Air Comptroller Pioneer
In November 1946, Symington named Rawlings as air comptroller, helping to organize the office. The position was so successful and struck such a note—Rawlings did such a magnificent job—they adopted the idea of a comptroller for all three services. Zuckert said, "This was a very important step in the development of a postwar Air Force."
In 1951, Rawlings became commander of Air Material Command at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, leading USAF's procurement and logistics efforts for seven years. Air Force Chief of Staff Thomas D. White credited him with spectacular increases in the effectiveness of the Air Force logistics, ... accomplished through new management methods, concepts, and philosophy, and thus the Air Force has been able to match the tempo of the jet, missile, and space era.
Rawlings was a command pilot and combat and aircraft observer, whose decorations included the Distinguished Service Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross, which he received in 1930 for his role in the rescue of an aircrew downed in the Pacific. He also received the Soldier's Medal in 1954 for rescuing his pilot who was lying underneath a B-17 Flying Fortress that caught fire after landing at Wright-Patterson.
Read more about this topic: Edwin W. Rawlings
Famous quotes containing the words air and/or pioneer:
“Make me a willow cabin at your gate,
And call upon my soul within the house;
Write loyal cantons of contemned love,
And sing them loud even in the dead of night;
Halloo your name to the reverberate hills,
And make the babbling gossip of the air
Cry out “Olivia!” O, you should not rest
Between the elements of air and earth
But you should pity me.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Mead had studied for the ministry, but had lost his faith and took great delight in blasphemy. Capt. Charles H. Frady, pioneer missionary, held a meeting here and brought Mead back into the fold. He then became so devout that, one Sunday, when he happened upon a swimming party, he shot at the people in the river, and threatened to kill anyone he again caught desecrating the Sabbath.”
—For the State of Nebraska, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)