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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

While chief of the Army Information Service during World War I, my grandfather served as assistant director of military aeronautics. He was responsible for training pilots and acquiring most of the military flight bases in the United States. Following World War I, he promoted innovations such as aerial forest patrol and in-flight refueling. In 1925, he became Chief of the Information Division of the Air Corps.

In 1938, he became Chief of the U.S. Army Air Corps. During World War n, he commanded a force that had grown from 24,000 men to more than two million with more than 80,000 aircraft. In my grandfather's view, the most important lesson of the war was the need for preeminence in air research to provide national security for America as the Cold War loomed.

Hap Arnold's vision of an Air Force "built around scientists — around mechanically minded fellows" became reality in the Arnold Engineering Development Center. He lived to see the new center obtain congressional approval and funding, but he died in 1950 before the center was dedicated in his honor.