Major General Benjamin D. Foulois

US Air Force Military Biographies, Annual, 2004

In November 1917 he was named chief of air service, American Expeditionary Forces, and assumed additional duties as a member of the Joint Army and Navy Aircraft Committee in France; representative of the commander in chief, American Expeditionary Forces on the Inter-Allied Expert Committee on Aviation of the Supreme War Council, and commandant of the Army Aeronautical Schools.

In May 1918 he was appointed chief of air service, First Army. In August 1918, when our European "pipe lines" began to "leak badly," he was designated assistant chief of the air service, zone of the advance, and two months later he became assistant chief of air service, Services of Supply. After the Armistice, Nov. 11, 1918, he attended the Center of Artillery Studies at Treves, Germany from February to March 1919. He then served with the chief of the air service on the Supreme War Council, drafting the air clauses of the Treaty of Versailles. Upon his return to the U.S. in July 1919, he was assigned to the Office of the Director of Air Service at Washington, D.C., in charge of the Air Service Liquidation Division, responsible for the settlement of war claims against the United States.

In April 1920 he was assigned as assistant military attache, The Hague, Netherlands, and Berlin, Germany. Entering the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., in April 1924, he graduated the following year and was assigned to command Mitchel Field, N.Y.

Appointed assistant chief of the air corps in December 1927, General Foulois became chief of the Materiel Division at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, in June 1929. He was then reassigned to the Office of the Chief of Air Corps, Washington, D.C., in July 1930. In May 1931 he commanded the Air Corps exercises, leadership of which earned him the Mackey Trophy for that year. On Dec. 19, 1931 he was designated chief of the Air Corps.

General Foulois retired from active duty Dec. 31, 1935, after 37 years of service.

He has been president of the Air Force Historical Foundation since 1955. During the period 1960-1964, as president of the foundation, he traveled approximately 500,000 miles by air, emphasizing national security to the men and women of the U.S. Air Force at home and overseas.

In addition to his five campaign badges for field service in the Spanish-American War, the Philippines Insurrection, the Army of Cuban Pacification, the Mexican Punitive Expedition, and World War I. his decorations also include the U.S. Army Distinguished Service Medal, the French Legion of Honor (Commander), the Crown of Italy (Grand Officer), and more recently (1963) the Congressional Air Force Medal of Recognition.

During his 56 years of active and retired military aviation service, he has accumulated a number of firsts such as

1908 First flight as a dirigible pilot

1909 First observer on an aircraft cross-country

1910 First military man to teach himself to fly First and only military test pilot flying Old No. 1

1911 First to fly more than 100 miles non-stop First on an operational reconnaissance flight First to test use of radio in flight