Lyman P. Whitten papers, 1921-1975

Lyman P. Whitten (1897-1989) was attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology when he enlisted as an aviation cadet in the Signal Enlisted Reserve Corps in November 1917. He completed flying training in 1918 and returned to MIT, graduating in 1921. He was then appointed a second lieutenant of Air Service in the Regular Army and transferred in 1922 to the Advanced Bombardment School at Kelly Field, Texas. After completing the course, he joined the 42nd Squadron at Kelly Field where he served as flying instructor and squadron engineering, communications and operations officer. He returned to MIT for graduate work and then was assigned in 1924 to McCook Field, Ohio, where he served in the Materials Laboratory and as secretary of the Engineering School. In 1926, he established a nonstop record from Dayton to Boston in a specially built "long-range" DH-4 airplane.

Whitten went to Luke Field, Hawaii, in 1926 for duty with the 19th Pursuit Squadron. He was transferred to the 65th Service Squadron at that station and later served as assistant engineering office and chief inspector of the Hawaiian Air Depot. In 1928 he was transferred to Fort Armstrong, Hawaii, where he became commanding officer of the Air Service Detachment and chief inspector of the Air Section of the Hawaiian General Depot.

In 1929 Whitten was assigned to the Office, Chief of Air Corps, at Washington, D.C., for service in the newly-established Inspection Division. In 1933, he entered the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field, Alabama, and, after graduating, was assigned to Wright Field, Ohio, with the Maintenance Branch of the Field Service Section. There he helped organize and establish the First Transport Group, of which he was commanding officer of the Headquarters Squadron. In April 1939 he was transferred to the Office, Chief of the Air Corps as chief of the Field Service Section. He was named assistant to the commanding general of Air Service Command in November 1941 and the following March became director of base services at Air Force headquarters. In August 1943, he became Air Force member of the Joint Logistics Committee and Combined Administrative Committee, an agency of the Combined and Joint Chiefs of Staff. Soon after he attended the Cairo Conference of the Joint and Combined Chiefs of Staff, following which he visited the China-Burma-India, Mediterranean and European theaters in connection with logistical problems and organization. In June 1944 he headed a group of officers to determine the feasibility of logistical support for air transport of planned operations of the 20th Air Force against Japan.

In July 1944 Whitten was assigned to headquarters in North Africa and then became commanding general of the Air Force Service Command in the Mediterranean Theater. In August 1945 he was transferred to Germany and appointed assistant chief of staff, G-4, Headquarters U.S. Forces, European Theater. In March 1946 he was assigned to Air Force Headquarters as deputy assistant chief of staff for materiel.

In October 1947 after the establishment of U.S. Air Force Headquarters, Whitten was named director of maintenance, supply and services in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Materiel. In April 1948 he was assigned to the office of the Secretary of Defense for temporary duty. In July 1949 he became commanding general of the Newfoundland Base Command at Fort Pepperell, Newfoundland. On Oct. 1, 1950 that command was deactivated and he was appointed commander-in-chief of the U.S. Northeast Air Command with headquarters at Fort Pepperell with additional duties as commanding general. In February 1952 General Whitten was named commanding general of the Middletown Air Materiel Area with station at Olmsted Air Force Base, Pennsylvania. He retired in 1956. He was rated a command pilot, combat observer and aircraft observer.