Kenneth Bonner Wolfe

Kenneth Bonner Wolfe (12 August 1898 – 20 September 1971) was a lieutenant general in the United States Air Force who was responsible for the development and early operations of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber. During World War II he commanded the XX Bomber Command in the China-Burma-India Theater, and later the Fifth Air Force on Okinawa.

Early life Kenneth Bonner Wolfe was born in Denver, Colorado, on 12 August 1898. He attended high school in Portland, Oregon and San Diego, California.

World War I On 12 January 1918, he enlisted in the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps. He received ground and flying training from the School of Military Aviation at the University of California, Berkeley, and at Park Field, Tennessee, and was commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant in the United States Army Air Service on 6 July 1918. Wolfe served briefly as flight instructor at Park Field before moving on to Souther Field, Georgia, as a flight instructor there. He returned to Park Field in January 1919, then went to Carlstrom Field, Florida in March. In July he became the officer in charge of flight training at Southern Field. At the time, the B-29 was the most expensive aircraft in the world, costing US$1.5 million (equivalent to $ million in ) apiece. with his primary tasks being to expedite improvements to the B-29 and increase its rate of production. In September 1944 the Materiel Command and Air Service Command were merged to become the Air Technical Service Command, and Wolfe became its chief of engineering and procurement. In April 1945 he moved to Washington, D.C., for temporary duty at USAAF headquarters. His final assignment, in September 1949, was as deputy chief of staff for materiel at United States Air Force headquarters in Washington, D.C. He retired from the Air Force on 30 June 1951 with the rank of lieutenant general.

Later life After his retirement from the Air Force, Wolfe became president of the Oerlikon Tool and Arms Corporation of America. In 1956 he joined the Garrett Corporation in Los Angeles as a vice president. He was elected senior vice president and a director in 1963. He retired in 1966 but continued to serve as a consultant. His papers are held by the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

Dates of rank