Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), incoming House Armed Services Committee chairman, has announced the Republican members who will preside over the HASC subcommittees during the new Congress that convenes on Wednesday. They are: air and land forces, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (Md.); military personnel, Rep. Joe Wilson (S.C.); oversight and investigations, Rep. Rob Wittman (Va.); readiness, Rep. Randy Forbes (Va.); seapower and expeditionary forces, Rep. Todd Akin (Mo.); strategic forces, Rep. Michael Turner (Ohio); and terrorism, unconventional threats, and capabilities, Rep. Mac Thornberry (Tex.). “Each member brings a wealth of experience and a tremendous knowledge base to the jurisdiction and interests of their respective subcommittees,” stated McKeon in a release. As is the normal practice, members of the full committee will ratify the subcommittee structure and jurisdictions during an organizational meeting this month.
In 1941, Gen. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold of the then-U.S. Army Air Corps, personally reviewed a jet engine patented by Sir Frank Whittle flying on a Gloster E.28/39 aircraft. Impressed by its design, Arnold arranged for a Whittle engine to be brought back to the U.S. and tasked General Electric…