Content deleted Content added
m remove square brackets from bare URL inline refs. The URL is much more helpful than a random number |
m clean up Washington, D.C., punctuation issues, replaced: Washington, D.C. in → Washington, D.C., in |
||
| (15 intermediate revisions by 12 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{short description|United States Air Force general (1904–1993)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}} {{Use American English|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_suffix = CB CBE▼
| birth_date = {{birth date|1904|4|13}}<ref name=af1946bio>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/afhra-417.01 |title=Biography of Robert Merrill Lee |pages=4–14 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=December 31, 1946 |publisher=[[Air Force Historical Research Agency]]}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>
▲|honorific_suffix=CB CBE
|
| image = Richard Quesada color photo portrait head and shoulders.jpg
| nickname = "Pete"▼
▲|caption=Lieut. Gen. Elwood R. Quesada
| birth_place = [[Washington, D.C.]], US<ref name=af1946bio />
▲|nickname="Pete"
|
| placeofburial = [[Arlington National Cemetery]]▼
| allegiance = United States▼
▲|placeofburial= [[Arlington National Cemetery]]
| branch = {{plainlist|
▲|allegiance= United States
* [[United States Army Air Corps]]
* [[United States Air Force]]
}}
| serviceyears = 1924–1951
| rank = [[Lieutenant General]]
| unit = [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]]
| commands = {{plainlist|
* [[Tactical Air Command]]
* [[IX Tactical Air Command]]
* [[IX Fighter Command]]
}}
| battles = World War II
| awards = {{plainlist|
* [[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Distinguished Service Medal]] (2)
* [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)|Distinguished Flying Cross]]
Line 34 ⟶ 31:
* [[Air Medal]] (11)
}}
| relations =
| laterwork = {{plainlist|
* [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]]
* Administrator of the [[Federal Aviation Administration|FAA]]
Line 45 ⟶ 41:
==Early years==
Elwood Richard Quesada was born in Washington, D.C., in 1904 to an Irish-American mother and a Spanish father. He attended [[Wyoming Seminary]] in Kingston, Pa., [[University of Maryland, College Park]], and [[Georgetown University]].
==Early military career==
Line 61 ⟶ 57:
In December 1948, Air Force Chief of Staff [[Hoyt 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]]. Strategic airpower advocates such as General [[Curtis LeMay]] gained a lock on the budget for the Air Force in the post-World War II years, and the Air Force's tactical air warfare ability suffered.
Quesada thus asked for reassignment 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.
The onset of the [[Korean War]] resulted in the re-formation of TAC, headed by Quesada's friend, General [[Otto P. Weyland]], who led the XIX TAC during World War II. To Quesada's dismay, Vandenberg and LeMay credited Weyland for “restoring both the morale and professionalism of TAC”. Weyland gratefully accepted this praise, further infuriating Quesada.
==Civilian and family life==
Line 69 ⟶ 65:
On October 12, 1946, Quesada married Kate Davis Putnam, a war widow (her first husband was Capt. Henry Ware Putnam, who died in an air raid over Tokyo on May 25, 1945). She was a granddaughter of newspaper mogul [[Joseph Pulitzer]], and inherited part of his holdings. Mrs. Quesada had two daughters from her previous marriage; the Quesadas had two sons of their own: Thomas Ricardo Quesada and Peter Wickham Quesada.
He served as an executive for [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]] Aircraft Corporation from 1953–55. In 1957, he became President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]'s Special Adviser for Aviation, leading to his appointment as the first administrator of the [[Federal Aviation Administration]] (At that time a cabinet level agency known as the Federal Aviation Agency-FAA) from 1959–61.
As FAA chairman, Quesada was instrumental, along with [[American Airlines]] president [[C. R. Smith]], in passing a mandatory retirement age of 60 for commercial airline pilots. Smith had lobbied for this rule on the grounds that young pilots with experience serving in World War II and the Korean War would be cheap and easy to train for the new jetliners. Quesada agreed, but went even further to suggest that civilian pilots be barred entirely from jetliner cockpits. The age 60 rule went into effect in 1960 and remained in effect until 2007, although Quesada's proposal to limit jetliners to ex-military personnel was ignored along with an additional suggestion of his that jetliner training be limited to pilots under 55.
Line 80 ⟶ 76:
==Death==
General Quesada died on February 9, 1993, at a [[Jupiter, Florida]], hospital<ref>{{Cite
|url=http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent?file=ML_quesada_bkp
|title=Gen. Elwood 'Pete' Quesada – Aviation Pioneer Epitomized 20th Century's Fascination with Flight
Line 157 ⟶ 153:
The [[Arnold Air Society]] Squadron at [[Clarkson University]] is named in his honor.
On September 14, 2011, he was honored posthumously during Hispanic Heritage Month activities in [[Cleveland, Ohio]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.clevelandairport.com/Airport-Guide/News---Media-Relations/Top-Stories/CLE_Bio_PDF.aspx |title=General Elwood Quesada |website=www.clevelandairport.com |page=5 |access-date=30 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322234624/http://www.clevelandairport.com/Airport-Guide/News---Media-Relations/Top-Stories/CLE_Bio_PDF.aspx |archive-date=22 March 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 2012 Quesada was posthumously inducted into the [[National Aviation Hall of Fame]] in Dayton, Ohio.<ref>{{cite web |title=Enshrinee Elwood Quesada |url=https://nationalaviation.org/enshrinee/elwood-richard-quesada/ |website=nationalaviation.org |publisher=National Aviation Hall of Fame |access-date=28 February 2023}}</ref>
==Rank and promotions==
Line 189 ⟶ 187:
==External links==
* [http://eisenhower.archives.gov/Research/Finding_Aids/Q.html Papers of Elwood R. Quesada, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library]
* {{cite web|url=http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/erquesada.htm |title=Elwood Richard Quesada|date=12 July 2022 |publisher=at
{{S-start}}
{{S-gov}}
| |||