Howze Board is the informal name of the Tactical Mobility Requirements Board that was created at the request of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara

Robert McNamara

Robert Strange McNamara was an American business executive and the eighth Secretary of Defense, serving under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 to 1968, during which time he played a large role in escalating the United States involvement in the Vietnam War...

 to review and test new concepts integrating helicopters into the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

. It gave birth to idea of airmobility

Air assault

Air assault is the movement of ground-based military forces by vertical take-off and landing aircraft—such as the helicopter—to seize and hold key terrain which has not been fully secured, and to directly engage enemy forces...

. It was named after its chairman, Hamilton H. Howze

Hamilton H. Howze

Hamilton Hawkins Howze was born in West Point, New York, while his father, Major General Robert Lee Howze, an 1888 West Point graduate, was serving as Commandant of the West Point.-Early career:...

. It convened at Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Fort Bragg is a major United States Army installation, in Cumberland and Hoke counties, North Carolina, U.S., mostly in Fayetteville but also partly in the town of Spring Lake. It was also a census-designated place in the 2010 census and had a population of 39,457. The fort is named for Confederate...

 in 1962. After investigating, testing, and evaluating the organizational and operational concepts of airmobility, the board concluded that

"The adoption of the Army of the Airmobile Concept-however imperfectly it may be described and justified in this report-is necessary and desirable. In some respect the transition is inevitable, just as was that from animal mobility to motor."

The board recommended the creation of an air assault division with 459 aircraft as compared to about 100 in a standard division. The new division, the 11th Air Assault Division, tested the airmobile concept, and its deployment to Vietnam in September 1965 as the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) changed the way U.S. forces conducted land warfare. The use of helicopters for reconnaissance, command and control, troop transport, attack gunships, aerial rocket artillery, medical evacuation, and supply was tantamount to a revolution in maneuver.

The Board's Structure

The Board was created by a letter from General Herbert B. Powell, Commanding General, United States Continental Army Command, dated 3 May 1962. Its eventual membership consisted of 199 officers, 41 enlisted men, and 53 civilians, which excludes many assigned to troop tests, operational analysis, and war gaming. The governing board consisted of:

Members of the Board:

General Hamiliton H. Howze, President

General Robert M. Shoemaker

Robert M. Shoemaker

Robert Morin Shoemaker is a U.S. Army general, and former commander of the United States Army Forces Command .-Biography:...

Brigadier General Joseph B. Starker

Lieutenant General James H. Merryman

Major General George S. Beatty, Jr.

Steering and Review Committee

Major General Ben Harrell

Ben Harrell

Ben Harrell was a United States Army four star general who served as Commander, Allied Land Forces South East Europe from 1968 to 1971. A 1933 graduate of the United States Military Academy, Harrell also served as the Commander, 101st Airborne Division and as a member of the Howze Board...

Major General William B. Rosson

William B. Rosson

General William Bradford Rosson commanded the U.S. Army, Pacific from October 1970 to January 1973. He was commissioned in 1940 through ROTC and saw combat in World War II, earning the Distinguished Service Cross for valor on the Anzio Beachhead in Italy...

Brigadier General John J. Lane

Brigadier General Edward L. Rowny

Brigadier General Delk M. Oden

Brigadier General Robert R. Williams

Colonel William M. Lynn, Jr.

Dr. Jacob A. Stockfisch

Dr. Edwin W. Paxson

Eugene Vidal

Fred Wolcott

Frank A. Parker

Edward H. Heinemann

Parker, Rowny, and Lynn also served as chiefs of working committees. Other senior board members (eventually added to the Steering and Review committee) were named working committee chiefs-

Major General Clifton F. von Kann

Major General Norman H. Vissering

Brigadier General Frederic W. Boye, Jr.

Brigadier General Walter B. Richardson