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Col. Davis Gets Top Air Post
By STANLEY ROBERTS
WASHINGTON - Col. B. O. David Jr. is now the ranking officer in the Fighter Plane branch of the United States Air Force, it was revealed this week to the Courier by high Pentagon spokesman.
In layman's language the Air Force summarized the colonel's job as follows: If General Ridgeway from Tokyo urgently and immediately demands two squadrons of fighter planes for the Korean campaign...while at the same time comes an emergency request from Gen. "Ike" Eisenhower in the Paris headquarters of SHAPE for "one more fighter squadron"...and these emergency requests are further complicated by simultaneous complaints for fighter plans from several officers of the United States Air Force bases in this country - then says the Pentagon:
"It's up to Col. B. O. Davis and his staff to solve these problems by recommending the allocation and distribution of available United states fighter aircraft for the deployment all over the world for the best protection of American interests and commitments."
Add to this the fact that America is also busily engaged in supplying airplanes to Allied and friendly countries on an international basis as we go about fighting communistic expansion and you begin to grasp the fact that Colonel Davis' job is global in scope and one of the most important ever assigned to an American soldier.

"Are Colonel Davis' decisions final?" I asked and aide to the Secretary of Defense.
"Nobody's decisions are final these days," he said.
"Davis and his staff look into any given situation.  These requests filter through to his desk for study and recommendation.  His reports go directly to the Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of Fighter Operations and thence to Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg who is the Air Force man on the Joint Chiefs of Staff."
"You can take it from me," he said. "Davis is going one Hell of a job."
The demand and the need for fighter aircraft and what can be spared "for whom and where" are Davis' decisions in the Pentagon.
Under his command are more than fifteen planning officers - colonels, lieutenant colonels, majors, captains and men of lesser rank.

Speculation is, of course, rife in the political circles of the Pentagon that Davis is slated soon and is being groomed for the rank of general.  Young Davis, it seems is following in the footsteps of his father, Gen. B. O. Davis Sr., who retired recently after attaining the highest military rank ever held by a person of his race in this nation.
Colonel Davis recently completed a year at the Air War College in Alabama, the Pentagon spokesmen said, explaining that:
"It is a general policy to assign ranking officers to three years at headquarters when tour of command duty is up.  It is part of our rotation plan. Colonel Davis has been here since the summer of 1950 (at the Pentagon) and has about another year and a half to spend."

Despite his desk job, Colonel Davis is required to have 100 hours a year in the air in order to keep his proficiency status.  He is currently flying B-25 twin-engined bombers, C-47 and C-45 cargo transports.