page_title: Henry Conger Pratt
section_title: Air Corps
hierarchical_section_title: Henry Conger Pratt / Career / Air Corps
caption_attribution_description: English: EARLY YEARS -- Brig. Gen. Benjamin D. Foulois, Maj. Gen. James. E. Fechet and Brig. Gen. H.C. Pratt
context_page_description: Henry Conger Pratt, professionally known as H. Conger Pratt, was a Major General in the United States Army. He was awarded a Distinguished Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, and received awards from Italy, Brazil, and England. He is the only person in American military history to command both an air force wing and an army division.
context_section_description: On July 1, 1926, the Air Service was renamed the Air Corps by act of Congress, but little changed in the service. Pratt's position continued, now under the Chief of Air Corps.
  On June 5, 1928, Pratt was assigned command of Mitchel Field, New York, and promoted to lieutenant colonel, Air Corps. The Army's annual maneuvers were held in Ohio in the last two weeks of May 1929. Pratt was assigned to command the aviation of the "Blue" force near Dayton. He established his headquarters at the Fairfield Air Depot and dispersed his 82 airplanes at several airports in the vicinity. During maneuvers, his bombardment and attack forces made several simulated air raids on "Red" force airfields in the vicinity of Columbus and Newark, Ohio, while his pursuit aircraft defended against Red force attacks, culminating in a large mock air battle over Cincinnati at the end of the first week. The maneuvers concluded with a live ordnance demonstration that Pratt orchestrated on the portion of the depot reservation that is now the main runway of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
  In July 1929, Pratt was transferred to Fort Shafter, to assume the duties of Air Officer for the Hawaiian Department. This overseas tour was cut short in July 1930 by the retirement of Brig. Gen. William E. Gillmore, one of the three Assistant Chiefs of Air Corps. Gillmore's retirement left a vacancy for Chief of the Air Corps Materiel Division, and President Herbert Hoover named Pratt to fill the position. Pratt became a brigadier general and took charge of the division on August 1, 1930 at its Wright Field headquarters. One of the key decisions of Pratt's tenure was to advise the Boeing Aircraft Company in 1932 that the design and production specifications of its proposed Boeing 247 airliner were developments of the Air Corps' B-9 monoplane bomber and therefore classified information, and that the Air Corps would block export of the airliner if Boeing responded to interest expressed by the Empire of Japan. His term as Assistant Chief of Air Corps expired July 16, 1934, and he returned to his permanent rank of lieutenant colonel with temporary duty in the Office of the Chief of Air Corps.
  Pratt was given command of the 2nd Wing at Langley Field, Virginia, after the War Department activated the General Headquarters (GHQ) Air Force on March 2, 1935. In December 1935, the GHQ Air Force conducted a major exercise under field conditions in which 55 of its best bombardment and attack aircraft simulated air raids on Miami, Florida, defended by 55 Boeing P-26 fighters based at Miami Municipal Airport under Pratt's direction. The interceptors succeeded in defeating the first simulated attack on December 3, launching 36 fighters just four minutes after 18 bombers were observed over Hollywood, Florida, theoretically wiping out the bomber force. In the week of operations that followed, the attackers succeeded in reaching their targets only when the bombers and attack aircraft approached simultaneously from different directions, or when the attacking bomber force split to use similar tactics.
  September 1935, politically embattled Chief of Air Corps Benjamin Foulois decided to retire in December "for the good of the service" and took his terminal leave. The Roosevelt administration scrutinized senior Air Corps officers for a replacement, and looked at Pratt as one of its two main candidates. "He [Pratt] has greater mental ability than others on the list," noted Secretary of War George Dern to Roosevelt, "but it is possible that he is not as cooperative as Westover." Oscar Westover was eventually selected to become the Chief of Air Corps.
  Pratt received his permanent promotion to colonel on August 1, 1936. On January 16, 1937, the Senate approved a promotion list to permanent brigadier general that included Pratt and, among others, George C. Marshall, with date of rank from January 1. Pratt became commandant of the Air Corps Tactical School (ACTS) and ex officio president of the Air Corps Board at Maxwell Field, Alabama, on March 14, his last assignment as a member of the Air Corps.
caption: Pratt (at right), with Generals Benjamin D. Foulois, Assistant Chief of Air Corps, and James E. Fechet, Chief of Air Corps, in 1931.
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