To the Front

In England last week were four more U.S. air generals. They joined two already there. The American air-assault staff is now generally complete. Their presence showed that the U.S. meant air business. The lineup:

P: Already on hand: Major General Carl Spaatz, Commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, and his bomber command chief, Brigadier General Ira Eaker (TIME, July 27).

P: Tall, lean, fiercely mustached Brigadier General Frank O'Driscoll Hunter, 47, the new fighter-command chief. "Monk" Hunter loves fighter planes, even though he spent nine months in a hospital when one fell apart in a test at 15,000 feet. He has sported his militarissimous mustache since World War I when he became an eight-plane ace, was continually cited for ferocity: "On patrol he encountered six monoplanes. He immediately attacked."

P: Tenacious, affable, Brigadier General Asa North Duncan, 50, is chief of staff. In 1918 he was less chunky but equally tenacious as a two-gun photographer-observer. Citadon: "Duncan fought until both his guns were hopelessly jammed by shots which pierced both magazine drums. He was twice knocked down by the impact of shots against his gun mount." Not until after World War I did he win his pilot's wings.

P: Brigadier General Robert Candee, 50. is chief of Ground Air Support, reads Ruskin before breakfast, is an expert grammarian, is often called "poker face." Officers jump when he speaks, learn well when he teaches his ground-air coordination specialty. ^Bespectacled Major General Walter

Hale Frank, 56, is Air Service Command chief, a highly vocal disciplinarian and the only West Pointer in the group besides his boss. "Tooey" Spaatz. "Tony" Frank is a belligerent partisan of air power. Officers left behind in Washington agreed "Tooey Spaatz, like every other officer, has spent 20-odd years picking the staff he would want for a time like this, and now he's got it. And those boys aren't over there for English tea."

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