Oscar Westover

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Oscar Westover (July 23, 1883 - September 21, 1938) was a major general and chief of the United States Army Air Corps when he died.

He was born in Bay City, Michigan and enlisted in the Army when he was 18. He began his service as a private in 1901 before being appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He graduated from there in 1906 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. Westover was promoted to first lieutenant on April 13, 1911; to captain on July 1, 1916; and brevetted to major on Oct. 20, 1917.

In 1919 Captain Westover was detailed to the Aviation Section, Signal Corps, and in 1920 transferred to the Air Service with the rank of major. (He had previously been promoted to lieutenant colonel and colonel.) Westover attended the Air Service Balloon School in 1921, the Air Service Airship School in 1922, the Air Service Primary Flying and Advanced Flying Schools in 1923, the Air Corps Tactical School in 1927, and Command and General Staff School to January 1932, both as a student and as an instructor. As a result of various courses, Westover was awarded aeronautical ratings as a balloon observer, airship pilot, airplane pilot, and airplane observer.

Westover served as assistant executive and executive in the Office, Chief of the Air Service, from November 1918 to November 1920. He was appointed director of aircraft production in the Office, Chief of the Air Corps in April 1921, serving until December 1922. From 1924 to 1926 he served as commandant of the Air Service Tactical School at Langley Field, Va., and as commanding officer of Langley Field. On Jan. 13, 1930 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and on Dec. 22, 1931 appointed assistant to the chief of the Air Corps and promoted to brigadier general. In 1935, he succeeded Benjamin Foulois as chief of the Army Air Corps.

He died, aged 55, in a plane crash in 1938. The Cessna AT-17 twin-engined trainer he was piloting crashed in a crosswind short of the runway at Lockheed Aircraft's air field in Burbank, California, now known as Bob Hope Airport. The trainer crashed into a house at 1007 Scott Road in Burbank. No one on the ground was killed, but the other passenger in the plane also died.

Westover was succeeded by Hap Arnold.

Oscar Westover is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Westover AFB in Chicopee, Massachusetts, the largest reserve base in the Air Force and home of the 439th Airlift Wing, was named in his honor.