James A. Hill

Who was James A. Hill?

General James Arthur Hill was a U.S. Air Force four-star general who served as Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force.

He was born in 1923 in Lancaster, Ohio Orphaned at sixteen, he graduated from St. Mary's High School in 1940 and attended Ohio State University in 1942. He was inducted into the Army in January 1943 and through aviation cadet training received his pilot wings and commission as a second lieutenant in February 1944. He subsequently qualified in multiengine aircraft.

During World War II, Hill flew 31 European Theater combat missions in a B-24 Liberator bomber while assigned to the 566th Bombardment Squadron, 389th Bombardment Group. After World War II he served at various bases in the United States until 1949 when he was called upon to fly C-54 Skymaster aircraft in the Berlin Airlift.

In October 1949 he was assigned to the Air Training Command at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, where he served as a basic training squadron commander, and later as executive officer in the U.S. Air Force Preflight Training School.