National Hispanic Heritage Month: Elwood Richard Quesada

Aviation pioneer Elwood Richard Quesada was born in Washington, D.C., in 1904 to a Spanish father and Irish-American mother. Quesada’s longtime aviation career began in 1924 when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a flying cadet. The subsequent highlights of his career included being promoted to lieutenant general in the U.S. Air Force.

Quesada also served as special adviser for aviation to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who in 1958 appointed him as the first administrator of the newly established Federal Aviation Agency (now the Federal Aviation Administration). He served in this position until 1961. Quesada died in 1993 at the age of 88.

For more information about Elwood Richard Quesada, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elwood_Richard_Quesada and http://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/106101/lieutenant-general-elwood-r-quesada/.