Mason Patrick Mason Mathews Patrick , ( December 13 , 1863 – January 29 , 1942 ) was a general officer in the United States Army who led the United States Army Air Service and Air Corps during the Interwar Period . He was born and educated in Lewisburg , West Virginia and at age 18 entered U . S . Military Academy at West Point , where he finished second in his class behind classmate John J . Pershing . Early in his career he served as Chief Engineer for the Army of Cuban Pacification and 1st US Army Engineer on the U . S . - Mexico border . He served in France during World War I and was appointed Chief of Air Service by General Pershing in 1918 . Under his direction the Air Service established experimental facilities at Wright Field , Ohio and San Antonio , Texas . In 1926 he drafted and proposed the The Air Corps Act ( 44 " Stat . " 780 ) to the Military Affairs Committee of the Congress . The act created the United States Army Air Corp from the existing Air Service . Patrick served as commander of the Air Corp until his retirement in 1927 . He died in Washington , D . C . on January 29 , 1942 . Early life . Mason Mathews Patrick was born in Lewisburg , Greenbrier County , West Virginia on December 13 , 1863 to Alfred Spicer Patrick and Virginia ( Mathews ) Patrick . His family was prominent in Greenbrier County . His father was a surgeon who served as such in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . His paternal grandfather , Spicer Patrick , also a surgeon , served in the Virginia House of Delegates and the Virginia State Senate during the Civil War , on the side of the Union . His maternal grandfather , Mason Mathews , was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates during wartime , on the side of the Confederacy . In Lewisburg , Patrick attended local public and private schools and on graduation taught for two years at his former high school . At age 18 he won an appointment to the U . S . Military Academy at West Point . At West Point , Patrick excelled in mathematics and engineering , and he was reported to have spoken excellent French . Biographer Robert P . White described young Patrick as " well read , almost Renaissance in nature . " Outside of the classroom , he received numerous demerits for misconduct , his infractions including tobacco use , use of profanity , lateness , two citations for " sliding down the banister , " and he was cited 24 times for being improperly dressed . At the academy he would make friends with classmate John J . Pershing . Their senior year , Pershing and Patrick held the top two posts in the class , being first and second captains of the Corps of Cadets , respectively . Patrick graduated from West Point in 1886 . The following three years he attended the Engineer School of Application , Willets Point , New York , graduating in 1889 . He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in the United States Army shortly after graduation in July 1889 . He returned to West point as an instructor 1892 , spending the next three years teaching engineering . Early career . From 1897 to 1901 he was involved in Mississippi River improvements , and after two years in the office of the Chief of Engineers he again returned to the West Point faculty in 1903 . He was promoted to Major in 1904 . From 1907 to 1909 he was Chief Engineer for the Army of Cuban Pacification and then worked on river and harbor projects in Virginia from ( 1909 – 1912 ) and Michigan ( 1912 – 1916 ) . ( From 1910 - 1912 , he was also a member of a board directing the raising of the USS " Maine " in Havana Harbor . ) During this period he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel ( June 1910 ) and Colonel ( March 1916 ) and found himself in command of the 1st US Army Engineers serving on the U . S . - Mexico border in that same year . In 1917 he was sent to France . In September he was named Chief Engineer of Lines of Communication and Director of Construction and Forestry of the American Expeditionary Forces and was promoted to Brigadier General on August 1917 . In May 1918 he was appointed by his old classmate General John J . Pershing to command the combined Air Service , and subsequently promoted to temporary Major General the following month in June 1918 . Patrick replaced general Benjamin Foulois as commander , as Pershing had felt staff planning under Foulois had been inefficient , with considerable internal friction as well as conflict between its members and those of Pershing ' s General Staff . Pershing also felt aircraft and unit totals lagged far behind those promised by Foulois . Considerable house - cleaning of the existing staff resulted from Patrick ' s appointment , bringing in experienced staff officers to administrate , and tightening up lines of communication . The situation at Air Service headquarters was described as " a tangled mess " before Patrick was brought in . Pershing acknowledged that Foulois requested relief before he was replaced , but the request came only after Foulois became aware of the severity of Pershing ' s displeasure and attempts in April to rein in his own staff had failed . Patrick remained with the Air Service until June 1919 , returning then to the U . S . and to various engineering duties , including Assistant Chief of Engineers in 1920 . Air Service . In October 1921 , Patrick was again appointed Chief of the Air Service with the permanent rank of major general . Under Patrick ' s direction the Air Service established experimental facilities at Wright Field , Ohio , and a large training facility at San Antonio , Texas . It was here in 1922 that he learned how to fly for the very first time in his life , receiving the rating of Junior Airplane Pilot at the age of 59 years . At this time Patrick began having an increasingly difficult time managing his Assistant Chief of Air Service , Billy Mitchell . Patrick made it clear to Mitchell that although he would accept Mitchell ' s expertise as counsel , all decisions would be made by Patrick . Mitchell , however , known for his outspoken personality , began fervently pushing his personal agenda for air power independence by breaking chain of command and speaking directly with the press . When Mitchell soon got into a minor but embarrassing protocol rift with R / Adm . William A . Moffett at the start of the naval arms limitation conference , Patrick used the opportunity to assign him to an inspection tour of Europe with Alfred Verville and Lt . Clayton Bissell that lasted the duration of the conference over the winter of 1921 – 22 . In 1924 , Patrick hand - picked Henry " Hap " Arnold , despite a mutual dislike , to head the Air Service ' s Information Division , working closely with Billy Mitchell , Assistant Chief of Air Service . Mitchell began using the Harnold ' s Information Division as an outlet to promote his personal opinions on the need for air power independence . When Mitchell was later court - martial ed for accusing Army and Navy leaders of an " almost treasonable administration of the national defense " for investing in battleships instead of aircraft carriers as he so wished , Arnold and other high - ranking officers on Patrick ' s staff , including Carl Spaatz , and Ira Eaker were warned that they would jeopardize their careers should they vocally support Mitchell , but they testified on his behalf anyway . After Mitchell was convicted on December 17 , 1925 , Arnold and other officers continued to use the Information Division to mail pro - Mitchell information to airpower - friendly congressmen and Air Service reservists . In February , Secretary of War Dwight F . Davis ordered Patrick to find and discipline the culprits . Patrick was already aware of the activity and chose Arnold to set an example . He gave Arnold the choice of resignation or a general court - martial , but when Arnold chose the latter , Patrick decided to avoid another public fiasco and instead transferred him to Ft . Riley , far from the aviation mainstream , where he eventually took command of the 16th Observation Squadron . Creation of the Air Corps . In early 1926 the Military Affairs Committee of the Congress reviewed bills set forth before it to create a more autonomous air power . Patrick , in his ' Air Corps Act , ' proposed that the Air Service be made a semi - independent service within the War Department along the lines of the Marine Corps within the Navy Department , requesting a " five - year plan " for expansion and development . His proposal was met with criticism and the service created , though retaining the name of Air Corps , would not achieve the independence he envisioned until the creation of the United States Air Force in 1947 . The Air Corps Act ( 44 " Stat . " 780 ) became law on 2 July 1926 . In accordance with the Morrow Board ' s recommendations , the act created an additional Assistant Secretary of War to " help foster military aeronautics " , and established an air section in each division of the General Staff for a period of three years . Previous provisions of the National Defense Act of 1920 that all flying units be commanded only by rated personnel and that flight pay be awarded were continued . The Air Corps also retained the " Prop and Wings " as its branch insignia through its disestablishment in 1947 . Patrick became Chief of the Air Corps and Brig . Gen . James E . Fechet continued as his first assistant chief . Later life . He retired from the Army in December 1927 , remaining in Washington as an adviser to Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin D . Roosevelt . The following year he published " The U . S . In the Air " . From 1929 to 1933 he was Public Utilities Commissioner for the District of Columbia . He died in Washington , D . C . on January 29 , 1942 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on January 31 , 1942 .