Henry Edward Warden

Henry Edward "Pete" Warden (December 26, 1915 – November 15, 2007) was a colonel in the United States Air Force. He served almost four years in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Although he was trained as a fighter aircraft pilot, he possessed an innate ability to assemble, modify, and repair aircraft. After the war, he was assigned to positions in aircraft development that led to the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress; he is often credited as the "Father of the B-52". Early life Henry Edward Warden was born in McKinney, Texas on December 26, 1915. He was the son of US Army Brigadier General John A. Warden and Jane Abernathy Warden. He studied architecture for two years at Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College and received a degree in aeronautical engineering from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. By 1939, Warden had completed the requirements for an MS degree at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), absent his dissertation. But, when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, Warden left MIT to join the United States Army Air Corps. Military career In November 1939, Warden enlisted in the Army Air Corps with the rank of lieutenant. By 1940, Warden had earned his wings piloting the Curtiss P-36 and Curtiss P-40 fighter aircraft at Hamilton Army Airfield in California. As part of the 20th Pursuit Squadron, Warden was deployed to Nichols Field in the Philippines in 1940, serving as depot inspector and P-40 pilot. In December 1941, when the Japanese invaded the Philippines, Warden and his team were able to salvage 8 aircraft, and he piloted the last aircraft out of Manila just after Japanese forces entered the city.