Oscar Westover Oscar M . Westover ( July 23 , 1883 - September 21 , 1938 ) was a major general and fourth chief of the United States Army Air Corps . Biography . He was born in Bay City , Michigan and enlisted in the Army when he was 18 . He began his service as a private in 1901 before being appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point . He graduated from there in 1906 , ranked 43rd in his class , and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 14th Infantry . Westover was promoted to first lieutenant on April 13 , 1911 ; to captain on July 1 , 1916 ; and brevetted to major on October 20 , 1917 . Air Service and Air Corps . In 1919 Lt . Col . Westover was detailed to the Air Service to serve as Assistant Executive Officer for Director Maj . Gen . Charles Menoher , where he butted heads with Billy Mitchell over subordination to authority , and on July 1 , 1920 , transferred permanently to the new Air Service branch with the rank of major . Westover served as Assistant Executive and Executive in the Office of the Chief of the Air Service ( OCAS ) , from November 1918 to November 1920 . He was appointed director of aircraft production in April 1921 , serving until December 1922 . Westover attended the Air Service Balloon School in 1921 , and the Air Service Airship School in 1922 . He continued on to heavier - than - air flight training , completing the Air Service Primary Flying School at Brooks Field and the Advanced Flying School at Kelly Field in 1923 at the age of forty . As a result of these courses , Westover was awarded aeronautical ratings as a balloon observer , airship pilot , airplane pilot , and airplane observer , at that time every rating authorized by the Air Service . From 1924 to 1926 he was assigned as commanding officer of Langley Field , Virginia , who was also the commandant of the Air Service Tactical School ( which became the Air Corps Tactical School in 1926 ) . He then completed the ACTS course himself in 1927 . On January 13 , 1930 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and on December 22 , 1931 appointed assistant to the chief of the Air Corps with temporary promotion to brigadier general . In 1932 he attended the Command and General Staff College and remained there for a stint as an instructor . On December 22 , 1935 , he succeeded Benjamin Foulois as Chief of the Air Corps with the accompanying promotion to major general . The Army had consolidated command of all aviation combat units based in the United States under the General Headquarters Air Force earlier in 1935 . Although the Chief of Air Corps had never had operational control of these units ( previously the jurisdiction of the commanders of the corps area s in which they were based ) , GHQ Air Force was a coordinate command of equal standing to the Air Corps , with both reporting the Chief of Staff of the Army . GHQ Air Force was commanded by Maj . Gen . Frank M . Andrews , a classmate of Westover ' s who had finished one place higher in class standings . This dual authority within the aviation arm caused many problems in unity of command , particularly since Andrews was outspoken in his advocacy of independence for the Air Corps from the Army . He and Westover clashed often over philosophical differences on this issue ( Westover , while favoring an independent Air Force , believed that subordination to the Army had a higher priority ) , as had Westover with Billy Mitchell . Death . Westover died , aged 55 , in a plane crash on September 21 , 1938 . The Northrop A - 17 AS he flew , a single - engined attack aircraft used as a high - speed staff transport , had a reputation for stalling , and only a month before , Col . William McChord , had been killed in the crash of one . Westover ' s aircraft , AC serial " 36 - 349 " , experienced a high - speed stall and crashed in a crosswind short of the runway at Lockheed Aircraft ' s air field in Burbank , California , now known as Bob Hope Airport . The plane crashed in the front yard of a house at 1007 Scott Road in Burbank . No one on the ground was killed , but two homes were damaged by the ensuing flames . His passenger , crew chief S / Sgt Samuel Hymes , also died . Westover was succeeded by the Assistant Chief of Air Corps , Brig . Gen . Henry H . Arnold on September 29 . Oscar Westover is buried in Arlington National Cemetery . Westover Joint Air Reserve Base in Chicopee , Massachusetts , formerly the headquarters of the Eighth Air Force , and now the largest reserve base in the Air Force as home to the 439th Airlift Wing , is named in his honor .