Gordon P. Saville
Gordon Philip Saville | |
---|---|
Air Defense Command | |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Awards | Distinguished Flying Cross Distinguished Service Medal (2) Bronze Star Medal Legion of Merit Air Medal |
Gordon Philip Saville (September 14, 1902 – January 31, 1984)
Saville succeeded
Saville was a technical and scientific-minded leader who helped pioneer advanced mathematics for operations research, and computer systems for centralized coordination of air defense. He advocated the expansion of radar installations to create an unbroken air defense network. He explored the concept of a military aircraft designed around an integrated electronics fire-control system built by various subcontractors.[2] After retiring from the military, Saville worked in the defense industry.
Early career
Gordon Philip Saville was born in Macon, Georgia, on September 14, 1902.[3] His Regular Army officer father propelled Saville's older brother to enroll at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and he urged Saville to accept an appointment to the United States Naval Academy. However, Saville wanted to fly so he rejected formal military schools.[4] Instead, he attended the University of Washington, Antioch College, and then the University of California and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve on November 5, 1923, in the infantry,[1] seeing active duty in August 1924 and August 1925.[3] While on reserve duty at Crissy Field in San Francisco, Saville watched Army Air Service pilots training on military aircraft. He determined that he would join them or leave the military.[5]
Saville became a flying cadet with the Army Air Service in March 1926, and entered the primary flying school at Brooks Field, Texas. During this time his service branch reformed as the
Saville was made adjutant of Crissy Field in December 1928. He and his wife produced a daughter in July 1930, Ina Gordon Saville. Later that year Saville transferred to
Tactics and theory
At Foulois' recommendation, Saville entered the
In February 1937, Saville paired with Lieutenant
Saville entered the
In October 1940, Saville flew to London with Chaney for temporary duty as a military air observer studying British air defenses, and returned to Mitchel Field after two months to become executive officer at the temporary rank of major of the First Interceptor Command. He began drafting a comprehensive air defense doctrine which combined features of the British system with those advocated by Chennault and himself. Saville was promoted to the permanent rank of major in February, 1941,[3] and from March 25 to April 12, he conducted an intensive course in air defense given to 60 fighter group staff, including Kenneth P. Bergquist, posted to Hawaii's fighter wing.[18] In August 1941, he returned to London and observed British air defense measures until December 1941.[1] During this time, Saville's Air Defense Doctrine draft was reviewed by the USAAC, but it was not approved or published.[19] Saville's proposed defense involved rigorous round-the-clock coordination between ground observers, radar installations, and centralized command posts to filter reports to defense forces consisting of anti-aircraft artillery batteries, barrage balloons, and fighter wings. Unusually, Saville proposed that fighter wings involved in air defense be completely separate from fighter wings making attacks on enemy air forces.[20]
World War II
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Saville was assigned to United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) headquarters in Washington as director of the country's air defenses, which he considered inadequate. Because of the greatly increased civilian interest in air defense, much of Saville's unpublished air defense doctrine was copied into the War Department's Training Circulars No. 70 and 71, published nine and eleven days after Pearl Harbor, respectively. These training materials emphasized regional command and control of air defenses. Fighter group commanders were to direct the efforts of anti-aircraft artillery officers—one of Saville's suggestions that had been a sticking point, resisted by artillerists.[21] Before these plans were implemented, British radar pioneer Robert Watson-Watt surveyed West Coast defenses and found them "dangerously unsatisfactory", a confirmation of Saville's assessment.[22] Saville found Watson-Watt's report "a damning indictment of our whole warning service."[22]
Saville was made lieutenant colonel on January 5, 1942.[3] In tackling the problem of air defense of the Panama Canal Zone, he brought together civilian mathematicians and military defense experts to organize the first operations research group in the Air Corps, following two such groups formed by the Navy.[23] Saville was promoted to brigadier general on November 2.[3]
Once it was clear that U.S. territory was not in danger of being attacked by enemy air units, Saville's expertise in air defense was not needed. In March 1943, he was made director of tactical development at the
Later that month he was ordered to the North African theater, where he served as chief of staff of the Mediterranean Air Command. Under
In October 1943, he was appointed commander of the XII Fighter Command (
The following month, Saville returned to the United States for temporary assignment to USAAF headquarters, and in March 1945 became commander of the
Cold War
In January 1947, Saville was sent to Brazil to serve as chief of the Air Section of the Joint Brazil – United States Military Commission, stationed at the American Embassy at Rio de Janeiro.[1] Saville took his family with him to Brazil; he enrolled his daughter in the American School of Rio de Janeiro, where she graduated high school in June.[30] During this time the USAAF reformed as an independent service branch; United States Air Force (USAF).
In May 1948, Muir S. Fairchild was made vice chief of staff of the USAF. In light of the developing Cold War and the threat of Soviet long-range bombers, Fairchild determined that Saville's expertise was critically needed.[9] Fairchild ordered Saville, the top U.S. authority on air defense and a scientifically minded pragmatist, to return stateside in June 1948, for assignment to the ADC headquarters at Mitchel Air Force Base.[29][31]
Saville evaluated the ambitious Radar Fence Plan of Major General Francis L. Ankenbrandt, which had recently failed in Congress because it was too expensive in manpower and material, and would take too long to put in place. Fairchild and Saville determined to devise a more practical radar defense plan, one that would bypass the slow approval methods previously established.[32] In pushing his plan to fruition, Saville angered other officers who expected to have a say in air defense; he said, "I wasn't going to stand in line and wait."[33] He first focused on a foundation of radar systems, and concluded that the U.S. should spend $116 million in 1949 and 1950, to build 75 radar sites and 20 control centers in the continental U.S., with 10 more radar sites facing the Soviet Union from the Territory of Alaska, controlled through a territorial center. The radar sites would primarily be composed of older World War II-era microwave units, but these would be augmented by a few advanced radar units, carefully positioned. Dubbed the "Lashup" plan[34] (from "lash-up", meaning "hastily improvised"), it was about 20% of the cost of Ankenbrandt's Radar Fence Plan, and it was more flexible in terms of future expansion.[33]
In September, Saville told
Earlier, in mid-1948, Saville asked Colonel
In April 1949, General
From a handful of company designs, Saville selected
In early 1950, Saville served on the Guided Missiles Interdepartmental Operational Requirements Group (GMIORG), a military and civilian committee tasked with the coordination of research on guided
Saville and Fairchild went to
In March 1950, Fairchild died. Fairchild had been Saville's champion in the USAF, and Saville had used Fairchild's influence as a shield to "get things done", according to Smart.
In late 1950, USAF Chief Scientist
Civilian career
In the
Saville was invited to join a November 1952 experimental commercial flight from Los Angeles to Copenhagen, flying to Denmark in a
In 1953, Saville wrote a feature for
In December 1954, Saville celebrated the marriage of his airman son Edward to Lettice Lee von Selzam, a debutante from Wisconsin. Saville's younger son John served as best man. Edward was a lieutenant in the USAF, and among the eight ushers were five other USAF lieutenants.[59]
Saville was hired in November 1954, to work for Ramo-Wooldridge, a company that formed from the FCS team at Hughes. Saville was made Director of Military Requirements, a new position tailored to his unique background. In this liaison role, Saville met regularly with military leaders to ensure that Ramo-Wooldridge projects answered America's defense needs.[60] When Thompson Products merged with Ramo-Woodridge to form TRW, Saville became vice president of the new company. Saville retired in 1963, and became a consultant to TRW and to other government agencies. In the mid-1960s Saville invested in cattle ranches, embarking upon what he called a "third career" as a cattle rancher.[61] He was invited to participate in a panel discussion at the annual Conference on World Affairs in 1966.[61]
Death and legacy
Saville died on January 31, 1984, and was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.[62]
In his career, Saville was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star Medal and the Air Medal.[3] He was rated a Command Pilot, Combat Observer, Aircraft Observer and Technical Observer.[1]
Saville's daughter Ina bore four daughters in the 1950s, and died in 2005. Saville's son Edward produced two sons and a daughter. He retired from the USAF at the rank of lieutenant colonel and lives in Beaufort, South Carolina; his wife "Letty" died in 2000.[63]
References
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "USAF Biography: Major General Gordon P. Saville". Archived from the original on 2009-09-06.. Retrieved on November 19, 2009.
- ^ Jacobs, Donald (May 9, 1990) [February 28, 1989]. Martin Collins (ed.). "The Glennan-Webb-Seamans Project for Research in Space History: J–R". Space History Division, National Air & Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. Oral history interview of Donald Jacobs by Martin Collins. Summary of tape contents.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Official Army Register, 1946. Page 603. "Saville, Gordon P." (O17006) Retrieved on November 17, 2009.
- ^ ISBN 0-912799-60-9.
- ^ a b Schaffel, 1987
- ^ "Lieut. Saville Will Wed Eastern Beauty". Berkeley Daily Gazette. March 29, 1928. p. 5. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ^ The Wellesley Legends. [Boston, etc.] Pub. by the Senior class of Wellesley College. 1925. pp. 39, 130, 169, 225.
- ^ "Ina Hards Bride of Lieut. Saville; Married to Army Air Corps Officer in the Church of Transfiguration". The New York Times. 1928. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-56881-476-6.
- ^ Finney, Robert T. (1998) Air Force History and Museums Program. History of the Air Corps Tactical School 1920–1940.[permanent dead link] Third imprint. Retrieved on November 19, 2009.
- ^ Schaffel, 1991, pp. 15–16
- ^ Bodie 1991, p. 19
- ^ Bodie 1991, pp. 16–17
- ^ Lockheed P-38 Lightning. Retrieved: 21 January 2007.
- ^ Bodie 1991, p. 14. Brigadier General Benjamin S. Kelsey recalled in 1977 that he and Lieutenant Saville drew up the specification in 1937 using the word "interceptor" as a way to bypass the inflexible Army Air Corps requirement for pursuit aircraft to carry no more than 500 lb (225 kg) of armament including ammunition. Kelsey was looking for a minimum of 1,000 lb (450 kg) of armament.
- ^ Schaffel, 1991, pp. 24–25
- ^ Schaffel, 1991, p. 27
- ^ Schaffel, 1991, p. 32
- ^ Saville's Air Defense Doctrine is on file at the National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Army Air Forces, AAG 381, Air Defense Doctrines.
- ^ Futrell, 1989, p. 107
- ISBN 978-1-4379-2130-4.
- ^ a b Boyne, Walter J. (December 1999). "The Rise of Air Defense". Air Force Magazine. 82 (12). Air Force Association.
- ISBN 0-8218-0158-9
- ^ Futrell, 1989, p. 137
- ^ Futrell, 1989, p. 133
- ^ ISBN 0-7146-4817-5
- ISBN 0-88920-957-X.
- ISBN 978-0-8020-9314-1.
- ^ a b Schaffel, 1991, p. 84
- ^ a b c "Weddings and Engagements". Army, Navy, Air Force Journal. 88. Army and Navy Journal: 818, 1212. 1951.
- ^ Neufeld, 1990, p. 67
- ^ Schaffel, 1991, p. 90
- ^ a b c Schaffel, 1991, pp. 91–92
- ^ Schaffel, 1991, p. 94
- ^ Schaffel, 1991, p. 95
- ^ Schaffel, 1991, p. 98
- ^ Schaffel, 1991, p. 100
- ^ Schaffel, 1991, p. 99
- ^ Futrell, 1989, p. 245
- ^ Green, 2010, p. 161
- ^ a b c Schaffel, 1991, pp. 103–104
- ISBN 0-262-18201-7.
- ^ National Defense Transportation Journal. 6. National Defense Transportation Association: 12. 1950.
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(help) As quoted from the Army, Navy, Air Force Register. - ^ Schaffel, 1991, p. 188
- ^ Green, 2010, p. 162
- ^ Neufeld, 1990, p. 79
- ^ Green, Tom. Bright Boys: 1938–1958. "Whirlwind finally earns its wings... sort of." Archived 2011-07-25 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on November 19, 2009.
- ^ Schaffel, 1991, p. 175
- ^ Futrell, 1989, p. 353
- ^ Schaffel, 1991, p. 129
- ISBN 1-56347-723-8.
- ^ R. Bruce Crowell, ed. (1951). Colonial Echo. Williamsburg, Virginia: College of William and Mary. p. 59.
- ^ Air Force Historical Research Agency. Saville, Gordon Philip papers. 1920–1951. Archived 2009-09-16 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on November 19, 2009.
- ^ "Civil Aviation: Northern Pathfinder". Flight: 681. November 28, 1952.
- ^ "Polar Test Flight to Tie Europe, West; Scandinavian DC-6 Off Today, Los Angeles to Copenhagen, for Study of Route". The New York Times. November 19, 1952.
- ^ "Los Angeles-to-Copenhagen Plane Speeds Across Arctic: Distinguished Passengers on Initial Journey L.A.-Denmark Plane Speeds Across Arctic". Los Angeles Times. November 20, 1952.
- ^ Futrell, 1989, p. 333
- ^ Saville, Gordon P. (March 1953). "The Air Defense Dilemma". Air Force Magazine. 36 (3). Air Force Association: 30.
- ^ Parnell, Dorothy (December 22, 1954). "Lettice Lee von Selzam To Be Married Today". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 6.
- ^ "Retired General in Liaison Post". Los Angeles Times. April 1, 1955. Retrieved September 12, 2013.
- ^ a b "Who's Who" (PDF). Nineteenth Annual World Affairs Conference. April 18–22, 1966. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 29, 2011. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
- ^ "Saville, Gordon P". ANC Explorer. Arlington National Cemetery. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
- ^ "Saville, Lettice Lee "Letty"". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. July 12, 2000.
Bibliography
- Bodie, Warren M. The Lockheed P-38 Lightning: The Definitive Story of Lockheed's P-38 Fighter. Hayesville, North Carolina: Widewing Publications, 2001, 1991. ISBN 0-9629359-5-6.
- Futrell, Robert Frank. Ideas, Concepts, Doctrine: Basic Thinking in the United States Air Force 1907–1960 DIANE Publishing, 1989. ISBN 1-58566-029-9
- Neufeld, Jacob, and the United States Air Force. The development of ballistic missiles in the United States Air Force, 1945–1960. Office of Air Force History. DIANE Publishing, 1990. ISBN 0-912799-62-5
- Schaffel, Kenneth (Summer 1987). "A Minority of One: Major General Gordon P. Saville." American Aviation Historical Society Journal, pp. 104–109, Volume 32, number 2.
- Sturm, Thomas A. (March 26–29, 1973). "Interview of Major General Gordon P. Saville", USAF Historical Research Center, USAF Oral History Program. K239.0512-1322. OCLC 55751794. Magnetic tape interview transcribed and edited by Mary E. Monday.
External links