Thomas George Lanphier, Sr.

Thomas George Lanphier Sr. (April 16, 1890 October 9, 1972) was a retired colonel in the United States Army Air Corps, and was Commanding Officer of Selfridge Field in Michigan from late 1924 to early 1926, and an aviation pioneer.

When Lanphier was twelve years old his family moved to Omaha, Nebraska. He attended Creighton Preparatory School and Creighton University, followed by the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. While at West Point, he met his future wife Janet Cobb, who was attending Vassar College. They married February 1, 1915, in New York. Lanphier graduated from West Point in 1914 and was a classmate and friend of Dwight D. Eisenhower. He was stationed at Post Field, Fort Sill, later that year until September 1924. He was transferred to Selfridge Field in Michigan by November 1924.

Later, Lanphier became the commandant of the 1st Pursuit Group at Selfridge Field.

Lanphier testified in support of General Billy Mitchell during Mitchell's 1925 court-martial. Lanphier was the head of the Transcontinental Air Transport Company (September 1928) He also gave a statement in the aftermath of the Lindbergh kidnapping

In 1933, after retiring from the military, he bought Manhattan's Phoenix Cereal Beverage Company and applied for a license to manufacture 3.2 beer under the brewery's old name of Flanagan-Nay Brewery Corp. The brewery had been operated by mobsters Owney Madden and Bill Dwyer since 1925 during Prohibition. Madden also ordered an airplane and took flight instruction from Lanphier.

In 1936, Lanphier headed The Association for Legalizing American Lotteries, an illegal lottery.

Lanphier and Janet Cobb-Lanphier divorced on March 19, 1936, in Wayne County, Michigan.

In 1938, Lanphier assisted Mary E. Werner, the daughter of former Summit County, Ohio, coroner Dr. Oscar Hayes, with locating her two children.

World War II and later In World War II, Lanphier Sr. returned to the Army as a lieutenant colonel and was made the air intelligence officer for Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall. He was the manager of the Dallas District Office in 1950. He retired from the VA in 1954.

Mary, his second wife, died on July 11, 1951. Lanphier later married his final wife, Elsa, and they remained married until his death.

Lanphier died on October 9, 1972, at the Naval Medical Center San Diego.

Sons His oldest son Thomas George Lanphier Jr. was born while Lanphier Sr. was in Panama. Lanphier Jr. was a colonel and ace fighter pilot during World War II. He was involved in Operation Vengeance, the mission to shoot down the plane carrying Admiral Yamamoto, the commander in chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy, April 18, 1943. He was also buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Lanphier had a third son who was an actor, James Francis Lanphier, He was perhaps best known for his role in the 1963 film The Pink Panther.