- Elwood Richard Quesada
Infobox Military Person
name=Elwood Richard Quesada
born= birth date|1904|4|13
died= death date and age|1993|2|9|1904|4|13
caption=
nickname="Pete"
placeofbirth=Washington, D.C.
placeofdeath=
placeofburial=Arlington National Cemetery
allegiance= United States of America
branch=United States Army Air Corps United States Air Force
serviceyears=1924-1951
rank=Lieutenant General
unit=Joint Chiefs of Staff
commands=9th Fighter Command
battles=World War II
awards=Distinguished Service Medal (2) Distinguished Flying CrossPurple Heart Order of the Bath (Degree of Companion) Commander of British EmpireFrench Legion of Honor French Croix de Guerre
relations=
laterwork=Lockheed Administrator of the FAA MLB ownerElwood Richard "Pete" Quesada (
April 13 ,1904 –February 9 ,1993 ) was a U.S. Air Force General,FAA administrator, and, later, a club owner inMajor League Baseball .Early years
Elwood Richard Quesada was born in
Washington, D.C. in 1904 to an Irish-American mother and a Spanish father. He attended the University of Maryland andGeorgetown University .Early military career
In September 1924, Quesada enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a flying cadet and was commissioned as a reserve officer a year later. He had a wide variety of assignments as aide to senior officers, military attache and technical adviser to other air forces, and in intelligence. He was also part of the team (with
Ira Eaker andCarl Spaatz ) that developed and demonstrated air-to-air refueling in 1929 on the "Question Mark". All five crew members were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for their participation in the mission.Rank and promotions
Lieutenant General Quesada was promoted and held commands as follows:
*First Lieutenant 1932
*Captain 1935
*Major 1941 -- 33rd Pursuit Group
*Lieutenant Colonel 1942 -- Philadelphia Region, 1st Fighter Command
*Brigadier General 1942 -- 1st Air Defense Wing; 12th Fighter Command; 9th Fighter Command; 9th Tactical Air Command
*Major General 1944 -- 3rd Air Force
*Lieutenant General 1947 --Tactical Air Command Pioneer of Tactical Airpower in World War II and Post War Difficulties
During his time as a junior officer he became interested in the concept of
close air support of ground forces, which was thoroughly developed by the 9th during his time as commander inNorth Africa andEurope .Quesada was instrumental in developing many of the principles of tactical air-ground warfare for the Ninth Air Force during the European campaign. Innovations attributed to him included adapting a microwave early warning radar (MEW) for real-time direction of fighter bombers that were already in-flight, as well as placing pilots as forward air controllers inside tanks equipped with VHF aircraft radios on the front lines. This latter technique allowed for direct ground communication with overhead fighter-bombers by personnel who understood what pilots needed to identify ground targets. Besides reducing friendly fire incidents, such tactics allowed attacking ground troops to use
close air support with greater precision and speed, allowing for air cover to take the place of artillery support in a rapid armored advance. These improved tactics enormously expanded the contributions of tactical airpower to the Allied defeat of Germany on the Western Front.The end of WWII would emphasize the importance of strategic bombers, however. Post-war military budgets reflected the predominance of strategic bombers over tactical aircraft, as the Cold War nuclear standoff between the U.S. and Soviet Union seemed to indicate that tactical airpower would be of little importance in future wars. Strategic airpower advocates such as General
Curtis LeMay would gain a lock on the military budgets for the Air Force in the post-WWII years, and the U.S. Air Force's ability to engage in tactical air warfare would suffer all the way through the Korean and Vietnam Wars until a resurgence of interest and improved budgetary priorities in the 1970s. In 1947, Quesada was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed as the first commander of theTactical Air Command (TAC) in the newly independent U.S. Air Force. However, Quesada quickly became disillusioned as he saw how TAC was being ignored while funding and promotions were largely going to theStrategic Air Command . In December 1948, Air Force Chief of StaffHoyt Vandenberg stripped TAC of its planes and pilots and reduced its status to that of a planning headquarters under the newly formed Continental Air Command.Quesada thus asked for re-assignment and was given a dead-end job by Vandenberg as head of a committee to find ways to combine the Air Force Reserves and Air National Guard. Quesada was removed from this job after only two months, as his blunt and impatient nature only served to stir up controversy in this near-impossible task. This episode led to his request for early retirement from the Air Force, which came about at the age of 47 in 1951.
The onset of the Korean War would result in the re-formation of TAC, which would be headed by Quesada's friend, General
Otto P. Weyland , who had also been a champion of tactical airpower with XIX TAC during WWII.Civilian and Family Life
On October 12, 1946, Quesada married Kate Davis Putnam, the granddaughter of
Joseph Pulitzer (founder of theSt. Louis Post-Dispatch ), and a war widow (her first husband was Capt. Henry Ware Putnam who died in an air raid over Tokyo on May 25, 1945). His wife had two daughters from the previous marriage and they would have two sons of their own - Thomas Ricardo Quesada and Peter Wickham Quesada.He was an executive for Lockheed Aircraft Corporation from 1953 to 1955. In 1957, he became President
Dwight D. Eisenhower 's Special Advisor for Aviation, leading to his appointment as first administrator of theFederal Aviation Administration (FAA) from 1959 to 1961.Quesada got into sports when he became owner of the expansion Washington Senators in 1961. Quesada sold his stake in the team in 1963.
He, his wife, and their two sons were involved in a dispute with Joseph Pulitzer III in 1986 over the control and value of their two sons' shares in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, an episode chronicled in "No Ordinary Joe" (p. 149-166).
Awards and decorations
General Quesada's medals and awards include Distinguished Service Medal with
oak leaf cluster ; Distinguished Flying Cross;Purple Heart ;Air Medal with two silver stars;American Defense Service Medal ;European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal and seven bronze battle stars;World War II Victory Medal ;Order of the Bath (Degree of Companion); Commander of British Empire;French Legion of Honor ;French Croix de Guerre with Palm;Luxembourg Croix de Guerre ;Order of Adolphe of Nassau ; Polish Pilot Badge; Conmandeur del'Ordre de la Couronne with Palm; Croix d'Officier de l'Order de la Couronne with Palm.Death
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
