Capt. William H. Sutphin

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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. William T. Sutphin

During the First World War, after receiving flight training at Ft. Meyer, Virginia, my father William H. Sutphin, a former Cavalry officer, was commissioned as a Captain in the Air Service of the Signal Corps. He was sent to France as a part of the American Expeditionary Force, and was assigned to the Third Aviation Instruction Center, at Issidun, France. He was placed in charge of one of the flight schools in that command.

In 1930, he was elected to the 72nd United States Congress as the representative of the 3rd New Jersey Congressional District. He served as a member of the Naval Affairs Committee, and in later years became the Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Naval Aviation.

On June 19, 1941, Congressman Sutphin sponsored and introduced H. R. 5101, a bill to create at the cabinet level, a Department of Aviation which would have been responsible for military aviation, and which would have absorbed facilities and functions from the War Department and other departments. This bill was a precursor of the legislation that later created the Department of the Air Force.

On July 15, 1941, he introduced H.R. 5327, the "Glider Pilot Training Act" which was intended to establish a national program of glider pilot training for the youth of the United States.