Marc Andrew Mitscher

	ADMIRAL MARC ADNDREW MITSCHER Naval Aviation Pioneer
	Marc Andrew Mitscher was born at Hillsboro, Wisconsin on January 26th, 1887. After graduation from the Naval Academy in 1910, he served in the Fleet until ordered to aviation training from which he was designated Naval Aviator #33 on June 2nd, 1916. Mitscher received his first Navy Cross in May, 1919 "For distinguished service...as a member of the crew of the Seaplane NC-1, which made a long overseas flight from Newfoundland to the vicinity of the Azores...", man's first flight across the Atlantic. In the succeeding decades he advanced the science of aeronautics through his leadership in the development of mass flights over water and techniques of carrier-based aviation. In April, 1942, as Commanding Officer, U.S.S. HORNET, he launched Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle's raid on Tokyo. Mitscher thereafter enjoyed enormous strategic success with Naval aviation commands in the western Pacific culminating in leadership of the famed TASK FORCE FIFTY-EIGHT. Admiral Mitscher died on February 3rd, 1947, while in command of the Atlantic Fleet. Admiral Marc Mitscher refined the projection of Naval airpower to the highest levels ever achieved. He was a pioneering airman who was privileged to apply his vast aeronautical experience in the service of his country.
	Elected to the International Aerospace Hall of Fame 1989