S8 Ep191: The Intellectual Commander and the B-29 — James M. Scott — Scott introduces Brigadier General Haywood Hansell, an air force pioneer and military intellectual who arrives in the Pacific theater in November 1944 as a committed advocate of "high altitude day

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John Batchelor

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🗓️ 14 December 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

The Intellectual Commander and the B-29 — James M. Scott — Scott introduces Brigadier General Haywood Hansell, an air force pioneer and military intellectual who arrives in the Pacific theater in November 1944 as a committed advocate of "high altitude daylight strategic bombing," a military doctrine positing that modern industrial economies resemble "houses of cards" susceptible to catastrophic collapse through destruction of critical infrastructure including petroleum refineries and aircraft manufacturing facilities. Scott documents that Hansell confronts immense institutional pressure from General "Hap" Arnold, the commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces, who suffers recurring heart attacks generated by organizational stress and interservice competition with the Navy and Army for budgetary resources and institutional prestige. Scott emphasizes that Arnold views the Pacific theater as a "blank canvas" to demonstrate the independent military power and strategic utility of the Air Force using the expensive, technologically advanced B-29strategic bomber, recently developed at enormous financial cost.
1925 TOKYO

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is CBS Eye on the World. Here's John Batchelor.
0:09.0	It is November 24th, 1944. Brigadier General Hayward Hansel arrives in the theater of the Pacific Theater in the war against the Imperial Japanese Navy and Army.
0:24.6	These are the last months of the Japanese Pacific War fought by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps,
0:30.6	and the Army Air Force. General Hansel has a mission which is to take a new weapon, a very expensive weapon called
0:39.3	the B-29 and turned it into the destruction of the Japanese ability to make war.
0:45.3	I welcome James Scott. James M. Scott is the author of the new book, Black Snow, Curtis
0:52.3	Lame, the Fire Bombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic
0:56.7	Bomb. James, greetings to you, and congratulations telling the story of these months, which
1:02.8	I'd read about beginning and end, but not in between, as to how the B-29, a very buggy aircraft in addition to being expensive, did not arrive as a success.
1:16.6	The early days were a challenge to the Army Air Force, to the High Command in Washington, and to the men who flew the B-29.
1:26.6	So we needed to start with Haywood Hansel, a premier figure in the Air Force for his success
1:33.5	in the European campaign by the Army Air Force, a great success, which is why he's given
1:39.5	what is regarded, what he regards, as the best command in the Army Air Force, the 20th Air Force.
1:45.8	What is his mission? What are the challenges for Haywood Hansel? What do we need to know about him?
1:50.7	Good evening to you, James.
1:52.3	John, thanks so much for having me on your program again.
1:55.1	So a real treat to be with you and your listeners.
1:58.0	So Haywood Hansel is a fascinating figure and that not only is he a combat
2:03.2	commander in both Europe and the Pacific, but he's also a air pioneer and strategic thinker
2:10.6	during the inner war period in which it's important to remember, you know, aviation is a pretty
2:16.6	new addition to the battlefield by the time
2:19.0	World War II rolls around. I mean, it sort of has its combat debut in the end of World War I,
	...

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