Mitscher, Marc A (1887-1947)

US admiral. A pioneer aviator who constantly pressed the cause of naval aviation, in 1941 he commanded the USS Hornet, the carrier from which the Doolittle raid on Tokyo was launched. He became Air Commander, Guadalcanal, in 1943, and in 1944 took command of Task Force 58, a concentration of carriers with its own supply organization which could act independently of the US fleet. This provided air support for the operations in the Marshall Islands, Hollandia, the Marianas, the battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf, and the operations at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Mitscher entered the naval academy at Annapolis in 1906, and in 1915 joined the naval air station at Pensacola, Florida. In 1919 he was pilot of the aircraft which made the first US navy transatlantic flight from Newfoundland to the Azores, for which he was awarded the Navy Cross.