Ira C . Eaker General Ira Clarence Eaker ( April 13 , 1896 – August 6 , 1987 ) was a general of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II . Eaker , as second - in - command of the prospective Eighth Air Force , was sent to England to form and organize its bomber command . However while he struggled to build up airpower in England , the organization of the Army Air Forces kept evolving and he was named commander of the Eighth Air Force on December 1 , 1942 . Although his background was in single - engine fighter aircraft , Eaker became the architect of a strategic bombing force that ultimately numbered forty group s of 60 heavy bombers each , supported by a subordinate fighter command of 1 , 500 aircraft , most of which was in place by the time he relinquished command at the start of 1944 . Eaker then took overall command of four Allied air forces based in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations , and by the end of World War II had been named Deputy Commander of the U . S . Army Air Forces . He worked in the aerospace industry following his retirement from the military , then became a newspaper columnist . Childhood and education . Eaker was born in Field Creek , Texas , in 1896 , the son of a tenant farmer . He attended Southeastern State Teachers College in Durant , Oklahoma , and then joined the United States Army in 1917 . He was appointed a second lieutenant of Infantry , Officer ' s Reserve Corps , and assigned to active duty with the 64th Infantry Regiment at Camp Bliss , El Paso , Texas . The 64th Infantry was assigned to the 14th Infantry Brigade on December 20 , 1917 , to be part of the 7th Infantry Division when it deployed to France . On November 15 , 1917 , Eaker received a commission in the Regular Army . He later received a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from the University of Southern California in 1934 . Air Service and Air Corps career . Eaker remained with the 64th Infantry until March 1918 , when he was placed on detached service to receive flying instruction at Austin and Kelly Field s in Texas . Upon graduation the following October , he was rated a pilot and assigned to Rockwell Field , California . In July 1919 , he transferred to the Philippine Islands , where he served with the 2d Aero Squadron at Fort Mills until September 1919 ; with the 3d Aero Squadron at Camp Stotsenburg until September 1920 , and as executive officer of the Department Air Office , Department and Assistant Department Air Officer , Philippine Department , and in command of the Philippine Air Depot at Manila until September 1921 . Meanwhile , on July 1 , 1920 , he was commissioned into the Regular Army as a captain in the Air Service and returned to the United States in January 1922 , for duty at Mitchel Field , New York , where he commanded the 5th Aero Squadron and later was post adjutant . In June 1924 , Eaker was named executive assistant in the Office of Air Service at Washington , D . C . , and from December 21 , 1926 , to May 2 , 1927 , he served as a pilot of one of the Loening OA - 1 float planes of the Pan American Goodwill Flight that made a 22 , 000 mile ( 35 , 200 km ) trip around South America and , with the others , was awarded the Mackay Trophy . He then became executive officer in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War at Washington , D . C . In September 1926 , he was named operations and line maintenance officer at Bolling Field , Washington , D . C . While on that duty , he participated as chief pilot on the endurance flight of the Army plane , " Question Mark " , from 1 to January 7 , 1929 , establishing a new world flight endurance record . For this achievement the entire crew of five , including Eaker and mission commander Major Carl Spaatz , were awarded the DFC . In 1930 , he made the first transcontinental flight entirely with instruments . In October 1934 , Eaker was ordered to duty at March Field , Calif . , where he commanded the 34th Pursuit Squadron and later the 17th Pursuit Squadron . In the summer of 1935 , he was detached for duty with the Navy and participated aboard the aircraft carrier USS " Lexington " , on maneuvers in Hawaii and Guam . Eaker entered the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field , Alabama , in August 1935 , and upon graduation the following June entered the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas , from which he graduated in June 1937 . During his time at Ft Leavenworth from June 3 – 7 , 1936 , Eaker made the first blind ( instruments only ) transcontinental flight from New York to Los Angeles . He then became assistant chief of the Information Division in the Office of the Chief of Air Corps ( OCAC ) at Washington , D . C . , during which he helped plan and publicize the interception of the Italian liner " Rex " at sea . In November 1940 , Eaker was given command of the 20th Pursuit Group at Hamilton Field , California . Promoted in 1941 to colonel while at Hamilton Field . World War II . Promoted to brigadier general in January 1942 , he was assigned to organize the VIII Bomber Command ( which became the Eighth Air Force ) in England and to understudy the British system of bomber operations . Then , in December 1942 , he assumed command of the Eighth Air Force . In a speech he gave to the English that won him favorable publicity , he said , “ We won ’ t do much talking until we ’ ve done more fighting . After we ’ ve gone , we hope you ’ ll be glad we came . ” Much of Eaker ' s initial staff , including Captain Frederick W . Castle , Captain Beirne Lay , Jr . , and Lieutenant Harris Hull , was composed of former civilians rather than career military officers , and the group became known as " Eaker ' s Amateurs . " Eaker ' s position as commander of the Eighth Air Force led to his becoming the model for the fictional Major General Pat Pritchard in the 1949 movie " Twelve O ' Clock High " . Throughout the war , Eaker was an advocate for daylight " precision " bombing of military and industrial targets in German - occupied territory and ultimately Germany — of striking at the enemy ' s ability to wage war while minimizing civilian casualties . The British considered daylight bombing too risky and wanted the Americans to join them in night raids that would target wider areas , but Eaker persuaded a skeptical Winston Churchill that the American and British approaches complemented each other in a one - page memo that concluded , " If the RAF continues night bombing and we bomb by day , we shall bomb them round the clock and the devil shall get no rest . " He personally participated in the first US B - 17 Flying Fortress bomber strike against German occupation forces in France , bombing Rouen on August 17 , 1942 . Eaker was promoted to lieutenant general in September 1943 . However , as American bomber losses mounted from German defensive fighter aircraft attacks on deep penetration missions beyond the range of available fighter cover , Eaker may have lost some of the confidence of USAAF Commanding General Henry Arnold . When General Dwight D . Eisenhower was named Supreme Allied Commander in December 1943 , he proposed to use his existing team of subordinate commanders , including Lieutenant General Jimmy Doolittle , in key positions . Doolittle was named Eighth Air Force Commander , and Arnold concurred with the change . Eaker was reassigned as Commander - in - Chief of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces , having under his command the Twelfth and Fifteenth Air Force s and the British Desert and Balkan Air Force s . He did not approve of the plan to bomb Monte Cassino in February 1944 , considering it a dubious military target , but ultimately " signed off " and gave in to pressure from ground commanders . Historians of the era now generally believe Eaker ' s skepticism was correct and that the ancient abbey at Monte Cassino could have been preserved without jeopardizing the allied advance through Italy . On April 30 , 1945 , General Eaker was named deputy commander of the Army Air Forces and Chief of the Air Staff . He retired August 31 , 1947 , and was promoted to lieutenant general in the newly established United States Air Force on the retired list June 29 , 1948 . Almost 40 years after his retirement , Congress passed special legislation awarding four - star status in the U . S . Air Force to General Eaker , prompted by retired Air Force Reserve major general and Senator Barry Goldwater ( R - AZ ) and endorsed by President Ronald Reagan . On April 26 , 1985 , Chief of Staff General Charles A . Gabriel and Ruth Eaker , the general ' s wife , pinned on his fourth star . Awards and decorations . Command pilot General Ira C . Eaker Award . The General Ira C . Eaker Award is given by the Civil Air Patrol in honor of the former Deputy Commander U . S . Army Air Forces and aviation pioneer . It is presented to cadets who have completed the requirements of the final phase of the cadet program . The award is accompanied by promotion to the grade of Cadet Lieutenant Colonel , the second highest grade in the program . Civilian career . Eaker was a vice president of Hughes Tool Company and Hughes Aircraft ( 1947 – 57 ) and of Douglas Aircraft ( 1957 – 61 ) . While stationed in New York in the early 1920s , Eaker studied law at Columbia University . Eaker went back to school in the early 1930s at the University of Southern California and received a degree in journalism . With Henry Arnold , Eaker co - authored " This Flying Game " ( 1936 ) , " Winged Warfare " ( 1937 ) , and " Army Flyer " ( 1942 ) . Starting in 1962 , he wrote a weekly column , carried by many newspapers , on military affairs . Eaker was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame , in Dayton , Ohio , in 1970 . Over his 30 years of flying , General Eaker accumulated 12 , 000 flying hours as pilot . On September 26 , 1978 , the U . S . Congress passed , and on October 10 , 1978 , President Jimmy Carter signed , Public Law 95 - 438 , which awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to General Eaker , " in recognition of his distinguished career as an aviation pioneer and Air Force leader " . Eaker died August 6 , 1987 at Malcolm Grow Medical Center , Andrews Air Force Base , Maryland , and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery . Blytheville Air Force Base , Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) installation , was renamed Eaker Air Force Base on May 26 , 1988 . Eaker AFB was closed on March 6 , 1992 due to Base Realignment and Closure ( BRAC ) action . Military to civilian conversion began , and public aircraft began using the decommissioned base . The military still uses the renamed Arkansas International Airport . The airport in Durant , Oklahoma was renamed Eaker Field to honor Eaker , a graduate of Southeastern State College in Durant . Now known as Southeastern Oklahoma State University , the student aviation majors use the airport as the home of the flight school .