In 1951, Air Force General Benjamin Wiley Chidlaw, test pilot and engineer who directed development of the first U.S. jets, got another pioneer assignment: create the machines and the organization to defend the U.S. against air attack. Four years later, the nation has a Continental Air Defense Command that is on 24-hour duty from the arctic to New Mexico (TIME, Dec. 20). But it no longer has the benefit of its founder's experience. Last week, at the age of 54, General Chidlaw retired with 75% pay.
Chidlaw's successor: General Earle Everard Partridge, also...
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