Frank O ' Driscoll Hunter Frank O . Hunter began his military career as a World War I flying ace , being credited by the United States Army Air Service with downing nine enemy aircraft . Hunter became an advocate of fighter aircraft strategy and tactics . In World War II he served as commanding general of the VIII Fighter Command and , later , the First Air Force . Early career . Hunter was born in Savannah , Georgia . He was educated at Hotchkiss School , Connecticut , and in Lausanne , Switzerland . He enlisted in the Aviation Section , Signal Reserve , as a flying cadet on May 18 , 1917 . World War I service . He went to France in September 1917 and received further training at the 3rd Aviation Instruction Center at Issoudun , France . Assigned to the 103rd Aero Squadron in May 1918 , on his first combat patrol Hunter downed two German planes and landed safely despite being wounded . By the end of the war he had nine German planes to his credit , earning him recognition as an ace . Hunter was the last pilot remaining with the squadron before its return to the United States , transferring out on January 24 , 1919 . He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross with four oak leaf clusters . His achievements in aerial combat earned him the French Croix de Guerre with palm . He left the Army for a short time after the war , but returned with a commission in the Regular Army Air Service in 1920 . Between the world wars . When he entered the Regular Army in 1920 he attended Field Artillery School and Air Service Observation School at Fort Sill , Oklahoma . He graduated in September 1921 and transferred to Ellington Field , Texas , for duty with the 1st Pursuit Group . In July 1922 , he went to Selfridge Field , Michigan , as Commanding Officer of the 94th Squadron , and in October 1922 , entered the Air Service Tactical School at Langley Field , Virginia , returning to his command of the 94th Squadron when he graduated in June 1923 . In July 1925 he became Operations Officer of Selfridge Field . He transferred to Camp Anthony Wayne , Pennsylvania . , in September 1926 as a pilot with the Composite Air Corps Squadron , and returned to Selfridge Field in December 1926 . He next served in Washington , D . C . , in the Office of the Chief of Air Corps , and in December 1930 went to Rockwell Field , California , as Commanding Officer of the 95th Pursuit Squadron . He assumed command of the 17th Pursuit Group there in October 1931 . In November 1933 he was assigned as Executive Officer of the 1st Pursuit Wing at March Field , California , and in February 1934 became Chief of Operations , Western Zone Air Mail Operations , with headquarters at March Field . In May 1934 he returned to his duties as Executive Officer of the 1st Pursuit Wing . He was ordered to Albrook Field , Panama Canal Zone , in July 1934 , as Adjutant and Operations Officer of the 19th Composite Wing . In December 1934 he became Operations and Training Officer and Intelligence Officer at Albrook Field . He transferred to Barksdale Field , Louisiana , in November 1936 as Commanding Officer of the 79th Pursuit Squadron , and in July 1937 became Operations Officer for the 3rd Wing there . He then went to Maxwell Field , Alabama , in July 1939 as Commanding Officer of the 23rd Composite Group . World War II service . In May 1940 the citizens of Savannah , Georgia . , named the Savannah Municipal Airport the Hunter Municipal Airfield , later Savannah Army Air Base , Hunter Air Force Base , then Hunter Army Air Field in his honor . In July 1940 he was attached to the Office of the Military Attaché in London , England , as a Military Observer . He returned to the United States in December 1940 and was stationed at Orlando Army Air Base , Fla . , as Commanding Officer of the 23rd Composite Group . In February 1942 , he was assigned to Headquarters Army Air Forces , Washington , D . C . , and in May 1942 joined the Eighth Air Force at Bolling Field , Washington , D . C . That same month he accompanied that organization to the European Theater of Operations , with headquarters in London , as Commanding General , VIII Fighter Command . In this position he affected the first trans - Atlantic flight of AAF planes without the loss of life or equipment . He also directed the first P - 47 fighter - bomber sweeps over the continent . It was upon Brigadier General Hunter ' s recommendation that the Eagle Squadron s were transferred from the Royal Air Force to become the 4th Fighter Group in September 1942 . In May 1943 , Hunter was relieved of his command for his failure to obey a directive issued by his superior , General Ira Eaker mandating use of wing tanks on P - 47 fighters . He returned to the United States in August 1943 and was named Commanding General of the First Air Force , where he was charged with training replacement air crews . His tenure in this command was marred by his involvement in maintaining racial segregation in the U . S . Army , thus provoking the Freeman Field Mutiny of the Tuskegee Airmen . In 1944 the Earl of Halifax , then Britain ' s Ambassador to the U . S . , presented to General Hunter , in the name of the King of England , the CBE , " Commander of the military division of the most excellent order of the British Empire . " Just a year earlier the general had been awarded the Legion of Merit for " exceptional services " in planning and executing the movement of air echelons of the Twelfth Air Force from Great Britain to North Africa . His other awards include the Distinguished Flying Cross and Purple Heart . In October 1945 he was assigned to a detachment of patients at Air Force Regional Hospital , Miami District , and later was admitted to Walter Reed General Hospital . He was rated a command pilot , combat observer and technical observer . Throughout his lengthy flying career he survived three bail outs , one of which was from an altitude of 500 feet over a frozen lake , and two broken backs , both of which kept him in the hospital for a year . He became known as one of the Army ' s top stunt , test and racing pilots . Post World War II . General Hunter retired from the Army Air Force in 1946 . He died on 25 June 1982 in Savannah , Georgia . World War I citations . The experiences of Lieutenant Frank Hunter of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service are recognized in the following citations received : On 23 October 1918 , International News Service staff & war correspondent Newton C . Parke wrote an article that described one of the missions that Hunter flew over France : See also . Tuskegee Airmen