Oliver P. Echols
Encyclopedia
Oliver Patton Echols was an American military officer who brought success in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 to the United States Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....

 by expanding the inventory of America's air arm to meet the needs of the coming war. More than any other man under Chief of the Army Air Forces, General Henry H. Arnold
Henry H. Arnold
Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold was an American general officer holding the grades of General of the Army and later General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps , Commanding General of the U.S...

, Echols was responsible for the development, procurement and supply of aircraft and aeronautical equipment. Fighter projects officer Benjamin S. Kelsey
Benjamin S. Kelsey
Benjamin Scovill "Ben" Kelsey was an American aeronautical engineer and test pilot who brought success in World War II to the United States Army Air Forces by initiating the manufacture of innovative fighter aircraft designs, and by working to quickly increase American fighter production to meet...

, directly subordinate to Echols from 1934 to 1945, called him "The Man Who Won World War II."

Early career

Oliver Patton Echols was born on March 4, 1892 in Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...

, to William Holding Echols
William Holding Echols
William Holding Echols , generally called "Reddy" Echols, was a professor of mathematics at the University of Virginia. The Echols Scholars Program is named in his honor....

, a university professor. Oliver Echols attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech , is a public land-grant university with the main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia with other research and educational centers throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and internationally.Founded in...

 and the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

, studying aviation engineering.

Echols enlisted in 1916 and served in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 with the United States Army Air Service
United States Army Air Service
The Air Service, United States Army was a forerunner of the United States Air Force during and after World War I. It was established as an independent but temporary wartime branch of the War Department by two executive orders of President Woodrow Wilson: on May 24, 1918, replacing the Aviation...

, American Expeditionary Force
American Expeditionary Force
The American Expeditionary Forces or AEF were the United States Armed Forces sent to Europe in World War I. During the United States campaigns in World War I the AEF fought in France alongside British and French allied forces in the last year of the war, against Imperial German forces...

, from August 1917 to April 1919, participating as an aviator
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

 in the battles of Champagne-Marne, Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne. At the rank of captain, Echols served as Chief of Air Service, I Corps, for the final drive against German forces.

Echols's educational and military preparation for his later specialization included attendance at the Army Industrial College
Industrial College of the Armed Forces
The Industrial College of the Armed Forces is a U.S. military educational institution tasked with preparing military officers and civilian government officials for leadership and executive positions in the field of national security...

, Command and General Staff School, Army War College, and Air Corps Tactical School
Air Corps Tactical School
The Air Corps Tactical School, also known as ACTS and "the Tactical School", was a military professional development school for officers of the United States Army Air Service and United States Army Air Corps, the first such school in the world. Created in 1920 at Langley Field, Virginia, it...

. He served in the Air Corps Experimental Engineering Section and the Procurement Section before becoming the chief engineer of the Materiel Division from 1934 to 1938.

War production

In January 1936, Echols telephoned Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...

 to say the Air Corps was interested in purchasing the record-breaking Hughes H-1 Racer
Hughes H-1 Racer
The Hughes H-1 was a racing aircraft built by Hughes Aircraft in 1935. It set a world airspeed record and a transcontinental speed record across the United States...

 as a pursuit plane—it was faster than anything they had. Hughes agreed to fly the aircraft to Wright Field for a demonstration, but he failed to show up for the appointment that Echols had set up with higher Air Corps brass. After that snub, Echols never again gave Hughes a chance to bid on Air Corps projects, not even in October 1941 when Hughes offered the twin-boom D-2
Hughes D-2
-Bibliography:* Barton, Charles. "Howard Hughes and the 10,000 ft. Split-S." Air Classics, Vol. 18, no. 8, August 1982.* Francillon, René J. McDonnell Douglas Aircraft since 1920: Volume II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990. ISBN 1-55750-550-0.* Winchester, Jim. "Hughes XF-11."...

 fighter-bomber design. Echols allowed Wright Field engineers to examine the D-2 but they concluded that it would be too heavy for its own engines after incorporating required military features such as armor plate, a bullet-resistant windshield and stronger landing gear.

Echols was assistant chief of the Materiel Division at Wright Field
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in Greene and Montgomery counties in the state of Ohio. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wright Field and Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot. Patterson Field is located approximately...

 near Dayton, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...

 from 1939 to 1940. As chief of that division, which was headquartered in Washington, he served from 1940 to 1942. In March 1942, a reorganization changed his title to commanding general, Materiel Command, in the Army Air Forces headquarters—a position changed a year later to assistant chief of staff for materiel, maintenance and distribution. Until April 1945 Echols continued to play the major role in the production of the prime tools of American airpower.

The real impetus to aircraft production came in May 1940 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

 went to Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 with a call for a program of no less than 50,000 "military and naval" aircraft per year for the nation's defense. (The Air Corps and the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics
Bureau of Aeronautics
The Bureau of Aeronautics was the U.S. Navy's material-support organization for Naval Aviation from 1921 to 1959. The bureau had "cognizance" for the design, procurement, and support of Naval aircraft and related systems...

 agreed that the Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 would get 12,500 of these.)

A year and a half later, on December 7, 1941, the airframe weight of U.S. aircraft production increased sixfold—from the rate of 20000000 lb (9,071,847.4 kg) per year, to 120000000 lb (54,431,084.4 kg). By November 1942 the production rate had tripled again, to 50,000 aircraft per year. In the following year and a half to June 1944, Echols supervised another tripling of production.

From 1941 on, United States aircraft production was much greater than the combined output of Japan and Germany, and the force of 3,305 combat planes in December 1941 grew to 41,000 in August 1945. Not all of these aircraft were of self-powered metal construction: in March 1942, Echols told the joint Senate-House committee that the Army Air Corps had ordered 1000 wooden gliders
Military glider
Military gliders have been used by the military of various countries for carrying troops and heavy equipment to a combat zone, mainly during the Second World War. These engineless aircraft were towed into the air and most of the way to their target by military transport planes, e.g...

, each capable of carrying 50 soldiers.

One of Echols's most important yet little known roles was his membership from 1943 to 1945 on the Air Production Board and on the Executive Committee of the War Production Board
War Production Board
The War Production Board was established as a government agency on January 16, 1942 by executive order of Franklin D. Roosevelt.The purpose of the board was to regulate the production and allocation of materials and fuel during World War II in the United States...

. He represented the Army Air Forces in the committee task of coordination of all production, and the establishment of priorities for use of tools, materiel and manpower within the national war program. Helping to determine the relative strength of air versus land and sea forces of the United States were one of Echols's responsibilities, as was the task of deciding relative strengths of fighter aircraft to light-, medium- and heavy bomber forces.

In early 1939, a combination of Army Air Forces tactical staff under General Arnold and Materiel Division engineers under then-Lieutenant Colonel Echols, prescribed the military requirements around which the B-29 Superfortress
B-29 Superfortress
The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...

 was to be built. As Boeing was testing the first prototype, Echols surprised Chief Engineer Wellwood Beall of Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...

 by telling him that the Army Air Forces intended to spend $2 billion on the bomber. The first production model was completed in July 1943 and 11 months later B-29s were bombing Japan.

While at Wright Field and in Washington, Echols was known in the profession as the man chiefly responsible for the long, hard process of bringing a plane into being—planes such as the B-24 Liberator
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...

, the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-50 Superfortress
B-50 Superfortress
The Boeing B-50 Superfortress strategic bomber was a post-World War II revision of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, fitted with more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines, stronger structure, a taller fin, and other improvements. It was the last piston-engined bomber designed by Boeing for...

 and the B-36 Peacemaker
Convair B-36
The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" was a strategic bomber built by Convair and operated solely by the United States Air Force from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 was the largest mass-produced piston engine aircraft ever made. It had the longest wingspan of any combat aircraft ever built , although there have...

. He helped with the initial planning that led to the B-47 Stratojet
B-47 Stratojet
The Boeing Model 450 B-47 Stratojet was a long-range, six-engined, jet-powered medium bomber built to fly at high subsonic speeds and at high altitudes. It was primarily designed to drop nuclear bombs on the Soviet Union...

 and B-52 Stratofortress
B-52 Stratofortress
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber operated by the United States Air Force since the 1950s. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, who have continued to provide maintainence and upgrades to the aircraft in service...

 and the earliest American jet aircraft. Echols participated in the decision to have General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...

 reproduce Frank Whittle
Frank Whittle
Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS was a British Royal Air Force engineer officer. He is credited with independently inventing the turbojet engine Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS (1 June 1907 – 9 August 1996) was a British Royal Air...

's W.2B
Rolls-Royce Welland
-Bibliography:* Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II. London. Studio Editions Ltd, 1989. ISBN 0-517-67964-7-External links:*...

 jet engine for American jet fighter designs.

In May 1945, Echols was sent to Germany to re-assemble and administer local government, public health, safety and welfare programs, to supervise education and religion, and to direct all communications. Echols served successively as Chief, Internal Affairs for the U.S. Control Council for Germany, as assistant deputy military governor in Germany, and director of Civil Affairs Division of the War Department Special Staff. Echols helped select government specialists for occupation duty in Japan. Major General Echols retired on December 1, 1946.

Northrop

In civilian life, Echols continued to help strengthen the nation's airpower potential. As president of the Aircraft Industries Association (AIA) from 1947 to 1949, his reputation for vision, decisiveness and good humor became even more widely appreciated.

In August 1947, Echols was called before a War Investigating committee led by Senator Homer Ferguson, to uncover misconduct in wartime contracts given to Howard Hughes. Echols testified that the president's son, Elliott Roosevelt
Elliott Roosevelt
Elliott Roosevelt was a United States Army Air Forces officer and an author. Roosevelt was a son of U.S. President Franklin D...

, who as an Army Air Forces major and lieutenant colonel had flown the successful P-38 Lightning
P-38 Lightning
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a World War II American fighter aircraft built by Lockheed. Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a single, central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament...

 photo reconnaissance variant during the North Africa campaign, had put political pressure on the AAF in 1943 to purchase the unneeded Hughes XF-11 photo reconnaissance aircraft over the objections of Echols and Chief of Air Staff Barney M. Giles
Barney M. Giles
Barney McKinney Giles was an American military officer who helped develop strategic bombing theory and practice. Giles stepped outside of established bomber doctrine during World War II to develop long-range capabilities for fighter aircraft in use by the United States Army Air Forces...

. The committee uncovered more than $5,000 in entertainment spent on Roosevelt by a paid Hughes publicist.

Echols joined Northrop
Northrop Corporation
Northrop Corporation was a leading United States aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1939 until its merger with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman in 1994. The company is known for its development of the flying wing design, although only a few of these have entered service.-History:Jack...

 in 1949 as chairman of the board and chief executive officer. In 1952, Jack Northrop, broken by the cancellation of the B-35
Northrop YB-35
The Northrop XB-35 and YB-35 were experimental heavy bomber aircraft developed for the United States Army Air Forces during and shortly after World War II by the Northrop Corporation. It used the radical and potentially very efficient flying wing design, in which the tail section and fuselage are...

 and B-49
Northrop YB-49
The Northrop YB-49 was a prototype jet-powered heavy bomber aircraft developed by Northrop shortly after World War II. Intended for service with the U.S. Air Force, the YB-49 featured a flying wing design...

 projects, gave up running his company to return to pure engineering, and made Echols president and general manager. Under the direction of Echols, Northrop's work force increased from 8,000 to 24,000 employees, and the company's backlog of orders advanced from $70 million to $557 million at the time of his sudden death on May 15, 1954.

Legacy

General of the Air Force Henry H. "Hap" Arnold said of Echols in May 1945:
United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 Brigadier General
Brigadier general (United States)
A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed...

 Benjamin S. Kelsey
Benjamin S. Kelsey
Benjamin Scovill "Ben" Kelsey was an American aeronautical engineer and test pilot who brought success in World War II to the United States Army Air Forces by initiating the manufacture of innovative fighter aircraft designs, and by working to quickly increase American fighter production to meet...

 dedicated his book The Dragon's Teeth? to Echols, writing in 1981 that his
A Falcon Scholarship in honor of Echols is sponsored each year by Northrop for a student seeking United States Air Force Academy
United States Air Force Academy
The United States Air Force Academy is an accredited college for the undergraduate education of officer candidates for the United States Air Force. Its campus is located immediately north of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States...

 admission with the intention of becoming an Air Force officer.

Personal life

Echols married Margaret Elizabeth Bailey (1892–1990) of Rockport, Texas
Rockport, Texas
Rockport is a city in Aransas County, Texas, United States. The population was 7,385 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Aransas County. The coastal community has approximately 8000 citizens. Large windswept live oaks are a dominating feature of the area and the state's oldest live oak,...

 on December 28, 1920 in El Paso
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...

. They had one daughter, Mary Beirne Echols, born November 28, 1926 in Dayton. The Echols family was living in Greene, Ohio in 1930 at the time of the decade census. In 1940, the family moved to Washington, D.C. so that Echols could be closer to his work in government war production. Mary married in 1948 and delivered two children before Echols died, and two more afterward. Echols was originally buried at Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...

, but his remains were moved to join those of his wife at Rockport Cemetery in Aransas County, Texas
Aransas County, Texas
Aransas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2000, the population was 22,499. Its county seat is Rockport. Aransas County was formed in 1871 from Refugio County.-Geography:According to the U.S...

 after her death in 1990.

External links

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