On July 21, 1921, during a military test on July 21, 1921, Mitchell confirmed the launch of an airborne sinking vessel. U.S. Air Force Comandant Billy Mitchell on July 21, 1921, U.S. Air Force Comandant William Mitchell and his flight partners performed a convincing performance of aircraft destruction. They sinked the former German battleship Ostfriesland with six 2,000-pound bombs in just 25 minutes. Many naval officers had flown to Mitchell's view that the aircraft could sink any military vessel no matter how robust it was. They said that the "Austerland" could only be sinked with a naval cannon. But Mitchell and his flight attendants flew from the airport of Virginia this morning, and the 2000-pound bombs of the world would have