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Harold E. Talbott became the third Secretary of the Air Force on February 4, 1953, during a period when the Korean War had jolted Congress into authorizing additional wings and their supporting infrastructure. Consequently, he was able to focus his efforts on the needs of airmen and their families. He succeeded in obtaining more military housing than had his predecessors. Combining better housing with pay increases and other needed improvements, he raised the service personnel retention rate by linking enhanced military benefits to reenlistment.

Talbott was born in Dayton, Ohio, in March 1888. He attended the Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and spent two years at Yale University before returning to his father's construction company in 1911.

Talbott's interest in aviation dated from the early days of the Wright brothers. In 1915 he helped build one of the first wind tunnels for aviation experiments in Dayton. In the spring of 1916, Talbott's father, Colonel Deeds, and Charles Kettering formed the Dayton-Wright Company, a reorganization of the Orville Wright Company. The young Talbott was made president and Orville Wright became vice president and engineer. At the beginning of World War I, the Dayton-Wright Company took over the newly built Delco-Light plant. The expanded plant turned out about 400 training planes and constructed the two-seat fighter, the DeHaviland–4, later modified to the DeHaviland–9. In 1918 the plant, which employed 12,000 people, produced 38 planes per day and manufactured more wartime aircraft overall than any other U.S. plant.

During September 1918, Talbott was commissioned a major in the Air Service of the Signal Corps. His assignment as one of a group of officers in charge of aircraft maintenance and repair in France was canceled by the armistice.

Talbott was an active Republican presidential campaign fund-raiser in 1940, 1948 and 1952. He was chairman of the Republican national finance committee in 1948 and 1949. He also had been a member of the War Production Board during 1942 and 1943.

During his tenure, Talbott appointed a commission to assist him in selecting the permanent site for the Air Force Academy. After considering 580 proposed sites in 45 states, the commission recommended three locations. From those, he selected the site near Colorado Springs.

In 1955 Talbott suffered a serious professional disappointment when he became involved in a conflict of interest that eventually forced his resignation as secretary following a congressional investigation of his business activities. He relinquished his position in August 1955. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Palm Beach, Fla., on March 2, 1957.

• Official USAF Bio