Wooten, Ralph H. (Ralph Hudson), 1893-1969

Ralph Hudson Wooten (b. 1893, Independence, Miss.-d. Nov. 1, 1969), U.S. Air Force officer, graduated from college in 1916, was commissioned in the Regular Army in 1917, and completed pilot training in 1918. He became acting air officer of the Hawaiian Department in 1919, and the next year transferred to the Air Service. Beginning in 1929 he served at military attaché in Chile, making a number of flights over unexplored and uncharted routes in southern South America; and in 1938 he was again appointed military attaché to Chile and Bolivia. He returned to Washington for duty in the Military Intelligence Division of the War Department General Staff in 1941. General Wooten, in 1943, became commanding general, 6th Air Force Service Command, Caribbean Air Command, and as chief of staff, 6th Air Force. The next year he was designated commanding general, U.S. Army Forces in the South Atlantic, and in 1947 was appointed commanding general, 7th Air Force, redesignated Pacific Air Command.