Advocating for air force independence was the first president of the Air Force Association. Even before the end of
World War II,
General of the Army Henry H. Arnold, commanding general of the
Army Air Forces, was beginning to consider establishing an organization for the three million
airmen under his command who would become veterans after the war ended. This organization was not only intended to serve as a
veterans' organization, but also be an
advocacy group for
airpower. In August 1945, Arnold asked
Edward Peck Curtis to build the Air Force Association. Then an executive at
Eastman Kodak, Curtis retired from the Army Air Forces in 1944 as a
major general and was a
World War I flying ace. The first meeting occurred on 12 October 1945 in
New York City. Aside from Curtis, the twelve founders were John S. Allard,
Everett Richard Cook, who retired from the Army Air Forces in 1945 as a
brigadier general and was a World War I flying ace,
Jimmy Doolittle, who was an Army Air Forces
lieutenant general and
Medal of Honor recipient for flying the
Doolittle Raid, W. Dearing Howe, Rufus Rand, Sol Rosenblatt, Julian Rosenthal,
James Stewart, an actor and Army Air Forces
colonel, Lowell P. Weicker,
Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, an Army Air Forces colonel, and
John Hay Whitney, an Army Air Forces intelligence officer. In 1950, the
Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps'
Arnold Air Society honored society affiliates with the Air Force Association. In 1953, the Air Reserve Association merged into the AFA. In May 1959, right before the first graduation at the
United States Air Force Academy, AFA sponsored its first outstanding-squadron dinner, which would later become a highlighted event for the association. In 1994,
Air Force Magazine published a special report on the
National Air and Space Museum's plans to display the
Enola Gay B-29 Superfortress bomber, which dropped the
Little Boy atomic bomb on Hiroshima. AFA called the museum's plans politically rigged and lacking balance and historical context. The outcry from Congress, the news media, and public forced the museum to modify its display plans. Following the Space Force's establishment, the Air Force Association called for the Department of the Air Force to rename itself the Department of the Air and Space Forces, integrate the
National Reconnaissance Office into the U.S. Space Force, and develop crewed and uncrewed combat
spaceplanes for the new service. ==Organization==