Miles Rutherford Browning (April 10, 1897 – September 29, 1954) was an officer in the United States Navy in the Atlantic during World War I and in the Pacific during World War II. An early test pilot in the development of carrier-based Navy aircraft and a pioneer in the development of aircraft carrier combat operations concepts, he is noted for his aggressive aerial warfare tactics as a Navy captain on the Admiral's staff aboard USS Enterprise and at Nouméa during World War II. His citation for the Distinguished Service Medal states: "His judicious planning and brilliant execution was largely responsible for the rout of the enemy Japanese fleet in the Battle of Midway." Naval historian Craig Symonds disagrees, however, writing that "the citation claimed that Browning was 'largely responsible' for the American victory at Midway, an assertion that some historians have taken seriously but which is manifestly untrue."
Browning served as Admiral William Halsey's chief of staff aboard USS Enterprise as it launched air attacks on Japanese-held islands across the Pacific in February and March 1942, helped plan and execute the Doolittle Raid that launched 16 Army twin-engine B-25 bombers from USS Hornet to bomb Tokyo in April 1942, served as Admiral Raymond Spruance's chief of staff aboard USS Enterprise during the Battle of Midway in June 1942, served as Admiral Halsey's chief of staff at Nouméa during the Guadalcanal campaign in October–November 1942, and commanded the recently built new aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-12) during the early weeks of the Western New Guinea campaign in April–May 1944. He was removed from command in May 1944, after a shipboard incident in which a Hornet sailor drowned. For the rest of the war, he taught aircraft carrier tactics at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He retired in 1947.
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Early life
Miles Browning was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, the son of Sarah Louise (née Smith) and New York City stockbroker Oren Fogle Browning, Jr. He attended public schools before his appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, in 1914. His class graduated early; he was commissioned Ensign with the Class of 1918 on June 29, 1917, a few weeks after the U.S. entered World War I.
Career
Following graduation, Browning briefly served on USS Oklahoma, a battleship of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. From February 1918 he then had duty in connection with fitting out the battleship New Mexico. In June 1918, he joined the French cruiser Lutetia, and was an observer aboard while she operated with Cruiser Force, Atlantic Fleet, through the end of the war.
After the end of World War I, Browning spent four consecutive years afloat, serving on the battleship USS Pennsylvania (flagship of the Atlantic Fleet), on the destroyer McKean, and as Engineer Officer of Crane and later Howard (destroyers operating with the U.S. Pacific Fleet). Lieutenant Browning joined the destroyer Badger in 1920, serving as executive officer (XO) until he was transferred a year later to similar duty as XO of the destroyer Kidder. From 1922 to January 1924, Browning served as Senior Patrol Officer on the cruiser USS Charleston and the destroyer USS Thompson, operating out of Naval Station San Diego.
In January 1924, Browning reported to Naval Air Station Pensacola for flight training. He showed exceptional skill in the cockpit, but also exhibited a "wild streak" that struck his squadron mates as "potentially dangerous." Designated Naval Aviator on September 29, 1924, he became one of America's earliest Navy combat pilots, joining USS Langley, America's first aircraft carrier, which had been converted from the Navy collier USS Jupiter. From January 1925 until May 1927, Browning was assigned to Observation Squadron 2, attached first to the minelayer Aroostook, then later to the battleship Idaho. Advanced to Operations Officer, he served for two years at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia. He was assigned his first aviation command in July 1929: Scouting Squadron 5S, the aviation unit of the light cruiser Trenton. During that time he performed additional duty on the staff of the commander of Light Cruiser Division Two of the Scouting Fleet (USS Trenton, flagship).
As an aviator flying warplanes between the wars, Browning helped develop and implement fighter aircraft tactics and strategy; he also helped shape how Navy combat aircraft were designed and built. In July 1931, he reported to the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics to serve in the Material Division (Design), and spent the next three years helping to design and test combat aircraft. As a test pilot, he crashed a plane in 1932 and was laid up in a San Diego naval hospital. The new monoplane fighters Browning and others piloted went through numerous upgrades in both structure and function, every design change hotly debated by men whose lives were at stake. Browning was part of the group of "progressives" who pushed for development of a fast high-performance fighter, with maneuverability secondary to speed. These men felt that a true fighter had to be fast enough to quickly overtake and shoot down enemy planes. Unfortunately for Browning and his like-minded colleagues, the Bureau of Aeronautics continued to emphasize maneuverability, climb rate, and flight ceiling at the expense of speed and other characteristics that the progressives argued were more important. If the bureau had been more receptive to an emphasis on speed, the United States Navy might have entered World War II with a more advanced high-performance fighter.
Midway
Admiral Halsey suffered a severe attack of dermatitis on the Enterprise on the way back from launch of the successful Doolittle bombing raid, and was hospitalized in Hawaii. Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, Halsey's hand-picked successor, inherited Halsey's staff just prior to the Battle of Midway. Spruance, who had commanded a cruiser division since the beginning of the war, was concerned about leading a carrier group because he had no prior aviation or carrier experience. Halsey reassured him, telling Spruance to rely on his battle-tested staff, especially Browning.
Unfortunately, Browning had an abrasive personality. Spruance found it difficult to get along with his chief of staff during and after Midway. Military historian Samuel Eliot Morison referred to Browning as "one of the most irascible officers ever to earn a fourth stripe, but he was a man with a slide-rule brain." Others said he had a "calculator brain" and "a superintellect that evoked praise – often begrudging – from his superiors." Browning is commonly described as "crusty and brawling," clever, daring, exceptionally aggressive, and uncontrollable. He was willful, arrogant, a hard drinker, and violent tempered. Despite his many personality flaws, he was respected as a brilliant tactical officer.
Midway would be a critical battle for the United States and its allies, one that all parties knew might very well determine the outcome of the war in the Pacific. After the devastation of its battleships at Pearl Harbor six months earlier, the U.S. Navy was forced to place all its hopes on a small aircraft carrier force that was dwarfed by the strength of Japan's Combined Fleet. As chief of staff for Task Force 16, Browning was charged with supporting Rear Admiral Spruance during the impending battle as the Imperial Japanese Navy, undefeated for over 350 years, bore down on Midway Island.
American signals intelligence had intercepted and decrypted Japanese radio messages. Because of this, they knew that Midway was the Combined Fleet's invasion target, and they had a good estimate of the invasion fleet's direction of approach and anticipated time of arrival at the island. Although the Japanese Navy was not aware of this breach in its radio security, it did change its codes in accordance with protocol as its fleet steamed across the Pacific toward the strategic U.S. air base at Midway. Commanded by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the Imperial Fleet knew it would meet resistance, but did not know it had lost the element of surprise. Yamamoto's intent was to draw whatever was left of the American fleet into a battle so that any remaining U.S. warships could be destroyed, then occupy Midway and use it as a base against Hawaii and as leverage for a negotiated peace. Yamamoto's second-in-command, Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, the hero of Pearl Harbor, also expected to achieve complete surprise at Midway. He failed to anticipate attacks from any of America's remaining carriers, and presumed that the heavily damaged Yorktown had been sunk during the Battle of the Coral Sea.
Guadalcanal
Unfortunately, Browning continued to be a man of tremendous contradictions. At this moment of triumph, in the summer of 1942, he had an affair with the wife of a fellow officer, Commander Francis Massie Hughes. Combined with his drinking and unstable temperament, this breach of trust would eventually help to derail his career. But Captain Browning resumed combat duties in October 1942 when Halsey was given command of the South Pacific theater, where Allied fortunes had gone from bad to worse. Browning's tactical advice as chief of staff helped Halsey achieve the command miracle in the Solomon Islands that did much to turn the tide in the Pacific.
Like Midway, the Guadalcanal Campaign was another critical turning point in the Pacific war. The first major offensive by combined Allied forces against Japanese-held territory, it was a desperate ongoing sea, air, and ground campaign that required continual, almost daily, aircraft action. Repeated Japanese counterstrikes were repelled while Halsey ran the entire South Pacific Force – including U.S. and Allied army, navy and marine forces – from his headquarters at Nouméa in New Caledonia, with assistance from Browning, a handful of staff officers, and some fifty bluejackets. Audacious strikes by air, land and sea, and the tenacity and sacrifices of thousands of soldiers, sailors and marines under Admiral Halsey's command led to the historic naval victory at Guadalcanal in early November 1942.
Again, Halsey generously gave Browning credit for much of his success. In a New Year's Day 1943 letter to Admiral Nimitz (CINCPAC) concerning Browning's precarious career situation, Halsey wrote, "Miles has an uncanny knack of sizing up a situation and coming out with an answer." Admitting that his chief of staff was "decidedly temperamental", Halsey begged Nimitz not to break up "this partnership" between himself and Browning, writing, "I am almost superstitious about it." Several days later, however, Browning antagonized visiting Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, earning himself another powerful enemy who then replaced Browning over Halsey's objections. Admiral Ernest King, Chief of Naval Operations and Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet, and another old enemy, concurred. Halsey had pushed for a promotion to Commodore for Browning, but this did not happen.
In March 1943, Browning married Jane Matthews, the woman with whom he had the 1942 affair; she was his fourth and last wife.
Removal from Command
On 13 April 1944, Rear Admiral Joseph J. Clark had hoisted his flag on Hornet as commander of Task Group 58.1, which consisted of Hornet and three Independence-class light carriers. Not long after this, during a nighttime showing of a film on Hornet's hangar deck, someone discharged a CO2 canister and triggered a stampede. In the chaos, two sailors fell overboard; one of them drowned. By this time, Browning had alienated several more of his superiors, including Admiral Clark and Task Force 58 commander Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher, who were waiting for Browning to make a misstep after numerous ship-handling mistakes and general insubordination. Browning was also widely hated by his subordinates, especially the pilots, who held him responsible for numerous crashes as he enforced an unrealistically short take-off distance for the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, which he based on the manufacturer's theoretical claims instead of the pilots' own practical experience with as-built aircraft on the carrier. When Browning refused to have a boat lowered to rescue the drowning sailors despite Admiral Clark's urgent recommendation that he do so, a board of investigation was ordered, which led to Browning's removal from command. The ensuing ruin of his career, which Morison called "one of the great wastes to the American prosecution of the war", may have had little to do with combat results but had a great deal to do with flaws in his leadership. Browning was removed from command of Hornet in May 1944 and reassigned to the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he taught carrier battle tactics during the final months of the war.
After World War II
Browning toured Japan in 1949, and stated that radiation damage from the atomic bombs was a "myth". He pointed to gardens and a number of tall chimneys left standing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki as "proof" that there were no long-term effects from the blasts.
Browning retired from active duty on January 1, 1947, and was retroactively promoted to rear admiral (upper half). He was appointed New Hampshire's Civil Defense Director in 1950, where he devised a plan wherein 500,000 displaced residents of Boston could be housed in New Hampshire private homes in the event of disaster. Browning resigned from this post in 1952.
On September 29, 1954, Browning died of systemic lupus erythematosus at Chelsea Naval Hospital in Boston. He was buried on October 6, 1954, at Arlington National Cemetery.
Fictional portrayals
In the 1976 film Midway, Browning was portrayed by actor Biff McGuire.
In the 1988 TV-mini series War and Remembrance, Episode 3, Browning was portrayed by actor Michael McGuire.
In the 2019 film Midway Browning was portrayed by actor Eric Davis.
In the 2019 film Dauntless: The Battle of Midway, Browning was portrayed by actor C. Thomas Howell.
Awards and decorations
Naval Flight Officer Badge
Personal life
Browning was married three times.
On May 20, 1922, Browning married San Francisco socialite Cathalene Isabella Parker (1906–1987), stepdaughter of Vice Admiral Clark H. Woodward. From 1922 to January 1924, Browning served as Senior Patrol Officer on the cruiser USS Charleston and the destroyer USS Thompson, operating out of Naval Station San Diego. During that time, his only daughter, Cathalene Parker Browning, was born in San Diego (her son is the American comedian Chevy Chase).
After his divorce from Parker, Browning married Marie Héloïse Barbin (1907–2005) in June 1931.
In 1943, he married Katherine Jane Eynon (1909–1982). They were married for the rest of his life. In 1970, Jane Browning testified to Congress about the small widow's pension she received and her penury.