Ira C. Eaker

Ira Clarence Eaker ( April 13, 1896 in Field Creek , Texas, † August 6, 1987 in Andrews AFB ) was a general in the United States Air Force , best known as Commander in Chief of the Eighth Air Force during World War II .

Life

Eaker was born in rural Texas to a farmer. He attended Southeastern State Teachers College in Durant, Oklahoma before joining the Army in 1917. In this he was assigned to the Officer's Reserve Corps as 2nd Lieutenant . He first served with the 64th Infantry in El Paso before completing flight training at Austin Field and Kelly Field in Texas from March 1918 . After completing his pilot training, he was transferred to Rockwell Field , California, where he first met his later superiors Henry H. Arnold and Carl A. Spaatz . He served in the Philippines from 1919 to 1921, during which time he was transferred from the Army to the Army Air Service .

On his return to the United States, he commanded the 5th Aero Squadron at Mitchel Field , New York, and later became an adjutant to the commander. In the summer of 1924 he became an assistant in the Air Service office in Washington DC and in September 1926 an operations officer at Bolling Field . In 1926/27 he took part in the Pan American Goodwill Flight through South America, which ran over a distance of 22,000 miles, and was awarded the Mackay Trophy for this. In January 1929 he set with Carl Spaatz and others with the Question Mark, a new record of endurance flight times of more than 150 hours, which was made possible by in-flight refueling . He also took part in the first transatlantic flight with air refueling in 1930.

In October 1934, Eaker was transferred to March Field , California, where he commanded the 34th Pursuit Squadron and later the 17th Pursuit Squadron . In the summer of 1935 he took part in maneuvers aboard the aircraft carrier Lexington near Guam and Hawaii. He then began a one-year course at the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field , Alabama, after which he attended the one-year course at the Command and General Staff School in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He then became Assistant to the Chief of Information Division in the Chief Air Corps' office in Washington DC In November 1940, he was given command of the 20th Pursuit Group at Hamilton Field , California.

After the USA entered the war, Eaker was commissioned in January 1942 to set up the VIII Bomber Command of the 8th Air Force , which was intended for use in Europe. Its headquarters were set up in England in February. Eaker, now Brigadier General, commanded the first operations of the VIII Bomber Command over Europe in part personally before he succeeded Spaatz as Commander in Chief of the 8th Air Force in December 1942. In January 1944 he was appointed Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces , which consisted of the 12th and 15th US Air Force , the British Desert Air Force and Balkan Air Force .

On April 30, 1945, Eaker was finally appointed Deputy Commander in Chief of the Army Air Forces and Chief of the Air Staff. He retired on August 31, 1947 and was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1948 on the retired list . In 1985 he was subsequently promoted to four-star general by an act of Congress.

Eaker is co-author with Henry Arnold of three books on air warfare. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Awards

Selection of decorations, sorted based on the Order of Precedence of Military Awards :

literature

James Parton, "Air Force Spoken Here": General Ira Eaker and the Command of the Air. Adler & Adler, Bethesda MD 1986.

Web links

Commons : Ira Eaker - collection of images, videos and audio files

Biography on af.mil

personal data
SURNAME	Eaker, Ira C.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Eaker, Ira Clarence
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American Air Force General
DATE OF BIRTH	April 13, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH	Field Creek, Texas
DATE OF DEATH	August 6, 1987
Place of death	Andrews AFB