Dargue, Herbert Arthur, 1886-1941

Herbert Arthur Dargue (b. Nov. 17, 1886, Brooklyn, New York-d. Dec. 12, 1941, California), Major General in the U.S. Army, graduated from West Point in 1911, was posted to the Philippines, and completed flight training in 1913. He was a pioneer pilot, one of the first Army airmen to transmit and receive radio messages in flight, and, with the First Aero Squadron, flew surveillance missions into Mexico pursuing Pancho Villa. General Dargue was a strong proponent for forming a separate Air Force and was chosen as commanding officer of the Pan-American Good Will Flight in 1927. He later graduated from both the Navy and Army War Colleges, and in 1941 took command of the First Air Force a few weeks before Pearl Harbor was attacked. On his way to Hawaii to take command of Army units there, his plane crashed in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He is enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame.