Harold M . McClelland Harold Mark McClelland ( November 4 , 1893 – November 19 , 1965 ) was a United States Air Force ( USAF ) major general who is considered the father of Air Force communications . He founded and led the 19th Bombardment Group in the early 1930s , commanded Rockwell Field for a year then was groomed for higher leadership , becoming the inspector for the General Headquarters Air Force ( GHQ ) in 1937 . Between 1934 and 1938 , McClelland researched the technical and logistical aspects of long - range air communications , an effort which resulted in the establishment of the Army Airways Communications System . Following this , he worked in the Operations and Training Division of the War Department General Staff , and served as chief of the Aviation division . During World War II , McClelland organized the largest communications system the world had yet seen . McClelland , rated a command pilot , served as the chief of communications for the Central Intelligence Agency in the early 1950s . In the USAF , an award is given annually in McClelland ' s name , for excellence in large unit communications . Early career . Harold Mark McClelland was born in Tiffin , Iowa , in 1893 . His siblings included two sisters and a younger brother , Herbert . McClelland graduated from $ 3 with a bachelor of science degree in 1916 . He was commissioned as a regular second lieutenant August 18 , 1917 and was promoted to first lieutenant at the same time . McClelland was assigned successively to the Army service schools at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas . His electronics - minded brother Herbert " Mac " McClelland was attending nearby Kansas State and the two young men built the first radio transmitter at the college in 1918 , stringing an antenna from the Physics building to a water tower . The station 9YV transmitted in Morse code , and may have broadcast the first regularly scheduled weather reports in the U . S . On November 19 , 1918 , McClelland joined the 48th Infantry at Norfolk , Virginia . Detailed to the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps , McClelland earned his wings by attending ground school at the University of Texas , flying gunnery and advanced fighter courses at Rockwell Field in San Diego , California . Then followed an assignment at Roosevelt Field , New York , and in December 1918 , he became commandant of training , commanding officer of the cadet detachment and assistant engineering officer at Love Field , Dallas , Texas . In July 1919 , McClelland was stationed at London , England as assistant aviation officer , Headquarters of the Provisional District of Great Britain , at the rank of captain . In September , with fellow Air Service pilot Lieutenant Colonel James E . Chaney , he was made an honorary member of the Royal Aero Club of the UK . He also saw service in England with the U . S . Army Liquidation Mission , and collected some advanced " voice radio " equipment from France to take back home for a demonstration in Manhattan . McClelland sailed from London aboard the RMS " Saxonia " as an unmarried member of the ship ' s crew , arriving in New York on December 1 , 1920 . Communications . In January 1921 , McClelland attended the Air Service Communications School at Fort Sill , Oklahoma , and after graduation , remained there as an instructor . In February 1922 , he was assigned to the Signal Corps radio laboratory at Camp Alfred Vail , New Jersey , as Air Service representative and from August 1922 to February 1924 , was officer in charge of the laboratory . Transferred to Mitchel Field , New York , in September 1924 , with the 9th Observation Group , McClelland was posted signal officer and instructor in communications at summer training camps . From September 1925 to May 1926 , he attended a special radio course at Columbia University . While stationed in New York , McClelland agreed to fly a publicity stunt intended to bring more attention to the United States Army Air Corps ( USAAC ) , and aid the Citizens Military Training Camp . Enthusiastic Air Corps booster Major Benjamin Foulois , commander of Mitchel Field , arranged for a USAAC pilot to fly over and drop baseballs for Babe Ruth to catch . Ruth came out to Mitchel Field on July 23 , 1926 dressed up in an Army uniform ( he was in the Reserves ) to keep his end of the bargain . In the sweltering heat and humidity of a Long Island summer , in front of a row of newspaper and film cameramen , as well as radio and print reporters , McClelland flew over Ruth at a speed of and a height of about . Foulois recalled that the first two baseballs that McClelland dropped near Ruth " knocked him flat " but that the third ball was caught with a shout of pain and then handed to the major . Foulois wrote in 1980 : " The last I saw of the Babe that day he was slowly flexing his burning hand and trying to smile about it as he left in a big limousine . " On October 1 , 1927 , McClelland began a four - year stint in the Training and Operations Division , Office of the Chief of the USAAC , at Washington , D . C . He then was given command of the 19th Bombardment Group , which he organized in 1931 and commanded until 1934 . He drew two unusual assignments in 1934 . When the USAAC took over flying the air mail , McClelland acted as zone communications officer at Salt Lake City . Later in the year , he was communications and meteorological officer for General Henry H . Arnold ' s Alaskan flight , which was to do much in shaping the trend of air communications . In October 1934 , McClelland was given command of Rockwell Field and Rockwell Air Depot . In 1935 he began a series of courses , which saw him graduate from the Air Corps Tactical School , the Chemical Warfare School and the Command and General Staff School . In 1937 he became inspector for the General Headquarters Staff School . In 1937 he became inspector for the General Headquarters Air Force at Langley Field , Virginia . At the request of General Arnold , from 1934 to 1938 , McClelland worked to devise a permanent airways communication system . In 1938 , McClelland ' s efforts yielded the establishment of the Army Airways Communications System , a group that would develop into the Air Force Network Integration Center . In August 1938 , McClelland was assigned to the Operations and Training Division of the War Department General Staff , Washington , D . C . at the rank of lieutenant colonel , and became chief of Aviation Branch of that division February 21 , 1941 . In May 1941 , McClelland , now colonel , was assigned as assistant chief of staff for operations and training of the Special Army Observer Group in London , England , and after the direct participation of the United States in World War II he retained the same role as assistant chief of staff , training and operations , but within the new European Theater of Operations , United States ( ETOUSA ) , and at the rank of brigadier general . McClelland returned to the U . S . in July 1942 and was assigned to Headquarters Army Air Forces , Washington , D . C . , where he was director of technical services until March 1943 . He worked with Fred Terman to determine how best to conduct radio frequency searches and jamming of enemy communications . After serving the next several months as deputy assistant chief of Air Staff , operations , Headquarters Army Air Forces , he became the air communications officer in July 1943 . Postwar . McClelland wrote an article for " Bell Telephone Magazine " in 1945 , entitled " In The Air , " describing military communications as used by Air Force units in the successful prosecution of the war . In January 1946 , McClelland reported for newspaper and radio audiences that the recent radar contact with the Moon could well be an " opening step " in the search for life in space . On April 8 , 1946 , McClelland became the first commanding general of the Airways and Air Communications Service , the group he had originally formed in 1938 as the Army Airways Communications System . On April 24 , 1946 , he was made commander of the Airways and Air Communications Service Alumni Association . Upon creation of the Military Air Transport Service , June 6 , 1948 , McClelland was named deputy commander , services . These services included Airways and Air Communications Service , Air Weather Service , Air Rescue Service , Flight Service and National Interest Bases . In addition to his new duties , he continued as commanding general of Airways and Air Communications Service until September 10 , 1948 . McClelland authored an essay about how radar affected the recent war — a work which was included in " Volume 7 : Bombs Away — Your Air Force in Action " of the " Pictorial History of the Second World War " , published in 1948 . On August 7 , McClelland read over the CBS Radio Network a 15 - minute speech he had prepared for the radio series " Adventures in Science " . McClelland ' s broadcast was entitled " Thunder and Lightning Flying . " McClelland stepped down as commander of AACS Alumni Association on September 9 , 1948 . On August 30 , 1949 , McClelland was appointed director of communications - electronics in the United States Department of Defense for the Joint Chiefs of Staff , with station at Washington , D . C . In 1951 , a sharp increase in diplomatic tensions was seen by the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) as the precursor to war . A greater volume of communications required a stronger system , and CIA Director Walter Bedell Smith hired McClelland as chief of CIA communications , a position known as " Assistant Director , Communications " , on September 10 , 1951 . There , McClelland oversaw the technical development and implementation of a secure global communications system . He served the CIA for 14 years until his death in Washington , D . C . in 1965 . McClelland was survived by his wife Doris C . McClelland , and by their son Alan J . McClelland of Houston , Texas . McClelland ' s brother Herbert " Mac " McClelland continued to thrive as the founder and president of McClelland Sound in Wichita , Kansas , with clients that included McConnell Air Force Base and area businesses Boeing and Learjet . Recognition . McClelland was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal , the Legion of Merit and Commander of the Order of the British Empire . His DSM citation reads , " . . . as air communications officer , Headquarters Army Air Forces from July 1942 to August 1945 , [ he ] supervised the Army Airways Communications System which furnished communications and navigational aids along the military air routes throughout the world . He pioneered in military electronics , analyzed the enemy ' s scientific research in this field and instituted radio and radar countermeasures . " In 1951 , the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ( IEEE ) awarded McClelland the Pioneer Award . In honor of his work in military communications , the " Air Force Communications and Information Major General Harold M . McClelland Award " is given annually to the large USAF unit ( 301 or more members ) which has demonstrated " sustained superior performance and professional excellence while managing core communications and information functions and for contributions that most improved communications and information support to Air Force and ( or ) DoD operations and missions . "