The National Security Act of 1947 was a law enacting major restructuring of the United States government's military and intelligence agencies following World War II. The majority of the provisions of the act took effect on September 18, 1947, the day after the Senate confirmed James Forrestal as the first secretary of defense.
Arthur William Radford was an admiral and naval aviator of the United States Navy. In over 40 years of military service, Radford held a variety of positions including the vice chief of Naval Operations, commander of the United States Pacific Fleet and later the second chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Air Department of the British Admiralty was established prior to World War I by Winston Churchill to administer the Royal Naval Air Service.
The Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) was the U.S. Navy's material-support organization for naval aviation from 1921 to 1959. The bureau had "cognizance" (i.e., responsibility) for the design, procurement, and support of naval aircraft and related systems. Aerial weapons, however, were under the cognizance of the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd).
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (ASN) is the title given to certain civilian senior officials in the United States Department of the Navy.
John Henry Towers CBE was a highly decorated United States Navy four-star admiral and pioneer naval aviator. He made important contributions to the technical and organizational development of naval aviation from its beginnings, eventually serving as Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics (1939–1942). He commanded carrier task forces during World War II, and retired in December 1947. He and Marc Mitscher were the only early Naval Aviation pioneers to survive the hazards of early flight to remain with naval aviation throughout their careers. Towers spent his last years supporting aeronautical research and advising the aviation industry.
Los Angeles Air Force Base (LAAFB) is a United States Space Force base located in El Segundo, California. Los Angeles Air Force Base houses and supports the headquarters of the Space Systems Command field command of the United States Space Force, which was established on August 13, 2021. The center manages research, development and acquisition of military space systems.
William Frederick Durand was a United States naval officer and pioneer mechanical engineer. He contributed significantly to the development of aircraft propellers. He was the first civilian chair of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the forerunner of NASA.
Theodore Gordon "Spuds" Ellyson, USN, was the first United States Navy officer designated as an aviator. Ellyson served in the experimental development of aviation in the years before and after World War I. He also spent several years before the war as part of the Navy's new submarine service. A recipient of the Navy Cross for his antisubmarine service in World War I, Ellyson died in 1928 when his aircraft crashed over the Chesapeake Bay.
Jerome Clarke Hunsaker was an American naval officer and aeronautical engineer, born in Creston, Iowa, and educated at the U.S. Naval Academy and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His work with Gustav Eiffel outside Paris led to the first wind tunnel in the US at MIT. He was instrumental in developing a weather reporting and airway navigation. Hunsaker was also pivotal in establishing the theoretical and scientific study of aerodynamics in the United States. And he was primarily responsible for the design and construction of the Navy-Curtiss airplane (NC-4) that accomplished the first transatlantic flight, and the first successful shipboard fighter. Later he championed lighter-than-air flight but the loss of the Navy airship he designed, the USS Akron, led to the withdrawal of federal support. His WW2 chairmanship of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was notable for favouring the development of existing aircraft designs rather than experimenting with turbojets or missile technology.
Patrick Nieson Lynch Bellinger CBE was a highly decorated officer in the United States Navy with the rank of Vice Admiral. A Naval aviator and a naval aviation pioneer, he participated in the Trans-Atlantic flight from Newfoundland to Azores in May 1919 and was decorated with Navy Cross, the United States military's second-highest decoration awarded for valor.
Vice Admiral Thomas Francis Connolly Jr. was a three-star rank admiral in the United States Navy, aviator, and gymnast. As a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team, he won an Olympic bronze medal at the 1932 Summer Olympics.
John L. "Jack" Hudson is a retired lieutenant general in the U.S. Air Force. He was Commander, Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio (WPAFB). Hudson also served as a member of the Senior Executive Service as the Director of the National Museum of the United States Air Force at WPAFB from 2009 to 2018.
Vincent Paul de Poix was a vice admiral in the United States Navy. He began his career as a naval aviator and fighting in World War II aboard USS Enterprise (CV-6). A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, he became the first captain of the newly commissioned USS Enterprise (CVN-65) in November 1961. He later participated in the Vietnam War, and commanded the United States Second Fleet. He was Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency from August 1972 to September 1974.
The United States capital, Washington, D.C., has been the site of several events in the nation's history of aviation, beginning from the time of the American Civil War, often for the purpose of promoting the adoption of new aeronautical technologies by the government. It has also been home to several governmental and civilian aircraft manufacturers and aviation organizations, and several aerospace contractors.
Kenneth Whiting was a United States Navy officer who was a pioneer in submarines and is best known for his lengthy career as a pioneering naval aviator. During World War I, he commanded the first American military force to arrive in Europe for combat. After the war, he was instrumental in development of the aircraft carrier in the United States, where he sometimes is known as the U.S. Navy's "father of the aircraft carrier." He was involved in some way in the design or construction of five of the first six U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, and served as acting commanding officer of the first carrier to enter U.S. Navy service and as executive officer of the first two American carriers. In the earliest days of the U.S. Navy's development of an aircraft carrier force, he led many shipboard innovations still in use aboard carriers today.
In the United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps, captain is the senior-most commissioned officer rank below that of flag officer. The equivalent rank is colonel in the United States Army, Air Force, Space Force, and Marine Corps.
The Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition) (abbreviated ASN (RDA)) is a civilian office of the United States Department of the Navy. The Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition) requires Senate confirmation, and engages in duties as directed by the United States Secretary of the Navy.
