Air Force Association - History

History

The genesis for the Air Force Association occurred in August 1945 when Chief of the Army Air Forces General Henry H. Arnold asked an executive of Eastman Kodak, Edward Curtis, to create an organization among veterans returning from World War II that would promote airpower and the cause of a separate Air Force. Curtis held an organizing meeting in New York City on October 12, 1945, to create a nonprofit organization to meet Arnold's goals. Other significant founders of AFA in attendance were John Allard, Everett Cook, James H. Doolittle, Deering Howe, Rufus Rand, Sol Rosenblatt, Julian Rosenthal, James M. "Jimmy" Stewart, Lowell P. Weicker (Senior), Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, and John Hay Whitney.

The establishment of Air Force Association was made public by Doolittle in January 1946, who explained that it would be based on a "grass-roots structure", with affiliates on local, state, and regional levels, would publish a national magazine and would provide sponsorship for educational programs about the development of airpower.

The Association was incorporated in the District of Columbia on February 4, 1946. AFA's first national president was Doolittle, an aviation pioneer and recipient of the Medal of Honor. In July, Air Force Magazine, then the official service journal of the Army Air Forces, became AFA's official journal at Arnold's behest. The next month a nationwide radio broadcast in observance of Air Force Day on August 1, 1947, was organized by AFA and featured charter members Jimmy Stewart, Jack L. Warner and Ronald Reagan. In 1948 Doolittle took a year's leave of absence from Shell Oil, where he was a vice president, to establish AFA chapters nationwide.

Former President Michael M. Dunn has complained about both the termination of F-22 production and the 250 legacy fighters the Air Force had to retire to pay for upgrading the reduced F-22 fleet.