sunk. His superiors are outraged.

He is demoted to colonel and sent to a ground unit in Texas. A high-profile air disaster then follows: his close friend Zachary Lansdowne (Jack Lord) is killed in the crash of the dirigible Shenandoah. A second disaster strikes when six aircraft crash after a flight from a base on the California coast to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, due to poor maintenance caused by lack of funds.

Mitchell’s outrage drives him to hold a press conference in which he accuses the Army and Navy of criminal negligence and almost treasonable disregard of the air service. The incident leads to a court-martial in Washington, D.C. He is represented by Ralph Bellamy as Congressman Frank R. Reid, an advocate of air power in Congress. None of the officers hearing the case are from the Air Corps. Reid’s attempts to call witnesses on the merits are denied; he asks who filed the charges and, receiving no clear answer, demands the appearance as a witness of President Calvin Coolidge (Ian Wolfe) as commander of all armed forces. The court adjourns to consider the request.

Mitchell refuses to sign a paper that would withdraw his criticisms in return for saving his career. Margaret Lansdowne (Elizabeth Montgomery), widow of Lansdowne, then appears in court. Coolidge declines to appear, but witnesses on air power who were previously excluded are now allowed to testify to corroborate Mitchell’s criticisms, including Eddie Rickenbacker (Tom McKee), Carl Spaatz (Stephen Roberts), Henry H. Arnold (Robert Brubaker) and Fiorello LaGuardia (Phil Arnold).

Finally Mitchell testifies and is cross-examined by Maj. Allen W. Gullion (Rod Steiger), a prosecutor specially brought in for the job. He stresses that Mitchell had disobeyed his superior officers and ridicules his claims, such as the prediction that Japan would attack the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor.

The court finds Mitchell guilty, but his men in the air service salute him as he departs. Mitchell steps out and looks up to see a squadron of four biplanes, which fades into a squadron of fighter jets—a powerful, symbolic glimpse of what his actions herald for the future of the United States and its Air Force.