William Waffle Thomas (December 29, 1919 – November 22, 2014) was an American Air Force officer who served as an

Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control designated call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. In common parlance, the term is used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modified and used ...

pilot for President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

from 1953 until 1961. The call sign of "Air Force One" was used after an Eastern Airline flight having the same call sign with Eisenhower's flight shared the same aerospace. Thomas personally consider it a benign incident. In 1968, he received the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

, the nation's second highest award. In 1942, Thomas was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army Air Force. During World War II, he served two years serving as a pilot in the

China Burma India Theater China Burma India Theater (CBI) was the United States military designation during World War II for the China and Southeast Asian or India–Burma (IBT) theaters. Operational command of Allied forces (including U.S. forces) in the CBI was officia ...

. In 1948, he flew C-52s during the

Berlin Airlift The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road ...

. In 1971, he retired as a colonel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, William Waffle 1919 births 2014 deaths Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II