Dr. Francis Wilton Reichelderfer 1895-1983

Frank W. Reichelderfer joined the Naval Air Service in World War I after graduating from Northwestern and studying meteorology at Harvard. He became a weather forecaster despite earning his pilot's wings in 1919.Weather forecasting became an important tool for aviation during the 1920s and '30s. Its application in this area gained in importance after Francis W. Reichelderfer was appointed chief of the U.S. Weather Bureau in 1939. Reichelderfer had previously modernized the navy's meteorological service and made it a model of support for naval aviation.