In December 1918 Fairchild returned home and served at
McCook Field,
Ohio;
Mitchel Field,
New York, and
Langley Field,
Virginia. On October 20, 1922 he was practicing dog fighting with Lt.
Harold Ross Harris; when Harris lost control of his aircraft and was forced to parachute his way to safety; ironically nearly a year later August 22, 1923 both Harris and Fairchild piloted the US Military first heavy bomber the
Witteman-Lewis XNBL-1. In 1926 and 1927, he flew to
South America as part of the Pan American Good Will Flight a pioneering flight that sought to promote air postal service, U.S. commercial aviation and take messages of friendship to the governments and people of Central and South America, while forging aerial navigation routes through the Americas. The flight originated with five aircraft and crews taking off from
Kelly Field,
Texas on December 21, 1926, seeking to land in 23 Central and South American countries. The aircraft used for the journey were new observation planes, the
Loening OA-1A that could be used as both landplanes and seaplanes, with Liberty engines and a wood interior structure with an aluminum-covered fuselage and fabric-covered wings. Each plane was named for a U.S. city and crewed by two pilots, one of whom was an engineering officer, since there were very few airfields or repair facilities along the route, with the crew choosing the motto "No Work, No Ride." Crew of the New York: Maj.
Herbert Dargue, Lt.
Ennis Whitehead; Crew of the San Antonio: Capt. Arthur McDaniel, Lt. Charles Robinson; Crew of the San Francisco: Capt.
Ira Eaker, Lt. Muir Fairchild; Crew of the Detroit: Capt.
Clinton F. Woolsey, Lt. John Benton; Crew of the St. Louis: Lt. Bernard Thompson, Lt. Leonard Weddington The flight was marred by tragedy when the Detroit and New York accidentally collided mid-air and got locked together. The crew of the New York were able to parachute to safety but Capt. Woolsley and Lt. Benton were killed when the Detroit hit the ground. The Pan American Flyers were greeted by a cheering crowd including President Calvin Coolidge, Cabinet members, and diplomats from Central and Latin America when they returned to
Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., on May 2, 1927. Fairchild and the rest of the surviving Pan American Flight crew, and
Charles Lindbergh, were among the first nine aviators to receive the newly created award
Distinguished Flying Cross. The Pan Am Good Will Tour aviators were the first to be named to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross, Lindbergh's being named came after the Pan Am Good Will Tour members, though Lindbergh actually received his medal first. Fairchild went on to complete the course in the Air Corps Engineer School at
Wright Field in June 1929 and went to Santa Monica,
California, as Air Corps representative to
Douglas Aircraft Corporation. In June 1935 he graduated from the
Air Corps Tactical School, along with strategic bombing advocates
Haywood S. Hansell,
Barney Giles,
Vernon M. Guymon,
Laurence S. Kuter,
Lawson H. M. Sanderson and
Hoyt S. Vandenberg, then became an
Air Corps Tactical School instructor. He later attended the
Army Industrial College, and the
Army War College. He rose to director of air tactics and strategy in 1939. ==Second World War==