Badham Inductee Narrative

In November 1892, Henry Lee Badham, Jr. was born in Birmingham, Alabama. In the weeks preceding his birth, two Dayton, Ohio brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright, decided to diversify their business interest by opening a shop specializing in the sale and repair of bicycles. The innovative designs that would originate in the Wright Cycle Company during the next decade would have a profound effect on the life of young Henry Badham.

Like his father before him, Henry Lee Badham, Jr. attended Yale University. After graduation in 1912, Badham returned to Alabama where he enlisted in the Alabama National Guard as a Private in the Mounted Light Artillery. In the summer of 1916, Badham participated in the Mexican Border Campaign as the United States Army attempted to capture the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. Ironically, this campaign represented the first time aircraft were used by the United States military during an international conflict.

In April 1917, the United States Congress declared that a state of war existed between the United States and Germany. As the armed forces of the United States began to mobilize for the war in Europe, Corporal Henry Badham volunteered to become a military aviator in the Aviation Section of the United States Signal Corps, predecessor to the Army Air Service. During his initial training as a pilot, Badham was sent to Georgia Technical College in Atlanta for the ground school phase of training. Georgia Tech was one of eight colleges and universities selected by the military to provide ground school training for military aviators.

Because the Army was still constructing flying training fields in the United States, Badham was transferred to the 2nd Aviation Instruction Center at Tours, France for primary flight training. Most of the cadets sent to France for training were honor graduates of American ground schools and were trained abroad as a reward for “good work and high qualities.”

Aviation cadets began their training on “Penguins” - planes with clipped wings that could not fly. In the Penguin, the student would learn to taxi the machine in a straight line and become accustomed to controlling a two-piece throttle. From the Penguin, the aviation cadet would transition to the larger 23 meter wingspan Nieuport biplane. After the initial solo flight, the student would be allowed to fly airplanes with smaller wingspans until becoming proficient in single-seat pursuit fighters.

Badham first flew solo in an airplane after receiving only one hour and forty-five minutes of flight instruction. He became one of only 444 American students to receive flight training at one of the French aviation schools when he was transferred to Avord, France for advanced instruction. After receiving his wings as an aviator in the French Air Corps, he was transferred to the United States 3rd Training Center as Issoudun, France in 1918 where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and received the wings of an aviator in the United States Army.

Because of his excellent flying skills, leadership ability, and military knowledge, Badham was assigned to be a flight instructor at the training center. On May 18, 1918 Badham was severely injured in an accident while attempting a takeoff. After recovering from his injuries, Badham returned to the 3rd Aviation Training Center as the Chief Flight Instructor with twelve instructors under his command. He was released from the Air Service on February 5, 1919.

Returning to Birmingham, Badham and a group of former military aviators headed by James Meissner founded the Birmingham Aero Club to lobby for the establishment of a National Guard Squadron in the city. Their efforts were successful as the Aero Club became the 106^th Observation Squadron, operating Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” aircraft. This group of aviators was also instrumental in the founding and development of Roberts Field, Birmingham’s first joint-use military and civilian airfield. Roberts Field served as Birmingham’s first municipal airport, a facility that provided the infrastructure needed to attract commercial air mail and passenger service to the city. After serving as a pilot in the 106^th Observation Squadron for eight years, Badham was promoted the rank of Major and became Commander of the group.

In November 1940, Badham was recalled into active military service. He was rated a Senior Pilot and assigned to duty as acting Chief of Aviation, Forth Army Corps for the Carolina War Maneuvers. One week after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Badham organized and commanded the 71^st Observation Group, Forth Army Corps. The group was stationed on the Pacific coast of the United States and conducted coastal anti-submarine patrols. Members of the 71^st Observation Group were credited with sinking at least one Japanese submarine.

During 1942, Badham served in various command positions in the Army Air Forces and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
He was rated as a Command Pilot before receiving orders to report to the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas as an Instructor and Chief of Air Section.

Beginning in 1943, Lieutenant Colonel Badham was assigned to the Fifth Air Force in the Pacific Theater. As Commander of a Combined Air-Ground Service Force Team, Badham participated in B-24 Liberator raids against Japanese forces in New Guinea to evaluate the tactics and techniques of the Fifth Air Force, and make recommendations to General George C. Kenney. In September 1943, Badham was promoted to the rank of Colonel.

In 1944, Badham was assigned to the European Division of the Air Transport Command. In this capacity, he organized and commanded the 1402nd Air Transport Command Base Unit, Bovington Air Base England. Under Badham’s command, facilities at the base were greatly expanded to include the construction of runways large and strong enough to handle all types of heavy transport aircraft. Because of its superior facilities, the base served as the London airfield facility for Very Important Persons. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, as well as other top government and military officials used the base on frequent occasions. In June 1944, Badham received a Bronze Star for missions flown over enemy territory.

In February 1946, Colonel Badham retired from active duty and became a member of the Air Force Reserve. He organized and commanded the 19^th Bombardment Wing, headquartered at the Birmingham Municipal Airport. The Wing operated Boeing B-29 Superfortress Heavy Bombardment aircraft. In January 1947, Badham was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, United States Air Force Reserve.

General Badham continued his command of the 19^th Bombardment Wing and its successors, the 514^th Troop Carrier Wing and the 319^th Bombardment Wing, until his retirement from military service in 1951 at the age of fifty-nine.

Beyond his many contributions to aviation and dedication to his country as a member of the nation’s armed forces, Henry Lee Badham, Jr. was a respected businessman in the Birmingham community for many years. Badham served as President and Chairman of the Board of the Bessemer Coal, Iron, and Land Company from 1925 until 1977.

Henry Lee Badham, Jr. was born into a world that would forever changed with the successful flights of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. In an ironic twist of history, the Wright Brothers thought their new invention would make future wars practically impossible. Yet Henry Lee Badham, Jr. was called upon to devote his life to the development of military air power to defend the very freedoms that allowed the Wright Brothers to create their historic invention. During an aviation career that spanned thirty-four years, Henry Lee Badham, Jr. served the United States as a military aviator and commanding officer in two world wars. Between wars, Badham was instrumental in the development of military and civilian aviation in Birmingham and Alabama.

As a young man, Henry Lee Badham’s father challenged his sons to aspire to live a life of valor, noble endeavor, and to be active in all good works. Tonight, we honor Henry Lee Badham for his valor, his noble endeavors, and his good works in aviation in Alabama and in defense of those values he so deeply cherished.