US Army Air Force major General. A World War I flying ace, he was credited with shooting down nine enemy aircraft and became an early advocate of fighter aircraft strategy and tactics. He rose in rank to become the commander of the 8th Fighter Command and the 1st Air Force. He received his education at Hotchkiss School, Connecticut, and in Lausanne, Switzerland. In May 1917, following the US entry into World War I, he enlisted in the Aviation Section, Signal Reserve, as a flying cadet and went to France the following September and received additional training at the 3rd Aviation Instruction Center at Issoudun. In May 1918 he was assigned to the 103rd Aero Squadron and on his first combat patrol, he downed two German planes and landed safely despite being wounded and by the end of the war he had nine German planes to his credit, earning him recognition as an ace. In January 1919 he returned to the US and separated from the US Army. In 1920 he returned to the US Army with a commission and attended Field Artillery School and Air Service Observation School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He was promoted to the rank of Captain in January 1921 and upon graduating in September 1921, he was assigned to Ellington Field (Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base, a part of the Texas Air National Guard), Texas, for duty with the 1st Pursuit Group. In July 1922, he went to Selfridge Field (now Selfridge Air National Guard Base), Michigan, as the commanding officer of the 94th Squadron, and the following October he entered the Air Service Tactical School at Langley Field (now Langley Air Force Base, a part of Joint Base Langley-Eustis), Virginia, returning to his command of the 94th Squadron when he graduated in June 1923. In July 1925 he became the operations officer at Selfridge Field. In September 1926 he transferred to Camp Anthony Wayne, Pennsylvania as a pilot with the Composite Air Corps Squadron, and returned to Selfridge Field three months later. He then served in Washington DC, in the Office of the Chief of Air Corps, and in December 1930 he was assigned to Rockwell Field (now part of North Island, San Diego), California, as the commanding officer of the 95th Pursuit Squadron and assumed command of the 17th Pursuit Group there in October 1931. In November 1933 he was assigned as the executive officer of the 1st Pursuit Wing at March Field (now March Air Reserve Base), California, and in February 1934 became chief of operations, Western Zone Air Mail Operations, with headquarters at March Field, returning to his duties as Executive Officer of the 1st Pursuit Wing in May 1934. The following July he was ordered to Albrook Field, Panama Canal Zone as adjutant and operations officer of the 19th Composite Wing and in December he became its operations and training officer and intelligence officer. In November 1936, with his new rank of major, he transferred to Barksdale Field (now Barksdale Air Force Base), Louisiana as the commanding officer of the 79th Pursuit Squadron, and in July 1937 he became the operations officer for the 3rd Wing there. In July 1939 he was assigned to Maxwell Field (now Maxwell Air Force Base), Alabama as the commanding officer of the 23rd Composite Group and in July 1940 he was attached to the Office of the Military Attaché in London, England, as a Military Observer. He returned to the US five months later at the rank of lieutenant colonel and was stationed at Orlando Army Air Base, Florida (now closed) as the Commanding Officer of the 23rd Composite Group, and was promoted to the temporary rank of colonel in April 1941. In February 1942, following the US entry into World War II, he was assigned to Headquarters US Army Air Forces (AAF) in Washington DC and was promoted to the rank of temporary brigadier general two months later. In May 1942 he joined the 8th Air Force at Bolling Field (now Bolling Air Force Base, a part of Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling) there. That same month he accompanied them to the European Theater of Operations, with headquarters in London, England as the Commanding General, 8th Fighter Command and in this position he affected the first trans-Atlantic flight of AAF planes without the loss of life or equipment. He was the first US air commander to put the P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft into combat, directing the first invasion of the Thunderbolts over Europe In May 1943 he was relieved of his command for his failure to obey a directive issued by his superior, General Ira Eaker, mandating use of wing tanks on the P-47s. He then returned to the US in August 1943 and became Commanding General of the 1st Air Force, where he was charged with training replacement air crews, and was promoted to the rank of temporary major general the following November. His tenure in this command was marred by his involvement in maintaining racial segregation in the US Army, thus provoking the Freeman Field Mutiny of the Tuskegee Airmen at Freeman Army Airfield, near Seymour, Indiana. In October 1945 he was assigned to a detachment of patients at the Air Force Regional Hospital in Miami, Florida and he retired in 1946 with 28 years of military service. Among his military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Cross with 4 bronze oak leaf clusters, the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart, the World War I Victory Medal, the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, and the French Croix de Guerre with palm. He was a rated command pilot and combat and technical observer. After his military retirement, he became an authority on precision flying and set cross-country flying records. Throughout his flying career he survived three bail outs, two of which resulted in broken backs that kept him hospitalized for a year. He died from the effects of a stroke at the age of 87. Hunter Army Airfield, located at Savannah, Georgia is named in his honor.