Donald Wilson ( general ) Wilson enlisted in the Maryland National Guard as a private in 1916 and served with it on the Mexican border and the Western Front during World War I before transferring to the United States Army Air Service . After the war , he obtained a regular commission . Already qualified as an aerial observer , he became a pilot in 1922 . For many years he was an influential instructor at the Air Corps Tactical School . Wilson became a leading theorist who embraced the doctrine that strategic bombing was the most important aspect of air power . He argued that by attacking vulnerabilities , whole industries could be brought to a halt without necessarily having to destroy all of the factories . The doctrine which Wilson expounded later became the basis for AWPD - 1 , the Army Air Forces ' strategic war plan developed in 1941 . During World War II , Wilson served as Chief of the Personnel Division ( G - l ) of the War Department General Staff . He became Chief of Staff of the Fifth Air Force in September 1942 , before returning to the United States in 1944 to become Assistant Chief of Staff , United States Army Air Forces for Organization , Commitments and Requirements . For a time he was acting Chief of Staff of Army Air Forces . In February 1945 , Wilson was present at the Battle of Iwo Jima as an official Army Air Forces observer . In June 1945 , he assumed command of the Air Force Proving Ground Command . After the war , Wilson served as a member of the Gerow Board , which examined the military educational system and instituted a series of long - lasting reforms . In 1947 , he was diagnosed with neurasthenia , and retired with the rank of major general . Early life . Donald Wilson was born at Hiner ' s Mill in Pendleton County , West Virginia on 25 September 1892 , the third of seven children of John Hamilton Wilson and his wife Martha Jane , née Siple . John Wilson worked a number of odd jobs before becoming a mail carrier with the Baltimore Post Office in 1899 . Donald was educated at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute . In 1910 , he went to work as a surveyor for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad . World War I . In February 1916 , Wilson enlisted as a private in the Maryland National Guard and was posted to Company H , 5th Maryland Infantry . This unit was called to active duty at Laurel , Maryland in June 1916 for service on the Mexican border . It was based at Eagle Pass , Texas , and , like most National Guard units , supported but did not directly participate in the Pancho Villa Expedition , although it did occasionally cross the border into Mexico . Wilson was soon promoted to corporal , and later sergeant . The 5th Maryland Regiment returned to Maryland in February 1917 . The 5th Maryland Infantry was again called up in April 1917 following the declaration of war by the United States on the German Empire . Wilson was promoted to second lieutenant , effective 9 April 1917 . He was posted to Company C , 5th Maryland Infantry . This time , the regiment moved to Camp McClellan , Alabama , where the 5th Maryland Infantry was absorbed into the 115th Infantry of the 29th Division on 1 October 1917 . While at Camp McClellan , Wilson applied for training as an aerial observer but his request was not accepted . He was promoted to first lieutenant on 23 April 1918 . In June 1918 , the 29th Division sailed from Hoboken , New Jersey to Brest , France . It travelled across France , entering the front line trenches in the Traubach - le - Bas sector . In France , Wilson once again applied for training as an aerial observer , in response to an appeal from American Expeditionary Forces ( AEF ) headquarters . This time , he was successful and in September 1918 he reported to the Air Service Concentration Barracks at Saint - Maixent . After training there , at Camp de Souge , and at Tours in November 1918 , he was posted to the 2nd Corps Aeronautical School at Châtillon - sur - Seine . He was assigned to the 186th Aero Squadron at Weißenthurm ( Weissenthurm ) in May 1919 , returned to the United States in July , and was discharged from the Army on 15 August 1919 . Between the wars . Wilson married Edna Taggert , the older sister of the wife of his best friend in Anniston , in a ceremony in her home in Pittsburgh . After a honeymoon in Miami , Florida , they settled in Baltimore . The couple eventually had two children : Teresa Jane , born in 1921 , and Donald , born in 1923 . In 1920 , Wilson applied for and received a Regular Army commission in the Air Service , into which he was commissioned as a first lieutenant on 1 July 1920 . He was immediately advanced to captain and posted to the Observation School at Post Field , Oklahoma as a senior instructor . In 1922 , he was sent to Carlstrom Field , Florida for primary pilot training and then to Kelly Field , Texas for advanced training . He also served there as an instructor in observation . From 1924 to 1927 , he served in Washington , DC , in the Office of the Chief of the Air Service . This was followed by a two - year tour of duty in the Philippines as commander of the 2nd Observation Squadron . On return to the United States in 1929 , Wilson was posted to the Air Corps Tactical School at Langley Field , Virginia as an instructor . In 1931 the school moved to Maxwell Field , Alabama , where he was promoted to major on 1 February 1932 . At the Air Corps Tactical School , Wilson became " one of the leading theorists . . . during the thirties " . Like Giulio Douhet , the school embraced the doctrine that strategic bombing was the most important aspect of air power . However , Wilson rejected those parts of Douhet ' s doctrine that called for mass bombing of cities to break the morale of the enemy . Instead , in preparing the training course , Wilson drew on his knowledge that critical breaks in railroad systems could disrupt the entire system . He theorized that this was equally true of other industries , that by attacking vulnerabilities , whole industries could be brought to a halt without necessarily having to destroy all the factories . The school identified transportation , steel , iron ore , and electric power as key economic industries . Wilson termed this doctrine " industrial web theory " . The formulators of industrial web theory were relatively young junior officers , nearly all of them former reservists commissioned during or immediately after World War I . They viewed war in the abstract and admitted that they had no conclusive proof of their theories , but firmly believed that air power would dominate future warfare , after certain technological limitations had been overcome . Wilson was one of the nine key advocates , all instructors at the Tactical School , who became known as the " Bomber Mafia " : Wilson , Walker , Major Odas Moon ( who died in 1937 ) , and future generals Haywood S . Hansell , Laurence Kuter , Muir Fairchild , Robert Olds , Robert M . Webster , and Harold L . George . They espoused the doctrine in testimony to the Howell Commission on Federal Aviation in 1934 , where it was used as an argument supporting the creation of an independent air force . Once adopted as doctrine , industrial web theory had a host of effects . To obtain the required accuracy to hit pinpoint targets , bombing had to be done by daylight . An improved bombsight was required : the Norden bombsight Mark XV , appearing in 1931 . Since a pursuit plane did not have the range to accompany the bombers , they had to be able to defend themselves , and new tactics called for formation flying to maximize the defense against hostile pursuit aircraft . The requirement for a better bomber led to the development of the Boeing B - 17 Flying Fortress . Wilson accepted the argument , most forcibly advanced by fellow instructor Kenneth Walker , that fighter aircraft did not have the range or speed to accompany bomber s and probably could not shoot them down . Wilson attended the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas , graduating in June 1934 . He considered the course to be a waste of time , " devoted in large part to the minutiae of ground officers ' duties " and " devoid of serious recognition of the airplane as an instrument of war . " After graduation he returned to the Air Corps Tactical School as Director of the Department of Air Tactics and Strategy , and was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 16 June 1936 . From November 1938 to March 1939 , he was also assistant commandant of the school . World War II . Wilson was promoted to colonel on 16 October 1940 . He returned to Washington , DC , where he served in the Office of the Chief of the Air Corps under Brigadier General Carl A . Spaatz , the chief of its Plans Division . In May 1940 , he was transferred to the Plans Division of the War Department General Staff , which was headed by Brigadier General Leonard T . Gerow . Wilson was briefly chief of staff of Major General Walter H . Frank ' s Third Air Force in Tampa , Florida but after only two months he was recalled to Washington to again serve on the War Department General Staff , this time in the G - 1 ( Personnel ) Division , which was headed by Major General John H . Hilldring , a Command and General Staff School classmate . Wilson was promoted to brigadier general on 22 June 1942 . In July 1942 , Hilldring left to take over command of the 84th Infantry Division and Wilson became Assistant Chief of Staff , G - 1 . In September 1942 , Wilson became chief of staff of Major General George Kenney ' s Allied Air Forces , Southwest Pacific Area and Fifth Air Force . Kenney had specifically requested General Henry Arnold to send Wilson to replace his chief of staff , Air Vice Marshal William Bostock , an RAAF officer . Wilson had known Kenney for many years and was on a first name basis with him ; but while serving as his chief of staff , Wilson always addressed Kenney respectfully as " general " . The loss of Brigadier General Kenneth N . Walker over Rabaul in January 1943 and then his successor , Brigadier General Howard K . Ramey on a reconnaissance mission in March did not dampen Wilson ' s desire to accompany a mission , and he tagged along as a passenger on a B - 24 on a bombing raid on Rabaul . For his service in the Southwest Pacific , Wilson was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal . In March 1944 , Arnold asked for Kenney to return Wilson to work on his own staff . Wilson took the long way back , visiting the other war theatres in India , China , the Middle East , Italy and England . Wilson found the Army Air Forces Chief of Staff , Lieutenant General Barney Giles anxious for Wilson ' s return so Giles could pay a visit to the war theatres . Wilson therefore found himself acting chief of staff . On Giles ' return , Wilson became Assistant Chief of Staff , Organization , Commitments and Requirements . In February 1945 , Wilson was present at the Battle of Iwo Jima as an official Army Air Forces observer . He was promoted to major general on 17 March 1945 . On 25 June 1945 , Wilson was replaced as assistant chief of staff by Major General Hoyt Vandenberg . For his service in the post , Wilson was awarded an oak leaf cluster to his Distinguished Service Medal . He was appointed to command the Air Force Proving Ground Command . At the time , some 22 , 000 airmen were assigned to this command . Post war . Wilson served as a member of the Gerow Board , under his former chief , Lieutenant General Leonard T . Gerow , which examined the military educational system . The board met in Washington , DC , between 3 and 12 January 1946 . Its final report to the Chief of Staff of the United States Army , General of the Army Dwight D . Eisenhower , recommended a system of five joint colleges , which would collectively form a National Security University under the direction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff . In addition to the existing Industrial College and National War College , the board recommended the establishment of a joint administrative college , a joint intelligence college , and a Department of State college . Wilson went further and argued for the establishment of an air university , under the control of the Army Air Forces . Wilson ' s proposal was accepted , and the Gerow Board ' s recommendations resulted in a multi - tiered educational system still in effect today , with a Squadron Officer School for junior officers ; an Air Command and Staff College for middle level officers ; and an Air University for senior officers . All were created from the old Air Corps Tactical School . Beyond that , air officers would have to participate in joint training with their Army and Navy colleagues at the Industrial College , National War College and Joint Forces Staff College , the last two being creations of the Gerow Board . The first classes began at these two new institutions in September 1946 and January 1947 respectively . In October 1946 , Wilson was diagnosed with neurasthenia . Discharged on the grounds of disability with the rank of major general , he retired to Carmel , California , where he wrote and published his memoirs , entitled " Wooing Peponi " , in 1973 . He died on 21 June 1978 . His papers are in the The George C . Marshall Foundation .