Hugh Merle Elmendorf

Captain Hugh Merle Elmendorf (born  January 3, 1895 in Ithaca , New York , †  January 13, 1933 in Ohio ) was an American Air Force officer, last with the rank of captain . He was married and had an underage daughter on his death.

Life and military career

Hugh was the younger of two brothers (Harold Hornbeck (* 1892)). Even when he was still at school he developed great ambition and enjoyed an exemplary education. His mother died early (April 23, 1899), his father William Conrad Elmendorf (1851–1922) was mayor of his hometown. After graduating from high school, Elmendorf moved to Cornell University , whose founder Ezra Cornell was a pioneer in the telecommunications industry. There he received his degree as mechanical engineer in May 1917 , less than a month after the United States declared war on the German Reich . Immediately afterwards, in August 1917, he volunteered.

In the infantry , his military career began as a second lieutenant at Camp Greens , North Carolina , and later at Camp Benning , Georgia , where he worked as an instructor. In 1921 he switched to the Air Force . At Carlestrom Field in Arcadia , Florida , he received his flight training, which he completed in early December 1921. In the course of the now beginning 12 years of service, Elmendorf was more often involved in accidents and misfortunes that temporarily brought him to hospitals or rendered him unable to work.

On January 13, 1933, he had an accident as a test pilot for the Air Force on a test flight with the prototype of the Consolidated Y1P-25 in Ohio .

The Elmendorf Air Force Base , built in Alaska on June 8, 1940 , was named after him in honor of his exemplary achievements.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.veerhuis.org/cgi-bin/family?family=F09967
2. ↑ http://www.elmendorf.af.mil/library/biographies/bio.asp?id=9076
3. ↑ http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/hmelmendorf.htm